Browns history: WR Corey Coleman opens up to DBN about Hard Knocks scene, mental health and so much more (2024)

The Cleveland Browns were looking for some offensive punch in 2016. With a new head coach who was an offensive mind in Hue Jackson, the franchise just wasn’t scoring enough. The thought process was to bring in a young guy with plenty of speed to take the top off the defense. WR Josh Gordon had been the NFL darling in 2014 gaining 1,646 yards, but missed all of 2015 due to a violation of the league’s substance abuse policy.

Going into the 2014 season, the Browns had a new head coach in Mike Pettine who completed a 7-9-0 season. Before the 2015 campaign could even get started, OC Kyle Shanahan resigned from his position over the play of QB Johnny Manziel. Then WR coach Mike McDaniel left by mutual agreement. The new OC was John DeFilippo.

Today, Shanahan is the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, McDaniel is the head coach of the Miami Dolphins and DeFilippo is the head coach of the Memphis Showboats of the United Football League.

Photo by Andrew Dieb/Icon Sportswire/Corbis/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

A 3-13-0 record came in 2015, and the offensive firepower just wasn’t there. The Browns had the Number 2 overall pick and traded it to the Philadelphia Eagles for two first-round picks, two seconds, a third and a fourth-round selection. Philly then drafted QB Carson Wentz. Cleveland went on the clock at the Eagles’ Number 15 slot in the first round.

The first receiver off the board in this draft was Corey Coleman of Baylor to the Browns.

Coleman had lit up college football. A former track star, he ran a 4.39 in the 40. At the Combine, he had a vertical jump of 40.5” and hit 10’9” in the broad jump. In his final year at Baylor, he scored 20 touchdowns and gained 1,363 yards on 74 receptions after having 1,119 yards in his sophom*ore year.

Coleman won the Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s best receiver, was selected First Team All-Big 12, and was named Unanimous All-American.

Set Number: SI347 TK1

He was paired with Terrelle Pryor at receiver with Gary Barnidge as the tight end. Rookie Cody Kessler was the starting quarterback along with a re-processed Robert Griffin, III with future Hall of Famer Joe Thomas at left tackle. Josh Gordon was supposed to be included in this lineup, but this was a continuation of his drug allegations and subsequent suspensions.

What transpired was a sieve for an offensive line, bad QB play, no veteran receivers, and four rookie starters on the offense. Oh, and a 1-15-0 finish. The Browns finished 28^th in the league in passing with the second-fewest TD receptions, and middle of the pack in rushing. Play calling was also dreadful which was deemed very odd for an offensive guru such as Jackson.

After Coleman started fewer games in 2017 with scarcer stats, Cleveland limped to a 0-16-0 collapse. In the following training camp, Coleman was regulated to the second-team offense. This was the training camp where HBO was filming their football show “Hard Knocks.” In one episode, Coleman visited Coach Jackson in his office to inquire why he was suddenly listed on the depth chart with the second unit.

Instead of taking the time to discuss the demotion, all Jackson said was to go ask Todd which was a reference to new OC Todd Haley.

A young player like that just needed to be told that he should fight his battles a little harder, and with his potential, he should be able to get back to the first-team offense but it won’t be given to him. In its place, Coleman got deflection instead of direction. An obviously frustrated Coleman then stated, “If you don’t want me to play, why won’t y’all just trade me?” But this is only part of the story as Coleman tells what happened away from the editing.

On August 5, 2018, Coleman was traded to the Buffalo Bills for a 2020 seventh-round pick. But this story has more details than what the public saw on the edited tape. Make that, excessively edited.

From that point, he was either released or added to the practice squad of the Bills, New England Patriots, New York Football Giants, or Kansas City Chiefs. Coleman missed the entire 2021 season.

Last season, Coleman signed with the Philadelphia Stars of the USFL. He led the league in receiving yards with 669 yards and receptions (51) and was named First Team All-USFL. This year, he was drafted by the Michigan Panthers of the newly-formed United Football League but informed them that he had decided to hang up his cleats.

