BEREA, Ohio — Browns President Mike Holmgren said Thursday that the Browns' offer to the Rams to climb to No. 2 for a chance to draft Robert Griffin III was just as good as the Redskins', but close bonds between the Rams and Redskins sealed their blockbuster deal.

"I'm not going to tell you exactly what we offered, but I will say what we had offered for the pick was every bit the offer that was chosen," Holmgren told Browns season-ticket holders during a conference call. "There are reasons I can't go into right now why it didn't happen, but there's a very close relationship between the people that were involved in getting the deal done, and the people eventually got it done. I'm not sure if any offer we made at the end of the day was going to be quite good enough."

Holmgren was referring to the close friendship between Redskins coach Mike Shanahan and Rams coach Jeff Fisher from ago days together in San Francisco and the strong ties between Redskins General Manager Bruce Allen and Rams executive Kevin Demoff.

The Redskins ultimately won the right to draft RG3 by sending an unprecedented three first-round draft picks -- their No. 6 this year and first-rounders in 2013 and 2014 -- and their second-rounder this year (No. 39 overall) to the Rams.

The Browns reportedly also offered three first-round picks, but it's never been established if they threw in a second-rounder. Their three first-rounders, including this year's No. 4 and No. 22, would seem to trump the Redskins by virtue of their earlier first-rounder this year.

"Most of the stories that I have seen, quite honestly all the stories that I have seen, were incorrect," Holmgren said of the Browns' offer, suggesting perhaps that they did toss in their second-rounder, the No. 37 overall this year.

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Sports Illustrated's Peter King reported Thursday that Rams General Manager Les Snead asked the Browns and Redskins for their best offers. Washington's was better, and the Rams accepted it. The Browns tried to improve theirs but were told no.

But Holmgren assured the ticket holders that the Browns did everything they could.

"Rest assured we were aggressively involved in that," Holmgren said. "It didn't work. Do you take your ball and go home? No. You go to the next step. We didn't fold up our tent. Now we're going to do what we have to do based on the fact we didn't get that done."

Holmgren hinted that the Browns will add weapons with their first-round picks instead of a quarterback. He and General Manager Tom Heckert, who also took questions from ticket holders during the hourlong call, spoke often of Colt McCoy as their likely starter next year.

"We do think Colt has a big ceiling," he said. "Obviously, it's my job to get better players surrounding him. If you look back at those games where we ran the football well, we protected well, Colt played very well, so we do think Colt has the ability to play. I think he's proven that he can play in this league. Like coach Holmgren said, another year in this system, we get him better players, we think he has a chance to be really good."

Holmgren acknowledged that the next step is to "get starters with those draft picks at other positions this year and to help our quarterbacks who are now existing on the team, or anybody else who would come onto the team. That's what we're doing."

He indicated the Browns will draft a quarterback, but maybe not in the first or second round.

"We will always look for a young guy in the draft," he said. "Now, where we pick him, it could be later in the draft. Then, if there's someone in free agency that's very, very attractive to us, yeah, we'll bring him in and talk to him, always."

Holmgren and Heckert addressed a number of other topics:

• On not signing a free-agent receiver, " . . . free agency's not over yet," Heckert said.

• On not making an offer to Peyton Hillis: "First of all, I'm happy for Peyton that Kansas City did step up and sign him. I think there comes a time in some players' lives and clubs' lives where a fresh start is probably the best thing for both sides. We love Peyton Hillis. I wish him well. He was great for us two years ago, and I'm sure he'll be a fine player for Kansas City. Now we have to adjust and move on from that point."

• On trading down from No. 4: "If [Heckert] approaches me with the same sort of idea this year, I'd kind of discourage him," Holmgren said. "There are number of players who could come in here [at No. 4] as starters."

• On a big step in 2012: "Going from 4-12 to 6-10 isn't good enough," Holmgren said. "And that's been conveyed. I believe we are going to be better than that -- in fact, we're going to be a lot better than that. Hang in there a little longer."

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: mcabot@plaind.com, 216-999-4670

On Twitter: @marykaycabot