00:00Albert Breer joins us in the wise heart ride we make it right call Kyle Wright hotline what's up
00:05buddy welcome back hey what's up guys oh we're living the dream over here so it's funny uh usually
00:12we lead Browns with you but I'm kind of fascinated I don't pay much attention to the NFL's top 100
00:18because the players don't take it seriously unless there's like an obvious anomaly that
00:24that makes you scratch your head Lamar Jackson being voted as the 69th best player in the NFL
00:32that feels like a feels more of like an indictment on his popularity with other players than it does
00:37him as a player am I off on that I mean I don't know I like I I was there
00:45at NFL Network when that
00:47launched if you guys remember the reason it launched it was actually because we had no content
00:52um because it was me on a street corner with rich eyes and on total access talking about legal stuff
01:00and then they needed something to fill the rest of the day so they came up in the top 100
01:04list
01:05and like I don't know like how seriously the players take the voting we've seen anomalies with
01:12it before this seems like an obvious one um that I you know I if I I gotta I gotta
01:20make sure that the
01:21voting works the same way but I think guys you can look this up I think the players only vote
01:27their top
01:2820 and then it gets like pulled together and you're voting and the top 100 comes out of lists of
01:35top 20
01:36which tells me that Lamar Jackson a year ago was in probably almost everybody's top 20 and got left off
01:45a lot of lists this year which doesn't mean those players don't think he's top 30 or top 40 or
01:53top 50
01:53it's just that you know with the injury with some of the things that happened last year maybe more players
02:01knocked him out of that top 20 so that's the best explanation I could come up with um you know
02:09because I I've never felt like there was I put it this way I'd say like there were probably more
02:16coaches
02:16in front office people who weren't as high as Lamar Jackson than players because he doesn't fit every
02:23scheme but he's always been really hard to play against so I guess Albert that we couple that with
02:28that ESPN executives poll that came out and you have him as fifth and it's it's one of those things
02:33where you know Joe Burrow hasn't won a playoff game in three years the guy in back of him is
02:37Dak Prescott
02:38he's got two playoff wins guy in back of him there is Justin Herbert who's got one playoff win and
02:42like
02:42they're they're putting up a lot of these guys uh maybe with not the the most postseason success in
02:48the past couple years and that's the one knock Lamar has as well it feels like but it does feel
02:52like
02:53he's taking a little bit of a ding well I mean I think Burrow you can tie a lot of
02:58it to injury
02:58right which durability is part of the equation but look I do think that there's that piece of it it
03:04wasn't that he failed in the playoffs it's that he failed to make the playoffs why did he fail to
03:07make
03:08the playoffs well he wasn't on the field for good chunks of those years you know um so like that's
03:14definitely part of it but he didn't fail in the playoffs and when we've seen Joe Burrow in the
03:19playoffs the first year he's in the playoffs he made the Super Bowl the second year he was in the
03:23playoffs he made the AFC championship game and I think he's always been seen at least as somebody
03:29who is at his best when it matters most and I and I do think that that goes a long
03:36way with the
03:36voters I think the other thing with Joe Burrow um is I think he like you look at like a
03:43lot of the
03:44freak athletes today that play the game that way Joe Burrow is probably like the closest thing to a
03:50descendant to Tom Brady um and Peyton Manning as there is in the game right now so like just his
03:57ability to play the game from the neck up I think has always been really impressive to the people who
04:03coach the game the people who scout the game um and here's the other thing I would say is just
04:09when
04:09I did my poll last year and my poll is a little different we can get into that if you
04:14want but
04:14it was very very clear to me that there were four quarterbacks at that time you know a year ago
04:21or
04:21last September that were head and shoulders above everybody else there was two years in a row that it
04:27was this way and those four quarterbacks were Mahomes, Allen, Jackson, and Burrow and I think part of
04:35that is that those guys have all sustained success now over an extended period of time so um you know
04:41what like I this Burrow eventually have to stay healthy to maintain his place on these lists yes
04:47he does but you know I think when he's been out there he's been pretty damn good which is you
04:52know
04:52I think what what the voters are recognizing. Albert it's interesting when the Browns traded for
04:56Deshaun Watson it was under the thought of you can't win a Super Bowl with a guy like Baker Mayfield
05:01that's why you go to Deshaun now five years later the last two Super Bowl winners are Sam Darnold and
05:07Jalen Hurts not seen as franchise level guys uh are are the days of needing a top five quarterback
05:14to win a title completely over or do you think the last two years are more of an anomaly?
