As the Cleveland Browns upgraded their wide receiver room by striking a deal with the New York Jets, acquiring 22-year-old and former second round wide receiver Elijah Moore, one message rang through from the Ole Miss product:
“I am super excited.”
Moore, who requested a trade from the Jets last season after going unnoticed in their offense, now gets a fresh start in Cleveland in a room where there is an opportunity for him to become the WR2 behind Amari Cooper.
Did you miss his introductory press conference? No problem, we have you covered here as he spoke about his fresh start with the Browns.
On his excitement to have a fresh start in Cleveland:
“I am super excited. I am happy to be a Brown.”
On joining a team that was specifically looking for a WR with his skillset and speed:
“I am super excited to play the role that they want me to play. Talking with the coaches and everything, I feel like we are on the same page. I am just grateful to be here.”
On how he will respond if he does not get the amount of reps he would like to start the season, given what occurred with the NY Jets last year:
“I can’t predict the future, but I am going to put my best foot forward. I feel like I am here for a reason so whatever happens, I am going to be ready for it. People go through things, and you have to learn from it. I feel like I am the type of person that learns from my mistakes. We are all human. I am just going to try to do what I felt like I could have done better last year in whatever position I am going to be in now.”
On if he expected the trade and his initial reaction to it:
“No, I did not. It was out of nowhere, but I am super excited. I feel like being here with (QB) Deshaun (Watson), Coop (WR Amari Cooper) and just the whole team is a very good mesh. I couldn’t be happier to be here. I feel like it is really going to go well.”
On if he has talked to Watson since joining the Browns and how he feels about playing with Watson:
“I spoke to him yesterday. I am super excited. He is a legit quarterback. He is someone who has been doing some amazing things around the league. He has respect from everybody around the league. They talk really highly about him here, and they believe in him. With him being my quarterback, I believe in him, too. I am grateful to be one of his guys.”
On his preference or ability to play outside WR or in the slot:
“I feel like wherever they need me, I am going to be able to go. I am going to be ready for anything. I don’t really care to choose. Just wherever the ball is going to be, I want to be able to help. My strengths, I feel like I am a route runner so wherever they need me, I can do it. That is why I feel like I can go outside and in. I have been practicing this since I was 15 years old. This is something I have tried to craft and something I hold as you would say Coop holds. He is known for being a route runner. I have been studying Coop since I was little.”
On excitement to play with and learn from Cooper in person:
“Probably I am most excited about that and Deshaun. Being in the room with a vet and someone who understands not just football but life, I am just eager to pick his brain.”
On what led to his drop rate and catch rate with the NY Jets:
“I don’t look at that stuff.”
On fitting into the Browns offense, given the number of talented skill players:
“I feel like it is like 7-on-7 all over again. You get to feed off of each other’s energy. I feel like when you can do that, the game is going to start flowing. I am super excited. I feel like it is good to have a whole bunch of great pieces around.”
On the biggest lesson he has learned during his NFL career:
“To be ready for anything. Life is going to throw you obstacles. I feel like what people do not understand is that this is more than just football. We are dealing with people. We are dealing with human beings. When you deal with stuff like that, people like that and aspects like that, you have to know that obstacles, differences and all of that stuff are going to come so you just have to take it with a grain of salt and be ready for anything.”
On excitement to learn from Cooper and Cooper’s precise route-running ability:
“I am super excited. Route running like that, not many people get to witness that. I am glad he is on my team.”
On Executive Vice President of Football Operations and General Manager Andrew Berry or Head Coach Kevin Stefanski’s message to him after the trade:
“Kind of that we are all excited to be all together now. They had their eyes on me, and it just feels good to be wanted. I am just blessed to be here. I am blessed to be a Brown. I am going to give this all I have.”
On Watson’s reaction when speaking yesterday:
“Everybody is just super excited. It is kind of all the same responses. We all have to get together, of course, but everyone is just smiles. That is all I can ask for.”
On what he learned from the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty with Ole Miss during a loss to Mississippi State:
“I was 20 years old. Living in the moment a little too much. Just to be more controlled. Not to react off emotion. That is something as a 22-year old that I feel like I have acquired in the last two years. Putting that to practice. When I have these moments of reacting and whatever it is if something that is getting me mad, upset or whatever the case is, you kind of have to take it for what it is and get a better grasp of what you are going to do. We are all human. We make mistakes. I would not be smart if I did not learn from them. I definitely learned from that mistake.”
