00:00we head out to the uh the make it right call Kyle Wright hotline and welcome on ESPN Browns
00:06reporter Daniel Oyafusi. Daniel welcome to the show. Hey how y'all doing? We're doing all right
00:12here you know doing the how about you have you gone stir crazy yet with all the waiting for the
00:17draft yet? Yeah I'm just kind of ready for the draft to be here like I saw somebody kind of
00:22post on social media a couple days ago like we've kind of gone through all the different
00:26hypotheticals and scenarios and debated and yelled at each other like let's just let's just get to
00:31the draft and I feel like the NFL just kind of drags us out a little a little too long
00:35but I
00:35understand why you know I've got to make that money. I think we're we're in agreement here and uh it's
00:40good because I don't think the NFL has enough money uh as it is right now but we we we
00:45heard the Jimmy
00:45Haslam comments last week for Deshaun Watson just what did you make of those comments by Jimmy Haslam
00:51a year after he basically admitted that the trade was a complete failure? Yeah I think I was I was
00:59a
00:59bit surprised um it may be the turn um in in you know really just him again doing a 180
01:07uh to go from
01:09you know uh a swing and a miss to someone that we're all excited about. Now I think that if
01:15you look at
01:16the totality of his comments um they were fairly measured like I think again uh his comments I think
01:22really speak more to the faith that this organization has in Todd Munkin and his offensive acumen as
01:28opposed to really expecting um you know anything great from Deshaun Watson you know that he said that
01:35they're cautiously optimistic which I think you know is fair for them to be you know given the fact that
01:41um he hasn't played well but you know he also acknowledged that he's been really injured uh
01:46throughout his Browns tenure so in in its totality I thought that they were pretty measured and I don't
01:52think that they really um seem to tip the organization's hand in terms of who's going to
01:57be the starting quarterback this fall. Is the expectation for Deshaun to be there tomorrow when
02:01everything opens up I know it's voluntary but shouldn't the expectation be that he's there?
02:06Well Deshaun's there right now. Oh he's there okay good all right that's the answer then.
02:10Yes yeah yeah I mean yeah at the league meetings the the the word out there was that he was
02:15going
02:15to be there for the start of the offseason workout program um I just saw him post on his uh
02:20social
02:20media his Instagram story a couple hours ago he is in the building he was on the practice field
02:25indoor practice field um so I'd expect to see Deshaun Watson uh Shador Sanders and you know I would
02:31think that we would see Dylan Gabriel even though you know Todd Munkin said he hasn't seen
02:35him um through the offseason which I don't think is really a big deal to be honest.
02:40All right Daniel uh if the draft was tomorrow what's your best guess at what happens at six
02:46for the Browns?
02:49Uh my best guess is that Andrew Barry finds some way to trade out of the sixth overall pick.
02:57I think that when all is all is said and done you know we're into April so uh Barry said
03:02they're
03:02really going to start going into scenarios and different situations and hypotheticals and really
03:07planning out their their their method um I think that as we get closer to the draft uh they're gonna
03:13they're gonna look at six and say hey I think I think we can get a little bit more out
03:17of this as
03:17opposed to just picking a player at six um you know the the Cowboys have been floated out there
03:22as a potential you know trade-up partner if they can move back four to six spots um and still
03:28get one of
03:29those top tackles or wide receivers but also probably get a an extra third round pick I'm
03:33thinking in a hypothetical I think that the Browns would be pretty satisfied with that um and then
03:38from there you just kind of go best player available uh what was that first pick whether it's wide
03:42receiver or offensive tackle I would I would presume.
03:45Who's your favorite offensive lineman and then who's your favorite wide receiver?
03:52Well I'll I'll go to wide receiver because that that's what I think is really really interesting
03:56um I really and I've said it before I really really like Jordan Tyson um but the injuries
04:02are just a little too much for me to really um pant you know plant my flag and go down
04:07and really
04:07vouch for um so if the Browns were to take a wide receiver with their their first first round pick
04:12or just stick at six and take a guy um I'd be perfectly fine with Cardinal Tate I don't know
04:17if
04:17he's going to be Malik Nabors I don't know if he's going to be Jamar Chase but if the Browns
04:22can get
04:22um a consistent year in the year a thousand yard receiver um I think that that's a very strong step
04:28in the right direction um offensive tackle um I'm not a huge fan of the tackle class at the top
04:37just
04:38because I think that the best offensive linemen are not left tackles where the Browns have a uh
04:44the biggest need and you know if you talk to Andrew Barry which we did at the league meetings
04:48he'll say that you know a tackle is a tackle I don't know if I necessarily agree with him on
04:52that
04:53because I've spoken to offensive tackles um that have said hey it is different playing left tackle
04:58and right tackle you have to literally program your your your body in a different way um so if they
05:04take Monroe Freeling I think that that's a real bet on his upside as opposed to getting a guy that
05:10you
05:10know day one is going to really lock down that left tackle spot all right Daniel uh obviously you
05:17know you mentioned trade down I think a lot of people expect the Browns to get their quarterback
05:21in 2027 I think it's going to be a tough tough road trying to get that 2027 first rounder but
05:29it
05:29does seem like that would be something the Browns would prioritize if they could get it so how far
05:34should the Browns go to get a 2027 first rounder like would you think they would be willing to trade
05:39out of the first round from that six pick all together just to get that
05:45I can't see that I can't see that you know it's they're not picking at two but you can still
05:50get
05:50a really really good player at six um and I don't think that they're just going to take themselves
