- 7 weeks ago
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00:00Say you were in charge of the – you were the head coach of the Browns, right?
00:02And you're looking at this roster.
00:04And I know you.
00:04You are not a bad person.
00:06I know there's certain people on the internet who certainly think you are.
00:09You are not a bad person.
00:11At least you don't try to be.
00:13And I think by your – yeah, you're fallible, but you're nice.
00:17And I don't think you would go out of your way.
00:20And I just don't think you would think – because you think about it like this.
00:23It'd be great to call Owen Lotteman.
00:26No, it'd be great to call John Calavita and tell him that he's made the Cleveland Browns.
00:32It would also be great to tell him that he has a status with the Cleveland Browns.
00:37But you really don't want to put it out there because if I call you and I say,
00:41hey, you're on the roster right now.
00:43Like we could be free communicators and I can go, hey, you're on the roster right now.
00:48But as soon as you get to the but, well, now you're already thinking about other things.
00:53I'm just saying that.
00:56I used you as an example, John.
00:58But I said, I look at it from other ways going, as soon as I get to the but,
01:04well, now it's in my head that you're about to cut me.
01:06I've got to get on the phone with my agent.
01:08Now you already probably are on the phone with your agent.
01:10Now I've got to get on the phone with the agent.
01:11So now the agent's going to be calling me going, oh, you've got to keep my guy on the team.
01:14You've got to keep John on the team.
01:15What are you doing?
01:15You can't be calling nobody else.
01:16You've got to be putting John on the team.
01:18So now I'm going to get calls from agents over here about putting John on the team.
01:21And then, God forbid, if John gets upset, John can put something on Twitter.
01:25Then we've got to answer questions about a guy that we've had to cut.
01:28And we actually don't want to round.
01:30What were you going to say, John?
01:31I think about it from a baseball standpoint.
01:32You see the videos of the guys getting called up all the time.
01:35That's something that you actually do see.
01:37But there are some players that will get called up for like a couple of days.
01:41And they'll get sent right back down.
01:42But they still have the conversation with their AAA manager and be like, okay, you get to go to the
01:47bigs.
01:47You're going to the bigs.
01:48They may not get in at-bat.
01:49They may not get a chance to pitch.
01:50But they're still told.
01:51But they're still part of the organization.
01:53If you play for AAA Columbus, you're still part of the Guardians organization in some fashion.
01:59When you're with the Browns, you've got to go through waivers.
02:02Then you've got to be put on the practice squad.
02:04Yeah, if you're on the P squad, you're still in the organization.
02:07But as of that moment, you are no longer with the Cleveland Browns in some fashion.
02:12You have to go through the proper steps to be welcomed back to the Cleveland Browns.
02:17If I just send you back down to Columbus and you have options, you're just still with the Guardians.
02:21But you're not with the Guardians.
02:22Yeah, I think the hard part overall, a lot of this for Browns fans who were at training camp or
02:28following as closely as they could.
02:31And doing everything they could to get invested into something about this team.
02:35When basically everybody is telling them, you're going to be one of the bottom whatever teams in the league.
02:40Is who can we get excited about from just a human standpoint?
02:45From a storyline standpoint, if it's not the quarterback situation, what can we get invested in?
02:50And there were two names.
02:52Mike Floria.
02:53Luke Floria.
02:54And Michael Coates Jr.
02:55And Michael Coates Jr.
02:56Yep.
02:57And both of them are what?
02:58Not going to be on this football team.
03:00At least not to start off.
03:01I know Michael Coates Jr. is a little banged up there.
03:03We'll see how that goes.
03:03And it's just, that's the hard part, I think, for, unfortunately.
03:06As far as his career is concerned.
03:07Yeah.
03:08And one was local and the other was just a fascinating story.
03:11And, of course, he started getting national buzz over the last three days about his story.
03:16People started to realize what this was.
03:18And I do wonder, an NFL team I know is supposed to be cutthroat.
03:22And it is supposed to be a meritocracy.
03:24Even though we do know coaches bring over some of their own guys.
03:27And, you know, that happened here in this case, too, for Todd Munkin.
03:31But every head coach brings a couple of pet guys with them.
03:34That is always going to take precedence.
03:36But when you think it's going to be a bad season, you just want some good stories.
03:41Even if we probably know how those stories are going to end.
03:45Yeah.
03:46I understand that.
03:48But I think it would just doubly backfire.
03:51Your team has a history of kind of tripping over themselves.
03:56I'd just rather be, let's just keep it quiet.
03:58Let's just keep it quiet and go through this.
04:00And I don't think that anybody's going to be upset that we remain respectful.
