'If we have to adjust, we'll adjust': Amari Cooper injury has Browns looking for answers
BEREA — One moment, Amari Cooper was on the practice field. The next moment, he wasn't.
The question now is whether or not Cooper will be on the field when the Browns play at the Pittsburgh Steelers on "Monday Night Football." That's a question for which even his own teammates in the receiving corps don't have an answer.
“We got to take the next step," receiver Elijah Moore said after Saturday's practice. "We don't know too much about what happened, so I think that's a coach question and not us. We don't know if it’s serious at all. So we're just going to pray for him and it's always next man up there. You can't miss a step.”
Cooper sustained a groin injury during Saturday's practice. The Browns officially have listed him as questionable for Monday's game.
The veteran receiver, who last missed a game while with the Dallas Cowboys on Nov. 25, 2021, against the Las Vegas Raiders, was seen walking out of the locker room during the post-practice period without anyone stopping him. He didn't appear to have any sign of a distinct limp.
Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said the team was going to continue to evaluate Cooper between now and Monday night's kickoff. The team will depart for Pittsburgh Sunday afternoon.
"We'll see how it goes over the 48 hours and we'll make a determination," Stefanski said. "But that's why we rep guys in different positions and those type of things. So if we have to adjust, we'll adjust."
Cooper had three catches for 37 yards in the season-opening 24-3 win over the Cincinnati Bengals. He did go down in the first quarter after slipping on the turf and grabbing his knee, but was back in on the next series.
The veteran receiver had surgery in February for a core muscle injury he sustained in circumstances similar to his current situation last December. That injury emerged during a Friday practice, two days before the Browns' Week 14 loss in Cincinnati.
That injury kept Cooper essentially sidelined from team drills until the start of minicamp. He also missed multiple day the first week of training camp due to what the team said was a "minor tweak."
"My adjustment is just to be ready for whatever comes," receiver Marquise Goodwin told the Beacon Journal. "I know this is a 100% injury rate sport. You just got to be ready."
Goodwin figures to be one of the receivers who could come into the spotlight more, especially when looking at the deep passing game. He was also one of the receivers the Browns were without during training camp, as he spent the entirety of camp on the non-football illness list with blood clots.
The speedy veteran was targeted on two deep balls against the Bengals, although neither was completed. Part of that could've been the rainy condition in which the game was played.
Moore, who had three catches for 43 yards and two rushes for 19 yards in the opener, and Goodwin were the two major free agent additions the Browns made to their receiver group in the offseason. They also selected Cedric Tillman in the third round of April's draft.
"I mean, that's why we practice and who would we be if we didn't go out there and not know our job if someone didn't know," Moore said. "I feel like we got a group to where everyone should know everything. I'm pretty confident in every last one of those guys.”
Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on Twitter at @ceasterlingABJ
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Amari Cooper injury has Browns eyeing answers heading to Pittsburgh
