Cleveland Browns: Anthony Walker Jr. bullish on Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah

Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah looks to be a stud for the Cleveland Browns 

The Cleveland Browns look to have a defense that should be much improved next season after last year when they had their share of inconsistencies.

Their offseason additions in Troy Hill, John Johnson III, and Jadeveon Clowney should be key contributors, and the same could very well go for first-round pick Greg Newsome II. Anthony Walker Jr. could turn out to be a nice signing too, and is reportedly set to make the calls on that side of the ball.

Another crucial contributor by way of the 2021 NFL Draft/as an offseason addition could end up being second-round selection Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, as well.

It was only in preseason action last weekend at the Jacksonville Jaguars, who are not exactly a contending squad, but Owusu-Koramoah had an impressive debut for Cleveland. In that contest, which was a 23-13 victory for the Browns, Owusu-Koramoah led the club with eight total tackles (five solo), and had a sack and three tackles for loss (TFL).

It was again, only preseason, however, the Notre Dame product made his imprint on the game, and he’s been making things happen throughout training camp/practices. That’s caught his teammates and the squad’s attention too, as Walker expressed recently in media availability, via Andrew Gribble and Anthony Poisal of Clevelandbrowns.com.

Gribble and Poisal first noted how Walker stated Owusu-Koramoah wouldn’t need a lot of adjustment time, for further context; here was a bit from Walker as transcribed by them.

"‘Elite athlete as far as explosiveness, quickness, speed, instincts and all of that stuff,” Walker said in June. “He is a freak of nature. I have no doubt in my mind that he will be a great player in this league.”‘"

Following those June comments up, here was more from Walker before Tuesday’s training camp practice, again via Gribble and Poisal.

"‘He was as good as advertised,” Walker said with a smile Tuesday before Day 14 of Training Camp. “I kind of advertised him, so he made me look good. He made look like a smart man.”‘"

Walker is bullish on JOK, just like so many of us Cleveland Browns fans are.

JOK has the makings of being a difference-maker for the Browns with his coverage abilities and quickness, which enable him to make things happen in the open field, which was something Cleveland was missing last season. Walker was on the ball when he emphasized, via Gribble and Poisal, that Owusu-Koramoah brings a “different element.”

Now, the Orange and Brown shouldn’t be expecting JOK to be taking on offensive linemen regularly at 215 pounds in the run game, as DPD contributors have been stressing. But he’s been clearly processing information quickly and if he can be reasonably clean, he can assuredly make tons of stops, as he did on Saturday.

And in the passing game, which is largely what today’s league is predicated on, he has the makings of a difference-maker for the Browns as a weapon and chess-piece-type player there they could deploy against a number of skill players.

Plus, as a situational blitzer, he could register a bunch of pressures for Cleveland, leading to wasted downs for opposing offenses, factoring in Cleveland’s retooled secondary and guys such as Myles Garrett and Clowney in the fold around him, too.

Granted, we’ll have to see as far as the snap count/outlook game-to-game for JOK. However, as DPD’s Grant Puskar highlighted, his debut at Jacksonville didn’t hurt his case for potential starting-type snaps.

Even after missing time to begin camp because of him having been placed on the COVID-19 list, JOK had a lights-out debut.

Moreover, as Walker’s comments above highlighted, plenty are in the right to be bullish on the Notre Dame product. It’ll be up to the Browns and defensive coordinator Joe Woods to utilize him optimally, though.