00:00Herm Edwards joins us on the Wise Heart Right,
00:02We Make It Right, called Kyle Wright Hotline.
00:03Coach, thanks for joining us.
00:06My guess is if you're in the Browns,
00:08there's a quarterback watch every day that they go to practice.
00:12That's kind of interesting.
00:14We've gotten used to it, but at least us who have been watching them
00:17for a long time.
00:19All right, Coach, how do you evaluate a QB?
00:22How do you evaluate a QB controversy, competition?
00:25How do you go about it?
00:28Well, obviously, you know, your eyes don't lie
00:32when you're watching practice every day.
00:34It's not just in the preseason games,
00:35but it's more of anything else as a practice.
00:37And then for me, you know,
00:39I always wanted to know from some of the veteran guys
00:41on that offensive line, how is he in the huddle?
00:44And you really don't know that until you start these preseason games.
00:48How does he react in the huddle?
00:50Does he have control of the huddle, right?
00:53Because that's very important.
00:55And so, I mean, that's what you look at.
00:57I mean, you know, and then you got to go with your gut
00:58and say, well, I'm going to go with this guy.
01:00And if not, then it doesn't work out.
01:03Then obviously the other guy is going to go in.
01:05But that's what you do.
01:07You can say numbers, completions.
01:09You can do all that stuff.
01:10You know, fans probably, it used to be fans
01:12used to come to practice back in the day, you know,
01:13when you had quarterback competition.
01:15And they would chart it, you know,
01:17and you could hear him on the radio.
01:18He completed this many balls.
01:19And then, eh, there's a lot to say with nothing.
01:22They still do that, actually, Coach.
01:24They're doing that.
01:25They've done that the last couple years, sadly.
01:27Yeah.
01:28Who can lead the team, right?
01:29Who can lead the team and who can win?
01:31That's kind of important, too.
01:33Is there a such thing in this day and age
01:36with a limited practice schedule
01:38and the collective bargaining agreement,
01:40is there a such thing as a fair quarterback competition
01:43or is one always inherently going to kind of
01:46have the edge going in?
01:49I think with this situation, because, you know,
01:53it's a preseason and that has a lot to do with it, too.
01:56So you can't put a whole lot of stock in the preseason,
01:59although that's part of your evaluation.
02:02To me, it's every day, you know,
02:03it's coming to practice and watching him and just, you know,
02:07does he have leadership qualities?
02:08That's kind of important.
02:10It was always important to me with the quarterback.
02:12But I think at the end, when you – your eyes don't lie.
02:17I always say just, hey, man, just –
02:19if you didn't know their name, I always used to tell coaches this.
02:23Hey, you know what?
02:24Here's a problem with football a lot of times.
02:27We know the names on the back of the jerseys.
02:30If you just didn't put any numbers on anybody
02:32and you just went to practice, like if you were a pickup game, right,
02:37a pickup game in the park, and you got the –
02:39the losers lose and you get to pick three guys
02:41that are playing on the losing team.
02:43And you don't know who they are.
02:45And there's five guys out there.
02:47You go, I'm going to pick that guy with the red shoes.
02:50Oh, and that guy with the gold hair, I like him, too.
02:51You don't know who they are.
02:52You just kind of pick them because you listen to your eyes and watch them.
02:56To me, that's practice.
02:58What are your eyes telling you?
02:59Don't look at the number.
03:00Don't look at his name.
03:01Just – what do my eyes tell me?
03:04That guy right there is a good player.
03:06He's playing good.
03:06And, you know, I always fall back on that at the end of the day.
03:11In a situation like Deshaun Watson where he hasn't played in 600-plus days,
03:16he just got his first action in 600-plus days,
03:18how do you get him acclimated?
03:20And why would you think that – that sounds bad.
03:24Why – in that situation, what could convince you to make him the starter?
03:30Well, look, I got a little bit of a look at him in that preseason game.
03:37I was like, hmm, to not play it in two years?
03:42Wow.
03:43I don't know if you guys – maybe I saw the wrong thing.
03:46He looked pretty good.
03:47You had a good takeaway from it.
03:49Okay.
03:50Because, I mean, there was – I thought he was fine.
03:52There was the one time he put the ball on the ground, but again, 600 days.
03:55I kind of gave him a little bit of a slack for that.
03:58Oh, shoot.
03:59They're going to put the ball on the ground.
04:00That's football.
04:01I mean, that stuff happens.
04:02But just the mechanics of it all, in and out of the huddle, you know,
04:08just playing football, I was like, wow.
04:11Wow.
04:12This is interesting.
04:14So, Coach got a decision to make.
04:17He's got a couple – I guess he's got another guy.
04:19How many games they play now?
04:20Three?
04:21If they play, most of the guys with a baseball hat, they don't play anymore.
04:24So, you know, but he's got a – he's got a decision.
04:27But, you know, this decision might not even be done until after week four
04:30when the season starts.
