Included below are select quotes from interviews with Browns coordinators and position coaches during today's media availability:
- Assistant defensive backs coach (safeties) Jerod Kruse
- Quarterbacks coach David Lee
- Senior offensive assistant Al Saunders
- Tight ends coach Greg Seamon
- Defensive line coach Clyde Simmons
- Special teams coordinator Chris Tabor
- Defensive backs coach (corners) DeWayne Walker
- Linebackers coach Blake Williams
- Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams
- Running backs coach/run game coordinator Kirby Wilson
- Offensive line coach Bob Wylie
Assistant defensive backs coach Jerod Kruse
On the Browns safeties:
"I see a bunch of guys right now fighting to earn a spot. It is a young group as you all know. Some of them have been here for – I think the oldest one I think in the room is Ed Reynolds II as far as time in the league. It is a bunch of young guys hungry to show that they belong and earn a role in the defense. So far to this point, they have all bought into that to a man and have worked really hard at it."
On what DB Jabrill Peppers has shown and what he still needs to show moving forward:
"We saw what we saw on film from him. All the people said, 'Can he play in space and do some of those things?' The things that we saw was the hardest thing, in my opinion, to do in space is to catch punts and so that guy tracks balls in space as good as anybody we have seen. Now, he has not had that day-to-day practice conditioning because of how they were forced to use him last year because of some injury things at Michigan/ Just getting him back into some of those things, tracking balls and angles in big space, he has come into that. It is just natural for him. It doesn't take as long now. Now, does he have as much time on task at doing that as some of the others? Not yet, but he is working towards it."
On DB Calvin Pryor III:
"He just got here last week and in fairness to him, right now, the rest of those guys in the room are three, four, six, eight weeks ahead of him in the scheme part of it. You saw him come out here today and really start to get in and yesterday start to get some team reps and did a really nice job. His second play in today, he had an interception. Is that a sign of things to come? We hope so. He is a guy that has had some opportunities in this league and you can write your own script on how you think that went, but we are excited he is here and he has jumped in to the culture of the room right now and he is young guy as well and is working and getting ready to go."
On DB Derrick Kindred:
"I like the suddenness of him and just the ability to see change of direction. He has some just natural savvy to him. He is tough and he can be rugged at times and he can slip blocks. I like him a lot. He has had a really good OTAs and minicamp here and has continued to grow. He is just a football player. He can do some different things. You will see, if you were watching practice the last couple days, we have had him doing some different things. I like where he is at right now and I like where he is going for sure."
Quarterbacks coach David Lee
On the QBs' progress during the offseason program and the status of the QB competition:
"We are competing, but as far as coming along and trying to line them up, we are still a long way from that. I have been coaching quarterbacks for 43 years, and you have to get them to a game. You have to put people in the stands and in pressure situations and then we can rank them one, two, three, four a whole lot easier. Right now, we have two guys who, like me, didn't know the offense and are still learning in (QBs) Brock (Osweiler) and DeShone (Kizer). Both of them are studying hard. We have got a great room. All four of those guys are smart, they study, they work and they ask great questions. If we can just continue to fundamentally get better, we have a long way to go with the lower body of Brock and DeShone; Cody has really improved here in the end of OTAs just on his distance and his velocity with a few things we have done in the lower body; and Kevin looked good today and went 3-for-3 and a couple touchdowns here in the red zone. They are progressing and getting better. At the same time, we are asking a lot of them. They are totally controlling the protections at the line of scrimmage, coverage, reading, throwing accurately, and then you have that 24-second clock that makes you speed everything up. Right now, we just need to keep going, keep grinding like we are going into training camp and then get to those games."
On areas where he can help Kizer improve:
"First of all, fundamentally is a long stride. It just came with him when he came here. That really affected his accuracy. Boy, he is all over it and then he is array; he is all over it, and then he misses again. That has been the No. 1 thing. When he gets a base and shortens his stride and he steps and throws, it is a thing of beauty. He has an extremely strong arm, and if we can get his fundamentals and his lower body good, you don't touch his release. He has one of the most beautiful releases and whip in his arm. He has to learn the offense. He has a lot in front of him. It is different. He is not playing [in college] anymore. It is a different schedule. He is going through a lot right now and his head is swimming, but boy when he gets it and he gets the lower body, he has a chance to be special."
