Kamerion Wimbley conference call

(On being selected by the Browns)- “I’m proud to be a Cleveland Brown. This is an opportunity to play for the team and represent Cleveland in the best way I can.”

(On moving to linebacker from defensive end)- “I think it’ll be something that will be what I consider a fun challenge. I played defensive end the whole time in college. I don’t have too much experience dropping back, although we practiced it some and I did it a couple times in games. When I did my drills people were impressed with the way I moved. And my coach for the FSU Seminoles, coach (Kevin) Steele was the linebackers coach, and he saw the way I moved. He pretty much thought it’d be a great idea for me to move to linebacker. When I performed at linebacker at the Combine and the Senior Bowl, pretty much everyone was impressed, and at our pro day as well.”

(On traveling to football camps while in high school)- “I didn’t have any scholarship offers. But as I went to the camps, teams were able to see me move and get around with a lot of the guys at the camp and, as I went to every camp throughout the summer, I ended up getting more and more scholarship offers and more exposure, and by the end of the whole process I was up to 12 or 13 scholarship offers from Division I schools across the country, including Florida State.”

 (On rushing the passer)- “As a pass rusher, speed is definitely one of my benefits. The ability to get lower than the guy blocking me and my flexibility also plays an important part of me getting to the passer. Those things will definitely be assets in the league.”

 (On playing next to Willie McGinest)- “Willie McGinest is a great player. I watched him when he was with the Patriots so it’s definitely a situation that is good for me to be able to hop in there and be able to learn from one of the best players in the league who has a lot of experience, knowledge and wisdom. I’m looking forward to learning as much as I can from him.”

 (On his story as a child)- “Growing up I faced a little adversity at a young age. My parents divorced. We moved from Alaska – my dad was in the Air Force – we moved back to Wichita, Kansas with my mother. Things got pretty tough. She was a single parent raising three kids – I have an older brother and a younger sister. She got into a situation where she had to go to jail. Our grandmother ended up adopting us after we spent a short time in foster care. We stayed with her from the third grade all the way up until the eighth grade. When I was in third grade, that’s when I pretty much got involved in football and that brought a lot of discipline and camaraderie amongst teammates. So when I got to high school, my dad actually moved back from Alaska, he got married, and we moved in with his wife and her kids – she had three kids of her own. I stayed with them from the eighth grade all the way through high school and ended up going to FSU from there.”

 (On his life off the field)- “Off the field I don’t do too much. I don’t look for the lime light. When I can I just spend time relaxing with friends and family and people that go to my church and things like that.”

 (On being taken early in the first round)- “It is a blessing to be considered a good enough player to be taken in the top half. I showed coaches I could move around well. I impressed a lot of people who had not been able to see me get up and do those things. To be able to come back after an injury also impressed a lot of coaches. The times they got to interview me they were able to have discussions with me and figure out my personality and see I could be a good fit for the team.”

 (On his mother)- “My mom is doing great. She had lived in Wichita until I went up to college and after my second year there she moved down and came to all my games. Everything is fine. She’s overjoyed. She was very excited about this day. I’ve been working for this moment for a long time and it’s here. She was just happy for that.”

 (On the adversity he faced)- “It played a major role because there were a lot of people who were influential in getting me to the point where I am today. I wasn’t able to do it on my own -- a lot of coaches, family members, grandparents, teachers, a lot of people around the community. So I would just like to show my appreciation by giving back to the youth who are maybe underappreciated or oppressed and in a similar situation to myself when I was coming up.”

 (On the adversity he faced)- “Adversity definitely helped me get to where I am today and helped me adaptable to my situations and adjust under stressful situations.”

 (On helping the Browns right away)- “I think I’ll be able to go in and help contribute to the team and hopefully make them a successful ball club along with the players already there. Really what I need to do is go in and give it the best I’ve got. If I do that I’ll be fine and I’ll produce for the ball club and the fans.”

