(Opening statement)- “As you saw, we chose Trent Richardson. Unfortunately, we had to make a trade to secure the pick. As we went through the process, we knew that he was our guy. We did what we had to do to secure it. We had good knowledge that there were teams behind us that wanted him as well. We gave up a couple of picks to make sure that we got him and that’s a credit to Tom Heckert and his guys for doing the intel on that. We will talk a bunch about Trent, he is passionate, he is productive, he is durable. He is the kind of runner that we feel is going to help us put an offense together to score the points that we need to win the games that we are going to win. We feel good about him. If you don’t sense the excitement in my voice then you are missing it. I think that he is a terrific player and he is going to be what we think to be a really, really fine addition to the Cleveland Browns team. I think he is going to be one of those players that our fans and our community will be able to watch run the ball for a lot of years, that is what we are excited about.”
(On if everything started at Richardson’s pro day)- “No, I had evaluated him. I worked for Nick Saban for three years, so I knew the program that he played in. It was easy to see. Prior to his pro day there were hours and hours of work done. It was just a way to confirm in my mind that he was going to be our guy. I think Tom (Heckert) felt the same way.”
(On how much this pick helps Colt McCoy)- “An excellent running game and a terrific runner help any quarterback. That is what you want to be able to do, put guys out there that can produce at all positions. We feel like Trent can come in here and do this for us.”
(On Richardson’s strengths)- “He is a terrific runner. He can run with power. He can make you miss when he gets in the open. He can score. I like the fact that when he is asked to pass protect, he will do it aggressively. When you throw him the football, he catches it. Unless I am missing something, that is what runners have to do.”
(On Richardson’s dependability)- “Dependability in a player is very important. The other guys on the team, the coaches, our fans, the people that root for us, they need to know that players are going to show up. I have seen this in this player. We have seen this and we feel like that is what we are getting.”
(On when the Browns knew they had to trade up)- “There was constant conversation going on. We knew a little while ago. We figured that there might have been something that we would have had to do to secure the pick.”
(On Gary Brown getting knocked down by Richardson)- “He did knock Gary out. For those of you that didn’t see it, I am sure that YouTube clip went viral. When we were flying down to work out Trent, I told Gary, ‘Listen, no matter what you do, do not hold the bag.’ Andy Reid taught me that when I was coaching tight ends, don’t hold the bag. Sure as heck, he holds the bag and the first drill he just got jacked. It was an inside joke, it is good that he can beat up his coach, I guess.”
(On when Richardson became the pick over anyone else)- “It is hard to say when exactly that was the case. When you put the draft together, you decide what your needs are, then you decide how you like the players, then you try to find a way to fill those needs. We had a need at running back, we had the pick and we took the best player available at that position. I think that’s a really fine job by Tom and his crew.”
(On how much better Richardson makes the offense)- “Every player you bring from college you need to project some. But, I saw him play running back in a physical style and in an outstanding conference, the SEC, and they won a lot of games. He helped that team win a national championship. In my mind, you saw what you needed to see to project the fact that he is going to be an outstanding player in this league.”
May 7th, 2012 
Matt Loede 
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