00:00So I want to play audio from you last night, okay?
00:02And I just want to make sure we give it the proper context.
00:04I always think it is funny when you have a show
00:06and then somebody plays audio of, like, the person that's on the show.
00:09It's like, you could just give your take now.
00:11But I don't know that you'd give it the same way.
00:14All right.
00:14And after hearing you after this take,
00:17it almost felt like Daryl was convincing you that this take wasn't right.
00:20And so I'm going to need some post-game reaction from yourself here.
00:23But this was Coach Riz last night on the show that you guys do
00:27with the three of you guys where it's Jake Volnick,
00:29it's Daryl Ryder and it's Coach Riz, and they talk Browns football.
00:31Here we go.
00:31I don't think this Browns team is as far off if they can get decent quarterback play.
00:37And also score more than 17 points.
00:39And they got the fourth-place schedule, right?
00:42You know, you got that.
00:43You got, you know, let's say downs.
00:45Now that defense becomes, you're thinking elite.
00:47So as a football coach, you're thinking, hey, I just addressed my offensive line.
00:50Let's go out.
00:51Let's get a playmaker.
00:52I think Deshaun or Shador are going to make the –
00:54obviously that might not happen.
00:56But that's what Munkin's thinking.
00:57I can turn this thing right now.
00:59It might not happen.
01:00But the things they do leading up to game one, that's important.
01:04How they attack this, it cannot be preparing for 2027.
01:08Front office might be, these coaches got to win right now
01:10or they won't be a part of that.
01:12And that's what's got to happen.
01:13I just got no evidence to suggest that that's what's going down.
01:16Like all the evidence points to the idea that 2026 is essentially a transition year.
01:21I understand what you're saying.
01:22The heart of what you're saying.
01:24Coaches can't think that way.
01:25And Todd Munkin probably doesn't think that way.
01:28But clearly Andrew Barry thinks a certain way.
01:31First of all, I like what that guy said.
01:33Smart guy?
01:34Smart guy.
01:34I like what he said.
01:35Good.
01:36But I will say this.
01:38I'm not backing –
01:39and in fact, I like the idea of them being closer to good than they are bad.
01:44And I really mean that.
01:45Because think about this.
01:46They could have won how many games last year?
01:48Realistically.
01:48Not should have, but could have.
01:50Say eight.
01:50I'm not saying eight.
01:52No, I'm not saying eight.
01:52What are you going to say?
01:53I think they got aided by the idea that too many quarterbacks were scared of Miles Garrett
01:57and that sack record at the end of the year.
01:59You want to give them seven or eight, you're giving them the benefit of all the good –
02:02all the games that might have gone their way.
02:04Let's talk about the other games that shouldn't have gone their way.
02:06Like Green Bay.
02:06Okay, I'm with you.
02:07So what do you – give me a total.
02:08It washed.
02:09It washed out to what it was.
02:10I think five wins is about what they should have had last year based off of everything that really
02:15went down.
02:15You can make an argument like four or three, but we're just nitpicking at that point.
02:18If I give you a five, I give you a five.
02:19All right, well, see, I think they were in a lot of games with an atrocious offense
02:23and they had struggles early on and obviously Kevin got caught up in his system and couldn't
02:27get out of it and didn't want to get out of it, in my opinion.
02:30When you look back at the film as I watch film now, they're doing things that do not maximize
02:33their players.
02:34So it's not fixed, but they address their – and I won't live in the negative world where
02:38they just replaced.
02:39No, they address the offensive line.
02:41Doesn't mean they're going to be good, but they addressed it.
02:43So now you've got your quarterbacks are all a year older.
02:47Deshaun is back.
02:48Doesn't mean he's going to be great, but he's another body in there.
02:51He's a guy who's been around and played at a very high level.
02:53Fannin's a year older.
02:55Judkins is a year older.
02:56It was a non-mechanical injury, I used to call it, where it just had to heal.
03:00It wasn't going to mess with how he runs.
03:03I think Tillman gets maximized by Munkin.
03:07We haven't seen Tillman get maximized by anybody yet.
03:09But he's only had one guy to try to maximize him.
03:11But I can't give him the assumption that Munkin is going to all of a sudden see the light
03:15with – sorry, Cedric Tillman's going to see the light with Todd Munkin.