 (On becoming a better player)- “I never stop learning. If you stop learning you’re not getting better. I strive to get better everyday. NFL coaches know so much about football and have a lot of wisdom to pass onto me. I’m eager to learn all that. I also don’t think I’m at my peak physically. I still have some growing to do. I think I can get faster and stronger and well.”

 (On how he spent draft day)- “I’m in Wichita, Kansas. I celebrated with friends and family. We had about 200 people here at a get-together and watched it on a big screen. That was phenomenal to be around a lot of friends and family that helped me make it to this point.”

 (On how he turned out to be a good person)- “I was fortunate to have so many people who were influential in a positive way. Not everybody who goes through situations like that fortunate enough to have key people in their lives to point them in the right direction.”

 (On going to the Browns)- “It was kind of expected. I had talked to them and I got a good feeling from them when I came up to visit them. I enjoyed the trip up there. Everybody was extremely nice as afar as showing me around and introducing me. I got a good feeling there.”

 (On having played QB in high school)- “It helps out a little bit. >From a quarterback perspective to be able to see what defenses are doing and be on the defensive side of the ball, you have an idea of what a quarterback is thinking in certain situations. It helps because you can take that knowledge you have from playing quarterback and using it against opposing quarterbacks.”

 (On a possible hold out)- “I don’t think there’ll be any hold out. I’m looking forward to getting into camp as soon as possible. I don’t see any reason why I would hold out.”

 (On DL Brodrick Bunkley)- “Bunk is a great player. To be drafted ahead of him, it is amazing. We both played on the line together. We did a lot of great things together at FSU. For us to be taken close together is a great feeling. I don’t think I’m a better player than he is because he was taken after me. There are a lot of things he does that are great and a lot of things I do that are great.”

WHAT SAVAGE AND ROMEO HAD TO SAY 

4/29/06 General Manager Phil Savage and Head Coach Romeo Crennel press conference on first round draft pick Kamerion Wimbley

Phil Savage (opening statement)- “We were pleased to make our first selection a few moments ago. Kamerion Wimbley was a player that we had targeted for quite some time. We are very pleased about adding him to our team for a number of reasons. I indicated that the pass rush was one of our biggest concerns. Adding Kamerion Wimbley on one side of the defense and already having Willie McGinest here who went through a similar transition from defensive end to outside linebacker is a perfect situation for Kamerion to walk into. I know you guys are going ask about the Haloti Ngata scenario. We liked him a lot, but we liked Wimbley better. Quite frankly, we were sitting there hoping we could get something for the value of a No. 12 pick. We were able to do that and now we have two No. 4, two No. 5 and two No. 6 (selections). We feel like the rest of the draft is setting up nicely for us. We felt like Kamerion was one of the top players on our board. From the moment of free agency, we felt like he came into focus even stronger with each passing day. We are very pleased to get an outstanding person and an extremely gifted athlete.”

Romeo Crennel (On the Browns selecting Kamerion Wimbley)- “You never know how the draft will unfold as it plays out. In our previous meetings, there were a couple of guys that we looked at. We were very fortunate that Wimbley was available when we had the opportunity to pick. To be able to get an extra pick as well as the guy you like is a plus for us. I think that might allow us to do something else later in the draft if we need to. As a pass rusher, you see Wimbley come off the edge, you can see that he can run the circle and you can see that he can bend his knees to get to the quarterback. That was one of the needs this team had. You have to be able to rush the passer in the NFL. We weren’t able to do it last year so we had to do something about that. We felt like we’ve done something with Wimbley. I think that he is going to help and I know he has to make the transition from a defensive end to an outside linebacker, but I think he can do it. He showed in his pro day that he can drop. He went through the linebacker drills and dropped as a linebacker. We didn’t have to slow the drills down to instruct him. He looked like a natural doing it so, we feel good about him being able to make the transition. Having a veteran like Willie McGinest who has gone through the same transition to teach him should be a big help to us. We feel good about getting the particular player when we did.

