Deshaun Watson? Jacoby Brissett? Amari Cooper isn't worrying about who will be Browns QB

BEREA –  Amari Cooper is an expert on adjusting to different quarterbacks. It's what the eighth-year receiver has been doing for most of his career.

Just in his past two seasons in Dallas, Cooper had five different starting quarterbacks. Throw in another two quarterbacks during his time with the Raiders, and it's literally one starting quarterback for each year he's already played.

So the uncertainty around the Browns' quarterbacks isn't getting the soft-spoken Cooper all worked up.

"This isn't my first year in the league or my first year playing football, I've had the opportunity to play with a lot of different quarterbacks. I think I've played with most types. I've played with guys who've released the ball fast," Cooper said prior to Thursday's training camp practice. "I've played with guys who throw hard. It'll be just adjusting to who's back there."

Cooper was acquired from the Dallas Cowboys on March 11 in exchange for two third-day draft picks. Seven days later, the Browns made the biggest move of the NFL offseason by acquiring Deshaun Watson in a trade with the Houston Texans.

On paper, it would be the kind of pairing over which to salivate. A top-of-the-line receiver catching passing from a top-of-the-line quarterback.

Day two, Browns training camp: Anthony Schwartz pulls up with leg injury

"He can do everything," Cooper said of Watson. "I call him the magician. He just makes plays out there. He’s incredible, some of the stuff I’ve seen on film with, shoot, going back to Clemson. He just makes it happen so he’s definitely up there at the top.”

The problem for the potential Watson-Cooper connection is the availability of the quarterback. There's no certainty Watson will be the eighth starting quarterback with whom Cooper plays.

That may actually end up being Jacoby Brissett, who is expected to start during any league suspension Watson incurs from disciplinary officer Sue L. Robinson. Robinson hasn't issued her ruling yet on Watson's potential NFL personal conduct policy violations in conjunction with the allegations of sexual misconduct made against him.

That has left the Browns in a state of limbo in terms of how long, if potentially at all, they will be without their expected starting quarterback during the regular season.

One who's not hanging in limbo? Cooper.

"To me, no matter who is back there, I just have to make the job easier for whoever it is," Cooper said. "That's my goal every time I line up out there. As long as I handle my business, get open, it's easy on whoever is back there. If I don't get open, it's hard on whoever is back there."

Cooper's career proves those not to be hollow words. He's posted five 1,000-yard receiving seasons, including a career-best 92 catches for 1,114 yards and five touchdowns when the Cowboys started four different quarterbacks (Dak Prescott, Andy Dalton, Ben DiNucci and Garrett Gilbert).

A four-time Pro Bowler. Cooper has at least 72 catches in five of his seven regular seasons. A year ago, with Prescott starting 16 of the Cowboys' 17 regular-season games, he had 68 catches for 865 yards and a career-best eight touchdowns, with another six catches for 64 yards and a touchdown in their playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

Safety first for Browns: 'The glue': Safety Grant Delpit becoming a leader among Cleveland Browns defensive backs

That was the first time since his first full season in Dallas in 2019 that a majority of the season was spent catching the ball from one quarterback. That's not likely to be the case this season in Cleveland, barring a stunning ruling from Robinson.

That's not likely to matter to Cooper.

"I don't want to keep repeating myself, but I have a job to do," Cooper said. "That job is to primarily get open when my name is called. I really feel like, as long as I do that, I continue to make it easy on who's throwing the ball."

Browns coach Kevin Stefanski has spent essentially every opportunity he's had to talk about the quarterback situation trying to deflect the overall impact. As far as its impact on the receivers themselves, he believes it's a fairly simple proposition.

Whether it's Watson or Brissett, or even one of the two Joshes – Dobbs and Rosen – throwing the ball, there's one thing Cooper and the rest of the pass catchers can control.

"Our receivers, they have their job to do, and they have to get open," Stefanski said. "They have to catch the football. I don't think they spend a lot of time thinking about that. Conversely, quarterbacks do spend time thinking about that, how guys come out of breaks and getting used to a guy's length or lack of length and how you throw to them. Receivers, they're getting open and catching the ball."

Cooper has spent the past several months, be it in offseason workouts or the first two days of training camp, trying to develop the chemistry between both quarterbacks. Watson has garnered almost all of the first-team reps throughout that process, but Brissett has had a few.

Chemistry, though, isn't necessarily something Cooper feels is dependent on the quarterback.

"It's not overblown, don't get me wrong," Cooper said. "The reality of the situation is I'm not going to b wide open every play. That's where the chemistry comes into play. That's where the chemistry comes in that the guys who are guarding me, some of them get paid more than me."

That doesn't mean Cooper doesn't believe in a receiver and quarterback getting themselves on the same page. He acknowledges it's a process that takes time, and time dependent on the individuals involved.

It's also a process that takes many variables.

“I can’t really put my finger on it," Cooper said. "It’s just two players having … they have that understanding I guess I would say communication – verbally and nonverbally. If a quarterback really knows how you like to run routes, you gotta understand it’s going to be like two or three receivers on the field at a time. Receivers run routes differently, you know what I mean? So it’s like the quarterback understands how the receiver breaks on certain routes and then obviously the wide receiver understands the quarterback’s stride and release pattern and things like that. That’s what creates that chemistry.”

Contact Chris at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com.

On Twitter: @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Amari Cooper isn't worrying about who will be Cleveland Browns' QB