Cleveland Browns QB Seneca Wallace tells station: "I'm more than willing to mentor Brandon Weeden''
Browns quarterback Seneca Wallace told 92.3 FM The Fan today that it's a misconception that he's not willing to mentor young teammates and that he'd be more than happy to help rookie Brandon Weeden get ready to start the season.
"I know my job going into my 10th season of being in this offense is to prepare Brandon Weeden to get him right and make sure he's ready to go for day one,'' he said. "This is a different beast. This is a first-rounder that we drafted, 22nd overall and from a business standpoint you know and everybody else knows and outsiders know that this kid's got to play. My job as a veteran guy is to make sure he's ready to play.''
Wallace said his comments to The Fan last season that he's "not a mentor'' and that mentoring is not his thing, were specific to the situation he was in.
"I would love to address that,'' he said. "That is not the case. Last year going into the season, there was an open competition with me and Colt Mccoy. I said if Colt was to ask me about anything I had related to the West Coast system, I was willing to do that for him.
"The competitor that I am, I still wanted to go out and play the sport and play in the West Coast system and try to earn a spot to be the starter. I couldn't give him all of my tips. I didn't want to give them all away, but if he asked, I was willing to help.
"Once we got into the season, and the season evolved and he was the guy, when he asked me for any type of 'hey, what's my drop here, what do I gotta do here?' I was willing to help him on that. It's not that I don't want to help anybody else or nothing like that, but that was a different situation.
"Going into 2012 now, with Brandon Weeden coming in, he's a first-round draft pick. We all know the business side of it and you're going to see that guy play if it's week one or week seven, he's going to be playing.''
Wallace said the perception that he's not a team player is inaccurate.
"People looking at me and saying that he doesn't want to mentor, no, I'm more than willing,'' he said. "I've been a team guy for 10 years. There's never been a knock on me not being a team guy. I actually caught a ball from Colt McCoy this past season. It's not that I'm not a team guy and don't want to help out. At the same time, going into the season, I have to prepare myself to be ready to play in the event (someone gets hurt).''
Wallace said he doesn't know how it will work out with him, McCoy and Weeden on the roster. The Browns also really like developmental quarterback Thad Lewis.
"I don't know,'' he said. "That's a sticky situation. Colt was the starter and now they bring another kid in to pretty much replace me and Colt, so you never know what kind of reaction you're gong to get. It's just a sticky situation and I'm sure management here in Cleveland will make sure they make the right decision.''
He stressed that his role would be different this year and he's ready for it.