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."
