LB Christian Kirksey:
On the new rule regarding players initiating contact with their helmet:
"To my understanding, you can't duck your head when making the tackle, which it is going to happen. It is football. Especially in this fast-paced game, things happen. It is unfortunate that the penalties are going to be called, but they are just trying to make sure that players' health is first and fore most to eliminate some of the head injuries, concussions and things like that."
On if he is able to be himself with the Hard Knocks cameras onsite, given LB Joe Schobert said he was playing up to the cameras at times:
"I am always going to be myself. With everything I do, wherever I am at, I am always going to be myself. Schobert, he is a camera guy, too (laughter). They need to follow him around. I think that he is going to get into some acting after football is done."
On who 'America will fall in love with' after the show premieres:
"(LB) Jamie Collins (Sr.) (laughter). No, I am totally joking. We have a lot of good guys on the team. We have a lot of guys that have a lot of personality – (TE) David Njoku, (DB) Jabrill Peppers, those guys are full of energy. It is up to America to choose who they really want to follow."
On the Browns secondary this season with additions this offseason:
"I think that we have more depth. We have a lot of guys that can fill in a spot. Say a guy gets hurt, I am 100 percent confident that the next man in can get the job done. That is the difference between this year and years prior, just that depth."
On DB Denzel Ward:
"He is doing things that rookies do – just keep quiet and grind. He is doing everything he is asked to do. He is doing an extremely good job. I am talking to him more and more. His personality is showing when I have those conversations with him. He is opening up, but right now, he is just focused on getting ready for the season and learning the playbook even more."
TE David Njoku:
On his players day off yesterday:
"It is nice. We put in a lot of work during the days we have to work so it is nice to get off your feet for a day and relax a little bit."
On how he handles having a bad day in camp:
"It is practice. That is why we are here at training camp – to get better every single day. I feel I am getting better, along with the other tight ends. I feel like they are also getting better. It is great progress. We are working really hard."
On how he has improved since training camp last year:
"I would say everything – blocking, route-running, catching and everything. Just a year of getting coaches by NFL coaches, it is a lot more specific details that you have to do. In college, you can just run around and be an athlete, but in the NFL, everyone is a professional so it is different."
On HBO Hard Knocks cameras being around:
"Same way I feel about these cameras. They are cameras. You just have to focus on your job, everything you have to do in practice and everything will take care of itself."
On improving his consistency:
"We are in training camp. We are here to work and get better every single day. Those tough ones happen. You just have to focus on the next play. Things happen, and you just have to make the next play."
On if in-traffic catches are sometimes easier than wide open catches:
"It depends really where the ball is and where the defender is. For the most part, we try to focus on every single ball and secure every single ball."
DL Chad Thomas:
On if it was frustrating being injured at the beginning of training camp:
"A little bit. Just anxious to play football. It is the first time that this has ever happened. Blessed to be in a position where the coaches are helping me out. The training staff has been getting me better each day to come out here."
On if he feels behind after missing the first practices:
"The physical part, I feel like I am behind a little bit. The mental part, I am always taking mental reps. I am always asking questions and am in every meeting. Not [missing] that much mentally."
On if his music producing is on hold right now:
"I put it on hold. Once football season starts and we start training and everything, I take a break from the music."
On what he is learning from DL Myles Garret and DL Emmanuel Ogbah
"How to really use my hands and how to play physical and set the edges. I always have a question for them every day. I pick their brain every day just to find out. I know that practicing is totally different from the game."
On how different an NFL training camp is compared to college:
"You can tell that it is more of a business right now. Everybody is on point. Everybody is about money (laughter). Just trying to be on point with everything and in dealing with everybody. Everybody is locked in on the playbook. In college, you kind of have a little bit of slack. In the league, you have no type of slack."
On if it is nice to have fellow Miami Hurricanes on the team:
"Oh yeah, that is big for me. Just having some old teammates around and having some more people from Miami. If you know Miami football players, we always get into arguments – just chirping about football coming up. It always gives you that sense of competition. It is great to have."
DB T.J. Carrie:
On the Browns defense:
"It is looking pretty good. I still think there is still a lot of fine-tuning that we have to do. There are still a lot of things that us as players have to get on the same with, and I think that is all a part of what training camp is for – to allow us to sharpen our skills, have some fun competing, get the helmets cracking and see where it all stands."
On one-on-one battles with WR Corey Coleman:
"(WR Corey) Coleman has been able to show me just from a one-on-one standpoint that he has a lot of attributes and talents. He has great hands, great speed and he is very aggressive in some of the routes that he runs. That is going to be a great competition. He and I talk on sharpening each other skills, what receivers like to do and what defensive backs like to do just making sure we are going against each other at our bests. It is always good when iron sharpens iron."
On Coleman and him both having better days at times:
"Typically, that is what happens. Sometimes he comes out and he has a couple crafty things that he has added to his game, and there are going to be times where I come out and I have enhanced and crafted some techniques that I like to see, as well. Those are the things that you bounce off of with each other is who is going to continue to win that battle day in and day out, and I love it."
On fans getting on Coleman during practice:
"I do not really hear that. Most of the time when I am on the field, or not most of the time – all of the time when I am on the field, I tune everything out. The only thing I am really paying attention to is who I am in front of and who I am guarding."
On how often during a practice he tests new techniques:
"All of them because practice is the only real way you can sharpen your skills so that when you are going out into the game, you are not trying to try something you have not done. Every given day, I am working on something, and I also have to take the accountability that what I am working on may not always work. Within that stance you come back to the film room and say 'Alright, that is something I am going to throw out of the tool bag that is something I can't bring to the game or that is something I can't use versus these types of receivers.' In every instance, every day I am working on something different, and I am understanding that I am at risk when I am working on that. There are chances where you are going to get beat, and there are going to be chances where you give up things that you normally do not give up because you are playing a technique that you have not worked a lot on."