Phil Savage (On Kamerion Wimbley)- “This is a player who is a four-down player. He can play first and second down and we’ll utilize him as an outside linebacker. On third down, he’ll go back to what he did best at Florida State and that’s putting his hand down and coming off the corner. He was an outstanding special teams player in the early part of his career and actually played special teams all the way through his career at FSU. He is a ‘slippery when wet’ rusher. He is a guy that can really bend. He is the rubber band man, kind of Gumby-like. He can really bend, stay low to the ground and get around the cornerback. You put your plans on paper and you never know how it’s going to turn out. This one went right down the middle of the plate for us. We’re extremely pleased with the way that went. The strength coach at Florida State said this was the best kid he had worked with in 18 years. When you go digging for his background, you are not going to find anything negative about him. He’s an absolute ‘A’ class, first-rate person. One of his friends is on our team, Paul Irons. They actually roomed together, either on the road or as freshmen three or four years ago. I talked to Paul yesterday and asked him how our guy was. He said he’s been busy because he’s been on a lot of visits and workouts. I think a lot of people focused on Kamerion as the draft approached. Once he had the pro day, it really woke up some people in terms what kind of athlete he is. He was going to go somewhere in this range and we feel good about getting him at No. 13.”

Phil Savage (On the first round trade with the Baltimore Ravens)- “I wasn’t looking at it as much as I was looking at what was best for the Browns. There is a lot of back and fourth between these two teams because I was in (Baltimore’s) war room for nine years. On our sheet of paper, it says do what’s best for the Browns. I felt like the best move for the Browns was Kamerion Wimbley, plus a later round pick that can be used in some other way later. There were two key moments over time in the past two months where Wimbley began to emerge. Number one was when Kalimba Edwards was here over that March weekend. That afternoon when it began to look like he wasn’t coming here, I walked to my office, looked at the depth chart and said, ‘You know what, our focus just went to Kamerion Wimbley. That’s going to be our guy.’ The next key moment was at a meeting in April when the coaches came back and we were all in the room together. We said, ‘What do we advocate the most? Is it a pass rush or run down player?’ The answer was pass rush. Last year on defense, as good as we did in the red zone, we bled to death from the 20 to 20 (yard lines). At the 20-yardline, we forced them to kick a field goal. A pass rusher is somebody who can stop them on third down. If we can get them to third down, I think between (Wimbley) and Willie (McGinest) we are going to be able to bring some pressure along with David McMillan. I think Romeo and Todd (Grantham) are going to have a lot more versatility and flexibility as we begin to accumulate these types of players.”

Romeo Crennel (On Kamerion Wimbley’s run defense)- “He’s going to be good in the run defense. On the right side, he’s going to be against the air most of the time and the tackle is going to have to go out and get him or a back will have to block him which will be a major task for either one of those guys. If they want to put a tight end in front of him, I think he’ll be able to handle a tight end. He’s almost 6’4” 250 pounds. He’s the outside linebacker type that I’m used to. We’ll coach him up and make him good against the run defense if he’s not.”

Phil Savage (On Kamerion Wimbley compared to Florida State alum Peter Boulware) – “Obviously, I was involved with the selection of Pete in 1997. It’s good that you bring that up. We drafted Peter Boulware, Cornell Brown, Terrell Suggs and Adalius Thomas. We had a number of players who played at defense end in college and emerged as outside linebackers. As the leader of the personnel department, I have a good handle on what it takes to do that. Between Romeo and the defensive staff, they are going to mold this guy into an outstanding outside linebacker. That particular year that you mention with Pete, he and Renard Wilkins were the book ends at FSU. Marvin Lewis went down to work them out. In 15 seconds, you knew who would play outside linebacker and who would play with his hand down for the rest of his career. Peter was an outstanding athlete. I think (Wimbley) is every bit equivalent if not better as far as the fluidity. I went back and pulled Pete’s numbers out. (Wimbley’s) numbers were as good or better across that board. It’s a different time where kids can practice some of the drills. It’s not quite a fair comparison, but overall, I would say a comparable type player and we’ll be very fortunate in terms of Kamerion Wimbley if he puts up the sack numbers that Pete did. He has some shoes to fill, but if he reaches that level of play, I think we’ll be very satisfied.”

