Jerry Jeudy says new Browns teammate Amari Cooper 'made me become a better player'

Jerry Jeudy and Amari Cooper were never teammates as members of the University of Alabama football team. Even when both future NFL first-round wide receivers were growing up in South Florida, their paths never crossed due to the age difference.

The first time Jeudy started watching Cooper was as a freshman at Monarch High School in 2013. At that time, Alabama was interested in a couple of other Monarch players — Calvin Ridley and Sean Burgess-Becker — which led him to start paying attention to the former Miami prep star during recruiting trips to Tuscaloosa.

Cooper left Alabama as a first-round draft pick in 2015, two years before Jeudy enrolled in the school. By that point, he had taken on almost hero status in the eyes of Jeudy.

Now, as Cooper enters his 10th season in the NFL and Jeudy his fifth, the two finally will share the same locker room as teammates after the Browns acquired Jeudy in a trade with the Denver Broncos.

"I'm excited to play with Coop," Jeudy said during a Zoom call Thursday. "Like I said, I've been watching him for a long time, so me watching him and actually studying him made me become a better player. So now actually being next to him and actually hearing his opinions on things, on how to run certain routes, is going to help me, impact me extremely well. So I'm excited to see how this thing goes."

Jeudy said the two former Crimson Tide stars have "never had a chance to actually get a workout in with each other." They've spoken before, including "just catching up and stuff like that" before the 2020 draft, when Jeudy was taken No. 15 overall.

Cooper's influence on Jeudy shows in the way they play. Both are known for their precise route running, while they are both also capable of explosive plays as two of five wide receivers to amass double-digit 40-plus-yard receptions over the last two seasons.

The student, if you will, points to one specific lesson he's learned from watching the teacher. It's a nuance in the art of running routes that plays a key role in their ability to be explosive.

"The thing I really watch about Coop is just his releases, how he manipulate the defenders off the ball and stuff like that," Jeudy said. "So that's the biggest thing. Once you beat a guy off the ball, it just routes on air after that point. So that's mostly what I took from him."

Jeudy actually walks into a wide receiver corps with the Browns that features another South Floridian with whom he's familiar — Elijah Moore. Moore, who's two years younger, and Jeudy were teammates on a 7 on 7 team while growing up.

Those three, all of whom will enter the final year of their contracts, go into the season as the clear top three in the Browns' wide receiver group. Jeudy said the beauty of all three is their potential ability to play off each other because of a shared skillset.

"I think I'm a guy that could play all three positions, all four positions on the field: the Y, the F, the Z, the X," Jeudy said. "I feel I'm guy that just can make plays after the catch and just bring (yards after catch) and big play making ability to the team. And I feel like Cooper and Elijah do the same thing, too, because I've been watching those guys for a long time too. I actually play[ed] with Elijah on a 7 on 7 team.

"So, it just going to be exciting just to be able to have three receivers that all could do the same thing right after the catch, create separation. So it's going to be exciting."

Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Jerry Jeudy 'excited' to play with new Browns teammate Amari Cooper