The NFL players who spent training-camp nights in dorm rooms without air conditioning might dispute Amari Cooper’s assertion that the Cleveland Browns’ eight-practice stay at the Greenbrier Resort is “like the old days.”

But the trip to White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, does make Cleveland one of the handful of NFL teams that isn’t spending training camp entirely at its team facility, which was the norm at one time in the NFL.

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“Just grind,” Cooper said on Saturday of the Browns’ objective during their retreat. “Just an opportunity to get away and focus on football. It’s training camp, you know? It’s like the old days. Looking forward to. Looking forward to having a lot of fun.”

If Cleveland’s goal for the trip to West Virginia was to build team chemistry, though, Cooper said it takes more than isolation to do that.

“I’ve always felt like when it came to chemistry,” Cooper said, “it just has to be organic – guys genuinely bonding with each other, guys genuinely getting along. I think it more so starts with the leaders. I think if the guys can really rally around the leaders and really feel the genuine leadership of the leaders, then that’s what creates good team chemistry.”

Cooper is starting his second season with the Browns. The former Alabama All-American led Cleveland with 78 receptions for 1,160 yards and nine touchdowns in 2022 despite being hampered by an injury over the final five games of the season.

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“A lot more comfortable, a lot less stressful,” Cooper said of his second training camp with the Browns. “When you’re playing for a new team, you feel like you’re trying to prove yourself as a player, which, honestly, you always try to do that. But I’m just a lot more comfortable because I know the playbook, I know most of my teammates being that it’s my second year here as opposed to coming in Year 1 and not really knowing anybody personally.”

Cooper had core-muscle surgery in February. Most of his offseason was consumed by rehabilitation work, but he made it back on the field for some 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills in the final two weeks of the Browns’ offseason program.

“It always feels good to recover from an injury and to be coming in ready to go full-go,” Cooper said of his training-camp status.

Cleveland coach Kevin Stefanski said Cooper appeared to have put his injury behind him.

“He looks great,” Stefanski said on Saturday. “Physically, he looks great. He’s in a really good spot. Mentally, he’s got such a great grasp of what we do. He’s a pro. He worked really hard in this break just now to make sure he was ready to roll.”

The Browns flew to the Greenbrier Resort and held their first training-camp practice there on Saturday.

Cleveland’s first training-camp practice at its facility in Berea, Ohio, is scheduled for Aug. 1, before the Browns play the New York Jets in the NFL’s annual Hall of Fame Game on Aug. 3 in Canton, Ohio.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.