DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum WR Coach Al Saunders on Young Wide Receivers

It looks as though the Browns have launched a bit of a PR campaign with WR coach Al Saunders doing the talking. Below, Saunders discusses Corey Coleman ...



Browns eager to see what Corey Coleman can do when healthy


Posted by Michael David Smith on June 29, 2017, 2:33 PM EDT
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The Browns liked wide receiver Corey Colemanenough to make him the 15th overall pick in last year’s NFL draft. Now they’d like to see what he could do if healthy.

The problem is Coleman hasn’t been able to get healthy and stay healthy. Last year he missed time with hamstring and hand injuries. This year he has missed offseason work with another hamstring injury, and after getting hurt falling on a football. Browns receivers coach Al Saunders says he’s eager to see Coleman actually get healthy enough to show what he can do.

“I’m disappointed for him that he can’t continue to grow in the fundamentals and skills at his position,” Saunders said, via Cleveland.com. “He missed a significant amount of time last training camp (with a hamstring). He missed significant amount of time during the season and his growth and development, he was having a terrific OTA session and then he got hurt. I’m sure that he’ll be back for training camp ready to go and he’s just got to get his hamstring stronger and get himself in shape.”

After Coleman had 33 catches in 10 games last year, Saunders’ greatest hope is that he’ll be healthy this year.

“I’m hoping that he’ll be healthy,” Saunders said. “That’s why we have the best trainers and the best doctors and the best medical staff in the National Football League. That’s their job to get him healthy and he wants to be healthy.”

Saunders says Coleman understands the offense and can contribute. Just as soon as he gets on the field.

Great part-time work if you can find it. Put up time. We need contributors.

Get better. Play ball!

No it doesn't.

Higgins and Louis and maybe Hall look like the guys who are getting the most attention.

I was hopeful that Payton would be a bright spot last year but, not at the expense of Gabriel. That said, I wasn't surprised with TG's cut...we all knew it would be one of the shorter guys and Hawkins has close ties to Hue so he was the obvious choice to keep.

Also, I expected much more of Payton. I liked him a lot in that "Building The Browns" series...he came across as a decent guy who seemed really pumped. But, he rarely suited up on Sundays and when he did he was a total non-factor. His suspension for performance enhancements with such lowly stats was a cruel yet, hilarious joke on an already horrible season.

The pressure is obviously on Corey to step up as the 1st rounder but, I think there are a lot of expectations on Payton as well.

Well, first of all, I didn't say anything about people agreeing with me. I said for them to be realistic about the potential of FOURTH ROUND PICKS.

Secondly, I told people to stop posting the totally unsupportable theory that if Gabriel did well in Atlanta, that he would do that here. It simply doesn't work that way. It's called "variable" in the scientific method.

Third, I never mentioned your name now did I? So, this may be a newsflash, not every post is aimed at you.

Payton started behind the eight ball last year bc he couldn't get to camp due to UCLA having such a late graduation. For that reason alone, I didn't expect a lot. This year is different though. I think he'll show up and perform well.

For the 100th time, receivers in the NFL generally are better in their second and third years. We shall see which ones get better - speaking here of all of them - and which ones don't.

The only way Payton should see the field is if he's done at least 3 more HGH cycles since he got cut. Dude has no speed or acceleration. My money is on Louis. He's been putting in that work and he has the physicality needed to play the position at this level.

The question becomes how much better can mid rounders drafted in a weak WR class actually get?

I don't know the answer to that question, but neither does anyone else.

But when looking at the lack of WR talent in that draft and where these guys were drafted, the odds certainly aren't very good.

The Steelers settled their QB spot, and suddenly they can find WRs anywhere in the draft. Way back in 2010, we drafted a WR named Carlton Mitchell. He had 3 catches in his career. 17 spots later, the Steelers grabbed an undersized WR named Antonio Brown.

2010 was his rookie season. He must have sucked, because he only caught 16 passes for 167 yards, and no TDs.

Even with one of the best QB in the NFL throwing him passes, it took him a year to "settle in" as an NFL WR. I don't know why we expect our players to do better than them, in a lesser situation.

It's funny how solid QB play leads to solid WR play.

I liked what I saw of Lewis last year. I expect him to be better this year with a year under the belt.

No it is not. Solid QB play is solid QB play, and solid WR play is solid WR play.

The two are connected because this is a team sport, but we cannot confuse them.A bad WR will always be a bad WR, we know that, and a bad QB will always struggle no matter if the WR's are great.

QB play will not make the other team double cover a bad WR.

We unfortunately don't have neither, so don't expect great things.

Yeah, out of all our WRs going into their second year - my hopes are the highest for Louis. He seemed really confident too in speaking with the media during his interview.

Sorry mac disagree Coleman had as many catches as Jerry rice,Cliff branch,and Webstar slaughter so when you critisize Sashi at least say coleman had as many receptions as though three.

Louis was terrible last year. He had a lot of drops. He didn't make many plays. He didn't get a lot of separation. How did you "like" those things?

I think you have a problem if it take that many catches to assess the quality of a player.

For me it doesn't take that long, it was quite evident after a few games that Colemom is only average at best, never ever in his life is he going to be top WR.

You see, the reason why it takes some time for WR's to develop is not tied with the talent of the WR, its because its required trust and capital for a WR to establish himself has a target.

Colemon last year was our #1 WR, a starter at the position, so what many skilled WR's have to earn and batle was handed to him. Reality is that he is not that good, never was and never showed any glymps he cam be.

question what was Colemans statistics verses baltimore

You do realize that for every Antonio Brown there are 100 Carlton Mitchells, right?

