NFL teams
Pat McManamon, ESPN Staff Writer 8y

Browns expect Josh Gordon, Corey Coleman to play Friday

NFL, Cleveland Browns

Josh Gordon should see his first preseason action Friday night when the Cleveland Browns visit the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Browns coach Hue Jackson made it clear without explicitly stating that Gordon and first-round draft pick Corey Coleman will play in a game for the first time. This means the Browns will see their top receiving trio of Gordon, Coleman and Terrelle Pryor catching passes from quarterback Robert Griffin III for the first time as well.

"That sounds good," Jackson told the media in Tampa after the Browns' second day of practice with the Bucs. "That sounds really good. I'm looking forward to that. ... I think we have a good chance for that to happen."

After an impressive first two weeks of practice, Coleman missed the first two games of the preseason with a strained hamstring. He was active in practices in Tampa and said there are no lingering hamstring issues.

"We took it slow easing me back in, but now I'm full speed, full go," Coleman said.

Gordon missed the first two weeks with a quad injury, and Jackson has eased him in slowly. This week, though, Gordon got starter's reps as Jackson said he needed to see him before preseason ended.

Gordon is suspended the first four games of the season, so Jackson wants the best impression of him he can get now so that when the season starts he can step right in.

"Josh if you look at him, he's a physical specimen," Griffin said. "It's fun to see him go out there, a man that big, that strong, that fast, and play wide receiver. So ... it's incredible."

Gordon led the NFL in receiving yards in 2013, Coleman is a highly touted first-round pick and Pryor has emerged with what Jackson has called an excellent camp and preseason.

"We've got a lot of talent on the field," Coleman said. "It's kind of scary. So many guys can do different things. I'm just excited to see where we're going to go."

Griffin, who had a good second game after a mediocre first, said he simply needs to get the ball to the right guy based on the coverage read for the play that's called.

"There's a lot of fish in the tank, and it's up to us to feed them the right way," Griffin said.

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