On evaluating his rookie season and competing against many elite WRs:
“The preseason helped me a lot with that, just going against guys and some seasoned vets who have been in the league a long time and holding myself to a high standard throughout all of those games. Coming with that mentality that the team needs me to do my job in order for us to win. The team chose me in the first round of the draft for me to come out there and play. I had to come with that mindset of kill or be killed, and that is just how I approach every game.”
On if unity and brotherhood could have been stronger among the team this season:
“I feel like the brotherhood of any team can always be stronger. I think we had a pretty tight-knit group honestly. Like JJ (S John Johnson III) said in his [interview], I felt like the defense kind of just focused on the defense and the offense kind of just focused on the offense. I think in order to be a great team to get to where we need to go, we need to all be more cohesive, be more together and hold each other to high standards all of the time instead of just focusing on our side of the ball and they are just focused on their side of the ball. I think next year we will definitely do a better job at just getting everybody involved.”
On how to create better cohesiveness with both sides of the ball:
“They probably obviously knew, and they obviously tried to do it. We just did not do an amazing job on all parts. On the players’ parts, some of the young guys like us, we have to find a way to gel in there, as well. I think that just takes time. It was a really new team from that team the year before. It was a lot of new faces so that takes time to get used to everybody and to get to know what people like and know their family. That all takes time. I think in Year 2, when you have some of the core guys coming back again, we will find a way to start getting to know people more. I met a lot of people this whole entire season and got to know a lot of my teammates from just being there, just being like a freshman in college. From your first day, you have to find a way to get to know your teammates and gel with your teammates, and I feel like it was kind of the same way here.”
On what he learned playing with CB Denzel Ward this season:
“He practices how he plays. He holds himself to a high standard. He comes into games thinking, ‘My goal is to not [give] up a catch in general.’ You having that mentality, that shows you why he is a Pro Bowler this year and why he is probably going to go All-Pro, as well. I learned a lot from him. Just how to be a pro in general. Just how to attack the cornerback position each game. Like I said earlier, he is one of the best in the league right now. He does not have a flaw in his game to me. I learned a lot from him, and I just can’t wait for the years to come to be playing by him for sure.”
On how to continue to emphasize the change in culture with the Browns in his second season:
“We just have to stay together and stay connected. Obviously, forget about the season that we had, but also, we have to remember what it felt like to not make the playoffs and remember what it felt like to go 8-9 after coming from the season where they won a playoff game. We have to remember it, but we also have to forget it and remember that it was a disappointing season. We had a lot of adversity go on in this season. It just has to start with the leaders just keeping that culture great. The culture is honestly great here. We just had an off year. We had a few bumps in the road that other teams I feel like did not have as many as us. We will go back into next season, go back to the drawing board and fix some things that need to be fixed, and I think we will be right where we left off last season.”