That's one thing I find amusing about this place. People seem to love to point to the exception of the rule rather than the rule itself to bolster an opinion with very low odds of success.

All I am saying is that once you fine the QB, finding WRs becomes easier.

Well then, we ought to fine the crap out of our qb's, no?

Antonio Brown was also playing behind a very productive Hines Ward and Mike Wallace who was a Top 7 NFL WR
I don't recall this offense having a juggernaut at WR last year
Louis and Higgins had every chance to rise to the top but couldn't
They were outplayed by a career QB who could barely spell much less play WR when the season starred
Think about it a journeyman QB out played Higgins and Louis
Louis wasn't even a top 5 SEC WR

Dorial Green Beckham anyone?

He's pretty.. uh.. tall.. that's something..

I think you missed what he was saying.
He wasn't saying that he is going to be Antonio, he was saying that even a player as highly regarded as Antonio Brown took time to "get it" and had poor numbers as a rookie, even with an All-Pro QB throwing to him.

He's just reinforcing the need for patience, and the need to recognize that the book is not written on any of these kids, yet.

And while I have never dismissed that it's possible, I'll stick with my view that the likelihood of that happening is quite slim. I'll once again point to them being mid round picks in a very poor draft class.

As much as I HATE to quote Bon Jovi, I think those who have much faith in those guys are living on a prayer.

I agree that his injuries are definitely becoming a fairly large issue.

He can't learn all of the intricacies of the WR position from the classroom, and watching on the sidelines. He has to get some muscle memory involved.

A guy can be the most talented player in the world, but it's useless talent if he can't get on the field. Coleman does us no good sitting on the sidelines, unable to contribute. He has to be available in order to be valuable.

Was Pryor chopped liver?

I don't really have any thoughts about his confidence, but he did work all offseason with Kessler and Brandon Marshall. I think the kid wants to become good and is willing to put in the extra work. I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up our WR #2 by the end of the year. I think Coleman, if he stays healthy, could be phenomenal. He had a lot of good plays last year, but injuries could easily destroy his career.

I also think that an awful QB will make a great WR good and a good WR horrible. Look at Taylor Gabriel for example. He played with a QB cast that could not throw the ball accurately to a WR under 6 foot (despite all of WRs being tiny that year) and honestly played like crap. This year he had an exceptional QB and he put up great numbers. I didn't even like Gabriel, but I was fooled by how bad Manziel, Weeden and McCown were. So were our coaches it seems. The Browns are so annoying because if we even had an average QB the team would win 6-9 more games a year (sans this current rebuild).

Guys, it's normal for first round busts to be on injury, remember Trent and Gilbert?

Its a way of the FO trying to protect themselves...

Colemon is average at best, we have seen nothing that point in the contrary, except for the fact he was drafted in the first round.

Here's a question that no one asked
Does Coleman even have the desire to want to be one of the best in the.NFL ?
Is he willing to put the work in to be elite?
The Browns have a consistant history of drafting 1st RD picks that really lack the desire to be among the leagues elite

It is what it is, hope for the Best; Coleman's going to be One of the best on the team, if he's among the league elite he will need more time to show it. edit: That's all one should expect from anybody in his position at this point in his career:

If the injuries are real it's unfair to question his desire thus far.

Britt! Coleman! NJoku! Duke! and Crowell! are going to all have to contribute and have at least good days, on any given Sunday, for the Browns to have a real chance to win.

But he didn't miss any games in June.

It will have to be a real committee approach on offense
The Browns really don't have that one dominant force on offense that you really have to worry about come Sunday
They have real complimentry pieces but no elite skill set player on offense.
Who knows maybe one of the young cats emerges by week 6

Can we frame that! That's almost signature worthy.

Agreed. I believe we need another good solid draft and FA period to get the talent we need for our weak areas. If we do that and the players we have now develop we may really be competitive in 2018. Then we can say it could be a 7-9 win season.

Of course we do!
If anyone thought we were going to be competitive this season, they are highly delusional.

We should be markedly improved as a team, but we set the bar pretty damn low last year, so that isn't saying much -- our record will still suck, we will still be picking in the Top 5, and nobody should be expecting otherwise from this coming season.

My issue with Coleman is availability not talent.
He was great in training camp/pre-season then boom injury.
Started the season like gang busters then suffered another injury that lingered with him the rest of the season.

When I see Coleman I see a dynamic but injury prone young receiver with a natural deep threat ability and dynamic RAC ability....but he's also raw and unpolished because of the air-raid Baylor offense.

IF he is healthy i think he's gonna get targeted a lot.
There are gonna be 275 available targets from TP, Gary and Hawk.

I've always been a fan of Ricardo Louis based on his incredible physical skill set.
Again, he was very, very raw even moreso then Coleman because of Auburn offense.
But Ricardo physical skill set allows him to easily beat press whereas Higgins and Payton struggled.

I think Coleman, barring injury, is gonna be in the 1,000 yard receiver neighborhood.
And Louis could have ~40 catch season.

I could sprout wings and fly to Europe as well. But as with those mid round WR picks, I'm not holding my breath.

No you couldn't. They have a much better chance to become decent receivers that you ever have of sprouting wings.

Just saying...

Let me say that this statement is not intended to call out any particular posters. I don't have the desire to re-read who posted what.

Generally, two ideas that seem to come from contradictory perspectives have been expressed in this thread. Taylor Gabriel, an undrafted free agent was a major loss to the Browns that should have been avoided.

Virtually every Browns WR drafted after Gabriel was released is suspect including the 2016 first rounder. The three remaining 2016 drafted wide-outs are all of questionable potential based in part on their draft position.

My point is that the truth is probably somewhere in middle of these extremes.