Cleveland Browns quarterback ![]()
Weeden was under center during the Browns’ mandatory minicamp practice Tuesday and threw an interception to second-year safety ![]()
Weeden, a former minor league pitcher in the New York Yankees organization, knows the importance of having a short memory on the field.
“That comes from baseball,” Weeden said. “I gave up a lot of home runs in baseball and they’re very similar. You’ve got to tow the rubber or take snaps and move on. I’m going to make plenty of those mistakes throughout the year, but it’s how you bounce back on the next series. After I threw it, I said to myself, ‘Alright, go make a play.’ I kind of knew what we were going to do. I wanted to make a big play.”
Seeing Weeden respond from the miscue with a solid play was expected by the Browns coaching staff.
“I think we’re seeing what we saw prior to drafting him and he’s done a good job of learning what we do and how we call plays, progressions and what we’ve asked him to do, I think he’s done a good job,” Browns coach Pat Shurmur said. “It’s pretty much what we thought. Part of what’s nice about having an offseason when you draft a quarterback is that they get a chance to develop and start to feel what those expectations are. I wouldn’t call it pressure or anxiety, but there’s something to be said for getting a feel for your surroundings.”
Weeden has worked with several different rotations of wide receivers and running backs during organized team activities and minicamp, which could help him get used to playing with and knowing his teammates’ tendencies. Although the Browns have only been together for six OTA practices and two days of minicamp, Weeden feels his comfort level is growing within the team’s West Coast offense.
“I’m leap years farther along right now than I was obviously day one, day two,” Weeden said. “I think even through rookie minicamp, where I’m at right now is that I look like two totally different quarterbacks in my footwork. You can tell I’m processing stuff a little bit faster and I’m not thinking quite as much.”
He continued, “That’s the thing about this system, in particular playing quarterback, when you stop thinking so much and you just react and go through your reads one, two, three to your back, that’s when you start moving the ball down the field and start getting completions and first downs.”
In addition to getting used to the West Coast offense, Weeden is also learning how to throw the ball to maximize the abilities of his teammates while factoring in the weather. Tuesday was an unseasonably cold 60-degree day with gusts of wind challenging the quarterbacks on throws down the field.
Rookie wide receiver ![]()
“He can fly,” Weeden said. “We were joking about that, the wind coming this way, so when we’re going toward the facility, you have to let it go a few steps early because he can go. Downwind, it’s not so bad, but if you’re trying to throw into any kind of breeze, you have to let it go and keep it pretty tight.”