Romeo Crennel (On LB Chaun Thompson)- “It means that he’s still the starter at his position until someone beats him out. I don’t give guys the job just because we pick him first. If the guy comes in here and he’s a player, we’ll see what happens to Chaun. Chuan has the job and someone has to beat him out.”

Phil Savage (On other teams being interest in a first round trade with the Browns)- “Yesterday afternoon, a number of teams felt that Haloti Ngata might be there at No. 12 just by the way the mock drafts were being played out. A number of teams called yesterday and overnight expressing an interest in the pick. I didn’t feel like we wanted to go back too far and miss out on a player that we had targeted for this period of time. When Denver moved in at No. 11, there was some concern that Wimbley had become their choice. Supposedly, they were interested in him and Manny Lawson one and two. I talked to Nick Saban yesterday and he was asking me a ton of questions about Wimbley and how he would compare to this guy and that guy. I told him I kind of liked him. I think there was a lot of interest in Wimbley. Once people started marrying our name to his name, people woke up and said hey, we have to take this guy for real. He might be an outside linebacker or an edge pass rusher. There was interest in the pick and I didn’t want to go back too far. I called Ozzie Newsome this morning. I said, ‘You know me and you know that I’ll take that defensive lineman that you like. I’m willing to move if you want to come up and get your guy. We’ll talk about it once we are on the clock.” We did and we got something for it so, we’ll see how it goes. I would say that I feel a little better about passing up Haloti Ngata since we had LeCharles Bentley signed in free agency. If we didn’t have LeCharles here, I would feel a little bit more concerned about it.”

Phil Savage (On Kamerion Wimbley’s emotion on the football field)- “I think Kamerion does play hard. We had Brodrick Bunkley here as well on a visit. One thing about Florida State players is that they are around other great players. I asked Brodrick about Kamerion Wimbley. He said one thing about him is you’ll get everything he’s got every single play. He spoke highly of him. I think ‘Bunk’ probably thought he was the best player on that defense and he ended up being the third guy taken behind Ernie Sims and Kamerion. (Wimbley) had high praise from his own teammate and we feel good about his effort. He covered kicks and played special teams, even at the Senior Bowl. Kamerion is a good worker and is a guy who is going to do everything in his power to be a good player for us.”

Phil Savage (On possibly selecting Brodrick Bunkley)- “We liked Broderick a lot, but at that point, the first two (Florida State) guys were over him on our board to be honest. Obviously, if not, we’d be talking about him.”

Phil Savage (On where Wimbley ranked on the Browns draft board during free agency)- “He was still very high. It’s interesting because George Veras, our vice president of broadcasting and production, wanted to follow us to a school this fall. I said, I knew some people at Florida State so, I thought that would be a good one. They followed me for a day at Florida State never dreaming that Kamerion Wimbley and Broderick Bunkley would be two of our three targeted players. That piece is going to run in the next couple of days. Outside of the fact that I’m in involved in it, from a scouting perspective and what goes into a daily visit to FSU, you are going to get a behind-the-scenes glimpse of what takes place. When I walked off the practice field, I said I would love to get this guy in Cleveland. That was sometime in October. That’s the feeling that I always kept going back to. When you are talking about projections, you have to get the rest of the scouts

and the coaches on board because it’s difficult to project a guy. We went down to Florida State, saw the workout and he solidified that he could play on his feet. The coaches looked at the tapes and said a pass rusher was what we needed more than anything else on this team. He became our player.”

Phil Savage (On the first round trade with Baltimore)- “I don’t think you abide by the chart when here were two issues. One team moved up for a fourth round pick for (Jeremy) Shockey. Another team moved up one spot for a sixth round pick. Was the window for a fourth to sixth round pick there? You have to go with what you feel is best for your team. That’s what we did and I feel best about that.”

