Assistant General Manager and Vice President of Football Operations, Catherine Hickman (8.29.24)

Why do you think a trade market for Tyler Huntley didn’t develop? 

“That’s a great question. I don’t know that I would characterize it the way you characterized in your question. I think our job is to, and Andrew (Berry) does a great job of that, is to really explore all opportunities, and it needs to make sense for all the parties involved, and in some instances, it doesn’t.”

 

How much did the injuries that you guys had all through training camp, how much did that impact kind of some of those decisions, you know, making maybe a few of them, maybe harder than usual?

“Yeah, I think it’s credit to our coaches, to our player development staff. It’s opportunities for us to work with the younger guys and develop more people, more players on the roster and make sure they get opportunities so that when their name is called, that’s the nature of the game. Their name will likely be called at some point, they’re ready to roll. So, I think turning this into, we don’t like injuries, but turning things into a positive is to provide opportunities for other players around us.”

 

You weren’t able to claim any players. Did you try? 

“Yeah, we always, always, always look at those options, but there’s so many things that goes into those decisions because when you think of claiming a player, it’s relative to who you have at that position, but also relative to who you have on the roster because you need a spot to get that player. So, it’s this whole puzzle of figuring out what’s that player quality and how does that make us better, both from a number’s standpoint but also from a talent standpoint. So, we felt good with who we had at the cutdown.”

 

Did the draft order hurt you in end? I mean, not the draft order, but the claiming order.

“I mean, what I would say to that, Tony (Grossi), is you can look at different avenues to make those things happen, and sometimes it could be like a small trade if you really want to get a player and you want to get ahead of potentially where you’re at in that order. So, there’s different things we look at and when we think this is a great opportunity for the Browns, we pull the trigger.”

 

I asked Kevin (Stefanski) before, the impact of the injuries last year in terms of coaching quarterbacks, what about in terms of, like, roster protection and things like that? Did last year affect the way you guys do business going forward? 

“I think just injuries in general is something we have to plan for and be ready for, and it goes back to how we develop those players on the practice squad and the back end of the 53, and that’s really credit again to PD (player development) and the coaches. And to your point specifically about the quarterbacks, of course that’s something that we think about, but I wouldn’t say that it’s any different than how we think about it globally to preparing all of our starters. Definitely a position of priority for sure.”

 

In terms of Deshaun Watson’s contract restructuring, how does that help you guys even this year? Is that more about rollover or roster building or what can you say about that? 

“Yeah, just like Andrew, I’m not going to go into any details when it comes to players’ contracts. The only thing I’ll say is as an organization, our philosophy is to be aggressive when we think about resource allocation and management, so we always look at all options.”

 

Does this give you an opportunity, though if you guys wanted to make a trade or add a big-name player or something like that? You have the flexibility to do that now. 

“Anything we do is, or a lot of things we do, I should say, is flexibility in mind and how it can give us options. Optionality is huge when we can make moves, whether that’s now or down the road.”

 

It was widely reported that the Browns had both a deal contract and a trade offer for Brandon Aiyuk. True or false? 

“I’m not going to go into the details of that, but I will definitely tell you that when we inquire and we look at options to add players to our team and add talent to our team, so when there are opportunities out there, we’ll do our due diligence, and we’ll do the work. But I won’t answer that specifically.”

 

When you have a big contract like Deshaun’s, is it almost baked in, the idea, that you can reach into that and create flexibility like you guys have multiple times? 

“I think it’s not just Deshaun specifically here. I think it’s just from a philosophy, how we think about our contract structure and philosophy and management of our resources. So, I’m not going to go into anything specific here outside of just being creative and aggressive on how we want to create that flexibility.”

 

Did you guys consider cutting Mike Hall after his arrest?

“Any Mike Hall question I’m not going to discuss just because of the legal process going on.”

 

What do you think your concerns in the back of your mind are on this roster going forward for the season? Is it as good as you want it to be, or is there still a vulnerability there that you guys want to…?

“One of the things I love about the NFL is every year you get a new opportunity to compete for a championship, and I think every year that’s our plan, that’s what we prepare for. Now, injuries are part of the game. They’re going to happen, but if there are things that we can help our players there, I think that’s an area where we’ve made a hire in the offseason with a head of performance and medical (Dustin Nabhan), and hopefully through our processes, we can continue to work there and trying to help in that area.”

 

I know we asked you about the new kickoff rules around the draft, but going through this preseason, how do you feel like you guys maybe got a different handle on it, and does it still feel like one of those things, like we’re gonna have to see it in real game action to know everything it’s gonna entail? 

“Yeah, that’s a great question. It’s definitely something we thought about from the returning piece just because there’s just going to be more likely that are going to be returned. So not just specifically at the returner position, but just overall as we think of that unit. We work with Bubba (Ventrone) on that, so that’s definitely been top of mind as we think through that, and then we’ll continue to evaluate as we go through in the season.”

 

Not a question about Aiyuk specifically, but like generally when you guys are working with one of these deals where you might want to trade for somebody who needs to be negotiated with, but they’re still on another team, what’s the process of that like? 

“In terms of — you’re asking what’s our trade process?”