On Osweiler and if there is a difference between experience and good experience, given his career:
"I will tell you something, and I think (Head) Coach (Hue) Jackson would back me up on this, Brock has been a pleasant surprise. Say what you want, but the guy in the last two years has taken two different teams to the playoffs and there is no one else in that room that can say that. Plus, he's got six years of experience, whereas others have no years of experience. Kizer is fresh. He has been here four months, like me, and the other two were rookies last year. He's the senior citizen, that is for sure (laughter). He does a good job with these other guys. DeShone and he have built a good rapport and they communicate a lot."
On how Cody Kessler has improved throughout the spring:
"Cody had a long stride, locked his knee and looked like a boomerang when he released the ball. HE has gotten more upright because he has a base. He shortened his stride. He has a bend in his knee. If you have been out here, he hit three go routes in a span of three practices just from shortening his stride and popping his hips and increasing his distance. That is where I have been pleased with him. He has gotten more velocity and distance on the ball. He was always accurate, but he wasn't always deadly accurate past 15 yards, and I think he has gotten better in that area. He knows the offense the best. He knows all of Hue's stuff. Kevin knows it, too. Kevin is smart. He is tough. I remember him at Stanford. He just willed wins. He would will them. I think he beat Cody twice. It is a good room,. It really is competitive, and they are taking to all of our teaching. We just have to give it a couple more weeks, go play a game and see what we have."
Senior offensive assistant Al Saunders
On WR Corey Coleman not being able to practice at the current time:
"I'm disappointed for him that he can't continue to grow in the fundamentals and skills of this position. He missed a significant amount of time last training camp. He missed a significant amount of time during the season. His growth and development, he was having a terrific OTA session and then he got hurt. You would always like to see a guy have the opportunity to improve and develop the skills. It is disappointing, but I'm sure that he will be back for training camp ready to go. He just has to get his hamstring stronger and he has to get himself in shape, which I'm sure he will, and he will be ready to go."
On Coleman being able to return to full health, given his past injuries:
"I'm hoping that he will be healthy. That is why we have the best trainers, the best doctors and the best medical staff in the National Football League. That is their job to get him healthy. He wants to be healthy. A broken hand is a something that sometimes that happens. My wife has had a couple of them and I have had a couple of them, and it wasn't a result of not being healthy. It is just one of those things. Hopefully, he will be ready to go. The way that he prepared, the way that he understand the offense so much better now than he did last year when he first came in, and we all know that Corey had a long way to go. He had a long way to go based on the college offense that he ran and the limited exposure he had, the route adjustments and the different route trees. He has come a long way. He just has to be able to stay healthy and be available. We tell all of the guys, you want to be a member of the '-able family' – dependable, reliable, accountable, but most of all, available. That is the most important. If you are available and you can practice, then you get that."
On having a young WR corps and if the Browns could benefit from another veteran WR:
"The only veteran receiver we really have is Kenny (Britt). That is one of the reasons our personnel people brought him in here was the veteran presence that he had. Do we miss Hawk (WR Andrew Hawkins)? Absolutely. I probably talk to him once every week. In fact, and this is what kind of kid he is and what a special guys he is, the other day we come into the receiver meeting room and there are sandals for everybody. He got a picture of every single coach, (assistant wide receivers) Bob Saunders myself, and every single player, had the picture, had their name embossed on it and had their numbers and just sent a thank you and good luck to our football team. That is what kind of guy he is. Is that presence missed? Maturity missed? This guy has a master's degree from Columbia, not that any of us could probably get into Columbia. He has a master's degree from Columbia. You miss the quality and character and value that a guy like that brings. You would always like to have veteran leadership, but these young guys, the way that they are improving – I just told them when they were out here – the arrow is up for every one of those guys. Now, we just have to keep going and keep climbing into the level that we would like to be when the season starts."
