JOK is A-OK
In case you haven't heard, the Browns are a little banged up. ((Everyone has heard, that's just for gigs.)) They are likely forced to start rookie Ronnie Hickman and backup D'Anthony Bell at safety last week as starter Grant Delpit hit the IR and the other starter Juan Thornhill was marked out by Saturday. The team has had to replace so much value all over the entire roster and this week seemed to be the one that the defense got hit hard. Along with Delpit going to the IR, defensive tackle Mo Hurst suffered a torn pectoral muscle and requires surgery, and edge rusher Ogbonnia Okoronkwo also has a pec injury that will keep him out a few weeks if not the rest of the regular season. Not to mention, linebacker leader Anthony Walker has been in and out of the lineup with injuries of late. But one of the stalwart starters who hasn't missed many snaps let alone games is linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah.Owusu-Koramoah has been a revelation in defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz's schemes this season. He has replaced Walker as MIKE linebacker, or middle if you don't like the WEAK/MIKE/SAM designations, and performed tremendously. He's currently third in the league in tackles for loss with 18, putting him over Defensive Player of the Year favorite Myles Garrett. He flashes as an uber-athletic spy in the middle of the field and uses the holes made by the phenomenal defensive line to attack attack attack the backfield. Just watch some of the film from this past Sunday as Brian Baldinger breaks it down. JOK's awareness on the defensive side of the ball cannot be overstated and he has remained a stalwart piece of the puzzle for the league's best defense.[embed]https://twitter.com/BaldyNFL/status/1736785979564822541?s=20[/embed]But it's not just on the field that Owusu-Koramoah has shown his maturity and presence. Any pro athlete has made the walk into the stadium on gameday an appearance, often highlighting their own brands, making statements with their attire. We saw this with David Njoku as he wore the full head mask on the Sunday after he burned a large part of his face, arm, and hand. But Owusu-Koramoah doesn't take the opportunity to showboat; instead, he wears traditional Ghanian and African clothes as a way to feel at home and establish his identity. He recently said, in a piece on Andscape, that Identity — who you are, where you’re from, what you represent — is one of his core beliefs, what he believes makes the world unique. "We as a people don’t embrace ourselves enough, which benefits no one."
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This season has been an important one for Cleveland as they have established and differentiated themselves from past regimes and created a chemistry amongst the roster as well as a culture of winning. JOK has been integral to that end, and he recently spoke on the change in the culture in Cleveland. In a recent interview, Owusu-Koramoah was quoted as saying this when asked about how the team has kept it together with so many players out with injury: "We are able - no matter what guys we add or what guys we subtract, we're able to kind of at least keep the chemistry. I think the chemistry revolves around the culture. So, if the culture is strong and we're missing people, the chemistry will still be there. So I think that's really been our ideology, is just to be able to keep the same energy, keep the same intensity, keep the same brotherhood feel, keep the same." And when he was asked what has helped his fantastic play on Sunday and he first credited his defensive line and then his coach for calling the plays, as he says "not out of being humble, but because they truly deserve the credit." Getting this performance from JOK, a first-round talent that slipped to the second round in the 2021 draft due to size concerns, has been transformative for the organization as a whole, on and off the field. He truly might be one of my favorite players on this roster which is filled with beloved players. His stache definitely helps.