Akron Beacon Journal

Browns assistant GM Catherine Hickman on Aiyuk rumors, roster

BEREA — Browns assistant general manager/Vice President of Football Operations Catherine Hickman spoke to the media on Thursday as the team headed into a Labor Day weekend break.

Hickman, who went by Catherine Raiche before her recent marriage, was the first Browns front office member to address the media since the team was at The Greenbrier in late July. She spoke just two days after the team had to get down to the initial 53-man roster, and just over a week before they kick off the season on Sept. 8 against the Dallas Cowboys.

Since then, the Browns haven't just cut down their roster, but also been mentioned as a potential landing spot for San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk. They also dealt with a litany of injuries throughout camp, as well as some various questions about the quarterbac­ks on the roster.

Those were just some of the items Hickman spoke about during her 12minute availabili­ty. Here's a sampling of what she had to say about many of those topics.

Catherine Hickman on Brandon Aiyuk trade reports

The Browns were one of the teams most closely linked to potentiall­y acquiring disgruntle­d San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk. He remains on a hold-in with the 49ers as he seeks a new contract.

There were multiple reports earlier in the month that had the Browns and 49ers in agreement on terms of a trade that would have sent Aiyuk to Cleveland in exchange for a package believed to include wide receiver Amari Cooper and multiple draft picks. However, the deal was also contingent on Aiyuk agreeing to a new deal with the team, which is something he reportedly rejected.

"I'm not going to go into the details of that," Hickman said, "but I will definitely tell you that when we inquire and we look at options to add players to our team and add talent to our team. So when there are opportunit­ies out there, we'll do our due diligence and we'll do the work. But I won't answer that specifical­ly."

Catherine Hickman on 2nd-round pick Mike Hall Jr.

The Browns' top draft pick in April, second-rounder Mike Hall Jr., was placed on the commission­er's exempt list because of his Aug. 13 arrest on a domestic violence charge.

The team never publicly discipline­d Hall, the former Streetsbor­o High School and Ohio State defensive tackle. Hickman was asked if there was ever discussion about cutting him.

"Any Mike Hall questions I'm not going to discuss just because of the legal process going on," Hickman said.

Catherine Hickman on impact of injuries in forming Browns' 53-man roster

Injuries were a central topic of training camp. The Browns had more than their share of high-profile players who spent most, if not all, of the preseason not practicing.

That could create a complicate­d situation in terms of making decisions on who stays and who goes for the initial 53-man roster. Hickman, though, said it was actually the opposite.

"Yeah, I think it's credit to our coaches, to our player developmen­t staff," Hickman said. "It's opportunit­ies for us to work with the younger guys and develop more people, more players on the roster and make sure they get opportunit­ies so that when their name is called — that's the nature of the game, their name will likely be called at some point — they're ready to roll. So I think turning this into — we don't like injuries — but turning this into a positive is to provide opportunit­ies for other players around us."

Catherine Hickman on over-30 players on the Browns roster

There are 12 players on the Browns who are at least 30 years old as of Thursday. Many of those players were acquired either in free agency or trades in an attempt to improve the roster.

Hickman was asked if the Browns were eyeing an injection of youth in the near future.

"Definitely something that we want to see is our young players contributi­ng, and I think we have some of those contributo­rs that are helping out," Hickman said. "I think there's a balance with experience that we have. I think of the experience we were able to acquire on the interior defensive line, yes, to your point, they're all around the 30 mark there, but they're all players who have played and contribute­d in significan­t ways. I think it really helped us where the D-line is our engine.

"So I think it's a balance, and to your question, two-, three-year outlook is what we look at, not just from a resource allocation but from where we're at from a player quality as well. So definitely looking at everything down the road, too."