On if it is his responsibility to develop the young WRs this year:
"I would like to be known as a player developer. That is what we are here for. We are teachers. I live vicariously through the players that I coach. I love to be around them. I want to see them have success. I think what I have done in coaching since I have been coaching since 1970 is help players achieve their level of potential. Every day I come to work, that is the most important thing to me is helping those guys get better. I believe that we can develop them. I have always said to our personnel guys you give me a guy that can work hard, and we will make him as good as he can possibly be. What they have given me is guys that work hard. The evidence, look at (Redskins WR) Terrelle Pryor. Terrelle Pryor in the classroom, on the field, what he did, and I said earlier, it was unprecedented what he did. The thrill of being able to see him go on, and hopefully, even increase his effectiveness as a football player in the National Football League, is something that is really exciting for me. I would love nothing better than our young players to reach their level, whatever that might be, of effectiveness. That is my reward as a coach is seeing players do well and progress in their skills."
Tight ends coach Greg Seamon
On early impressions of TE David Njoku:
"I think that the things that we saw on the video tape showed up from his college video tape. He is a very athletic guy. There are aren't a lot of people in the country that are 250 pounds and are also seven-foot high jumpers. That part of it is really evident. He is young. He is really developing. He has got a great work ethic. I'm excited about his potential. HE is in that rookie process right now where there is a lot being thrown at him. It is a demanding position because you are involved in all three aspects of the offense. You have blocking for the run, pass protection and then being a receiver. We are experimenting a little bit. I think that his athletic ability tells you that he can play in a lot of different areas of the field. He can be a detached guy. He can be a tight end in the traditional sense. He can be in the slot. He can be a wing. Right now, his head is probably swimming a bit because we have thrown a lot at him, but I think in the long run, we will have exposed him to everything that he can do during the season, so that should be good."
On if Njoku knows what he is in for with the rigors of being an NFL tight end:
"I don't think any rookie know what they are in for (laughter). It is kind of a golden age for the tight end in the game of football because teams are finding so many versatile athletes playing the position in college. You see more and more teams that play with multiple tight ends so to answer to your question, the tight ends are playing a lot more snaps than they used to. They take a bit more of a pounding over the course of a season. They are involved in blocking down the field. They are involved in pulling and trapping on linebackers and defensive ends. We have to block the defensive ends one-on-one who are normally anywhere from 20-30 pounds heavier than us and similar athletes. I do think they take a beating. I think that is why more and more teams carry at least four on the 53-man roster. The colleges are producing them. The spread offense is a throw-it-first offense, and there are a lot of players out there that are in the 6-4, 225-pound range coming out of high school that maybe were good basketball players and good track athletes, and they are becoming the tight ends of our time. By the time we get them, you can use them in so many ways. They do take a beating. They are on the field a lot. They are involved in special teams a lot because they are big athletes who can run. It is imperative that they be in shape. You see the guys right now, we have a lot of 250-pound guys that are in the single-digit body fat range. That wasn't even the case even seven or eight years ago. The bigger tight ends were heavier guys, but now, a lot of them look like David and (TEs) Randall (Telfer), and Seth (DeValve). They can run and jump and get around the field."
On TE Seth DeValve's progress heading into his second season:
"I think that he is more confident. He missed so much time last year with the hamstring issues that it slowed his development a little bit, but he came to us with a really good sense of how to run routes, well-above average hands and an excellent knowledge of the game. The guys at Princeton did a terrific job. He came in here understanding conceptually how pass games work together. You could plug him in at multiple positions on a pass play, and he would know how to run all of those routes. Most of his development in the offseason was that he put on a little weight, he is noticeably stronger, he is faster and he is healthier. He continues to work hard technically. I think that his ability to run routes, catch the ball, leave his feet, catch the ball away from his body and he has a big catch radius, I think those things are showing up out here. I'm pleased with what he has done developing as a blocker from a technical and footwork standpoint. The proof will be obviously when we put the pads on, but he is ahead of where he was a year ago. I see Seth as a guy who is important to us and emerging just like Randall and David."
