Sashi Brown

Sashi Brown says the Browns expect to field a lot of calls in the next week about the Browns No. 2 pick.

(John Kuntz, cleveland.com)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Browns Executive Vice President Sashi Brown acknowledged that he's fielded calls about the Browns' No. 2 pick and that interest will heat up over the next week.

"There has been some interest in the pick, but there always typically is toward the top of the draft, just teams feeling each other out,'' he said Wednesday on SiriusXMNFL radio. "I think in earnest as you get closer to the draft, probably in about a week's time we'll start getting real calls with more substantive traction to them.''

He acknowledged that the draft has enough marquee players to generate a lot of interest.

"Whenever you have quarterbacks in play that teams feel like can start for a long time for them or I think the top of the draft is reasonably heavy at pretty important positions whether it's pass rusher with (Joey) Bosa, (Laremy) Tunsil at left tackle, DeForest Buckner inside who's a rare talent and (linebacker) Myles Jack and others, (offensive tackle) Ronnie Stanley.

"There's going to be some interest in those players and my anticipation is we along with Tennessee and the other teams in the top five or six will have a number of teams call just to inquire if nothing else what we might take for those teams that have an opportunity to pick one of those players."

The Titans have already expressed a willingness to trade out of No. 1, and several teams needing quarterbacks could try to leapfrog the Browns, including the Cowboys. But Brown has no plans of trading up to get his man.

"Go up? That would be shocking,'' Brown told cleveland.com at the Senior Bowl. "I think we're happy where we are at the No. 2 pick. If anything, we'd probably move back.''

He added that he'll remain open-minded in his first season with final say over the roster.

"Again, it's too early in the process for us but we are open and want to consider all of our options,'' he said. "We're probably open to everything. We'll see. The second pick will afford us a lot of options that could mean moving back, it could mean staying put to select a player. We'll go with what we feel like gives us the right value.''

He stressed to SiriusXM/NFL radio that the Browns will be patient with the pick. If it's a quarterback, they hope to have the luxury of letting him sit behind Robert Griffin III for a period of time. In the case of both Jared Goff and Carson Wentz, both would benefit from some time on the sidelines.

"Ideally you'd have the best player in the long run that can play soonest, but that rarely is the case,'' said Brown. "We're going to take a long-term view. From our perspective, we're going to make the decision to select the player that gives us the best chance to win over the long term.

In the meantime, Brown is excited about Griffin likely taking over the reins.

"He's going to have a chance to compete to be our starter,'' said Brown. "Really excited about the opportunity to bring him in. He's a guy that's obviously has had some success and has not had some success in the league and there's a number of examples of quarterbacks that have gone on to a significant amount of success, Kurt Warner and others that went through periods of time in their career when they didn't have a ton of success and that's actually made them hungry.''

There is more & more smoke around Cleveland being willing to deal 2nd pick and draft QB in 2nd round. Something big will happen inside top 5 — Lance Zierlein (@LanceZierlein) April 12, 2016

He believes Griffin's demotion to No. 3 in Washington last year could be the springboard for a rebound.

"I think it gave him some good perspective, experience,'' he said. "He's a young guy for a quarterback at 26 years old, he's still got a lot of football ahead of him. But the most important thing that we discovered in our process even moreso than the talent which is apparent when you watch him throw and move, is his desire to be great and his hunger to really get back to a starting level of performance in the game and willingness to listen and learn and be developed and want to be coached.''

He noted that the Browns got an entirely different impression of Griffin when they investigated.

"The narrative out there about him was very much the opposite of that but we wanted to make sure we had our own separate process, not just in talking to him but in talking to others around him to assess that about him,'' he said. "We felt really comfortable with him and are excited about the opportunity for him to re-establish himself as a starting quarterback in the league here with the Browns.''

But do they like him enough to trade out of pick?