DT Malik McDowell (8.31.21)

On if he could have imagined being on the Browns’ 53-man roster back in May:

“Me? I imagined it. I did imagine it. Manifested it – that is why I call it more of a manifestation. I was always thinking, pushing and working.”

 

On what has it been like to be without football for four years and now being on the Browns’ 53-man roster:

“Mostly, it was just getting my body back used to playing football every day. That has been like the biggest obstacle so far. Body is starting to feel and get used to be out here running, hitting and doing everything and all of the stuff that comes with football.”

 

On when he got the hunger to play football again or if he never lost it:

“I will say my real hunger when my situation became what my situation was. Actually, while I was in jail, it gave me a lot of time to think about what I wanted to do in life and where my life was heading. That really gave me the motivation and push to try to fight back to get back what I lost.”

 

On if he ever thought he would play football again when he was in jail:

“Me? Yeah, that is what I was telling everybody I was in there with that is what I am working towards. ‘When I get out, I am going back to try to play football.’”

 

On if he had a choice of teams to sign with this offseason and why he decided to sign with the Browns:

“I do not know. Cleveland was the first team that brought me out, brought me down here, got me looked at medically and cleared me for football. They were the first to do it, and that is all I had at the time. They brought me in.”