04:32If one of them starts struggling, he'll put somebody –
04:34he's going to put the other guy in, right?
04:35So, we'll see.
04:37All right.
04:38We got a great – Herm Edwards joining us right now on the hotline.
04:41So, when it comes to Shador, every time we see Shador play in a regular season game
04:46or a preseason game, he still makes the flash plays.
04:50He makes the plays down the field.
04:52He's looking down the field to be able to connect.
04:55And now the Browns have these young, exciting, wide receivers.
04:58So, fans see that, and they see a relic of the past into Sean Watson.
05:03You can understand why fans – they want to give the tie, if it is a tie, to Shador.
05:08Do you understand that mindset?
05:11Absolutely.
05:11And I've known Shador since he's a little guy.
05:15And the one thing he does – you're right.
05:18He's exciting.
05:19You know, he can – he can make – you know, he's one of those guys where a series will
05:25go by
05:25and you'll go, oh, no.
05:27And then the next time he comes out – because he has selective memory.
05:30He doesn't let bad – a bad series affect him.
05:34He just doesn't.
05:35Then the next series, he'll go out there and you go, he's scrambling around.
05:38Oh, he just threw one down the field for 50 yards for a touchdown.
05:41Yeah.
05:41I mean, that's who he is.
05:43I mean, he's a competitive guy.
05:44I mean, his last name is Sanders.
05:45He's going to compete at the end of the day.
05:47That's what he does.
05:49And so, that's what fans are seeing.
05:51He's always been that way.
05:53Well, I hate it because I like him so much.
05:56Yeah.
05:57And –
05:58Yeah.
05:59He's great for the media.
06:00He's great for the media.
06:01Well, he's – he's already been great in the community, Coach.
06:05I mean, he really is a really nice young man.
06:07And he's likable.
06:08The kids love him.
06:09And the thing is, though, when you trade away Myles Garrett –
06:13I know they got Jared Vers back, but they also got that extra first-round pick, Coach.
06:17And I think your messaging to the fan base is like, hey, maybe we'll have some fun in 2026,
06:22but we're really looking forward to April of 2027.
06:26And so, I can't really get that hyped up knowing that I think they kind of told everybody like,
06:32yeah, we're looking forward to April and figuring out who's going to be able to take over this football team
06:38in April.
06:39Yeah, I get it.
06:41You know, it's – you look at it and you go, okay.
06:46It's kind of like now – the Jets are in a similar situation, right, trying to figure out who the
06:53quarterback is.
06:54And the long term is not Geno Smith.
06:57So, you know, they're trying to figure that out.
06:59I mean, there's a few teams.
07:01And you're right.
07:02You make the point of, okay, if it turns out this way, then we're going to build a team.
07:07Now, it'd be a shame because, you know, they're going to waste – and hopefully this doesn't happen –
07:14that they struggle on offense.
07:15But they're going to waste another year of really great defensive play.
07:21I mean, these guys got good defense.
07:23I mean, whoa.
07:24They're ranked fourth in the league.
07:25And what's crazy, this is why if the quarterback can just be efficient – because the defense doesn't give up
07:32a lot of points.
07:33They only give up 14 points.
07:36If you can just be efficient and don't turn the ball over and give them a short field, the defense
07:41will keep you in the game.
07:43You know, and you don't want to waste that.
07:46I mean, you got to stop sending defense.
07:49It's like, man, we're wasting this.
07:50You know, and the year goes by, you don't know what's going to happen.
07:54Well, when we talk about that defense and losing Myles Garrett, the big thing that I think the people are
08:01noticing here in town is that Jared Verse is already more of a vocal leader.
08:06He's obviously younger, has not accomplished nearly what Myles has.
08:11But it is an interesting return for somebody who I thought is the best Cleveland Browns player I've seen in
08:17my lifetime.
08:19Yeah, and that helps.
08:21I mean, you know, because they're going to need a guy that has leadership qualities over there.
08:26Because if this offense bogs down some, you know, they're going to need a guy that can keep the defense
08:32humming and keep them playing.
08:34You know, on that day, we just got to stay in this guy.
08:36Just keep playing and just stay in the game.
08:38We'll have a chance, right?
08:39So they're going to need that.
08:41There's no doubt about that.
08:42And you want some leadership from the quarterback position.
08:45But right now, they don't have a starting quarterback.
08:47They don't know who that is.
08:49Well, he ended up being the perfect one, at least as of right now.
08:53How does he go?
08:54Because I think that when you trade away Myles Garrett, it's like, man, they must think we're going to be
08:58garbage this year if you're in the locker room.
09:00But then you bring in a guy like Jared Verse, who is a really good football player and is more
09:04of a vocal leader.
09:06What does he have to do, though?
09:07Because I see him winning, I said, six games.
09:10Lima said five.
09:12To some people, we're actually overshooting the mark.
09:14Some people think they're going to win far fewer than that.
