CLEVELAND -- Earlier this week, Cleveland Browns safety Jabrill Peppers let it be known that he and his friends and family have been the subject of verbal abuse while out in public, and the second-year defensive back has a theory as to why he has not been able to connect with fans.
Much like former Browns wide receiver Braylon Edwards, Peppers is convinced his attending the University of Michigan is part of the reason why Cleveland fans have not yet embraced him.
“A little bit of a factor, absolutely,” Peppers said Thursday.
Peppers has struggled in special-teams play through the first four games of the 2018 regular season.
Peppers has made more fair catches (eight) than punt returns (six) and gained just 26 yards on those kicks. Additionally, Peppers has gained just 170 yards on eight kickoff returns, an average of 21.3 yards per runback.
“He has to continue to work and get better,” Browns coach Hue Jackson said. “Jabrill has done some really good things.
“We have to continue to clean up the special-teams returns, our punt returns and our kickoff returns because he is the primary ball carrier and put him in a position to have success. We plan on doing that. I think that sometimes, a lot of that gets overblown. We are still at the quarter of the season. There is a long way to go. There is a lot of football left ahead.”
A first-round pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, Peppers was quoted as saying Cleveland fans are “wishy-washy,” but Jackson believes those who truly support the Browns want their players to succeed, regardless of their alma mater.
“Being out and around, I am sure that some people probably come up to him and speak to him,” Jackson said. “I do not think that he means our fans, our die-hard Cleveland Browns fans. They have been with us through everything that we have been through.
“I just know him well enough that he probably did not mean it in that way. He has to take responsibility for that, and I am sure that he will. I just know the young man. I am not trying to defend him, but I know that, I am sure that he did not mean it in the way that it came across.”
Admittedly, Peppers has been pulled away from confrontations with fans while out in public, but said such situations “does not bum me out” because he does not “really care what people say,” and that such criticism comes with life in the National Football League.
“This is the NFL,” Peppers said. “That is how it is. Love you when you are doing good, and they do not when you are not. We know we have to play better. Obviously, I was not talking about the fans as a whole, just more so the environment of an NFL franchise.
“We understand the City of Cleveland loves their Browns and wants to see us get back to how it is supposed to be, but that is just the NFL. They love you when you are doing well, and not so much when you aren’t.”
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