Browns Donovan People-Jones playing with one of his idols in Amari Cooper

Donovan Peoples-Jones looks to be a Cleveland Browns player to watch in 2022, and he’s set to play with one of his idols from back in the day.

One of the Cleveland Browns players that has had plenty of hype surrounding them throughout the offseason, and now as training camp has started, has been Donovan Peoples-Jones.

Peoples-Jones showed flashes as a sixth-round selection in 2020, with him having more opportunities in the back half of that season, somewhat because of former Brown Odell Beckham Jr.’s injury.

As a rookie then, Peoples-Jones had 14 catches, which was not a considerable amount clearly, but he did have a 75-yard touchdown at the Tennessee Titans later in the season, and he had 229 yards in his 13 other receptions. That still constituted him having 17.6 yards per reception.

In his second season, Peoples-Jones built on that and was a bright spot for Cleveland. While the passing game was inconsistent overall, and then-quarterback Baker Mayfield being anything but 100 percent didn’t help, nor did his decision-making on top of that, Peoples-Jones’ play was encouraging.

Then he had 34 receptions for a team-leading 597 yards (you can take that how you will), and he was third in the league in yards per catch, at 17.6. Peoples-Jones has shown a knack to make plays outside the numbers, and has, for the most part, been very sure-handed when his number has been called. He looks to be a deep threat from here and entering his third season, it’s understandable why many seem to believe he could have a breakout campaign.

Now, there still hasn’t been a Deshaun Watson suspension ruling yet, and Jacoby Brissett is not the passing talent, nor playmaker of Watson, to get that out there. But Peoples-Jones is a pass catcher to keep an eye on.

All of that being said, it’s apparent that the top target for the Browns looks to be Cooper, clearly. The offseason trade acquisition from the Dallas Cowboys has been a big-time player, and he should be a difference-maker for Cleveland this coming season, and for years to come, hopefully.

In regards to the Peoples-Jones element here, though, it was interesting that he was a huge fan of Cooper’s game when he was younger and still is, via Browns staff writer Anthony Poisal, and now they’ll be teammates. Here was more on that from Peoples-Jones on Friday during training camp media availability, via Poisal.

"“He was just one of the best,” Peoples-Jones said Friday. “He was at the top of the line.”"

Peoples-Jones has the ultimate respect for Cooper, who was one of his idols, and both are Browns players to watch going forward.

Poisal mentioned how Cooper doing so at Alabama was the reason Peoples-Jones wore No. 9 at Cass Tech High, and did the same in his collegiate career at Michigan.

DPJ cited how back then, with how Cooper was so great at Bama, at least what I took from it, he was in on rocking Cooper’s number. In line with that, he hit on how following the move for Cooper, he was “excited” to play alongside one of his “favorite” players from back then, via the Cleveland Browns.

Cooper is a four-time Pro Bowler with the then-Oakland and now-Las Vegas Raiders and Cowboys, and throughout his eight-year career thus far has had 7076 receiving yards, 46 receiving touchdowns, and has averaged 13.7 yards per reception.

In the past two seasons with Dallas, he had 68 catches for 865 yards, with eight TDs in 2021, and the year prior, had 92 catches for 1114 yards, to go with five TDs, albeit in a season mostly sans Dak Prescott.

With Cooper, there was seemingly some narrative that he was injury-prone with Dallas, which was strange, as he missed two games last season due to COVID-19, one the year prior and played a full season in 2019. His being grilled by Jerry Jones, of course following his trade exit essentially for cap purposes, conveniently, made no sense, to echo DPD’s own Randy Gurzi’s sentiment.

Anyways, next season, it should be intriguing to see how Cooper does in his first year as a Brown, and what the target-share looks like for a guy who has been such a big fan of his in Peoples-Jones. This factors in the likes of David Njoku, and to some extent, rookie third-round pick David Bell, who has been on the PUP list (foot) since the start of camp.