Rob Chudzinski News Conference: Day 16 of Browns Training Camp

Cleveland Browns head coach Rob Chudzinski met with the media following the team's twelfth day of training camp on Wednesday. Chudzinski talked about RB Trent Richardson getting ready to play this Thursday, QB Brandon Weeden not being named the starter yet, and more. The transcript is organized by topic below, or you can watch the news conference here.

Our Day 16 report on what happened at camp is here.

Opening Statement - Getting Ready for Detroit

Opening statement: "We had a chance to work on Detroit a little bit and get ready for that game. I am looking forward to playing against somebody else. They are a very talented team. I am looking for progress and improvement from Game 1 to Game 2. We plan on playing the starters through midway in the second quarter, possibly all the way to half. We will just have to play it by ear and see from a rep standpoint, series and the flow of the game. We will get the twos in after that and then the threes in the fourth quarter at some point. As far as injuries, Montario Hardesty had a dislocated thumb. We padded him up; he was okay. He went out and did some individual drills in practice today. We will see about him for next week."

Trent Richardson Will Play on Thursday

On the status of Trent Richardson for Thursday: "I had a feeling you would ask about that. We will play Trent, give him a couple series and then we’ll go from there."

On determining the decision on Richardson: "We just wanted to sit down, talk through and confirm things with the staff, with everything that we are doing. We want to be on the same page with the plan, more than anything."

On whether Richardson hugged him after the coach told Richardson he would play: "Not a hug. I got a smile."

On the plan regarding Richardson: "You want guys to want to play. Trent wants to play. At the same time, he trusts us enough that we will make the right decisions of putting him in a position that he will be ready to play opening day."

Not Naming Weeden the Starting QB Yet

On whether he will name a starting QB, or since Weeden is listed first on the depth, whether he won’t: "There’s a point where I will name a starting quarterback. I am not ready to do it yet."

On how close the quarterback competition is: "I think it’s still close. We are finding out every game. These games are important opportunities for guys to show what they can do."

On how there can be competition if Brandon is taking all of the first-team reps: "I think we will see them more and get more time with them on the field. There are still three or four preseason games left. I’m sorry, three preseason games left out of the four. So there is still a lot of work to be done. There is plenty of practice as well. Every day is an evaluation and we are looking at them every day. They each have done well and showed good things along the way."

On if Weeden has done anything in camp to make Chudzinski question his depth chart: "I don’t look at it like that. You look at maybe a day or a play or a throw or this or that and it may be something that you would like him to improve on, you use it. You see him start to improve and make the corrections and you see the progress."

On planning to wait to choose a starting quarterback: "Well, the plan is to find the right guy. The process has been what it has been to this point. We will make determinations along the way. At whatever point is the right time to do that, we will name a starter."

On what he wants to see from Weeden after the first game: "I want to see everybody build on the first game and show improvement and progress."

Jason Campbell & Brian Hoyer

On if it is hard to get a read on Jason Campbell since he is always with the second team: "I think you can tell. I think the things he has demonstrated with that group are what I would expect. I think that he has shown well."

On how Jason Campbell has done thus far: "He had a grasp of the offense in places where it has been similar. That familiarity has been good. In terms of leadership, you see him doing the extra things with helping receivers out, helping younger guys out and helping getting guys lined up. A lot of little things that veteran quarterbacks, a guy who is really unselfish and a team player, demonstrates."

On where Brian Hoyer stands: "Brian is working with the threes. That’s where we have him right now. I think he’s shown well and done some good things. We will get into the games here and hopefully get these guys plenty of opportunities. Again, we still have three weeks of practice left to evaluate. In essence, we are halfway there."

Bogotay Will Kick, Graham to Have Day Off

On the kicker situation: "It’s a pretty tight competition. It’s a day-to-day thing. We will kick Brandon Bogotay in this game. Only Brandon. We want to give him an opportunity to be put him in a situation where he has to kick them all."

On short kicks being a problem for Bogotay: "Not really. I want to see him make them all. It’ll be him going through that process of him playing a whole game. Doing the kickoffs, do the extra points, do the field goals; have to turn around and be ready for when certain situations come up. Just give him a chance to show he can handle that."

On if Shayne Graham will be kicking in the third preseason game: "We will see after this game."

Evaluating the Kick Returner Position

On wanting to see Dion Lewis, Johnson Bademosi, and Buster Skrine on the kick return: "Dion and Bademosi are the two guys I really want to see at this point. I feel good about Skrine because he has done it before. I’d like to see Dion and Bademosi primarily because they haven’t done it a lot."

On seeing them in the game or on the practice field: "In the game. A lot of the things from a return standpoint and special teams, the game is when you can see the most."

Browns Fans During Camp, and Future Scrimmage

On whether he’ll miss the fans, who saw their last practice Tuesday: "Absolutely. I hope there will be a lot of them at the games, though. It was great having them here. Great support. The turnouts were awesome. Even during the week on some of the days you wouldn’t expect a lot of people to be here. It just tells you a lot about these fans and how they feel about this team. Hopefully they had a lot of fun out here, as much as I did, and enjoyed the time with our players."

On whether he has thought about scrimmaging other teams in the league: "I have. I have done it before. I think it’s a good thing. This first year, we will focus a little more on ourselves and get ourselves straight, to begin with. Some of it has to do with how the schedule comes out. I generally like the idea doing that. I would consider doing it."

On going to Browns training camp as a little kid: "I wasn’t real young. I think I was high-school age, I went out when it was at Lakeland College."

On interacting with a lot of fans: "These groups of people are special people to me. Having fun with them and having them apart of the experience is important."