Corey Coleman to miss some time with injury

The Cleveland Browns will be without wide receiver Corey Coleman for a while due to an injury. How long that will be is a bit of a mystery, however.

The Cleveland Browns are looking for a big season from wide receiver Corey Coleman, the team’s top draft pick in 2016.

It now looks like they may be waiting just a wee bit longer than expected.

Coleman injured himself last week during Organized Team Activities when he landed hard on the football – and with a defender on top of him – during a passing drill. He hasn’t participated this week’s OTAs, and with nothing to play for until September, head coach Hue Jackson may take the slow road with Coleman, according to clevelandbrowns.com:

"“Right now, we are going to keep him out for a little while. Again, that was a tough spill for him, a little tougher than I thought. He is making his way through. I just think that now is a time that if a guy is kind of banged up a little bit to make sure that we take care of him so that we can get him back for our training camp. We will see how it all unfolds at the end."

"“Nobody wants to lose a good player at practice or at any time, but I know those things happen. Again, if I wanted to push him through it, I could. What is most important is that we get him back. There are no games right now. The most important thing for the whole football team is health. It is making sure that we can get everybody back when it really starts to count ready to play.”"

So let’s go over the main points again: Coleman is not at 100 percent. The Browns are running light practices in shorts and helmets. They don’t play a game that matters until September. So Jackson sees no reason to push Coleman back onto the field when there very little to be gained from it.

Sure, it would be nice if Coleman was out there “building chemistry” with quarterbacks Cody Kessler, DeShone Kizer and Brock Osweiler, but is it really that big of a deal if he sits out a modified practice or two in late May?

It’s frustrating, yes, that Coleman can’t be out there, especially after he missed six games last season with a broken hand, but the important thing is that he be ready and healthy when the season starts. While his rookie year did not go as planned, he was still productive when he wasn’t saddled with Robert Griffin III as his quarterback.

Average out the six games Coleman played with a QB other than RG3 and his season totals would have been 59 receptions for 821 yards and eight touchdowns. Not Pro Bowl worthy, perhaps, but definitely something to build on.

Next: Do the Browns have the best guards in the NFL?

There will be plenty of time for doom and gloom once the regular season starts, so the more pessimistic Browns fans may want to pace themselves.