Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah says report of heart issue stemmed from combine re-check but ‘my heart is 100% healthy’ and Browns doctors agree
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Browns linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah revealed before rookie minicamp on Friday that a report that he had a heart issue may have come from the NFL combine medical re-check, but reiterated that he’s completely fine.
“My heart is 100% healthy,” he said Friday via Zoom. “You can see that going through the protocol, going through the tests, going through the EKGs and going through the past MRIs and things like that. It’s not an issue. It’s not something I’m worried about.”
He said the report by ESPN’s Adam Schefter that he fell to the second round of the NFL Draft because of a heart issue stemmed from the combine re-check shortly before the draft last month, but that doctors cleared him.
“It starts from something that really was based on the combine and some of their testing and what they saw,” Owusu-Koramoah said. “But we have doctors here in the Cleveland Browns that I was just speaking to yesterday in terms of those same [medical] reports that [doctors before] the draft saw. The reports look fine. The EKGs look fine.”
He acknowledged that “some teams may have looked at the heart issue and just went off of that.’’
He said he won’t use the heart controversy as motivation, just like he won’t use slipping to the second round, where the Browns traded up seven spots with Carolina to draft him at No. 52, as fuel.
“I’ll control what I can control and won’t use external things as motivation,’’ he said.
Owusu-Koramoah’s remarks were consistent with what he told The Jim Rome Show on May 4.
“You get news,’’ he told Rome. “You get a lot of news within the draft and the process you’re going through. There was something that came up in terms of what guys were saying, but in terms of me, in terms of the personal aspect there were no really heart issues at all. There was nothing that was too ticked off and we went back to Notre Dame and looked at the medical records and everything.
“I never really had any heart issues or anything going on there. You know, you hear a lot of things, but you’ve got to get it from the source.’’
Rome then observed, “You’re not concerned about it so nobody should be either.”
“There you go,’’ Owusu-Koramoah said. “There you go.’’
His remarks also confirmed what Browns GM Andrew Berry said on Browns radio partner 92.3 The Fan and Sirius XM Radio, that Owusu-Koramoah is “completely healthy” and shouldn’t be held back by anything.
“There’s really nothing in his background that would suggest he can’t have a nice, long career,’’ Berry told The Ken Carman Show with Anthony Lima on 92.3 The Fan.
A few minutes later, during an interview on Sirius XM NFL Radio as part of two-day post-draft radio tour on the part of Berry and coach Kevin Stefanski, Berry reiterated the Owusu-Koramoah’s heart is fine, and “there’s no issue that would prevent him from being productive short- or long-term.”
The Browns said they had a first-round grade on the hybrid linebacker.
One NFL evaluator told cleveland.com that his team didn’t receive any flags of a heart issue.
“We had him very high on our board,’’ he said. “We had a first-round grade on him. This kid is a tremendous player, especially where they got him.’’
He said the Browns got “the most sudden linebacker in the draft. I don’t think they have a linebacker like him, and they have some good linebackers. He’s way faster, way twitchier, he’s more explosive. This guy can cover any back, he can stay on the field on all downs.’’
He noted that the fact Owusu-Koramoah elected not to run the 40 at his pro day may have hurt him.
“That was bad advice because he can run fast. When he got into the position stuff, he excelled. The Browns have to be able to run down one of the most elite athletes in the NFL in Lamar Jackson, and this kid can do it.”
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