Defensive line coach Clyde Simmons
On DL Myles Garrett:
"He is everything we [expected]. (Head) Coach (Hue) Jackson will handle all of the injury stuff. Myles is everything we expected."
On DL Emmanuel Ogbah:
"I didn't watch a ton of stuff on Emmanuel [last year], but when I got in, just watching him in there, he is a classic left end to me. I think he is going to be pretty good for us. He is learning his spot. He is learning to put his hand back in the dirt instead of standing up as a linebacker, getting back to his home stuff to what he did in college. I think that is an upside for him."
On DL Danny Shelton's performance in the spring:
"I have been working with Danny because we have been cross-training. Everybody has to learn two positions. Danny has had a good camp. He is buying into what we are trying to teach, and he is motivated to be the best he can be. I think he is going to be pretty good."
On improving the Browns run defense:
"We have to do like all defensive lines have to do. We have to knock the line of scrimmage back just to give ourselves a chance to win. That is the basis and the key thing that we are trying to emphasize more is let's just try to create a new line of scrimmage."
On DL Nate Orchard transitioning back to DE:
"Nate has made a lot of progress. He is like Emmanuel – I have been moving him around to a lot of different places just to see what he can do, and I think he has a lot of upside because he is back to a natural position for him playing defensive end."
On DL Larry Ogunjobi:
"Larry is one of those cross guys. He can play nose tackle, and he can play 3-technique. He is still young and learning the business and how to play football. If you think about it, he has only been playing football for six years. He has a lot of work to do, but he is putting the work in, he is studying and trying to learn the craft of being a defensive lineman and he is getting better every day."
Special teams coordinator Chris Tabor
On who will return kicks:
"We have a host of guys working. We will see how it all plays out, but I like the guys that are working at it."
On if covering a kick with a short kick with the new touchback rule is the new strategy in the NFL:
"It could be. I think it depends on who you have on your coverage units, what the kick return units are, the matchups and those type of things, and then if your kicker can place it and keep it in bounds where it doesn't go out of bounds and then you are giving it up to the 40 (yard line) there. It could be the way of the future. You saw a lot of it last year, and I think every team is working on it now."
On the competition between Ks Cody Parkey and Zane Gonzalez:
"It is going to be a great competition. Both guys are really good players. They both had great springs so I am excited to see in the fall how it transpires and where they go from there."
On if Gonzalez is more likely to win the competition because the Browns drafted him:
"I don't look at it that way because I always look at whoever does the best is going to win the job, regardless if you are drafted or not drafted. I have had players play for us that have been good players that were drafted, and I have had players that have played for us that were not drafted. That status does not mean anything to me."
On excitement to have DB Jabrill Peppers on special teams:
"I am excited about Jabrill returning. Obviously, I thought he was electric in college as a playmaker. It is a matter of helping us get our return game to where it is supposed to be, where the Cleveland Browns are supposed to be returning the ball, and hopefully, we can get to that. We still have a lot of work to do, but I think we can get there."
On evaluating the K competition:
"They will go out and kick and we will chart them and [chart]* *everything, and then there are going to be days where we won't chart them where we say we are going to come out and work on things and I don't want them to have the pressure of a charted kick when we are working on something. It is not always about – people are always going to make it about makes and misses, and that is obviously a big thing, but sometimes, you can make a make and the ball is going sideways and it banks in and it counts statistically as a make but really that is an ugly make. We will watch those [things]."
On the video of his excitement after the Browns drafted Peppers:
"I was excited about it. I am excited, and I am passionate about the Cleveland Browns and special teams. When I feel like we acquire a player and all the players that we acquire can help us in some way, I get excited about that. It got videoed, and I didn't know it was getting video, but when players get picked, I get excited."
Defensive backs coach DeWayne Walker
On DB Jason McCourty:
"Good experience. Good technician. Understands the game. He is a pro. He has done a good job for us, and happy that he is here."
On if CB is the best spot for McCourty:
"I think so. I know (defensive coordinator) Gregg (Williams) will make that final decision. At this stage of it, all of his work has been at corner. When you look at our depth and look at where we are at that position, he is a great addition to us."
