Brian Hoyer

Cleveland Browns quarterback Brian Hoyer (6) runs against Buffalo Bills middle linebacker Kiko Alonso (50) in the first quarter of an NFL football game Thursday, Oct. 3, 2013, in Cleveland. Hoyer was injured on the play. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

“For me, at this point now, I don’t have to think about who’s the next coach. Now for these next couple months, I’ll really focus on my rehab and get back to the point where come April, I’m ready to go.”

Hoyer is getting stronger every day, and hopes to participate in some organized team activities in the spring.

“I feel great,” Hoyer said. “I’m doing a lot of things. I’m going out and throwing everyday, dropping back. Started running the last couple of weeks. Doing a lot of strength training.''

On Ward and Mack: Pettine cast his vote for the Browns to retain potential free agents T.J. Ward and Alex Mack, if possible.

"Both outstanding players,'' he said. "I think a big part of being successful in the NFL is to keep your own players, guys that you've had here that come up through the system. But again, you can't overspend for those guys either just for the sake of having them. With Ozzie Newsome in Baltimore it was always right player, right price. A lot of times you might have the right player and (if) you get priced out of it you have the ability to say you've got to move on. But from a coaching standpoint you always like to keep your own, and those two are special players and would absolutely love to keep them around.''

On Manziel: Banner was asked, tongue-in-cheek, if he's made a decision yet that Johnny Manziel is their quarterback in the draft. "I’m not taking him off the board,'' he said with a laugh. "But I’m definitely not saying it’s been decided.”

He said the quarterback the Browns covet won't impact the decision on an offensive coordinator.

“No, the right coach should be able to work with whichever quarterback we all think is the right guy whether he’s on the team or somebody we picked or traded for or signed in free agency,'' he said.

On Farmer: Banner said assistant general manager Ray Farmer is staying with the Browns instead of interviewing for a second time for a the Miami GM job.

"Yes, Ray is staying,'' said Banner. "Double good day. We’ve retained an outstanding employee that we were excited when he decided a year ago to come here, and we’re really excited that he decided to stay. I’ve been calling Ray an up-and-coming star, which probably haunted us and tipped off the rest of the league how good he was, so I’ll be more careful. He’s an up-and-coming star. He’s a high, high character, outstanding employee and a really valuable part of our team.''

Added Jimmy Haslam: "It’s a compliment to our organization that another organization wants to hire him to kind of go from the No. 2 position to the No. 1 position. I’m really excited Ray’s standing. He’s smart, he’s focused, he’ll play a key role in this draft and in free agency.

I spent about an hour with him today right before lunch. He’s a good man and we’re glad to have him on our team.''

On defensive coach: Banner said Pettine's attitude about offense was key. "It was important to make sure we hired somebody who understood how important it was to be aggressive about trying to score points on offense,'' he said. "Some people think, and in most cases it's probably true, that's more likely to be an offensive-minded guy. But here, and you heard him speak about it, we have a defensive coach who's actually got a very aggressive mindset about how you run offense, how you play offense, and how you try to score as many points as you can. You're not into a shortening-the-game mindset and all of that. For us to hire a defensive coach, he had to have that mindset. But as long as they did, we were open to either.

On hiring assistants: Pettine said he might retain some of the current Browns assistant and that he won't fill his staff with previous colleagues. “I have a lot of coaches that I’m close with and I’ve worked with but I don’t want to build for lack of a better phrase ‘a good old boys club,''' he said. "A lot of coaches hire people that they are friends with or go way back with, and sometimes those relationships are great and for those reasons they work well together. I’m not insecure enough that is an issue for me. When you hire a great coach and do a background on a coach and you find he has great character and is passionate and is all about winning. When you put coaches in a room like that they’re going to bond. I think the staff will have those (coaches) that I’ve had connections with, but I’m not looking for someone to go to lunch with. It’s going to be all about winning.”