Coleman grew up in Richardson, Texas, and attended J.J. Pearce High School where he excelled in basketball, football, and track.

He was a standout jumper and sprinter. As a junior, he placed second in the triple jump (13.70 meters), and long jump (22’11”), and placed in other events such as the 100-meter dash (10.83 seconds), 200-meter dash (21.76), and 4x100 relay (41.97 seconds). Heading into his senior year, he ran the fastest 40-yard dash in Oregon with a time of 4.32. His state high jump mark was 6’4”.

In basketball, he averaged 15.1 points and 4.1 rebounds per game and scored 756 points in his final two years.

But football is where he was at his best. In his final three seasons, Coleman amassed 3,864 all-purpose yards and scored 61 touchdowns. As a sophom*ore, he earned Second-Team All-District 10-4A honors. The next two years he was named First Team All-District 10-4A. Coleman also was named First-Team 2011 All-Area by The Dallas Morning News SportsDay plus 2011 First-Team Class 4A All-State and District 10-4A MVP.

Coleman was rated a four-star prospect and heavily recruited by Kansas, Baylor, Cal, Oklahoma, Virginia, Texas, Kansas State, Texas A&M, Oklahoma State, and Texas Tech. After his official visits, he decided to remain in-state and attend Baylor.

When his college career was completed, Coleman had 3,009 yards on 173 receptions with 34 games played and had scored 33 touchdowns. These are incredible numbers.

Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images

Cleveland then selected Coleman with the 15th overall pick in the 2016 NFL draft and signed him to a four-year, $11.65 million contract.

Fast forward, and now that his football career is apparently at its end, Coleman wants to address something in his life that he wishes to get out and be heard: his lifelong condition of mental health.

This interview is Coleman’s first ever to any media outlet to discuss his mental health issues.

From here, he wants to do podcasts, radio shows, and TV sports shows to get his message across regarding what mental health is, why it affects athletes, and what others can do to help themselves in their own lives.

Coleman is hopeful that his message will become a catalyst for others - especially younger men - to come forward and get answers regarding their own journey.

For this article concerning mental health, Dawgs By Nature reached out to several consultants.

Lee Shellko has 44 years of mental health experience from 1983 - 2012 DoD & DoJ; 2012 - 2023 State of Hawai’i, and 2023-2024 with a private corporation. Dawgs By Nature producer Jared Mueller is a psychotherapist in the Dayton area. He’s worked in the mental health field for 24 years and is an independently licensed social worker with a supervision designation.

Today, Coleman lives in Dallas, Texas with his two-year-old daughter Nyla. He is just 29 years old and lives his life by Christian values. After leading the USFL last year in receiving yards plus being voted 2023 All-USFL, he was drafted by the Michigan Panthers of the UFL in January but told them he is retiring from football. As a Texas kid growing up, don’t offer him any wet sauce on any Bar-B-Q. Texans prefer dry rub.

His Twitter handle is @TheCoreyColeman and Instagram is @coreycoleman.

Dawgs By Nature sat down with Coleman to discuss his winning the Biletnikoff Award, life on a 1-15-0 team followed by a 0-16-0 season, and how he has fought hurdles with mental health.

DBN: During the second game of your junior year with Baylor in 2015 against Lamar University, you set the Baylor school record with four touchdown receptions in a single game. Was that just great route running, pinpoint quarterback accuracy or poor defensive back play?

Coleman: That was me and my quarterback Seth Russell being on the same page all game. We came into the program together as freshmen, worked really hard in the off-season, and had that connection being around each other all that time.

DBN: Your final year at Baylor you won the Biletnikoff Award for the nation’s most outstanding receiver. Were you surprised you had won this honor?