05:21Well I think part of it has to do the environment you're into I mean what conference with the four
05:28quarterbacks that I named in they're all in the AFC right and what conference are Sam Darnold and
05:35uh Jalen Hurts and they're in the NFC right so I I think the Browns premise was a little bit
05:44more on
05:44like the price of admission in the AFC and last year was different I think last year created an
05:51opportunity and an opening I think Drake Mays got a chance to crack that group but like I mean part
05:57of him
05:57getting there was like all right so Patrick Mahomes is hurt Lamar Jackson was hurt for part of the year
06:04Joe Burrow was hurt for part of the year and Josh Allen the Bills had a funky year and they
06:09lost to the
06:10divisional round and scored they scored 33 points in the game you know so the door I think in the
06:15AFC
06:15last year was open more than it probably will be for a while uh for somebody to step through and
06:22step up and do what doing what did you know so like I I still think the premise that the
06:29Browns were
06:30working with was I think relatively logical and relatively clean which was this is the environment
06:38we're competing in now and if we're going to pay a quarterback at the top of the market he needs
06:43to be
06:43in that group and they saw Baker Mayfield as being cut below that whether they were right or wrong
06:48I don't know but like you know Baker has obviously acquitted himself pretty well in Tampa too
06:54Albert staying with some of these rankings we uh we talked about Carson Schlesinger became the
06:59he was the third ranked off-ball linebacker in the sport which is obviously a really high honor after
07:04one year and and part of the the description was he is basically Luke Keekly uh do you see any
07:09similarities between Luke Keekly and Carson Schlesinger
07:14yeah I like that I I think it's you know it's interesting I I would say one thing that's
07:20very similar about the two of them is just how fast they see it and how they seem to be
07:26in on every
07:26play right and I remember somebody saying this to me about Schlesinger um in April of 2025 so this
07:36would be like leading up to him being drafted and I remember hearing his name and his name kind of
07:41came
07:41across my desk late like I was I was a little bit behind on that but like a couple people
07:46had said
07:46to me like late in the process like yeah he's got a chance to sneak in the bottom of the
07:50first round
07:51and I had one scout say to me it's almost hard to evaluate anyone else on UCLA's defense because
07:59he is making literally every play you know it's because of how fast he sees it how fast he plays
08:06and
08:06then you know you combine that with like really good athleticism and you have um kind of an old
08:12school middle linebacker who can do new school things and that's what Pete Keekly was I think that's
08:17what Schlesinger is uh and I say this too guys like he got a I can't remember if I vote
08:24I think I
08:25voted him second team all pro I think I have to go back and look at my ballot I don't
08:29have it in front of
08:30me but um I may have put a first team but like when you are getting like serious all pro
08:37mention
08:38I mean that is I think there are only two linebackers for each of the all pro teams so if
08:43you're if you're on those all pro lists that means people view you as one of the top four linebackers
08:50I certainly think the feedback I was getting from other teams who faced him who scoured him
08:56when I was putting together my all pro team because I talked to a lot of people in advance of
09:00doing
09:01that um you know I think it was really clear that Schlesinger already after his rookie year was being
09:07seen as one of the top players in the sport in his position Albert obviously we're we're trying to
09:12replace Miles Garrett on the billboard right and when it comes to the defense there's one guy and
09:17they've had a lot of good defensive players around him but if you're putting one defensive
09:20player on the billboard to get people excited about the Browns it was Miles Garrett
09:25uh there there doesn't seem to be the definitive this guy if you had to choose somebody on that
09:31defense to replace Miles one defensive player on that billboard who would it be
09:36well I guess you're hoping it's here at first right um I I I think I mean look like
09:44I know a lot of people looked at it and saw that as a serious downgrade and it is a
09:50downgrade
09:51Miles Garrett is I I think as good as his position as anyone else is is in football at theirs
09:57right
09:57like he is he's a supernova no question um I would say like Verso got I mean I like again
10:08I'm going
10:08back to kind of these past conversations with Rams people like they think he's got a chance to be
10:16Terrell Suggs and I mean Terrell Suggs was like right there maybe the best player on a Super Bowl
10:25champion defense you know um now I think at the time he was better than Ray Lewis
10:32I already nodded you probably could argue that but like I I think he was right there as as maybe
10:38the
10:38most the best most impactful player on a championship defense and um so like I think
10:44Verso's got the chance to be a top five player at a premium position so um I I'd say Verso
10:53would be
10:53number one on my list and you know you're hoping that Mason Graham and Carson Schlesinger kind of
10:58keep moving along um you know Denzel Ward I think everybody's got respect for him but obviously
11:03he's getting a little up there in years I think this is going to be his ninth year right so
11:08um I I'd say
11:10first would be the top of my list Albert uh Aaron Rodgers had the the Instagram photo and it said