On if he is a more mature person and player now:
“Yeah, I feel like that is what the league and life bring. As time goes on, just as people get older, you have more experiences and you get to learn from other people’s experiences, too. Having the perspective of mine, my families’ and my close ones’ around me, I got to see maybe where I did not see that or did not see this. I feel like I definitely learned.”
On what he wished he could have done over or differently last year with the NY Jets:
“I wouldn’t do anything over. I am in a space right now where I feel like everything happens for a reason always. I take it with a grain of salt. If something is happening in my life, I am going to take what I can from it, I am going to capture it and I am going to move forward. We all made mistakes, and everyone in life have not been perfect. As long as you learning from them, keep going and try to be a good person, I feel like that is all that matters.”
On if he felt regret with what transpired last season or if he would take back some of the things he said at times:
“I would not take anything back. Would I have worded some things differently? Yes, but not take anything back. My heart was always in the right spot. I would never move without intention. I am very intentional, especially in a positive way, and I always move with respect. If that is my intentions, I don’t have anything to regret.”
On what is means that Cleveland showed interest in him before the trade deadline last season and revisited that desire to acquire him now:
“It means everything. To be consistent is all I can ask for. Life sometimes falls in those types of ways. We don’t get to choose things. I am more than grateful to be a part to have played with the Jets because they had picked me so that is something I am forever going to be grateful for. To be a part of something like this, I feel like it is just all smiles for me.”
On the process for a WR to get acclimated with a different QB:
“The way I hold myself, I hold myself as I can do anything. I grew up in Florida, and I feel like we have the mindset of it kind of doesn’t’ matter who is back there. I kind of had to shift that a little bit because it does as far as chemistry, but if you put yourself in a position to throw with anybody and to put your trust in them –that is initially what it is, it really is trust – if you trust them and they trust you, then you kind of can get anything done. Going through four quarterbacks I feel like was a huge blessing for me because I got to see what that is like. Now with being with someone like Deshaun, it will just make life way easier. I really appreciate the blessing.”
On big of a factor speed is to his game:
“I feel like that is why they brought me here. I feel like I am more than just speed, but that is definitely a huge part of my game stretching the field. I am route runner similar to probably Coop but in my own body type. At the end of the day, you can’t do anything with something you can’t catch.”
On if his catch ability plus speed shows up in deep routes and yards after catch:
“Yeah, it shows up wherever. Short routes, throw this, throw that, start and stop or whatever it is, you have to be an electric player because those boys out there are running fast, too.”
On if as a young player he comes to Cleveland with something to prove:
“I am not going to lie, every day I wake up I have something to prove. I am not a big dude. Someone is always going to have something to say. I grew up that way. It never stopped me. I am just with whatever. Whatever the narrative or if they believe I am not good at it now, I trust I am going to work hard to be good at it. That is the type of mindset I take towards just getting better and life.”
On excitement about playing with Watson and Watson’s ability to extend plays:
“I feel like it is going to play out good. With someone who is as mobile as him and people fear his legs, as well, it just adds another element to the whole game. You have been seeing that with what he has done already and the games that he has already played in. I am just super excited to be part of someone who can run, throw and do pretty much everything.”
On recollections from last year’s Browns-Jets game:
“That game was definitely one for the books. Those are probably my favorite types of games to play in because it kind of shows who has been working. It is early in the season. People are still getting acclimated to how many snaps they are getting and stuff like that. It kind of shows the grit and the smartness of coaches too because they are really playing chess out there. That game was super fun.”
On if he is excited to play the NY Jets during the preseason and regular season in 2023:
“Yeah, of course. I feel like always those type of games are what people look for, but I treat every game the same. The way that I am going to attack them is the way I am going to attack every single game – I want to kill.”
On learning to capitalize on his speed as a WR, given the difference between football speed and straight-line speed:
“I have always been pretty fast, but everyone from where I am from is really fast so I feel like it kind of helped me to bring other parts of my game out. Everyone from Florida is going to run a 4.3, a 4.4 or whatever so having parts of your game to really craft, that is why I always have my trainer with me because that is someone I get to craft with and really focus on the small things. It really I feel like takes my game to the next level because not everybody really does that, and they don’t really work on the things that they are bad at. I feel like I do.”
On how much Cooper’s connection to South Florida led to him following and learning from Cooper’s game:
“Everything. I heard about him when I was young. Hearing him do his thing as far how he moves and just his dedication to football, it is how we are built over there. Major respect.”
On commenting that 22 is still young:
“When I was younger (laughter).”
On if the NY Jets changing offensive coordinators and potentially acquiring Packers QB Aaron Rodgers impacted his desire to be traded at all:
“All I know is that I am a Cleveland Brown, and I am super excited to be here.”