Coleman: After the first couple of games of the season, the media talked about me being up for it. I had looked at other guys and compared stats and stuff like that occasionally, but really I kept my head down and focused on the team. I tried to control only what I could control. Later in the season, my head coach Art Briles told me I had a really good chance of winning it. At the award ceremony, I went with my mom Sandy, my two sisters Ashley and Coleman, and my coaches.

Editor’s note: The selection committee for the annual Biletnikoff Award winner consists of 650 journalists, commentators, broadcasters, and former players

Photo by Nick Cammett/Diamond Images/Getty Images

DBN: What was your first Browns training camp like? And what are the main differences between the NFL and college?

Coleman: The new environment was shocking. New coaches and the way stuff is run is different than what you are used to. The draft process was hectic enough, and so was training camp. The difference is it’s a business. So, there is the money aspect. Then there is the amount of time the coaches can be with the players. There is a lot more free time in the off-season. In college, everything is already scheduled out for you whereas in the NFL when the season is over, it’s hey, figure it out. In college, the structure is there.

DBN: After two seasons with the Browns, you had only 18 starts with 718 yards and five touchdowns. That is nothing for you. Those stats are almost what you had as a freshman at Baylor. Why wasn’t the coaching staff using you more?

Coleman: There were a lot of changes within the organization. Then I broke my hand during practice as a rookie and then broke it again with surgery which put me out six games. And in those two years, I played with a lot of different quarterbacks so you have to factor that in. And had several different offensive coordinators. People don’t look at that piece. They just look at where I was drafted and how high. And normally when you go to a new team, you always have veteran guys to help groom a young player like me. Who was in my receiver room? Josh Gordon wasn’t there. I had Andrew Hawkins who was a slot guy. They drafted me to play outside. They had former quarterback Terrelle Pryor who was transitioning to receiver and learning on his own how to play the position. I didn’t have that veteran presence that is so valuable to a young player. I love all those guys even today, but it was like here, fin for yourself.

DBN: You came from a Baylor program that was 32-7-0 while you played there. Then the Browns went 1-15-0 in 2016 followed by 0-16-0 in 2017. You had always been on winning teams even back to your high school days. How do you as an athlete handle all those losses?

Coleman: It is very challenging. And I was dealing with a lot of stuff at the time, too, but now losing. I had always been a part of winning teams. So, in the locker room, you got some guys who don’t care. There are a lot of different ages and some guys just collecting a check. Other guys know they are on their way out. Finger pointers. I am young. At the time, I was the youngest on the team. And so, you start to see things for yourself start to trickle down into the locker room. That is why they say the locker room is so important – if you lose your locker room you lose your team. You just have to keep your head down and work, focus on the next game, and hope you win some games.

DBN: Last season in the USFL you led the league in receiving yards plus receptions. This had to give you confidence that you could play well at a high level again. What was life in the USFL like, and how did you find out you had made the All-USFL team?

Coleman: I just wanted to put a good product on the field. I knew I could play. I knew that. Early on in my career, I was dealing with being depressed, having anxiety, stress, and two broken hands. I was dealing with so much mental stuff that it would take away from me playing football. I knew going into the USFL I had a goal: to lead all receivers. It wasn’t just coincidence that is what did happen. I found out about being named all-league by my coaches.

DBN: This off-season, the USFL and XFL merged into one league now called the United Football League. You were drafted by Michigan. Why did you decide not to play this year?

Coleman: I was at a UFL training facility in Colorado and did over seven hours a day on traumatic stuff and football. When it was about over, they told me they would draft me with the first pick and I told them to not draft me because I was going to retire. They said they were going to draft me still in case I changed my mind. That is how I ended up being drafted by Mike Nolan of Michigan who is a great guy. He was incredible with the way he treated the players.

DBN: Mental health is an issue that you want to discuss. Let’s talk a bit about that. What has motivated you for all these years to get here, and what were some of the hurdles you have had to overcome?

