Opening statement:
"I thought it was a good first day so I will take any questions."
On what the Browns can accomplish during rookie minicamp:
"Really, we are trying to see what kind of ability from a skillset point of view they have and really knowledge. This is not a physical camp so you are trying to get knowledge and see what they can maintain from the meeting room to the practice room."
On CB Greedy Williams:
"He is smooth. He transitions well from a back paddle and can close on the ball. He is long, of course, and then he competes."
On RB Darrin Hall:
"He demonstrated some ability to stick his foot into the ground and get north quickly. His hands, he had a couple of dropped balls today that I think is very uncharacteristic for him, but he is working to get better. Sometimes you have to evaluate these guys – mentally, they are swimming a little bit and how that effects their skillset. He is probably in that mix right now. He will probably do a lot studying tonight."
On Williams' comments about the Browns going to the Super Bowl in his draft conference call:
"I like the confidence and I like the excitement and the passion that he has, but I think that kind of changed today probably, right? Did he talk to you any today? We are not in the prediction business like I told you guys."
On his message to Williams:
"That is between him and I, but I don't know how many predictions he will be making. Greedy is a good kid, though. He is a really good kid. He was just full of excitement. I like excitement and I like the enthusiasm, and he has a lot of both."
On CB Jhavonte Dean making plays today:
"It is better to make a play than to not make a play. That is really the only thing that I can say about it right now. He showed up. It was good to see. He made a couple plays on the ball that he didn't end up with the ball but he still made the play on the ball. He was a factor. Anytime you are a factor, you kind of stand out. That is a good thing during this time of the year."
On determining where LB Sione Takitaki will play:
"I think it will work itself out. Once we get back with everybody here and see how the puzzle fits together, it will work itself out. We are just trying to compete and everybody get better right now in all areas."
On Takitaki standing out due to his physical nature:
"I think that is the dilemma you have with offensive lineman and defensive lineman – they can't stand out right now. You are really judging the same things with them that you see on tape and you try to make good decisions based on that. That is the worst thing about the offseason and the offseason program in general. It is not made to be physical; it is made for skill guys to kind of have the advantage, but you can see the aggressiveness in how they get to the ball. He did that today fairly well."
On if there is a challenge in coaching Williams to tackle:
"I wasn't joking. He is going to have to tackle some. When the ball gets out on the edge, we are not going to let him go. I don't have a problem. Greedy is going to tackle. He wants to tackle. He is a willing tackler. That maybe have not all been on tape as an example, but peer pressure gets through them sometimes. It gets through our players, and if we have the leaders that I think we have, then he will tackle."
On how much the Browns can learn about the team prior to training camp:
"Every segment, you are not really starting over but you are seeing how much you can retain. We are not going to find anything out about our team until we hit some adversity. Once we hit some adversity – which it's going to happen – you try to create it during training camp and I don't know how much you can relative to how the season unfolds, but we are going to hit some adversity at some point and then we will find out what kind of team we have and not until then."
On Pro Football Hall of Fame WR Webster Slaughter and Browns Alumni speaking to the team during last night's dinner:
"We had a lot of those guys around. We had Webster, Bernie (Kosar), Mr. (Jim) Brown – a lot of those guys were here – Earnest Byner, (Kevin) Mack all those guys were here last night, and they had dinner with our rookies. (General Manager) John (Dorsey) and I wanted them to see what it was to be a Cleveland Browns and what it meant to the city and take it from experience that somebody had already had. I think it went really well."
On if he finds Brown captivating when speaking to a group, particularly at 83-years old:
"I cherish my time that I have around him and that I have had around him for the past year – and that is 83, he'll tell you that, too – but I cherish that time around him because you know what he went through in life and in the game of football. Of course, what he means to the City of Cleveland and the Cleveland Browns organization speaks for itself. He has seen a lot in his time. If you think about 83 years, that covers a lot of history in the country good and bad. It is just good to have a resource like that to lean on, talk to and just to be around and know what he has went there."
On sharing the Browns history with the rookies, who may not have known what predates the past few seasons for the organization:
"Definitely with the rookies. We even did it with the veterans. Our first team meeting, we showed them a video of what the Browns meant to the city and what the Browns mean to the NFL in general and some of the good times that Cleveland has had in the past. When you talk about three AFC Championships in the 80s, just knowing what those guys went through to get there, hopefully, our guys can feed off of that some. I know it doesn't hurt to be able to communicate with those guys to show them what could happen and the potential of happening."