04:04And some people could take that not calling a guy is a disrespect.
04:07I don't.
04:08I don't.
04:09I think that that's just the way the NFL works.
04:12And you'll find out on the official release.
04:14And you may not know very fully that it is going to be that way.
04:17But, you know what?
04:18Some of these guys, maybe they're already comfortable with that possibility.
04:20Considering where they were taken, what they were told.
04:23Some of them will be very, very, very realistic about these matters.
04:26ESPN put the Browns at 31st on their power ranking.
04:28Now, I usually don't like power rank stuff.
04:31But it seemed that a lot of people were either very, very, very upset.
04:34Or actually very, very happy about where those power rankings are going to be.
04:38Because if you're one of the people that just think that this is a quarterback away, you can go out
04:43and lose games because of your quarterback room.
04:45If it's that bad of a quarterback room, you can go out and lose games because of that.
04:50So there is a group of foot.
04:51Well, I hate talking about tanking.
04:53And I hate that.
04:54But it's one of the things I do agree with Nick on.
04:57It is a thought where, hey, we'll get better by getting that guy.
05:00Even though I've given all sorts of evidence saying the teams that continuously try to lose, continuously lose.
05:06But if you're 31st in the power rankings, how do you take that as a Browns fan right now?
05:14Like, yeah, you probably say, no bleep, Sherlock.
05:16I know how bad this football team is.
05:19But I say sometimes there's gold in them, their hills.
05:22And I do think that this can be a good situation.
05:24My goal as an observer of the Browns, as a fan of the Browns, is for this to be a
05:29nice place to drop a young quarterback into next year.
05:32But if it's a nice place to drop a young quarterback into next year, I think it'll win some games
05:36in spite of your quarterback situation.
05:38So I don't know if you're in the worst possible position.
05:40I just don't know if you're the second worst team in the NFL.
05:44The Dolphins, which is weird because you spent money on Malik Willis and then you immediately took something away from
05:49him.
05:50The Dolphins are ranked 32nd, if I'm not mistaken, on that.
05:53It just clicked off my screen here.
05:54And then you have this gaggle of teams.
05:57The Dolphins, the Jets, the Cardinals, us.
06:00They're talking about quarterbacks.
06:02Of the four teams we discuss, I really think there's only one team trying to win games.
06:09And I think it's the Cleveland Browns that from top down, like, hey, we got to get ready for the
06:13future.
06:14We know what we did with Myles Garrett, but we still got Jared Verse in return.
06:17It's funny you say that because I guarantee the radio hosts in those towns are going, the Browns aren't trying
06:21to win games.
06:21They traded Myles Garrett away.
06:23Look at their starting quarterback situation.
06:24They're trying to tank.
06:25You know what?
06:26I could also look at and go, well, did they bring back MJ Emerson?
06:29Because we're thin in the skin when it comes to guys in the DB room.
06:32And I got, yeah, there's young guys there, but I don't know how great they're going to be for me.
06:36So, I mean, that argument can be made.
06:38Because the second, if I weren't covering the Cleveland Browns every day, you would think, yeah, they traded away Myles
06:42Garrett.
06:43They're in it for the tee.
06:44They're going to go for the number one overall pick next year.
06:47I just, I think with some of the moves that they've made, it just doesn't seem to be the case.
06:53They've made moves that I think are going to be able to, and maybe they're trying to do two things
06:58at once.
06:58Maybe they're really not trying to win.
07:00But I also think that what you've done with this offensive line, and I'm skeptical just for the only, I
07:06hold my breath on it just because you got five new guys there.
07:10They all have to move in step.
07:11I think it's going to be a little bit difficult for them to all move together at the beginning of
07:15the season.
07:16But I think that you could end this season with Parker Brailsford as a starter, Elton Jenkins as a guard,
07:23Spencer Fano as a high-level starter, and Austin Barber as a starter at right guard.
07:27I mean, that'd be a tremendous thing.
07:28If Casey Conception and Denzel Boston end up being good, that can be a tremendous thing.
07:33In spite of quarterback play, that can be a tremendous thing.
07:35I got no fault with Harold Fannin Jr. at all.
07:39Everybody else has the same thoughts of him.
07:41They think he's a great, great, great player.
07:43Their running back room is better than where it's been.
07:46I think Rocket Sanders had a good training camp.
07:49Quinn Sean Junkins is going to be your main guy.
07:51And I still think defensively, while you lose Myles Garrett, and there's going to be a test here,
07:56I do think they're going to go a little bit different than what they had with Jim Schwartz.
07:59So it still should be, if they drop, it should still be a 12th defense.
