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CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Browns President Mike Holmgren stressed Tuesday that although the team expects rookie quarterback Brandon Weeden to start this season, he'll still have to beat out Colt McCoy and Seneca Wallace for the job.

"We drafted a young quarterback that we think can come in and play right away,but we're not just going to hand him the football," the Browns president said on The Bull and Fox Show on 92.3 The Fan. "I still love Colt McCoy [but] we had a chance to get a mature quarterback who has a chance to come in and contribute right away. Whether that happens or not we have to let it play out.

"We have to let them compete. We have to let them play and see what happens. The fact that we drafted him so high means that we like him, but we also like Colt McCoy and we like Seneca as well."

Holmgren said the staff will also let the backup competition, presumably between McCoy and Wallace, evolve.

"I think we have to let that one play out," he said. "I'd agree with the comment that you don't see it too often, but you have seen it. When we look at the roster, we're going to do what we feel is best for the team at the particular time, and right now, they're all here and they're competing like crazy, so that's what I want."

Holmgren said things have obviously changed since General Manager Tom Heckert told The Fan a few months ago that McCoy would be the starter in Week One.

Audio: Mike Holmgren on 92.3 The Fan WKRK

"Again we don't know yet," said Holmgren. "We have to let that thing play out and let them compete. [Coach] Pat Shurmur has an awful lot to say about that. The bottom line is that everybody wants the team to do well. Everyone wants the team to do better. I expect us to take a pretty good jump this next season and so we have to play our best guys. We'll see who they are down the road."

He said the comments made by McCoy's father, Brad -- that his son shouldn't have been put back in the Pittsburgh game after the blow to the head by James Harrison -- had no bearing on the Browns' decision to find another starter.

"No, not at all," he said. "I'm kind of sorry that it came out like that, but as a father myself I totally understand the emotion of it. But it was too bad and I think immediately after it happened, everyone kind of felt like 'gee it's too bad that it happened.'"

He said he had no problem with Wallace's comments late last season that it wasn't his thing to mentor McCoy. Wallace told The Fan last week that he's willing to help Weeden because everyone knows he's the starter.

"His comments didn't bother me at all," said Holmgren. "I don't expect any of those guys to be mentors to anybody. I'm the mentor or the coach is the mentor."

He said that Eric Mangini's staff in 2010 allowed Jake Delhomme to be almost a player-coach with McCoy after he was injured.

"If I was still coaching I wouldn't do that," he said. "The mentor thing is overblown to me. ... I know Seneca as well as anybody because he played for me [in Seattle], he's a good guy who wants to play football and is a very good player and has always been in a certain role, but given the chance he's performed pretty well. Last year, none of our quarterbacks had the supporting cast that we needed to get around them."

Holmgren also acknowledged that the Browns had targeted Baylor wide receiver Kendall Wright at No. 22, but shifted to Weeden when Wright went No. 20 to Tennessee.

"That's kind of how it came down," he said. "We liked Kendall Wright a lot. And we knew wide receiver was an area that we were going to try and hit in the draft one way or the other. But then we also liked the quarterback a lot. The decision in essence was made for us."

He defended the Browns' decision not to take a receiver earlier than the top of the fourth round, when they chose Miami speedster Travis Benjamin 100th overall.

"[We] got a wide receiver in Benjamin who's really different than the type of receivers we have," he said. "This guy's fast on fast, so we can stretch the defense a little bit. That was a good draft pick in my opinion."

He also said the club expects receiver Mohamed Massaquoi to step up this season.

"[He's] had a couple tough years with injury and not getting the ball thrown enough his way in my opinion," said Holmgren. "I think you're going to see him have a little bit of a breakout year and we need him to do that. He has the potential to be a very, very good receiver and no one's seen it yet."

He said the Browns could also add a veteran receiver between now and training camp. He added that he might be more visible to the fans and media this season, and that he was trying to let the coaches speak for the team.

"If anyone thinks that it will help, including people in this building, then I'll do it," he said.

He also said the perception that he's not 100 percent committed to the Browns is erroneous.

"Rest assured, I'm all in," he said. "[Wife] Kathy and I, we love Cleveland and this is ourhome. I've never had a job anywhere where I wasn't all in and I'm all in here."

He reiterated what he told season-ticket holders in February: "I expect us to take a pretty good jump [this year], I really do."

Finally, he said he's consider brown jerseys at home this season. "I'll do what I can do," he said.

On Twitter: @marykaycabot