Cleveland Browns quarterback Josh McCown is aware of talk he may be traded or released, but he plans to be in Cleveland on Monday for the start of the team's offseason workout program, McCown said Thursday in a phone interview.
"My expectation is to come there," McCown said. "Obviously we'll continue to communicate; the plan is to be there. I'll come there and do everything I can to help and do everything I can to compete."
McCown said the team has not specified its plans for him other than to have him be working with the team. His status became iffy after the Browns signed Robert Griffin III March 24. The initial feeling was that McCown would be traded or released, but nothing has happened yet.
"Obviously they have control of my rights and they can dictate what happens with all the speculation and the other things," he said. "All I can do is go to work and just control that part and let them handle the rest. They set the depth charts and they control trading."
McCown, 36, wants to continue his career and probably would want to be with a team where he has a good chance to play. Most veterans in his situation prefer to know their status sooner rather than later.
The team has the salary-cap space to keep McCown and Griffin if it chooses, but it's evident Griffin was brought in to start. Drafting a quarterback second or 32nd would add to the crowd at the position.
"The draft's a month away," McCown said. "That will sort itself out as that approaches. The main thing is to get myself ready because you never know what's going to happen."
McCown was brought in on a two-year contract last offseason to start and to mentor Johnny Manziel. He won one of eight starts, but was effective throwing -- with a 457-yard game that was one of three consecutive 300-yard games. He played with broken ribs, but eventually his season ended when he broke his collarbone in the 11th game of the season.
Jackson said at the NFL owners meetings that he is "not averse to anything" with the team's quarterback, but that was before Griffin became his handpicked choice.
"I'll compete accordingly," McCown said. "I don't want to look and assess it and go, 'It seems they must be moving on from me.' You got to keep preparing and get yourself ready to go, because you never know what the case may be."
McCown has the highest quarterback rating of any of the 24 quarterbacks to start a game for the Browns since 1999 (93.3) and the third-highest completion percentage (63.7).
"It's the NFL," he said. "Things change in a hurry and you just gotta roll with it."