08:05But if it's a 12th defense and not a number four defense overall, or number three defense overall,
08:09that means they probably could go from five wins last year to three wins this year.
08:13So it's like, if they, like, I do not think they're going to be a top five defense.
08:17And I think a lot of people agree with you.
08:19I, well, that's not what I'm hearing on other quarters of the station, but whatever.
08:24Hey, we got new defensive coordinator.
08:25I don't know what to expect.
08:26The losing Jim Schwartz, but kind of be a pretty good defense.
08:29It's just, I don't know if they're going to be an elite defense here, considering you
08:32don't have a lot of depth in the secondary.
08:34Yeah.
08:34I do think they have the bones to be a good defense.
08:36Now, who knows what, you know, like I go back to last year and Carson Wentz has put
08:41it on you on a final drive to beat you.
08:42Like, is that, is that something as more likely to happen this year or less likely to happen
08:47this year?
08:47You said in certain corners, I'm sorry, not, not, I'm just starting to froth here.
08:52You said in certain corners of the station, do certain corners of the station know if they're
08:56going to run more man this year, or are they going to go into more zone this year in the
09:00secondary?
09:00Because last year it was exclusively man with the way their front was.
09:03Exactly.
09:04So if they go with man, well, you're going to put a hell of a lot more pressure on Malik
09:07Collins and Mason Graham than you ever had to last year because you don't have Miles
09:12Garrett.
09:12Jared versus good.
09:14He ain't Miles.
09:15It's a sentence we've all said a million times over.
09:17Are you going to play more zone?
09:18Are they capable of playing zone?
09:20Because I think Denzel Ward probably wants to play man.
09:23Well, I've got to worry about Denzel Ward and zone, man, anywhere, anyhow.
09:26But he's a one-on-one on this defense.
09:29Where's the other guys going to help out?
09:30They're probably still too young.
09:32Tyson Campbell's good, but you remember, you're a man-heavy defense.
09:37That's why you traded for Tyson Campbell.
09:40Now are we going to be running more zone?
09:42Because that might not fit his skill set.
09:44So I've got to see what they're going to do because when you trade Miles Garrett, now
09:49you can't run as much, or we believe, as of right now, I believe that you cannot run
09:53as much man in the secondary as you did last year.
09:56So how are you going to balance that out?
09:58So yeah, I could sit here and say, oh yeah, I'll be a top five defense again.
10:01Why?
10:02Well, we still got this, that, and the other.
10:03Okay, what's your scheme?
10:05And Miles Garrett, that's what I mean by Miles Garrett making everybody's job easier.
10:09I don't have to think as much in the secondary because I got 95 buzzing around the corner
10:13every single time.
10:14And I don't have to think as much in the secondary because I got Mason Graham also able to buzz
10:19it because I also have 95 over there.
10:21But I lost Alex Wright and I was already in the market for a defensive end.
10:24So now again, am I going to run more?
10:27I'm sure they're going to send blitzes.
10:29I'm sure they're going to send a lot of guys and they're going to try to create their own
10:31pressure, but am I going to be in more zone?
10:33Because they've shown before, it's not very heavy on the zone and the secondary.
10:39So I'll take it into the weeds by accident, but this could be a good football team.
10:45You just got to get two of these big things figured out.
10:47What's the makeup of my defense and how I'm going to be calling a defense if I'm Mike Rutenberg?
10:52And then obviously the quarterback.
10:54Well, what if they go from 32 or 31 offensively to like 24 and defensively, they slip a little
11:00bit and fall back to like eight to 10, what does that seem like?
11:06I think that's probably somewhere.
11:07Where did they pick last year?
11:08Is that a six win team?
11:10I, I think that that's probably in the neighborhood of a five win team.
11:13I think, but if you were to slip back defensively, especially if you have an injury in that secondary,
11:18God forbid, if you were to be 25th offensively, which is an upgrade considering where you were
11:25last year, not much, but it is.
11:27And you were to fall to 12th defensively or 15th defensively, I'll see you at the draft.
11:35And I think we're talking about a lot of big things here.
11:39So I think they are trying to thread two needles at once here of, are we a good landing spot
11:45for a young QB?
11:47And how are we not trying to tank?
11:51Because you bring back Jared verse or you bring back Jared verse with the trade.
11:55It tells you you're not trying to tank.
11:56Why didn't you try to keep MJ Emerson there?
11:59Why didn't you try to do that?
12:00That's another veteran that you would like.
12:02And I know he's coming off a serious injury, but that's still another veteran you would
12:05like.
12:06You probably could have got for cheap.
12:07Is it worth it?
12:07We'll find out.