On if DB Jamar Taylor can build off of last season's success:
"I think all of these guys have a ceiling. I know we still have training camp and preseason. I like his progress right now, but he definitely has room for improvement."
On if Taylor is considered a leader amongst the CBs:
"He is because he is a worker. He is pretty soft-spoken so he really doesn't say a whole lot. At the same time, you can just see his leadership through his work ethic."
On the progression and rehabilitation of DB Joe Haden:
"We still have time. My thing with these guys is just continuing to try to help improve them. We don't play until September so we are just going to continue to try to progress to where we need to be by the time we play Pittsburgh."
On the demand on CBs in the Browns' and Williams' defensive system:
"It is a pretty versatile scheme so just based off of how he feels we are by the time camp's over with or week to week, it is pretty versatile in terms of being aggressive or taking some heat off of them. I think time will tell how well we are outside, what style he wants to focus on."
Linebackers coach Blake Williams
On LB Tank Carder:
"He is a savvy vet who has been in a bunch of different systems in the NFL. A couple of those systems have similarities. When you look at Mike Pettine's system, coming from Rex Ryan and then obviously Gregg (Williams)'s past with Buddy Ryan and some of those similarities and Ray (Horton)'s past with Dick LeBeau, and Gregg and Dick LeBeau working together and some things that are from that. You see a lot of those things that crossover. We talk a lot about 'same as' where we say, 'Tank, this is the same exact thing that you have done before.' Plus, he is just a savvy vet who has been around the league a long time and knows things – knows things about the offense, knows things about defense and can kind of drive the ship out there and is doing a good job at that. Those other two vets (LBs Jamie Collins Sr. and Christian Kirksey) can do that, as well, so they have been communicating, checking the defense and running the defense very well throughout the spring."
On if it is a fair to say that LB Jamie Collins Sr. makes playing the game look easy at times:
"That is a fair assessment. He kind of always impresses his teammates doing that. We always talk as coaches, talent evaluators and all of that stuff, we look for guys who can 'just do.' What we mean by that, it is like hey, we can be out here coaching, we can say how to do this, we can say how to do this and then there are some people who can just, and he can just do. You see that little competition [throwing into a QB target] we were having at the end of practice, and I think we had like 15 straight guys missed it. We are in overtime, and he is ready to go. He is like, 'Just give me the ball.' Bam. Just drains a 30-yard throw at the net on first throw, but he just does stuff like that all the time and so it is great to have guys like that around and he is a great competitor as well, too. You do not always get that all the time where the guy that has great natural talent, but maybe he is lacking a little bit on the competitive side of things (laughter). He hates to lose. He is a competitive guy, and he has been a joy to coach this offseason so far."
On Kirksey's transition from his role last year to what he is being asked to do this year:
"What he was doing last year is more similar to what we are asking him to do this year. Obviously, there is a schematic change, but if you look at what he was being asked to do last year and where he was playing within that scheme, it is more similar to what he is doing right now at that WILL position. He has been great. He has some instincts and some playmaking ability. We all saw that last year. He was a great special teams player early in his career as he developed into this. At that WILL position, I always tell talent evaluators, scouts, stuff like that is that is if you are a great fourth down player, you should be a great WILL linebacker. If you are a great fourth down player, you should be a good third down player and you should be a good WILL linebacker, and you are seeing that with him already. Same thing with him is we are able to move those positions around so you can't get a beat on it. They are kind of interchangeable and you see him getting a grasp for that and doing that."
On Carder could potentially be the starting MIKE in Week 1:
"I think so. His teammates are comfortable with him. His teammates have played with him a long time. We are comfortable with that. It is a competition. Nothing is by any means set, and that is real talk. You see (LB) Joe Schobert out there doing a lot of good things out there, as well, too. (LB) Dominique Alexander, another young guy doing a lot of good things out there. Nothing is set in stone. The big thing I think you see with all of Gregg's defenses throughout the years is that jersey that you wear on game day is too valuable when you are only dressing 46 guys so if you are dressed, you are playing somewhere. You are starting in some package. One guy may be a 10-play guy and one guy may be a 50-play guy, but everybody that dresses is playing somewhere, some way – maybe just for one drive or maybe just in these two packages. Yeah, I think we can see that. He just has to continue to improve and develop, but he has done a really good job at doing it this spring without pads on."
