This is definitely not the way the Browns wanted to start their OTAs.

 

Their last two top picks in the NFL Draft, defensive end Myles Garrett (2017) and wide receiver Corey Coleman, aren’t on the field when media members are allowed to view practice and are presumed to be hurt.

 

Come on, what else are they to think?

 

It is hard to figure out what Garrett’s injury might be if he’s hurt. Knee?

 

But it is rumored that Coleman, who was badgered by injuries last season and greatly underachieved, might have broken his wrist. For a guy whose job it is to catch passes, that would be a bad injury.

 

If Coleman is indeed hurt and a broken wrist is indeed his injury, then he could be out until the start of training camp.

 

Yikes.

 

The Browns – in the person of head coach Hue Jackson – are downplaying the situations with both players. That’s OK until you realize that Jackson is an ultra-positive guy.

 

Perhaps Jackson is right. Perhaps all this doom and gloom is not at all warranted.

 

I don’t think so – the evidence seems very strong that something is not right – but to be fair, we have to give Jackson the benefit of the doubt. I’m not about to call him an outright liar – he’s too good of a man for that – but if he’s stretching the truth a bit and being a little loose with the facts, he would certainly not be the first NFL head coach to have done so.

 

And anyway, this is just the first few days of June. It’s not as if the Browns have a game tomorrow.

 

We’ll just have to wait and see how it all plays out.

 

But in the meantime, in the very least, it’s a bad look on a franchise that, coming off a 1-15 season and nine consecutive losing records, has already had more than its share of bad looks for quite a while.

 

Like former Browns head coach Bill Belichick always likes to say, “A player’s best ability is his availability.” Garrett and Coleman aren’t helping anyone – neither themselves nor the Browns – by sitting out these practices. They need to be out there working so they can begin getting into the flow of things, honing their skills, learning the schemes, meshing with their teammates, etc.

 

Instead, they’re nowhere to be seen.

 

It’s not what you want for your first-round draft choices.