Phil Savage (On a potential player the Browns like in the later rounds)- “We’ll find out I guess. The sixth round has been good in my experiences over the years. Cornell Brown and Adalius Thomas were floating around down in there. I think we could do OK with that pick. As Romeo pointed out, we can always use it as a chip to move back up to do something else.”

Phil Savage (On the time it took to select the first round choice)- “Quite frankly, we wanted (ESPN) to talk about the Browns a little bit. We wanted to get Wimbley on the television screen and have his family see that pick go in. Some of it is just semantic. It’s television, I feel like a TV producer up there.”

Phil Savage (On trusting the Ravens to select who they wanted from the trade)- “I knew what their needs are. Obviously, they were looking at a defensive lineman. They didn’t need a Kamerion Wimbley type because they drafted Dan Cody last year. They have Adalius Thomas and they have Terrell Suggs so, it didn’t feel like there would be an interest in him. The other thing you concern yourself with is if they do a double switch on you. When I was on the phone with Ozzie Newsome, at the end of the day we’ll do it for a sixth round pick, that way you and I can play golf this summer and laugh about it.”

Romeo Crennel (On Kamerion Wimbley playing in the 3-4 defense)- “I think he can play in either defense. If he had been drafted by a 4-3 team, he would have fit very well. He would have been able to rush every down. In our scheme, we don’t rush on every down. We’ll rush primarily on third down and on first and second down he may or may not rush. We wanted to find out if he could drop. When he should us that he could at the pro day, that kind of helped solidify him as the choice.”

Romeo Crennel (On Kamerion Wimbley compared to Willie McGinest talent wise)- “He’s not as experienced for one, but I think he has comparable ability.”

Phil Savage (On Ray Lewis helping to influence Baltimore’s decision to trade)- “I have no idea. I think it was more of a feeling that they had Haloti Ngata rated up there. I’ve been in that room many times and they know what my feelings were about a defensive lineman. That’s the way it played out.”

Phil Savage (On Kamerion Wimbley’s character)- “Bobby Bowden has been kind of a mentor of mine over the years. When we talked that day, he said that (Wimbley) was a unique kid. He said that he has an amazing story to tell and he shared it with the team one time and he had the respect of his teammates. His high school coach is the person who took a real interest in Kamerion. He was a 200 pound athlete out in the middle of Kansas and he loved watching Florida State on TV. They took him to 11, 12 or 13 football camps. He got down to FSU and after one day they offered him a scholarship. Florida State doesn’t offer scholarships to bad athletes. Not on a one day exposure. You know there are some qualities that they liked. I have such respect for coach Bowden, I don’t think he’d steer me down the wrong path.”

Romeo Crennel (On drafting a linebacker in the first round)- “I don’t know if there are any rules on who you draft. You try to draft the player who is right for your team and that’s what we tried to do in this case. If you want to be technical, he was a defensive lineman that we are trying to make an outside linebacker. If we’re able to make him an outside linebacker, that would be good for us. We think he will be a good player for us.”

Romeo Crennel (On wanting Kamerion Wimbley to get bigger)- “My experience has been that college players who come to the NFL generally get a little bit larger. They get stronger from the weight program and he’ll  add a couple of pounds. It will be important that he gets better as a player. We’ll work on that.”

Phil Savage (On Kamerion Wimbley’s performance in the Senior Bowl)- “I think he stood out there. People recognized his pass rushing ability. You saw him covering kicks and he had a good week. Going back to the body type, for an outside linebacker, he’s cut right outside of the mold. He has broad shoulders, long arms and he looks like and outside linebacker should. I think Willie McGinest will give us a picture of what one should look like and I think Kamerion will be a model for us to evaluate. We’ve certainly upgraded the athletic ability and talent of our team with this choice.”

Phil Savage (On Kamerion Wimbley’s character)- “I think it’s an added bonus. We had him up there because of his athletic ability. The cherry on top is that he is a good person.”

Phil Savage (On hoping a quarterback might have fallen to the No. 12 spot)- “Not really. It didn’t matter to us. Each quarterback brought different elements to it. It would have taken a certain quarterback for us to be interested. I think we feel good about what we have here.”