 

You negotiate a trade and a contract extension at the same time? 

“Oh, understanding. Well, again, I’m not going to go into the specifics of contracts, but just generally those are handled by Andrew, and we work together as a team on advising and giving ideas and creative ways to work through that, but ultimately he works through those dynamics and I’m not going to go much into detail.”

What’s your philosophy, again, generally on pushing money down the road on the cap versus trying to keep an eye on the future and making sure that doesn’t come back to bite you? 

“Yeah, great question. I think it’s part of thinking about it from a two to three-year outlook. Yes, you want to think about it in the present, but part of our job in personnel, I think that’s what something Andrew is so good at, is to also think about the future and how we’re going to, like, combine, and maybe balance is not a good word, sorry. Maybe, harmonize both. So, to my point earlier, for us it’s about giving ourselves options and creating flexibility. If that means different maneuvers with contracts, we’ll explore all options.”

 

Has there been a philosophical evolution when it comes to offensive personnel over the last 12-24 months? When Kevin got here, he was big on fullbacks, running backs, tight ends. Obviously, there’s no fullback. I mean, you know, Nick (Harris) obviously could step in there, only two tight ends on the active roster, you had to bring D’Onta (Foreman) back today. But just organizationally, has there been a little bit of an evolution philosophically when it comes to offensive roster building now? 

“I think one thing Andrew says all the time is like, ‘the 53 is the first 53.’ The 53 we’re going to carry by the time we’re at Week 15 could look very different. So that’s kind of how we want to think about it. So, to your point specifically about the numbers at certain position, it’s like, how are we gonna look at the different evolution that are coming and the personnel were to try to, like, improve our rosters. So, there’s definitely some, like, fluidity in how we think about it. And then when it comes to your question about offense, like, I mean, I’m sure Kevin must have touched on it, like him and his staff have an incredible growth mindset and they’re gonna evolve and look at however they can put these guys in the best position to win, they will. That’s how I would answer that question.”

 

There are more players 30 and older this year than ever. Why is that and do you think next year, by stocking up on draft picks, it’s time to inject some youth? 

“Definitely something that we want to see is our young players contributing, and I think we have some of those contributors that are helping out. I think there’s a balance with experience that we have. I think of the experience we were able to acquire on the interior defensive line. Like, yes, to your point, they’re all around the 30 mark there, but they’re all players who have played and contributed in significant ways and I think it really helped us where the D-line is our engine. So, I think it’s a balance, and to your question, two-three-year outlook is what we look at, not just from a resource allocation, but from where we’re at from a player quality as well. So definitely looking at everything down the road, too.”

 

Was Dorian (Thompson-Robinson) someone that you guys identified early on in this camp when it looked like he was really coming on strong, someone that you always really felt you were going to put on the 53? Did you have any debate over whether or not to keep three quarterbacks and how did that all sort of play out? 

“Yeah, so Andrew’s process is he likes us to go through the entire, you know, look at the entire body of work and not anchor ourselves on one performance or one game particularly, which I really enjoy. So just really looking at his entire body of work and seeing his development and how hard he works, I think we’re just very encouraging things. But those are things we saw from Dorian last year, too. He had a, you know, really good year, really good preseason, good year with us as well. So just overall, someone who’s working really hard, very focused, and we’re just really glad to have him.”

 

You were correct in predicting that Jim Schwartz would have a huge impact last year. From the front office standpoint, where do you think that unit can make gains this season? 

“I mean, Jim is a huge part of this. Our players, our coaches are a huge part of this, and I think we have a real chance to, one, maintain our level of performance and improve it in some areas. Like Jim, I’m sure, told you many times, he tells us all the time like nothing’s ever perfect and he’s hard on these guys and he brings energy and discipline. So, I just think the sky’s the limit on what we can see from that unit this year.”

 

With the offensive tackles, I know what the combine Andrew mentioned it’s a good problem to have and having a handful of really good ones. So, I guess just going the route you guys did, and obviously Jack (Conklin), Jed (Willis Jr.) and Dawand (Jones), like, their recovery is panning out differently. Like, how key is that you guys were able to hold on to all of them and just keep that talent.

“Yeah, well, these guys are working extremely hard to get back and doing great progress and, you know, full trust in our medical department when it comes to where they’re at. But to what we talked about earlier, like this gave great opportunities to some of our younger guys to develop and step in. We were able to add some veteran experience on the practice squad with Germain (Ifedi), so that’s extremely valuable. And then just, you know, just having James (Hudson III) as well is awesome. So just having a bunch of guys that can step in and help us is huge from flexibility and optionality.”

 

To the point about aging, I don’t know, you guys probably studied this closer than we do. Does 30 mean the same thing that it used to with all the advances medical sciences? It seems like guys are playing longer. How has the aging curve evolved?

“It’s a loaded question (laughter) because it really varies by position. It varies based on, you know, what we ask the guys to do. So I think it’s on us to evaluate it as a whole and then individually and really figure out how we can put these guys in the best position to succeed, regardless of where they’re at in their career and the age. Because, again, I could not give you a great answer specifically to that because it’s just so, so broad.”