05:55solely out of the out of you know the the ability to draft the top tier blue shirt prospect um
06:03conversely
06:03um is anybody really going to trade all the way up to six to do that like even in these
06:07scenarios where
06:08we're talking about uh trading back with the Cowboys like if you take 12 and 20 like I don't
06:13know like the the way the the draft chart lays out um I think it'd be pretty hard to get
06:19a extra
06:21first round pick um which is why I think that they're really going to have problems like I don't
06:26I don't really see it foresee a scenario where the Browns come away with a 2027 first round pick
06:31um but hey a year ago I wasn't really sure that they'd come away with actually 2026 first round pick
06:36so I'm open to being surprised yeah you know now you've got to spend some time around Todd Munkin
06:41a couple different areas in a couple different places now uh what is your first your early
06:45impression of Munkin as a head coach now uh I like the fact that he's a straight shooter um and
06:52again
06:52you say you know we've spoken to him and been able to interact with him in different settings you
06:56know we've been able to speak to him you know on the record off the record you know at the
07:01league
07:01meetings they have a reception and you know he he held court with a lot of reporters he was talking
07:05with the Ravens reporters for some time and then you know he he you know was um you know nice
07:09enough
07:09to give some time to some of the the local Cleveland writers that were out there um and the guy
07:13you see
07:14on the record is the same guy that you see off the record I think that that's going to go
07:17a long way
07:18in the building um you know when you're interacting with players and coaches and his staff and holding
07:22people accountable that's the thing about it um you know I think that the part of the reason why
07:28they brought him here was because they thought that he was a guy who had the the vision on offense
07:32to turn this unit around um but really the personality and you know again just holding
07:37people accountable I think that's going to go a long way and we're going to see that um you know
07:41as all season workout program and this season ramps up Daniel Oyafusi on the make it right call
07:46Kyle Wright hotline so obviously the big news today uh is MJ Emerson is on a visit with the Texans
07:53uh looks like he could very well be signing there with the Houston Texans when when did it go wrong
07:59for
07:59MJ when did it become you know kind of past the point that he actually might return here
08:05well I wouldn't say it went wrong I would say um you know as Andrew Barry kind of laid out
08:10at the
08:10league meetings um it's just kind of uh um you know different priorities I would say you know
08:16obviously he had that devastating Achilles injury he was you know um set up to to start opposite
08:21Denzel Ward and they were really excited about him kind of bouncing back from 2024 um you know so they
08:26had to kind of uh you know adjust on the fly as the season went on and they obviously made
08:31that
08:31trade for Tyson Campbell which I think really um kind of pushed and kind of ended um you know
08:38MJ Emerson's prospects long-term prospects um in Cleveland and that's Barry pointed out at the
08:43league meetings um there really was no there's really no place for him to start right now which
08:49he really needs to because he needs to bounce back and show that he can play at a high level
08:53um so again like they kind of have kept the door open you know if there was you know knock
08:57on wood
08:57an injury or something like that that happened in the spring or the summer um but in terms of like
09:02the the priorities of both sides they just really didn't um align do you feel like the Browns uh do
09:08you feel like they fixed the offensive line or do they just address the offensive line
09:13well it's to be seen if they fixed it they definitely addressed it and you know the thing that
09:18I like about the moves is that they raised the floor of this unit I believe you know they they
09:23didn't get like tremendously or drastically younger um but they got guys who have you know played a lot
09:28of games and for the most part have been fairly durable um there's versatility there and really
09:34I think that with the construction of this offensive line so far they've gotten rid of like
09:39major weakly weaklings like football is a weakling sport offensive line is the epitome of football
09:46being a weakling sport where if you have one guy on there who is just not up to par um
09:51defenses know
09:53that and they can game plan around that and it doesn't matter that you might have four all uh all
09:57pros pro bowl players like they're going to target that weakling player I think that they raised the
10:02floor of this unit with the moves that they made Daniel what did you make the Browns pulling back
10:07their proposal to extend the draft window in the draft pick trading window from three years to five years
10:13yeah it wasn't surprising you know obviously this was a pretty drastic rule proposal that um you know
10:19was put forth and um you've kind of seen the NFL when you kind of have these drastic um proposals
10:24that
10:25people aren't used to and kind of try to shake up the table um teams aren't really as receptive to
10:30it
10:30now I will say I think that more teams were a lot more receptive and open to discussing it
10:38than you know we we then was led to believe like I know Sean McVay made some comments and said
10:43there's
10:43no way that it passes and he was right but you had less need as GM come out and so
10:48he would have been
10:48in favor of it and I can tell you um definitely more teams were open to discussing it than we
10:54were led
10:54to believe at first so they had an opportunity to at least discuss it um you know the Browns were
10:59able
10:59to and Barry were able to field some questions on it um and again it didn't pass this year but
11:04in the
11:04next year or two I think it's definitely something that could pop up again maybe with some alterations
11:08um and you know we could see uh that really discussed a little bit more uh you know over
11:13the coming years Daniel great stuff as always uh appreciate you and uh sure enough the NFL draft
11:20will be here soon enough and we appreciate you bud no for sure anytime Daniel Oyafusi there uh ESPN
11:27Browns reporter on the make it right call Kyle Wright hotline
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