BEREA — Amari Cooper believes there could be fireworks.

The new leader of the Browns receiving corps wasn’t referring to a postgame celebratory spectacle, although that could be a figurative byproduct of his great expectations for the offense this season.

Cooper’s optimism lit up the sky as the Browns open the season Sunday against quarterback Baker Mayfield and the Carolina Panthers in Bank of America Stadium.

Asked what fans can expect, Cooper said Thursday, “Hopefully it's going to be fireworks. We definitely have the talent on this side of the ball to be everything that we want to be.”

Last season with Mayfield tearing the labrum in his non-throwing shoulder in Week 2, the Browns ranked 18th in the league in offensive yards per game (340.6), 20th in points per game (20.5), and fourth in rushing (145.4). Mayfield was traded on July 6 and beat out Sam Darnold for the Panthers' starting job.

This season, quarterback Jacoby Brissett is slated to start while three-time Pro Bowler Deshaun Watson serves an 11-game suspension for violations of the league’s personal conduct policy. With Brissett in charge, the Browns are expected to be a run-heavy team with three-time Pro Bowler Nick Chubb and 2017 league leader Kareem Hunt.

That kind of attack didn’t dampen the hopes of four-time Pro Bowler Cooper, acquired in a March 12 trade from the Dallas Cowboys.

"That's fireworks, too,” Cooper said of the running game.

Offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt shares that feeling.

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With D’Ernest Johnson and rookie Jerome Ford waiting in the wings, the Browns have the deepest running back room Van Pelt said he has seen in his 18 years in the NFL. Johnson totaled 245 yards and averaged over 5.9 yards per carry in his two starts last season, when injuries and COVID-19 limited Hunt to eight games.

“That’s fireworks to me, man, 20-yard plus runs, I think we led the league in that,” Van Pelt said Thursday. “Those are pretty cool fireworks. They might be sparklers, but they’re still fireworks. We’ll take it.”

The Browns had 18 runs of 20 or more yards in 2021. Chubb, with 12, was second in the league in that category behind the Indianapolis Colts’ Jonathan Taylor as Taylor and Chubb finished one-two in the league in rushing (1,822-1,259).

Brissett has averaged 6.4 yards per attempt in 60 career games with 37 starts (14-23 record) and is expected to rely on a short to intermediate passing game.

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Asked if people are underestimating Brissett’s ability to throw deep, Van Pelt said, “I hope so.”

Part of that is the unproven receivers behind Cooper. Donovan Peoples-Jones, with 48 catches (18.8 average) and five touchdowns in two seasons, is listed as No. 2 on the depth chart with rookie David Bell and Demetric Felton Jr. behind him. Backing up Cooper are speedster Anthony Schwartz, plagued by drops in the preseason, and rookie Michael Woods II.

All-Pro left guard Joel Bitonio said the one-two punch of Chubb and Hunt “is always part of our identity,” but knows the attack must be more diverse.

“There are times where a defense doesn't allow you to do that if they're putting nine guys in the box. You can't just like put your head against the wall,” Bitonio said. “You're going to have to throw the ball, and the more you can throw the ball sometimes it spreads it out a little bit more.

“But I think if you look at the identity of the team, it's one that you want to run the ball, you want to take shots with play action, you want to take the shots when they're there. I think when we're working well, it kind of shows.”

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Bitonio said he is excited to see how the Browns distribute the ball. With Brissett taking the starter’s reps since Aug. 14, which will be a month of work as of Sunday, Cooper believes the offense is coming together.

“Yeah, I do. I feel like we have a good grasp as a whole of what we want to do on offense, what our goals are,” Cooper said. “We’ll just have to wait and see, you know. The games tell the story better than I can.”

Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MRidenourABJ.