BEREA, Ohio _ Brock Osweiler was in a trap as the brutal business of the NFL ambushed him.
The 6-foot-7, 240-pound quarterback was golfing March 9 in Arizona when he learned the Houston Texans had traded him the Browns.
"I was standing in a sand trap, and I got a phone call and here we come," Osweiler said Wednesday after the second practice of organized team activities and the first session open to reporters.
Osweiler said he didn't receive a tip-off about the trade, a move the Browns made because they wanted the Texans' 2018 second-round draft selection, not their big bust of a free-agency signing.
Armed with a surplus of salary-cap space, the Browns relieved the Texans of the $16 million guaranteed left on Osweiler's contract to acquire the pick. The Browns didn't envision Osweiler becoming a factor for them, but they haven't traded or cut him, and now he's heavily involved in an open competition for their starting quarterback job.
"My expectation is always to start, but that's not my decision to make," Osweiler said in his first public comments since the trade. "Now, if I came out here and told you guys I wanted to be the backup, I'm in the wrong business.
"Absolutely I want to play, and I want to help this football team win games. But I know there is a lot of work that goes into that and ultimately I need to earn that on the practice field, and I've got a lot of work ahead of me to do that."
Osweiler took repetitions Wednesday as the No. 2 quarterback while Cody Kessler worked as the first-team QB. Rookie DeShone Kizer and Kevin Hogan were third and fourth, respectively, in team drills. Kessler received most of the snaps with the starters, but Osweiler and Kizer rotated in with them, too.
"Any time you're in a competition with other guys at your position, it brings out the best in you," Osweiler said. "And it's certainly the best thing for the team because the best player at that position is going to play and ultimately that should lead to wins.
"We're all pushing each other. We're all helping each other out. There's no friction in the room or anything like that. We're just working as a unit, which is great to see because I think it's going to bring out the best in everybody."
Osweiler, who'll enter his sixth NFL season in the fall, is the most experienced quarterback of the bunch. Kessler, a third-round pick last year, went 0-8 as a starter this past season.
"Cody has certainly earned that right (to be the first-team quarterback in OTAs)," Osweiler said. "He played in a lot of football games last year. I think he did a tremendous job for this football team. I'm the new guy on the block. I need to earn my stripes here, if you will, so Cody has certainly earned that right.
"But I can promise you I'm going to work as hard as I possibly can every day because nobody plays this game to be a backup or to lose football games. You play to start and help your football team ultimately win."
Osweiler is 13-8 as a starter. He went 5-2 with the Denver Broncos in relief of an injury Peyton Manning during the 2015 season and 8-6 with the Texans this past year.
But Osweiler won on teams with dominant defenses and struggled after signing a four-year, $72 million contract with the Texans. He also clashed with coach Bill O'Brien and was benched late last season in favor of Tom Savage. In those 14 starts, he completed 59 percent of his passes for 2,957 yards and 15 touchdowns with 16 interceptions and a rating of 72.2.
Yet Osweiler said he's absolutely good enough to be a starting QB in the NFL because "the proof is in the film for the past two years."
When a reporter told him some would say the proof is not in the film from last season, Osweiler replied, "That's OK."
Osweiler, 26, declined to address reports from Houston about friction with O'Brien and his former teammates, stressing he's focused on the Browns.
"I can't speak to anything that has gone on in Houston," Browns coach Hue Jackson said. "I just know that here he has been great. He has been outstanding here. He has done everything that we have asked him to do."
Jackson said Osweiler has done "some good things" on the field as well, but he stopped short of praising him.
"It is just two days (of OTAs so far)," Jackson said. "You guys know me pretty well. I am not going to build anybody up in two days. We are going to let these guys keep completing, playing and working."
Although Osweiler was a throw-in for the Browns, he insisted he hasn't felt like an afterthought at all.
"From the day I arrived, you couldn't have been welcomed in a better way," Osweiler said. "This has been an incredible experience so far. Right now, I'm just trying to work hard, learn the system and be a great teammate.
"(Quarterbacks) coach (David) Lee is just tremendous with the fundamentals. Coach Jackson doesn't let us slack off at all, which really keeps you on your game. So I've really grown as a quarterback here, and I love being a Cleveland Brown."