Coleman: My mother and my daughter are what has motivated me. Hurdles include a lot of depression and anxiety. Bad coping skills I had to get over. I had to do some extended therapy to help me and heal from it. I talk to my therapist in Dallas twice a week.

DBN: What makes you anxious?

Coleman: I have dealt with a lot during my career and in life. Just growing up. Football is a violent game and been playing since I was five years old. You have been taught at a very young age that this is normal. Reality is not normal, and so when you program your mind that way certain emotions are turned off. Certain stuff I couldn’t feel because they were turned off.

DBN: And you turned it off just because you were playing sports?

Coleman: Yeah, it’s upbringing. With football, you’re supposed to be tough and never cry. And that’s a normal emotion. I didn’t have that. I went to my aunt’s funeral who helped raise me and I didn’t shed a tear. Those emotions were turned off.

DBN: How long have you been dealing with this?

Coleman: Years and years. But the thing is, it is different dealing with it, but I didn’t know what it was. I wasn’t educated on it. I knew these emotions were suppressed, and I had anxiety, but the anxiety was so great I forgot to play whole snaps. I was scared I might get cut or something. Get released. Anxiety would kick in and didn’t know how to really describe it. These types of feelings are frowned upon. Football players are supposed to be tough and not deal with problems. They say let’s just give them money and the problems will go away. That reality is not true. And even if I wanted to talk to someone, I didn’t because I was scared to come out about what I was dealing with. I was coping with bad things.

DBN: What were some of the things that helped you get through it while playing football?

Coleman: The alcohol. Some days coming to practice and I was just out of it. I liked bourbon, either with co*ke or straight up. I was drinking a lot. I would come to practice hung over or intoxicated. Maker’s Mark and Woodford were good bourbons. I felt I was dealing with so much stuff nothing else helped me. I was looking for temporary relief - like drinking. And coping with women. How I was raised, my trust is already messed up, and came from a single-parent household with three kids and poor. We moved a lot and I went to four different elementary schools. A lot of decisions I had to make on my own. You made the decision, you did it, you got it. We grew up underprivileged, underclass. I love my mom to death; she is a great mom. But there was certain stuff I didn’t have or a father figure to tell me to do this or do that.

DBN: What happened to your dad, and did you get your athletic ability from him?

Coleman: My dad went to prison when I was like four or five. Then he got out but went back when I was in high school. It was only a couple of years that I had him before he went back to prison. I visited him in prison. He is out now and we have a real good relationship. He played football in high school and did some semi-pro later. I got my speed from my mom’s dad whom I never met. They say he was a gifted athlete. I have two half-brothers who played college football, too. My nephew Kevin Jennings is at SMU playing quarterback.

Photo by David Banks/Getty Images

DBN: How do you think your mental health impacted your play on the field?

Coleman: A lot. Your mind’s not in it and dealing with a lot of stuff that affects everything. Your body, concentration, everything.

DBN: You have a famous scene in HBO’s Hard Knocks at Browns’ training camp where you ask Cleveland head coach Hue Jackson about why you were placed with the second team, and then you ask to be traded. If you could run that day back, would you do that same thing?

Coleman: I want to explain that day, what really happened because the media can do a lot of cutting stuff up. The day before we had a scrimmage and I ran first team. My emotions were already high just because of how the organization was going. I swept a lot of stuff under the rug when I broke my hand twice, never came out and said anything bad, and there was a lot of change.

We were about to have a scrimmage for the day, and my receiver coach told me to grab some second-team reps. I said what are you talking about? He then said they were trying to screw me over.

My receiver coach, I guy whom I trusted, and keep in mind I didn’t have a lot of positive role models, told me if I were him I would go upstairs and ask to be traded. I said, right now? And he said yeah. I went up there like he knew something.

