Brandon Weeden Is Hoping To Bring The Browns Back To The Playoffs Before His 30th Birthday

Brandon Weeden Is Hoping to Bring the Browns Back to the Playoffs Before His 30th Birthday

The list of quarterbacks the Browns have had since the team came back is long and it’s filled with busts.Rookie first round pick Brandon Weeden is hoping to change that. With his name plastered all over the Oklahoma State record books, Weeden is hoping that success carries over into the NFL. As a 28-year-old rookie, Weeden has a unique advantage over other rookies with his maturity but the growing pains that come with being a rookie will still be there. The expectations are high and the pressure is on. The Browns drafted Weeden and his big arm hoping to give an offense that averaged 13.6 points per game last season a boost and stop the revolving door at quarterback from spinning.Something no quarterback has been able to do in the new era for Cleveland.Brandon Weeden joined The Dan Patrick Show to talk about whether he has been hazed yet as a rookie, what he was thinking when he was told he would be the starting quarterback, how Trent Richardson is coming along following his knee surgery, whether the Browns will make the playoffs before his 30th birthday and how much his age plays a factor for him.

Whether he has been hazed yet as a rookie:

“Not yet. Not yet. I’m waiting for it. Our veterans are pretty good and they’ve got a couple of tricks up their sleeve.”

What he was thinking when he was told he would be the starting quarterback:

“We were going about our business and we had an off day. Coach Shurmur pulled me in and kind of told me what the plan was. I was obviously ecstatic and I was hoping that would be the outcome but I didn’t know going into camp. I went in competing and thinking that I was really going to have to compete for this job and Colt (McCoy) kind of went about it the same way so that was the way we approached it. We got better from the first day of training camp until today. Think we have pushed each other and gotten better and made each other better. I think even though I was named the starter that really hasn’t changed the way we have gone about business. We’re still trying to get the guys around us better and make this football team as good as possible.”

How Trent Richardson is coming along after knee surgery:

“Getting better every day truly. He’s in there working his tail off in the training room and getting ready each and every day. He loves to play football and you can tell that just by being around him. He’s chomping at the bit to get out and get back on the field. Fortunately it was just a minor deal so he’s able to bounce back pretty quickly. He’s walking, doing great, and like I said he’s busting his tail in the training room trying to do everything he can to get back and hopefully we will see him here pretty quick.”

What comes first, your 30’s or a Browns playoff appearance?

“Hopefully a Browns playoff appearance. I was talking to Seneca Wallace and I said I’m kind of dreading the 30′s. Everybody already wants to talk about my age and that’s all they want to talk about so it’s got to get worse when I turn 30. I’m dreading it. (But you have to make the playoffs then this year. You’re turning 29.) Yeah well that is true. That’s a good point but best case scenario I think definitely make the playoffs first and then we will worry about the 30th birthday a couple of years down the road.”

How his age has helped him so far in his transition to the NFL:

“I think you’ve already seen it. In my first game I had a couple of things that didn’t go my way and there’s going to be adversity. I think the way I handled it not only that night but the next week through practice I think I’m able to know how to go about my business and deal with the adversity and put it behind me. Sometimes when you’re younger I think you push yourself and try to do too much and it sticks with you. You have to learn from it and move on and I think that’s one thing that is irreplaceable. You can’t really teach that. You just kind of learn it and live through it. I lived through it in baseball so I think going back through it again and where I’m at now, even though I am 28-years-old, I think this game is so difficult and I’m still learning and still doing  a lot of things. I don’t think it makes me that much more ready to play. I think it helps but it doesn’t really make me that much more ready. I think it just helps me deal with the adversity and all of the things that are going to come with it.”