09:17What is the challenge to Jared Verse going into year three?
09:20He's part of the future of this franchise.
09:22To be that leader in that locker room when things start getting squirrely in November and the walls are closing
09:29in with the media in December, etc.
09:32Well, he's got to make sure the team is not split because that's what will happen.
09:37If their offense is struggling and every other week it seems like you're talking about changing the quarterback and you
09:43do change the quarterback and all that, and then the questions are going to be, hey, you guys got this
09:47great defense.
09:47What about the offense?
09:48He's going to try to get a divide, and he can't allow that to happen.
09:51And also, I think Coach, you know, he has to, in that room, Coach Mockins, you know, he has to
09:59figure out who his leadership committee is.
10:01And there's always five or six guys, not the team captains, but the leadership committee.
10:05You know, I've always had that, and those are the guys that really are a part of the fabric of
10:13that locker room where they keep things going, you know, and you meet with those guys once a week.
10:17And it's not long meetings, but it's like, how are we doing?
10:19What's, you know, what's the buzz?
10:21Because I always wanted to know what was the buzz with the team.
10:24You know, because players talk after practice, they talk in the locker room.
10:26And it's not like they're, you know, ratting out any players.
10:30It's just like, hey, Coach, this is the feeling right now.
10:32I always wanted to know how we're feeling.
10:34How's the locker room, guys?
10:35How are we feeling?
10:36And I think Coach Mockins, I mean, he'll learn this too.
10:39I mean, the thing you can't get caught doing is staying on one side of the ball, especially as a
10:46first-year-old coach.
10:47You've got to be in all the rooms.
10:50The players have got to see you.
10:51You can't get caught on one side of the ball and say, well, he's an offensive coach.
10:54He's a defensive coach.
10:55No, no, no, no.
10:56I coach the whole team.
10:57Starts with special teams.
10:58And then he's got to coach coaches.
11:00And that's the, see, what people are failing to realize is this.
11:03As much as we want to talk about the players competing, when you're a first-time head coach, think of
11:09it this way.
11:11You know what else is more important than them players?
11:14It's them coaches.
11:15You've never coached with these coaches.
11:18I want to see how they coach in the preseason.
11:20See, and this is why the preseason's the limits of it.
11:23It used to be coaches had four preseason games.
11:26It wasn't so much evaluating the players.
11:27You can look at the tape and do that.
11:28I want to know how the coaches were coaching on the sideline when the offensive line came out and we
11:34just blew the protection.
11:35How are we talking there?
11:36Who's talking to the receivers?
11:37I want to see how these coaches are giving these players information because the one thing I know about a
11:41football player, when he comes off the field, he wants answers.
11:46And how does the coach fix it?
11:48Not in practice, in a game.
11:50You've got 30 seconds to fix it.
11:51I wanted to see my coach's coach.
11:54That was important to me in the preseason as much as watching the players.
11:57The tape will tell you how the players are playing.
11:58I want to know what the coaches are doing on the sideline.
12:02Herm Edwards with us yet.
12:04He has a lot of first-year coaches around him.
12:07So, Todd Munkin, at age 60, I will tell you, as fans, we tend to get a little ageist on
12:12this, unfortunately, when it comes to the hiring process because of the Sean McVeighs of the world.
12:18Obviously, the young head coaches that get jobs in this league, the Ben Johnsons and so on.
12:24So, what are we missing when it comes to somebody like Todd Munkin who can come in and obviously dazzle
12:31the Browns organization to the point where he gets his first head coaching position in the NFL at age 60?
12:37He has a lot of football experience, and he's seen a lot.
12:41And that's what they're probably looking for right now.
12:45They're looking for a guy that can calm everybody down.
12:48And no matter what happens, he's seen it before.
12:51He's been around football long enough.
12:52There's nothing he hasn't seen, nothing he hasn't dealt with or watched.
12:56So, he has a lot of answers for a team that's trying to find their way, for a team that,
13:01you know, there's a lot of questions, right, especially Miles Garrett's gone.
13:05Okay, what are we going to do on defense?
13:06Okay, we're trying to figure out the quarterback.
13:08Okay, we got some new receivers.
13:10How do we implement them in the offense?
13:11You know, how are we running this offense?
13:12What kind of offense is it going to be?
13:14You know, we play outside.
13:16I mean, you know, when November hits, we've got to be able to run the football.
13:19All these things, he's been around.
13:21He's seen it.
13:23He's got answers.
13:25He's got answers because of his experience, and that's what's going to help him.
13:30Coach, Herm Edwards, joining us on the Wise Heart Right, We Make It Right, Call Kyle Right Hotline.
13:36Coach, I thank you so much for the time.
13:38We thank you so much for the time.
13:40All the best to you and yours.
13:41We hope to be able to run you down again soon.
13:43Wonderful as always, Coach.
13:45My pleasure.
13:47Herm Edwards.
Comments