The camera was hidden - no camera crew was up there. I am thinking me and Coach Hue are having a private conversation. Coach Hue told me to talk to (Browns OC) Todd (Haley). He acted like he didn’t know what was going on. Me and Todd had a conversation, and told me I was super talented and we had some words. And the video didn’t go anything like they portrayed it. They cut up a lot of film and made it seem like I was some horrible person. In reality, that was not my intention. I was thinking my receiver coach had my best interests. They think I am some asshole and look back now and don’t understand. It ruined my reputation and I can never get that back.

DBN: You know Corey, the stigma of society is that men have to be strong all the time. This leads to suppressed emotions and issues. Your thoughts?

Coleman: There you go, you can see it. Right there. I acted out emotions and got me in trouble. I live and I learn from my mistakes. And live within my faith.

DBN: You have dealt with mental health for a long time. Why do you feel a need to come public?

Coleman: Because I feel like with my situation of how things shaped out for me, if I can help someone to be brave and go seek help, to go to therapy, to seek out what can heal you, if I can reach a father, a son, an uncle, and try to help someone, that’s the real reason. I feel it is so frowned upon, and it needs to come to light. We can save someone. Or change someone’s direction in life.

DBN: You’ve struggled with mental health and were willing to talk about it with us, why was that important to you?

Coleman: Now, at this point in my life, I am doing a lot of therapy, a lot of healing and I can come forward. I can tell my side and tell the things that I am dealing with in going forward and pushing forward. Being an ambassador of doing things like that and eventually making a change. Maybe my story will help someone else. That makes me happy.

DBN: What types of treatments have worked and not worked for you?

Coleman: Therapy, talking to someone who is talking through problems. One-on-one. Meditation and working on good coping skills. Not letting myself give in to urges to take over. Keep fighting the uphill battle. What has not worked is bad coping skills, excessive drinking, and stuff related to that.

DBN: Did you drink the entire time you were with the Browns?

Coleman: Yes.

DBN: The entire time you were in the NFL?

Coleman: For the most part, yes. There is a difference between drinking and really drinking. A whole bottle of alcohol. I drink now every now and then. I don’t drink hard liquor anymore, just wine.

DBN: Who provides you support and in what ways are they supportive?

Coleman: My mom got me to walk away from football to focus on myself and my mental health and my journey which is a new chapter in my life. The coaches in the UFL were supportive and have a job open for me if I want it. I have a really good relationship with my therapist. I have grown in so many ways. My mom is a great woman. She got me to see to walk away from football. Everyone had always seen me as Corey Coleman the football player, so my mom and I sat down and had a heart-to-heart. She told me she loved me, and wanted the best for me. And she told me it was going to be okay. It’s time. It’s not who you are, it’s what you did. I want to walk away with this bigger purpose. I want to be the best dad possible for my daughter.

DBN: What would your advice be to anyone who asked for it as they deal with mental health issues?

Coleman: The advice would be, don’t give up until you find the right treatment for you. Also, take that first step. That’s the biggest thing: take that first step. Admitting you have a problem is part of that first step. Because everyone’s problem is not the same. People heal at different rates and at different times in their lives. I can’t tell you what to do, that is your emotions. Stay the course.

DBN: Do you feel like some of what you are talking about is due to traumatic experiences or changes around you?

Coleman: I know my mom tried the best she could raising three kids, but there were some Christmases that I didn’t have a single present under the tree. We have been evicted. That is traumatic stuff. Lots of moving. And me as a kid doesn‘t understand money. Not at all. I have been through a lot. That is why therapy has helped me. And they never judge you. You have to get stuff out and talk about it, or else it sits inside you.

DBN: What is your fondest moment of being a Cleveland Brown?

Coleman: Being drafted changed my life. That was a big moment. I was with my mom, two sisters, and college coaches backstage. Wearing a nice suit.

If you or someone you know is dealing with mental health issues, SAMHSA is a free, 24/7, 365-day-a-year treatment referral and information service (in English and Spanish) for individuals and families facing mental and/or substance use disorders. Call 1-800-662- HELP (4357).

Jared Mueller, Thomas Moore, and Lee Shellko contributed to this article