BEREA, Ohio -- Browns cornerback Eric Wright has been sharing some of his first-team reps in practice this week with top pick Joe Haden because of a sore right leg, but if anyone expects his benevolence to continue, guess again. "I've started since I was a rookie and I'm looking to start this year because I'm a competitor," Wright...
BEREA, Ohio -- Browns cornerback Eric Wright has been sharing some of his first-team reps in practice this week with top pick Joe Haden because of a sore right leg, but if anyone expects his benevolence to continue, guess again.
View full sizeBrowns third-year cornerback Eric Wright, above, is competing with rookie Joe Haden for a starting job.
"I've started since I was a rookie and I'm looking to start this year because I'm a competitor," Wright said. "When people say it's an open competition, you want to win. We're not quite there yet. We'll see opening day, but it's going to be what it is."
Coming off the best season of his three-year career here, Wright watched the Browns trade for Philadelphia veteran cornerback Sheldon Brown in early April and then draft Haden with the No. 7 overall pick later that month. It'd be enough to shake the confidence of a guy with less swagger, but certainly not Wright.
"I didn't feel threatened at all," said Wright, who sat out the Green Bay preseason game but expects to play against the St. Louis Rams on Saturday. "It's not a go-against-them thing. We made moves to improve the team and I have extreme confidence in my ability. Competition brings out the best in everybody . . . ."
Wright was off to a fabulous start in camp before straining a hamstring early last week. He switched his number from 24 to 21 -- which he began wearing as a kid because of his hero Deion Sanders -- and plans on making his own mark in it. He also spent much of the off-season studying great cornerbacks such as 2009 NFL Defensive Player of the Year Charles Woodson of the Packers to help prepare for his new role as a nickelback, moving inside on passing downs to cover the slot receiver.
On Thursday, nfl.com's Jason LaCanfora listed Wright as one his candidates to become a household name this season, largely because he's played on poor defenses all of his career.
"I have really high expectations for myself this season and nothing is going to get in the way of the season I plan on having," Wright said.
Wright's resolve has not been lost on coach Eric Mangini, who started noticing a change in him last season.
"Eric elevated his game towards the latter part of last season and made the biggest strides mentally," Mangini said. "I call on these guys in meetings, and at first Eric was a little reluctant to get up there. By the end, he was the closer -- the guy that wanted the last answer to get me out of the room. With the really talented cornerbacks, the more you study, the more that you can just let yourself play and he's embraced that."
Wright's newfound acumen carried over onto the field. In the final four games last season, he made 25 of his 65 tackles, two of his four interceptions and five of his team-high 14 passes broke up. The 65 tackles ranked fourth on the team and the interceptions were tied for first with Brodney Pool.
"I plan on picking up where I left off," said Wright, a second-round pick in 2007.
He also accepted the challenge of playing in the slot, where cornerbacks can be made or broken.
"It wasn't a function of him saying, 'Hey, I really play outside,' " Mangini said. "He wanted to work on that so he could be ready to play any one of those spots. The growth I've seen from him is great."
Mangini said Wright splitting first-team reps with Haden this week is more about Wright's injury than Haden pushing him for the job.
"But [Haden's] going to rotate through and he'll get plenty of chances," Mangini said. "We have a few more opportunities over the next few weeks to see how it plays out. The key for Joe is to figure out ways he can help us and then keep making his case to play more. But those other guys are making their case for him to play less. And that's a good thing. However it pans out, those guys will play."
On any given day, Wright can be seen helping Haden or joking around with him on the sidelines. Never mind that Haden, who is also returning kickoffs, recently signed a $50 million contract with $26 million guaranteed and could someday replace him. Wright, in the last year of his contract, is hoping the Browns sign him to an extension.
"Off the field, Eric and I are really cool," Haden said. "On the field, you've just got to do what you've got to do and at the end of the day, the better man is going to play."
But Haden, who started against Green Bay along with Brown and played with more confidence as the game went along, views his first-team reps this week as a vote of confidence.
"It just shows I'm starting to gain coach's trust," he said. "They keep putting me out there with the ones, so I've just got to keep getting better every day."
You can bet Wright will, too.