03:17But he's a players over play guy, right?
03:18So that's where I'm thinking.
03:19I'm thinking, all right, I understand he has limitations, but he can run comebacks,
03:22curls, fades, bang eights.
03:24He can do those, and that's what Munkin will have him do.
03:26Now, there's limited –
03:26No, no, no.
03:27The burden of proof is on Cedric Tillman to show me that he can do it before I give him
03:30the
03:30acknowledgement that he can do it.
03:31Okay.
03:32That's on him.
03:33The burden of proof is on him.
03:34I've watched that man play for three seasons and never have a season with over 350 yards
03:38receiving.
03:39The burden of proof is on him.
03:41Now, for me, though, if he can't do it now, then he can't do it because now he's in an
03:44offense that's going to maximize what he does.
03:45So now I've addressed the offensive line.
03:48Fannin's a year older.
03:49Junkin's a year older.
03:50I went out and got Stahl who can play the fullback.
03:52I think if I can get a weapon on offense – I don't need a receiver or a running back.
03:56I need a weapon.
03:56I'm going to get a weapon on offense, whatever that play – so I've got to improve my free
04:00safety play just a little bit.
04:02But I addressed my linebacker with the loss of Bush.
04:06I got, I think, an upgrade in Quincy Williams.
04:09Schlesinger, defensive rookie of the year, is a year older.
04:11When we talked about learning how to watch film, all I want to do is watch film with
04:14him because if he's that good and he doesn't know how to watch film yet, watch out because
04:18he's just reacting instinctually.
04:21Wait until he learns to read doubles, to read down blocks, to read reach blocks.
04:24He'll be lights out.
04:26Then you've got – the corners are going to be outstanding in this man coverage.
04:30You've got Delpit, who's in a contract year, who's going to be playing with his hair on
04:33fire.
04:34No, I don't – I'm not – I don't think I'm way off saying if they can get competent
04:37quarterback play, they can be competitive.
04:40They're very, very competitive in their division, without question.
04:43It just felt like you named a lot of names is all you did there.
04:45It's not as if like I – there's – like you brought up like Jack Stoll.
04:47It's like that's a – that's a blocking tight end.
04:49Again, that's not the difference between winning games and not winning games.
04:51But it is, though, because you can get in formations and you can do things personnel
04:55with group-wise that can attack, that allows Munkin to attack with the guys he wants to
04:59attack with.
05:00I think it's fine that – and this is how this works.
05:02Offseason is always going to work this way.
05:03We're going to think of the very best out of everyone, right?
05:05And so like even like the defense, you named off to all sorts of different guys.
05:08It's a very – it's the same defense that you saw last year, just Quincy Williams is
05:12the new addition.
05:13I would make an argument, though, that losing Jim Schwartz and then throwing Rutenberg in there
05:17is not the net positive that people think it will be.
05:19And I also think that just assuming that we're going to have the same defense, defense that
05:24is very volatile in the NFL, I think that's a – that's a dangerous assumption in the
05:29win-loss game for next year and whether or not we think they're going to achieve a lot
05:32of great things.
05:33That's the part that scares me the most, if we're being truthful.
05:35I think way too many people just assume this defense is just not going to miss a beat
05:40and be the same thing it's always been.
05:42And I don't know that that's true.
05:44I really don't.
05:44I think Schwartz did a lot to make that defense go, and I'm worried about that.
05:48Well, I like Schwartz, and so I'm not going to say anything like that's not true.
05:50But I will say this.
05:51Some of the guys they have on this defensive roster, all three levels, when you talk Miles
05:57Garrett, when you talk about Swessinger, when you talk about Denzel Ward, those guys are
06:02scheme-proof, right?
06:04Those guys.
06:04So you have those guys.
06:05Now they're saying – once again, I got to see what they're in, this pressure front.
06:08Do they stay in it?
06:09What are the adjustments?
06:10How are they getting Delpit involved?
06:11All those things that Schwartz did at a high level.
06:12Will Rutenberg do that?
06:14That's a fair argument.
06:16But to say that they can't be more successful than were last year, once again, I'm looking
06:21at it through –
06:21Oh, no, it's not judging last year.
06:23I'm thinking through a scope where, yes, I think they can go out and be absolutely competitive
06:26with these people.
