Can Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah become an elite linebacker? Key questions for 2022

CLEVELAND, Ohio — There’s no arguing that Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah was good for the Browns as a rookie. As he enters the second 12 months of his profession, it’s now about discovering out if his ceiling is anyplace in sight.

He was a vivid spot on the protection in 2021, even because the staff sputtered to a end and not using a playoff look. He delivered on the promise of versatility, which was evident all through his faculty days at Notre Dame. It was perhaps his defining attribute within the draft course of, a man who has principally all the time been as snug dashing a quarterback as he’s protecting a good finish.

Some groups actually weren’t fairly positive the right way to make the most of his ability set — questioning if an excessive amount of versatility may truly wind up hindering him, making it tougher for him to discover a function — and that’s why he was obtainable for the Browns to scoop up with 52nd decide within the 2021 draft.

Cleveland noticed that versatility as an asset, not a query mark, and it confirmed up in his movie and manufacturing.

Owusu-Koramoah performed everywhere in the subject in 2021, lining up in every single place from exterior offensive tackles to the field to the slot nook. He ended the season with a 76.5 defensive grade, a 78.7 run protection grade, a 70.3 move rush grade, and a 67.4 protection grade, based on Professional Soccer Focus.

The flexibility is there. Now it’s about how far it may well take him.

Can Owusu-Koramoah develop into elite?

Elite is an enormous phrase. It’s asking a number of any younger participant. However in my view, Owusu-Koramoah is headed that method. Even when it’s not realized instantly, what we’ve seen to date suggests he can attain the higher echelons amongst his friends given his first-year efficiency and his background.

Final season I profiled Owusu-Koramoah, making an attempt to determine the place his versatility and attack-focused mindset come from. The quick model: It was all the time there. “JOK” has all the time been like this. My favourite tidbit from the piece got here from his older brother, Jerry Brooks, who mentioned Owusu-Koramoah was hesitant to play youth soccer as a result of he felt he couldn’t breathe carrying a helmet. After getting used to it, nevertheless, it didn’t take lengthy for him to face out on the youth league fields in Hampton Roads, Virginia.

“He simply wasn’t afraid of contact,” Brooks informed cleveland.com earlier this 12 months. “And a number of the children at that age had been a little bit timid. And that was unlucky as a result of he would simply transfer by means of you. And he was shifting by means of little youngsters, I nearly felt unhealthy about it. Jeremiah type of had this edge to him. I don’t know the way you educate someone to have that. That’s principally what I bear in mind from the early days — him simply hitting different individuals’s youngsters tougher.”

To this present day, he nonetheless has that edge. His defensive grade ranked him tenth amongst all linebackers who performed at the very least 20% of their staff’s snaps. He was ranked sixth for his run protection, utilizing the identical standards. His protection grade nonetheless had him within the league’s high 20 (18th) and his pass-rushing grade was nonetheless pretty excessive, at twenty fourth. The side of his sport that he has the best potential to enhance is his tackling, for which he acquired only a 45.5 grade.

Typically it’s not in regards to the numbers. Even when a play doesn’t finish with an Owusu-Koramoah sack or QB hit, he confirmed that his mere presence has the facility to break down a play.

Owusu-Koramoah stood out early as a professional regardless of having a little bit of a fluky begin. Earlier than coaching camp, he landed on the COVID-19 reserve record and needed to miss time in late August after a weightlifting accident left him with stitches in his brow, unable to put on his helmet. Through the season, he suffered a high-ankle sprain towards the Cardinals and missed three video games. Earlier within the 12 months towards the Chargers he suffered a throat contusion.

Think about how a lot larger his grades might have been if he had been match for each sport.

Going into 2022, Owusu-Koramoah hasn’t needed to miss any time attributable to harm all through the offseason. He and your entire protection appear primed to have a breakout 12 months underneath defensive coordinator Joe Woods’ system.

One other promising argument within the “can he develop into elite?” query working in Owusu-Koramoah’s favor is his sport preparation. He prides himself on this side, getting up early on gamedays to look at movie, filling up complete notebooks for every opponent throughout the season, discovering minor errors in scouting studies.

It doesn’t matter what the Browns throw at him, he’s seemingly prepared for something.

“I really feel like that’s the factor to say, like, ‘Oh yeah, we don’t wish to throw an excessive amount of on the rookie,’ however we’re within the NFL, they’re paying you to do a job,” Owusu-Koramoah mentioned. “And it’s about staff and what we throw at you or what we placed on you, isn’t one thing that’s burdensome in any respect. And it by no means is, as a result of it’s your job, it’s what you do. So for those who simply change your perspective of it, such as you mentioned, this 12 months it’ll in all probability go up when it comes to roles and issues like that, however I’m simply doing what I can to offer to the staff.”

For some gamers, versatility will be an enemy. It hinders them from focusing and enhancing on their greatest attributes. For Owusu-Koramoah, nevertheless, it’s his tremendous energy.

One that’s able to making him elite.

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