Former Tennessee Vols standout earns strong praise from NFL assistant coach for work during offseason
Former Tennessee Vols wide receiver Cedric Tillman has had quite an offseason for the Cleveland Browns. Tillman, a third round selection by the Browns in the 2023 NFL Draft, was praised earlier this month by head coach Kevin Stefanski and quarterback Deshaun Watson for the progress he's made this offseason. "Very excited about Ced," said […]
Former Tennessee Vols wide receiver Cedric Tillman has had quite an offseason for the Cleveland Browns.
Tillman, a third round selection by the Browns in the 2023 NFL Draft, was praised earlier this month by head coach Kevin Stefanski and quarterback Deshaun Watson for the progress he's made this offseason.
"Very excited about Ced," said Stefanski. "You know, guys come into the league in different stages of their maturation, whether it's as a person or as a player. I think Ced continues to get better physically, and I do think just the things that he does in our offense, he's one year more comfortable in everything we're doing. So he's had a really nice offseason."
"Till, he's been working," added Watson. "He's been working really hard, and you can see it. He's been improving. He's knowing what he has got to do on each and every rep. He can play different positions, he can run all the routes, he can catch the big boy balls. You can toss it up to him, and he can catch the tough ones and the easy ones. So, I think he's going to be a great addition for this offense and he's going to help us."
The praise continued this week with Browns pass game coordinator/wide receivers coach Chad O’Shea telling Cleveland.com that he's "so happy" with Tillman's development.
“I’ll just say I’m so happy with Ced’s development and he really took advantage,” said O’Shea. “He was in this building nonstop, he didn’t miss a day. He worked so hard. And I can’t say enough about the job he did.”
"Can’t say enough about how well he’s done on the field for us as far as his work ethic, making plays,” added O'Shea. “I think he’s more confident in Year Two, which you would hope is the case with a young player. But Cedric, I just spoke to him and spoke to the group about how impressed we’ve been with him and how much he’s improved, and to see his development has been really great as a coach to see.”
The former Vol caught just 21 passes for 224 yards as a rookie last season, but it sounds like he's posed to make a bigger impact as a second-year receiver in 2024.
For now, Tillman is behind Amari Cooper, Jerry Jeudy, and Elijah Moore on the Browns' depth chart. It'll be interesting to see if Tillman is the "next man up" in the event that one of those three wide receivers is forced to miss time at some point in 2024.
How Arch Manning unknowingly helped the Tennessee Vols in a big way
Arch Manning helped without even realizing it
