On how exciting it was to return to practice:
"It was awesome to get back out there with the team and to move around a little bit. It is always fun. You always appreciate things when it is taken away from you. I enjoyed practice and liked being out there with my teammates before I was hurt. Now, I get the chance to be back out there and I just continue to appreciate it more and more."
On if there is a timetable for him to return to play:
"We are all on the same timetable. It is just about making sure that I am healthy – not healthy enough, not almost there, just healthy. I want to go out there and help this team win games. I am on the same page as coach (Hue Jackson), (Executive Vice President of Football Operations) Sash (Sashi Brown), the doctors and trainers, united front and that. I am just the happiest guys in the building today because there will be a lot of happy guys tomorrow since it is Thanksgiving. Today, I think I am the happiest guy."
On when and what his final medical test will be to get cleared:
"I can't tell you when it is going to be, but it is going to be a matter of if my bones are healed or not. That is nothing that I can control. I can make sure not to do anything stupid and just go out and practice and do what they ask me to do and let God take care of the rest."
On if he is still in pain:
"I am not in pain at this time in the season. I just want to go out there and be healthy and help this team win games. It was fun to be back out there. I think the guys can feel the energy coming from me. I am like a little kid out there with fresh legs so they were probably all telling me to slow down."
On wanting to play and the recent QB protection:
"I know those guys up front are working their tails off to improve everything, and we are working to make sure that we get the ball out in time. It is not any one person's fault as to why guys are getting hit or not getting hit. That is the approach you have to take towards yourself. For me as a player, it is my job just to play. My job is not to speculate or second guess. My job is to go out there and play. Everyone else's job is to say, 'Hey, you can play.' 'You can't play.' If my shoulder is not ready to go, it is not ready to go, but obviously, I want to play. I don't think there has been anybody who has played football at this level who says they do not want to play for any certain reason. I am excited. Like I said, happiest guy in the building."
On watching Browns QB take hits:
"We are all just trying to go out there and help the team win. (QB) Josh (McCown) thought he was (former Lions RB) Barry Sanders there for a minute (*laughter). *He got hit so hard. He got hit so hard. It is football and they are trying to win. That is the only reason Josh went back out there against Baltimore. That is the only reason I have been fighting so hard to get back since the Philly game. It is the only reason why (QB) Cody (Kessler) has come back from his concussion and whatever is going on with him right now. We all want to win games and everybody in this locker room wants to win games. We know our record. No one in this locker room or in the front office deserves the record that we have. We have worked too hard for that. I commend those guys for going out there and putting everything on the line every week. We have all given something. It is not just the quarterbacks. The offensive line have given something, the running backs, the wide outs and our defense. I just really want to be able to help a little bit more by playing and help this team get not just one win but a couple wins."
On if he expects to return to play in a game, given the 21-day window for evaluation to be elevated to the active roster:
"You have to prepare that way. I feel like I have done everything I can up until this point. Now, getting back onto the practice field, it is just about getting in rhythm and timing with the guys. My expectation is whatever the doctors say, whatever coach says, I am 100 percent on board with that."
On the mindset toward potential injuries:
"You just do not pay it any attention. If you step out there on the field and you are thinking about not getting hurt, then you are going to get hurt. I would never take that approach to it. I advise anybody who is playing that has ever come back from an injury to never take that approach. Some things that you just can't control. I can't control what happened in the Philly game with the guy getting a direct hit on my shoulder as I am trying to go out of bounds. I can't control that anymore. I am sitting here back practicing. You just have to go out and play to the fullest every time you get the chance. I feel like it is a beautiful game, and sometimes it can get a little ugly."
On if he feels like he can be the Browns starting QB in the future:
"Oh, no doubt. I have the confidence in that. I can't speak for Coach or anyone else, but they have expressed that to me. I still feel like I can be the guy for this team, for this organization. I look forward to going out there and proving it."
On if today felt like his first day in the NFL again:
"No, I didn't hear anything so I was like 'I guess I am not practicing today.' Then I came in the building and Coach kind of said, 'Hey, you are practicing today' so I was excited about that. I talked to him last week but I had not heard anything so I was speculating just like you guys were. I thought I was going to see it on the ticker (laughter). I came into the building kind of not knowing what to expect and put my shoulder pads on and ran around like a little kid."
On if the Browns have recently told him that he is still in consideration as the team's future QB:
"I don't think they have to tell me that. I just go out and do my job. My job is to come to work every single day, help this team win games and get back out on the field and try to make that happen. I just focus on doing my job and know what I can control and what I can't control and move on from there."
On if he is worried about durability concerns affecting his future:
"I am 26-years old. I am not 45 (laughter). I have a lot of years of football left, and I am really grateful. It is Thanksgiving. It is the time to give thanks, and I am thankful for having the ability to have so much experience in the league, good and bad up to this point at 26-years old, being in multiple offensive systems. It is all a learning process. As far as the durability goes, I am still young, I am still a kid and I look forward to having a long career. I know it is going to take a lot of hard work and a lot of determination, and I am willing to do it. I am not afraid of hard work."
On missing so many games over the past two seasons and if his mental skills have eroded at all:
"No, not at all. Not at all. I think I proved that throughout the preseason after not playing an entire year. A lot of this game is mental, and you have to make sure you are mentally sharp and stay in it. I am thankful to the coaches and the players that have helped me along the process of staying involved in the gameplan and Coach allowing to me to give suggestions on gameday. Those things help because when you step out on the field, if your mind is right your body will follow you. Your talent will show for itself so I do not think those skills erode at all. It is not a 'if you don't use it you lose it' kind of situation."
On his statement after Week 1 that he felt as though he was playing his best football and if that helped carry him through this injury:
"No doubt. Experiencing that little bit of success and then just the feel of the game in the first game have helped me with my mental process of knowing. I know I can play at an extremely high level and I can do the things that a lot of people said I can't do. I just have to continue to go out and try to prove that. I would not want to do it anywhere else but here with these guys because I know how hard they work and I see it every single day. That is something special. I know 0-11 is not anything special and everyone is going to look at that, but the guys in this locker room have a special quality and we have to make sure we go out and prove it the rest of this year and then moving on to the future."
On if he can salvage his season by returning to the field and helping the Browns win games:
"You can't look at it that way. You have to just play with the cards that you are dealt. This year, I was dealt an injury early in the year, and if I can come back and play later this year, then I am extremely excited about that. It is a privilege to play in the league so you can't look at it as a wasted year like you are going to have another opportunity just at the snap of your fingers. It does not happen like that. You have to appreciate every single thing that you get, and if I get an opportunity to play later this year, I will be extremely excited and happy about that."
On if he is determined to show the Browns that they do not need to draft another QB:
"That is not my decision. I can go out and play or not play, and they can make that decision. I want to be here. I want to be here, I want to play and I want to help this team win. Whatever they do next year, that is up to them, and I can't focus on that because I can't control that."
On the big hit QB Josh McCown in the Steelers game:
"I am hurting for him on that hit. He got hit by a truck, but he is doing fine. He is a tough guy. He is a real tough guy and you just have to always, anytime you start drooping sideways you have to have Barry Sanders like speed, and Josh had that when he came out (laughter). He had that when he came out."
