NFL Draft: Eric Mangini and George Kokinis Speak About “Day 1″

Though other teams had four selections in Day 1 of the NFL Draft, no team was busier in acquiring those four players than the Cleveland Browns.  I’m not about to get on the horn with Elias Sports, but I can’t recall the last time a team traded three times within the same round.  All in all, the Browns left Day 1 with seven players in all, four of which play on the offensive side of the ball.

Here are a few comments on what George Kokinis and Eric Mangini thought about what was likely the busiest day of their young tenure with the Cleveland Browns…

On the days leading up to the draft:

Mangini: “I couldn’t be happier with the process, the way that the scouts worked together throughout this process with the coaches, the amount of detail, effort and time that went into stacking the boards and really identifying the players we liked and the players who had the traits that we believed in and I thought that went extremely well.”

On taking Cal center Alex Mack:

Mangini: “From my perspective I think that we really liked Alex (Mack) and I’ve been part of drafts in the past where we’ve drafted two offensive linemen in the first round and my experience there was outstanding.”

Kokinis: ““Alex was our highest rated center on the board. There was a consensus on the player throughout the whole process, the February meetings, the workouts, the April meetings, there was a consensus on this player that this guy was the best center. He fit what we wanted to do, he’s tough, he’s academic Heisman, he’s smart, and he just fits what we believe in.”

On acquired defensive end Kenyon Coleman:

Mangini: ““Kenyon (Coleman) is a defensive end that we had initially acquired from Dallas as a free agent. It actually came down between us and the Browns in terms of him making his choices where he was going to go. I was glad that he signed with us at the time. He is extremely stout against the run, very good technique. He led the NFL, I believe, two years ago in tackles for a defensive lineman. Unbelievable person and adds real stoutness in the run game.”

On the future of Braylon Edwards:

Mangini: “Braylon and I sat down for a long time, we spoke when we had our meeting and it was a good meeting, it was a positive meeting. He and Brian (Daboll) have talked quite a bit. I think that there are so many rumors about so many players at this time of year and they can gain traction. It’s not a function of anything necessarily changing it’s just sometimes they gain traction. I can tell you he is here, Brady is here and we’re excited to move forward.”

On why the team selected two second-round WRs:

Kokinis: “You know again, we’ve talked about need versus best player available and it was best player available. I said that was going to be our philosophy and Mohamed Massaquoi was there at the time we picked and we picked him. We had good grades on him, coach Daboll went down last week, this past week, and worked out a bunch of receivers and he came back with a favorable report. He loved the kid.”

On linebacker David Veikune:

Kokinis: “What we liked about him, he’s got a big time motor. I think that’s the thing that, when you look at the tape, jumps out at you. He’s going, he finishes, he runs to the football and he can get to the quarterback. [...] That versatility, that toughness, that motor, was something that we saw available and went after. He’s a strong kid, he had like a 35 bench at the combine, he jumped about 33 inches so he’s got some explosion to him.”