On why Schobert is a fit at MIKE:
"A lot of things. I do not know how much you guys know about Joe, but as a former all-state basketball player, a former good basketball player in high school, kind of came into college as a wide receiver and got moved to outside linebacker, he is not really a 3-4 outside linebacker. He can do that and do that well and he has that athleticism, but body type, he is more of a 4-3 off the ball linebacker – MIKE, WILL or SAM. I think he has the ability to do all that type of stuff, but he is an extremely bright, extremely bright guy and so, the ability to process what everybody is doing and all of the sudden see something and turn around and tell a safety what they are supposed to be doing – maybe they don't know what they are supposed to be doing and you tell them that or maybe the corner doesn't know what he is doing and you tell him that or a D lineman, you see him not do it and you have to go down there and like physically move him – he possesses some of those coach-like qualities that has allowed him to step in there as the spring has progressed and get a chance to do that."
On if Collins is a smarter football player than some people estimate, given how quiet he can be:
"I do not want to give out all of Jamie's secrets, but no, Jamie is a smart football player. Now, he has been very well coached. We all know that. We all know where he came from. He has been very well coached in New England. That is great for us coaches to be able to coach off of that coaching. There is already that skillset there, but he is a smart football player. He is a smart football player. Sometimes being a smart football player is having great instincts, too. You see him. He knows a lot more than people would think. He sees plays coming before they come, sees things get set up and is getting a good give-and-take with all of those linebackers in there and imparting some of that knowledge on them."
Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams
On the Browns defense being aggressive and creating turnovers during minicamp:
"The things that we do here, I am very, very proud of these young men. I have walked into a lot more dysfunctional buildings than this. These young men have come here every day from April 17, and all they have wanted to do is compete, compete, compete and want somebody to tell them which direction to go. Those things that you see, how fast they play and how hard they play, those are not easy. Why can't everybody do that? Maybe because other people say it is OK not to do that. That is not what we are about. The effect of a defense is more than just tackling. It is more than just getting in a good stance. There are a lot of ways to be disruptive, and batting passes down, pass breakups, interceptions, strips of the football and all those type of things adjust the timing of plays. These guys have really picked it up. I will tell you this, it is a smart group of kids, young men. In fact, the offense got upset the other day because we batted one down in a walkthrough. Well, that is fine. That is just how it is. It has been fun to see the energy between both sides of the ball. It has been real fun for me to see the energy of the head coach (Hue Jackson). I miss that. I think that is fun, and the guys see that and they feed off of it."
On if DL Myles Garrett has been the type of player that the Browns thought he would be when the team drafted him No. 1 overall:
"He has done a great job. It is still way early, but you guys are going to see a pretty good football player when he gets the chance to get out there and go. I have a big smile on my face, and I will just wait and let him show everybody before I talk about it."
On if the youth on defense impacts how receptive players are to coaching, compared to veterans:
"I really don't care what a veteran thinks, I really don't care what a young guy thinks and I really don't care what you think, and that is part of the message. The message is I have to earn their respect, they have to earn my respect, and either you know what you are doing or you do not know what you are doing. Either you have been in the huddle or you have not been in the huddle. I do like the fact that it is young because you have a chance to have younger players longer time and keep them around longer because this is a tough profession. There is a reason that an average football player's career is only 3.2 years. It is a tough deal. The fact that these guys are really receptive, that is nice, but if they weren't, then they can go be something for somebody else. I do not care about that."
On how much of a feel the Browns can get in May and June for how good the defense will be this season:
"The longer you have been around it – I have said this even to scouts, GMs, all this kind of stuff before – you can watch film all you want, but if you can't feel the film, you don't know the player. Then two, you get a chance to be on the field and really feel what the player is about, really be able to look him the eyes and understand how he processes and understand how he anticipates, we call that instinctive play. A lot of times, that does not show up on film because you can't feel the film. If you have watched film and you have never played, that is even more difficult. When we are here, after all of these years, I have a really, really good feel in these guys, and really, once they put the pads on I will be shocked if I do not have the same feel."
