Hue Jackson Comments on Corey Coleman's Conditioning, Playing WR in NFL

First-round draft pick Corey Coleman isn't exempt from new Cleveland Browns head coach Hue Jackson's critiques, even in his first practices.

On Friday, Jackson spoke with Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com about the wide receiver's physical adaptation to life in the NFL:

"

He's got to get in shape. He's explosive and he can catch the ball. He's extremely talented and gifted. (But) he's one of the guys that has to get in shape. He saw himself, 'whoa, this is different.' And it is. But we'll get him to where he needs to be.

"

On Saturday, Coleman agreed with Jackson's comments, saying "it's the truth," per Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal.

The Browns took the former Baylor Bears star with the 15th overall pick after trading away the No. 2 pick and later the No. 8 pick for a bounty of lower selections.

Even though he recorded more than 1,300 yards and led the nation with 20 receiving touchdowns in his junior year at Baylor, Jackson pointed out Coleman has plenty of work to do, per Cabot:

"

It's different in the National Football League. Receivers have to be able to run all day long. The guy made it through practice and he made some plays and catches and all that stuff. But at the same time, there's a level of what it should it look like for me.

So maybe this is a little pleasing of me that he needs to get better from a conditioning standpoint to be able to do it for as long as I know that a receiver has to do it and the way our receivers do it now.

"

But Jackson does have confidence that he'll be able to get Coleman and Cleveland's other draft picks in shape "very quickly."

Not only will Coleman have to focus on conditioning, but he also has to work on building a rapport with a new quarterback in an uncertain situation.

In what has been a revolving door at the position, the Browns brought in former Washington Redskins signal-caller Robert Griffin III in free agency and USC Trojans quarterback Cody Kessler in the third round of the draft to compete with Josh McCown, Austin Davis and Connor Shaw. 

For whoever gets the nod at quarterback, Coleman will be a fresh face who could help improve Cleveland's passing attack, which ranked 21st in the league last season and was led by tight end Gary Barnidge's breakout season of 1,043 yards and nine touchdowns.

Cleveland didn't get much from its wide receivers, though, outside of Travis Benjamin's 966 yards and five touchdowns. Brian Hartline was the only other wide receiver to have more than one touchdown and more than 500 yards.

Coleman will have an opportunity to work with his new teammates with full-squad minicamp coming up in June, per Cabot. The quicker he is able to get in shape and show he can compete and succeed at the NFL level, the higher he will be on the depth chart as the offseason progresses.

Stats courtesy of Pro-Football-Reference.com.