Sports Radio Interviews

Joe Haden Likes the Pressure That Comes With Being a Number One Draft Pick

Last year the Cleveland Browns were one of the worst teams in the NFL and they also had one of the worst defenses in the league as well. One of the biggest reasons for their struggles in the secondary was their shaky play at cornerback. Eric Wright looks to be a quality starter in the league, but Brandon McDonald was just cut from the roster and was a starter for much of the season last year. When Mike Holmgren and Tom Heckert took over, they realized that if they wanted to have any hope of competing, they needed to upgrade the secondary.

The NFL has turned into a passing league and starting Brandon McDonald and Eric Wright is just not good enough when the schedule is filled with landmines like Joe Flacco, Ben Roethlisberger, and Carson Palmer twice a year. So the Browns brought in Sheldon Brown to play opposite Eric Wright and they also used their first round pick on Joe Haden. Haden was the best cornerback in the NFL draft coming out of Florida and while he may not start this year for Cleveland, you can be sure that Haden will get some playing time in his rookie season and he should be a cornerstone piece of the Browns defense for the next decade.

Joe Haden joined ESPN 850 WKNR in Cleveland to talk about how his first preseason went, what the biggest adjustment was for him coming to the NFL, who he has learned the most from so far, how excited he is to start the regular season, and also gives his thoughts on Eric Mangini as a coach.

On the difference between college football and the NFL:

“It’s almost like night and day. There’s so much I’ve learned just being able to play in the games and just study film on different teams. It’s just like college basically, but when you find out what teams in the NFL do, everybody in the NFL does basically the same thing. Just studying film and knowing what to look for in this game has made it a whole lot easier for me.”

On who he has learned the most from so far:

“My coach of course, but besides him I would say Sheldon Brown. Me and him, we get along really well and I just feel like he’s been in the NFL so long, my coaches they said when you get there, find somebody that has been there for a while that you can latch on to and ask for advice. That’s what I’ve been doing asking him a whole lot. He’s been helping me and teaching me stuff and just telling me it’s not all going to happen in one day. Just try to keep getting better, keep getting better. Just don’t let stuff get to you. He tells me, you’re going to mess up. When I watch him in practice, he says see just how I’m calm and know that the people on the offense are getting paid as well so you’re not going to make every play.”

“On how excited he is for the regular season to start:

“Definitely. I’m ready to finally just play real games and get it started. Preseason, I loved preseason because it got me so ready knowing what I’m coming into. Preseason was a time where you can learn from mistakes, get game experience, and the thing I like about coach is he has me in there a lot just trying to get me as much game time experience because he said I’m gonna be playing  a lot this year. As much preseason as I could get, I loved it, but now it’s time to start the real thing.”

On what he thinks of Eric Mangini as a head coach:

“I would say Coach Mangini is a really good dude that cares about his players and he just wants people that work hard, are trustworthy, and he wants people that are working for a common goal.”

Listen to Joe Haden on ESPN 850 WKNR here

Tags: AFC North, Cleveland Browns, ESPN 850 WKNR, Joe Haden, NFL