11:15last rodeo and you see Mason Rudolph there and people noticing like you know Will Howard isn't
11:19there right I was thinking about that in thinking about Mary Kay Cabot on the station earlier today
11:23and she said she believed that Deshaun was hosting a passing camp in South Florida coming up sometime
11:29soon do you have any insight into like what that process is like and like who gets invited who
11:34doesn't and what that role needs to be like like between Deshaun and Shador I'm assuming they both
11:39want to do camps I'm assuming they both want to work out with wide receivers is there like an etiquette
11:43attached to that where Deshaun goes first and then Shador goes second do the receivers have to like
11:47choose which ones they want to go to if it's at the same time like how does that work well
11:52I would say
11:55if you have two quarterbacks with competing camps and the receivers and the running backs and the tight
12:01ends have to pick which to go to you got bigger problems than scheduling um like if that's allowed
12:08to happen and like like the you you you've got drama over that that's probably not great you know so
12:17I I I think like in a case like this if one quarterback is going to put it together
12:25then you would hope that he would let the other quarterbacks know what the plan was and invite them
12:30to be part of it and I think generally it would be the guy who's the most veteran guy the
12:36presumed
12:36starter obviously would be the preference and when there isn't one I would think it would be the older
12:41guy you know so um yeah I mean look a lot of these guys do this sort of thing um
12:49you know I know a few of
12:51the young quarterbacks like for example like you know Drake May is having his receivers down or had his
12:56receivers down at his lake house like last week um so you see younger guys doing it Mahomes has done
13:03it in Texas for a while with his guys Josh Allen's brought his guys out to California for a long
13:08time
13:09now um so this stuff is you know it's it's it's good for for getting work in it's usually really
13:17good for
13:17bonding too like um it's generally something where like teammates get together and get a lot of that
13:23out of it from that perspective Jayden Daniels did in April with the commanders guys in California
13:29I believe he's bringing those guys out there again this month so um it's I think there's a level of
13:36communication that has to happen where like you're inviting um you're kind of leaving it open
13:43so the guys who need to be there can be there and I would think like you know for Deshaun
13:51Watson
13:51you know you'd be you'd be cognizant of like yeah I should probably invite the other quarterbacks down
13:57here with me um and if you if that didn't happen then I certainly think you know you you probably
14:06have
14:06a problem you don't want to have Albert one before we go uh the Seahawks were sold for a record
14:12high
14:13you had I think it was you that had a great tweet about just the jump in franchise valuations over
14:19the last decade from even back to the Panthers selling for like just over two billion a couple
14:24years ago sorry in like 2018 uh have we have we reached peak of franchise franchise valuations or
14:31do NFL owners expect it to continue to just grow and grow and grow yeah it's crazy because I think
14:38like
14:38you know there's the rule in the NFL is that you have to designate somebody the primary control
14:43owner and that controlling owner I actually like this part of it because it holds someone accountable
14:48for each of the teams right um and that person has to own at least 30 percent so like we're
14:55starting
14:56to get to a point now where it's like how are you going to find people that have that much
14:59cash
15:00you know what I mean to to to buy these teams and um it's like it's going to get more
15:07challenging
15:08we've seen in baseball where I think the Dodgers have like a consortium right like of different guys
15:13like this the NFL to do more of that obviously private private equity's got involved this is all
15:18great news for the owners I I don't know how good it is for fans guys like I just I
15:26think like the
15:27franchise is being this valuable and the franchise is being like these like great investments has attracted a
15:35type of business man that and I think it's happening in all sports it's not just for the NFL but
15:43like my opinion of it is that like you have too many people in sports now who are viewing these
15:49teams
15:50almost as real estate holdings and are more competitive about being great businessmen than
15:55they are about winning games and you know you start to see some of these rules going in like the
16:00second
16:00apron and basketball where it's like they're creating red herrings so you know they can kind
16:05of cheap out on players it's just there's a part of it that I just that I'm not wild about
16:11like so
16:11it's great for the sport that it's that popular and it's great for the owners that they're getting
16:16these valuations right I do think like it's fair to for all for all fan bases to to be suspicious
16:24now
16:25I'm more suspicious than ever about why they're why they're why why why some of the owners are
16:30getting into this and keep an eye on that thing because the minute you start to introduce private
16:35equity the minute you get it's value like the valuations where they are the minute you get that
16:40many hands in the pot priorities can certainly change Albert great stuff as always buddy we'll talk
16:46to you next week all right thanks guys have a good one good man Albert Breer there on the
16:51Wineshart right we make it right call Kyle Wright hotline
