INDIANAPOLIS — Browns coach Hue Jackson on Wednesday wouldn't tip his hand or stoke the flames of speculation as to whom the Browns might select in April's NFL Draft.
"I think as we cross that bridge, we'll be OK, I think you guys all know how you stack your board, and what's going to be important is you take the best player that's available," Jackson said at the league's annual combine at Lucas Oil Stadium, his first meeting with the national media since being hired last month.
"And how that all works, that's going to show itself as we move forward. We do know this: We have a chance to draft some really good players on our football team coming up pretty soon."
The Browns — who hold the second-overall and 32nd picks — are working to carefully evaluate and inspect potential future members of the team.
"When I think of specifics in what I'm looking for in players, obviously I'm looking for high-character guys, and I want guys that have high football character on this football team," Jackson said. "With that being said, we're also looking for some people that are talented, guys that have passion for the game of football because we all know it's a very tough game."
When asked about the prospect of drafting a quarterback, Jackson — who is known for his work with signal callers as an offensive coordinator — smiled and shook his head.
"There's a lot of talented players out there and I don't know if it's just that No. 2 — that's where everybody thinks we're heading at No. 2 — we're going to draft whoever we think is the best player for us," he said.
"But at the same time, there are some tremendous players out there. We'll continue to go through this process."
He added: "We all know those names, they're two really good players in this draft and we're going to evaluate them like we do any other quarterback."
