Opening statement:
"I thought it was a spirited practice by our football team. I thought it was a really good one. I thought as a group, as a team, our focus was good. It's disappointing that we can't get out on the grass in front of our fans, and I really feel bad, but it's very important also that we always take our fans into account, especially when there's as much rain that was predicted and the thunder and the lightening. Our organization is about making sure that everybody's safe. It was a tough call, but I think we made the right one because we just weren't sure how it was going to unfold. Hopefully, we can get out there in front of our fans and perform. I know the players want to and I know our coaching staff wants to and I know our organization wants to show off our football team. I'm sure we'll get that done here pretty soon. We're just trying to stack good days on top of days. It's Day 2, and I think the guys are responding. It's good for me to stand on the other side and watch our defense come after our offense like they did today and watch our offense battle like they did today. I think that is the making of a good football team. That's how you build it. Tomorrow will be fun, too. It'll be the first day in pads, and we'll have an opportunity to finally go out and hit each other a little bit and compete. I'm looking forward to that."
On what he likes about WR Corey Coleman and him stacking positive days together:
"I think that's what he's doing. He's stacking good days together. He's just getting better. I give a lot of credit to (senior offensive assistant) Al (Saunders) and (offensive quality control/assistant wide receivers coach) Bob Saunders. I think they've done a really good job. I give a lot of credit to our quarterbacks because I think they really spent a lot of time with him getting him to understand the pro game. Then obviously, I give a lot of credit to him. He's a talented football player and that's why we drafted him where we did. I have high expectations for him and he has for himself. He just goes out there every day and tries to get better."
On explaining a pass Coleman dropped and if it was due to the lights:
"He just misjudged it a little bit. It is a little different inside, but it's good. The fun part about the last two days is we've had some adversity a little bit – the weather and then made a decision just stay inside. All of a sudden, they had to deal with turf, they had to deal with it being kind of tight in there. That's what you have to do. As a football team, things are not going to always go the way you want them to, and you have to find a way to overcome elements. You have to find a way to overcome injuries and things that happen. These are some good lessons for us as we move forward."
On a siren going off at practice tomorrow:
"You'll be there tomorrow. Oh boy."
On having physical, hitting practices and starting that tomorrow, including during the siren periods:
"It's just how I feel. We are going to hit, but there's a thing called tackling, too. I think we're going to bump into each other quite a bit. First day in pads, it's going to happen. I'm looking for a team that's very relentless and that goes after each other. As I told our players, I have to find out who we really are, what's going to truly be our identity. One thing we talked about last night is all the really good football teams in the National Football League, they have an identity. We don't want to wait to find out what our identity is. We have got to establish it now. You only establish that by grinding a little bit. We need to be a gritty group. We've had two good days. Obviously, I also recognize that our players are getting a little tired because we're pushing them pretty good. They have got to come out and do it again. That's what my expectation is that they will do it."
On if the Browns will use the Oklahoma drill, which Cincinnati incorporated at times:
"No, I'm not a big Oklahoma drill guy. I've done it before, but I think there are a lot of other ways to do things that way along the football lines of tackling and hitting. We won't use that tomorrow, but we'll definitely bump into each other."
On if OL Joe Thomas, LB Paul Kruger and DB Tramon Williams received days off today:
"They we're out there. My whole goal is with some of our guys to make sure that I take care of them. I'm just going to be very honest with you. They could have done anything. There is nothing wrong with the guys. I'm not going to say it's a day off because there are other things that they did. My goal, as I said earlier, is to make sure we have a healthy football team but a tough football team. I think you guys will find the pattern as we go about what it is that I am trying to accomplish with our group. I don't want to make a big old deal about it because at the same time, I think it's something that we need to do to progress our football team moving forward."
On if the Browns experimented with DB Pierre Desir at safety today:
"Yes sir, sure did. Absolutely. We're going to try to find a place for a lot of guys and see if maybe they are a little better here than they were there. That's really important for our football staff is trying to improve guys and put them into position so that they can have success. He's one of our guys we drafted. We like him. He's long, talented, but maybe we might find a different area where he's better suited to play. He has cover skills because he's played corner quite a bit, but boy, to see him go in there and play safety, too, is exciting to me because he gives us a different element back there."
On the Browns depth chart at WR, his day-to-day communication with Al Saunders and if Saunders will help determine the depth chart:
"He has some input. There's no question he does. Me and Al Saunders are joined at the hip. At the same time, when we lay this all out, myself and our executive staff and the rest of our coaches, together will make that decision. We're a team. We're a unit. We're a collaborative group so we don't just have one person do it. Does he have input? Yes he does."
On his level of trust with Al Saunders:
"My level of trust with Al Saunders? Oh my gosh, I have tremendous trust, but also I have tremendous trust in my thought process about what it's going to take to win games throughout the whole year. The fun part about that question to me is about two months ago we didn't have any receivers (laughter), and now, we have a lot of them. It's a fun problem to have right now. I like that. I'm glad you guys think that we do have some guys on our team now. That's a good thing. We have a lot of different guys so that's fun, and we'll be able to pick what we think will be the best group as we move forward, but it's so early. It's just been two days and maybe some guys will continue to separate themselves from the pack so that it really shows itself because there are a lot of talented guys in that group. It's so early to make that conclusion."
On the physical nature during the siren periods and 'everything goes':
"Mary Kay, you're going to enjoy this tomorrow."
On if the siren periods include tackling to the ground and if that applies to the QBs:
"Yes [it will include tackling to the ground]. No, we won't hit the quarterback. No, we don't do that. We won't hit the quarterback. No, not that so that's a good question. We won't take the quarterback down. We won't touch the quarterback, but everybody else can go on the ground. That's OK. I even went on the ground today. That ground is hard in there. I said it a while back and I think our players understand. We've talked about it. In order to become a really good football team, we have to play football. Football is blocking and tackling, and the only way you get better at those things is doing them. We'll do them in a situation to where they don't know – I'm being very honest – but at the same time, I think they understand that we're also trying to take care of each other. They know that they need to improve their skill that way and we need to become a hardened football team so we'll set on that march tomorrow."
On how much OL Shon Coleman needs to do to catch up after missing time during offseason workouts: "It was really good to see him out there yesterday competing. For him, we have to be smart* *because he is coming off of something. We want to make sure that he's out there and competing every chance he's there. Obviously, he's a good athlete. He's long, has long arms. You said it best, there's some catching up he has to do, and we'll take the time to make sure that he gets there. It's been two days. As we move through this, it's going to take some time, but at the same time, it will take as much time as he wants it to take by how hard he works. He's an extremely hard worker so we'll get him there as fast as we can."