06:27I think if Rutenberg is a guy whose foundation is we are going to attack, that's the scheme
06:34that works.
06:34So when you talk about pillars or you talk about foundation, that's what it is.
06:37There'll be a little bit tweaking here and there.
06:39But they're going to get after the quarterback, and that's going to help them.
06:41They're going to be in man coverage.
06:42That's what they're good at.
06:44Offensively, they're only going to be better.
06:46It can't get any worse than it was last year.
06:48And that is kind of like the offensive line approach that we've had, too, is it can't
06:51be worse than what it was last year?
06:52It can't be.
06:53And I agree with you, by the way.
06:54I think the offense will be better.
06:55I think if Shador starts week one, I think it will be better.
06:57I think if Deshaun starts week one, then we can have an argument about that.
07:00I'm not entirely sure.
07:01Well, but if that's the case, if he's better, that means he, hopefully, it means he beat
07:06out Shador, right?
07:07Hopefully, he said he was better than Shador when it happened.
07:09This is where the tinfoil hat comes on for me every now and again, because it's the same
07:12people that told you that Dylan Gabriel was better than Shador all offseason, and I didn't
07:16buy that either.
07:17So, like, if you're really going for a transition year in 2026.
07:20Why didn't you buy it before they played?
07:22Why didn't you buy it?
07:24Gabriel?
07:24Yeah.
07:24Because I was at the training camps, and I watched Dylan Gabriel not be able to complete a pass.
07:28I did an interview with Bernie Kosar where I watched the ball hit the ground eight times
07:32in a row, and I didn't watch that with Shador.
07:34Shador was completing passes.
07:35And so, like, the idea that Dylan Gabriel was so far and above Shador Sanders, I never
07:40bought into.
07:41And then we watched him play, and I think it bore out that way.
07:43And so, like, I do think sometimes QB competitions in the NFL, the finger can be on the scale.
07:49Let's put it that way.
07:50And so, if they want to see Deshaun Watson, it won't matter what Deshaun or what Shador
07:55Sanders does.
07:55If they want to see Deshaun Watson, and especially if they think this is all about a transition
07:59year, then I could easily see them pulling some shenanigans, because I just watched them
08:03do it last year.
08:04Well, if you pull shenanigans, you're not going to win.
08:06And it doesn't matter who your coach is.
08:07This is part of the bet that we're talking about.
08:08You can't win, then.
08:09You can't.
08:10If the best guy doesn't play, then you can't win.
08:12If the best guys aren't playing, that's the culture people talk about.
08:15How do you, you know, it's okay to lose.
08:16We're going to do.
08:17Those are culture things you can't turn on and off.
08:19These are faucet things.
08:20Everybody's like, oh, we're going to do this, and we'll just turn it on.
08:22That doesn't work in football at any level, but especially that level, they're all too
08:27good, in my opinion.
08:27So if there's true competition, and he is the best quarterback, that's what I'm going
08:31with.
08:31Now, all the things you're saying, I agree with.
08:34I liked Dylan.
08:34I liked him coming in.
08:35I thought he matched what Kevin did very well.
08:37I thought Shador matched what he did very well, too.
08:39And I thought Shador was much more impactful than Dylan.
08:42But I don't think Dylan is as bad as everybody thinks he is.
08:44I don't.
08:45But I think Shador can be better than people think he is as well.
08:48I just think if you don't live in the extremes with these guys and let them kind of play it
08:52out.
08:52Now, we'll know a lot more because the thing that was hard in Kevin's practice, Kevin,
08:56no one was live.
08:57Quarterbacks are never live.
08:58But when you're not seeing live action out in front of you, when you're not getting live,
09:02a live picture, it's hard to measure and judge these quarterbacks.
09:06So we'll see.
09:07I just think if you go in with the preparation that we can win games, that is how you lift
09:12weights.
09:12That is how you eat.
09:13That's how you take care of your body.
09:14That's how you go to meetings.
09:16That's how you do all these things that allow you to sit at the table to eat.
09:20Doesn't necessarily mean you're going to eat, but they're not even at the table right
09:23now.
09:24And that's where they got to get to.
09:25They got to get to the table and then see what happens.
09:27And that's the belief.
09:29That's I'm going to go out and we're going to win week one.
09:31We're not worried about week two.
09:32We're worried about week one.
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