Running backs coach/run game coordinator Kirby Wilson
On if RB Isaiah Crowell only scratched the surface of his potential in 2016:
"I think that is very accurate that he just scratched the surface. He is not even in his prime yet. He has to continue to work hard. He saw what happens from last year. When you work extremely hard, good things happen for you. I think he enjoyed that limited success, and he is hungry, eager and looking for even more this season."
On how the additions of OL Kevin Zeitler and JC Tretter will help the running game:
"It all starts up front. When you have five quality men and make the addition of those two, they are perennial upper-echelon at their position. It can't do anything but get better. We think those two guys have significantly upgraded us."
On RB Duke Johnson Jr.'s performance in the spring:
"He has had good OTAs and minicamp sessions. He has been in there the entire time. He is hungry, he is very knowledgeable, he is a great worker and he is committed to being the best that he can be. He is one of our better leaders and one of our better playmakers. We expect big things from him starting in training camp."
Offensive line coach Bob Wylie
On the position battle at RT:
"They are competing. Matter of fact, they are all giving great effort. They compete in the weight room. They compete on the field. They compete in the classroom, which is a good thing, especially for the young guys. They are asking intelligent questions, which is good. They are seeing the field, which is even better. Sometimes, they see the whole field. Sometimes they don't. They are doing a good job."
On the Browns offseason investment in the OL:
"They drafted a first-round pick, and they got (OL) Joe Thomas on the other side. You try to solidify the edges of the defense. You don't want them to get pushed from the inside. The center has to control everything. The center is like the quarterback before the quarterback gets into the huddle. He has to get everybody where they need to be, and when they need to be there, based off of what he sees in the coverages, based off of what he sees by linebacker alignments, defensive alignments, all of that stuff. He has to get everybody into the right spots. Getting those two guys to solidify the inside and not get the push, and signing Joel Bitonio back, I thought was a really smart move."
On Thomas, who has not practiced in OTAs and minicamp:
"He is good. Matter of fact, I like talking to Joe because he likes talking football. He has other things that he does in life, but he likes to talk football, which is great. He will just come in, sit down, start talking about this technique, that technique. I will say, 'OK Joe, this is what I see how this looks over here, what does it look like to you?' We kind of bounce ideas off of each other, which is great. I got information that he gets out of me, and he's got information that I'm going to pull out of him."
On coming back to the NFL and rejoining Hue Jackson's staff:
"I like the challenge. The program is where it is. Now you have a challenge as a coach, especially with the line and what I saw on film from last year, to take that and make those five guys play at one heartbeat and get from 1-15 and get to the playoffs. That is a real challenge for me personally, and the rest of the coaches and staff and that players. Obviously, for you guys, that is what you would like to see happen. That is what we strive to do. That is what we are working to do. At my age, if you count all of the part-time years with the Bengals, this is probably my 33rd year or 32nd year in professional football. I started in Pop Warner. Pop Warner, junior high school, high school, college and pro football. This is my actually 47th year of coaching so the challenge to do it is really great. It is a passion that you have in your heart to do the sport. It is not the money. When you first started to play, you didn't get paid, but you had a passion to play. Same thing when I first started to coach, I was a player then became a coach, and it was fun to coach. It's still fun to coach. It is still a passion you have for what you did. They give me money, that is a bonus. I would coach if they didn't pay me – don't tell them that – but you understand it is a passion for what you do. Some of you guys are surprised with who is going to write what, you don't know who it is going to be, you don't know how far it is going to go so you go. Have fun with it. You are going to have good days, and you are going to have bad days. They all don't play good all of the time. Would you like them to? Yeah, but that is not realistic. You work to do that. It is the same thing. You guys go to work, and you have bad days. Some days I come to work, and we have bad days. I'm not going to let that affect the next day. You have got to learn to get rid of it. That is the toughest thing to teach the players: how to stay in the moment. They have got to get rid of the bad plays and play the next play. That is the thing that matters."
