Colt McCoy says shoulder 'wasn't 100 percent' during rookie season

Colt McCoy revealed Wednesday that he's still sometimes bothered by the pinched nerve in his right shoulder that he suffered in last year's BCS Championship Game against Alabama.

During a radio interview with Dan Patrick in Dallas, McCoy said "I'm still sort of recovering from the injury. I wasn't completely 100 percent healed. There's sometimes it still bothers me. I think an off-season of just completely focusing on healing my shoulder and getting it 100 percent will be good for me."

McCoy suffered the injury on the fifth snap of Texas' 37-21 loss to Alabama. It happened when he kept the ball on an option to the left and was stopped for no gain by lineman Marcell Dareus.

McCoy left the game and didn't return. A week later, in mid-January, he met with orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews and was told that he could expect a full recovery without surgery. Upon the advice of Andrews, McCoy didn't throw at the NFL combine, but said he was ahead of schedule and was confident he'd be 100 percent in a few weeks.

"I just had a nerve injury in my deltoid [muscle]," McCoy said at the combine. "It's not even actually my shoulder. And it's just a weird injury. Hard to describe, hard to explain.

"Only thing I can say is, there was no pain, there was never pain involved in the whole injury, the whole situation. It was just completely dead."

The first week of March, McCoy was declared 100 percent healthy and cleared to throw at his Texas Pro Day on April 1.

Before the draft, Browns President Mike Holmgren said his one concern about McCoy was arm strength, but not because of the injury.

McCoy, the Browns' third-round pick, never publicly mentioned the shoulder was bothering him. He got off to a slow start in camp, but by the time he was pressed into service as the starter Oct. 17 against Pittsburgh, he showed no ill effects from the injury. It was a high ankle sprain that caused him to miss time -- three games -- and not the shoulder. He wound up starting eight games, going 2-6.

McCoy told Patrick that he's excited about new coach Pat Shurmur and implementing the West Coast offense.

"I'm just excited about getting up there and learning our system," he said. "I need to get up there before the lockout 'cause once the lockout comes we can't talk."