00:00Let's turn to an expert on the draft, on the NFL.
00:02In fact, it's in his email address, I'm sure.
00:06It's NFL.com.
00:07Of course, we're talking about Eric Edholm,
00:09and he is on the Make It Right Call, Kyle Wright Hotline.
00:12Hi, Eric.
00:13Thanks a million for joining us today.
00:14We appreciate you.
00:15How are you?
00:15You got it right.
00:16Eric at draftdork.com.
00:18That's right.
00:21Oh, man, I got to find it.
00:22You're a hate bale there.
00:25Better than Twitter, right?
00:26Right.
00:27Eric, tell me about the Browns,
00:28what you thought about what they did last night.
00:31And, you know, we're sitting here trying to dissect it.
00:33I'll be honest.
00:33I want to see it on the field before I sit here
00:36and start giving it a letter grade.
00:37But I thought the Browns went out
00:39and did two things they needed to do,
00:41wide receiver and offensive lineman.
00:43Yeah, kind of what we expected, right?
00:45I mean, maybe not the names, maybe not the exact places.
00:48But, yeah, I think it was sort of shaping up that way.
00:52And, you know, I think what they did smartest
00:55was they were able to trade down
00:58and still get the offensive tackle that they wanted.
01:01You know, obviously time will tell
01:03whether they made the right choice.
01:04We'll figure out if he's a left tackle, if he's a guard.
01:08He could be a terrific one, you know, at either spot.
01:10We don't know yet.
01:12But to do it at the start of the run of a position
01:15that saw seven tackles and two guards, for that matter,
01:19too, go off the board in the first.
01:21So, to do that and to get Casey Concepcion,
01:24who I thought was perfectly good value there,
01:27you know, someone who can impact the game
01:28as a receiver, runner, and returner,
01:31you know, that was good value at that spot.
01:34Even if, look, I mean, they have other guys
01:36with somewhat overlapping skill sets, maybe.
01:39But I think more power, you're never going to turn that down.
01:43So, if you're looking at then,
01:45obviously, Browns go tackle wide receiver.
01:47You talk about where all the tackles went.
01:49And, I mean, I at least find it hard to argue
01:52that they went in the correct order that they should have,
01:54considering, I mean, first-round tackles that were left
01:57were basically Caleb Lomu and nobody else.
02:00Right. Yeah, no, I think you're right.
02:01And, I mean, look, you know, look how many receivers
02:04went off the board after Jordan Tyson.
02:06Not that many.
02:07You know, we had to wait until, I guess,
02:11Makai was the next one at number 20.
02:13Yeah.
02:13So, there was a pretty good gap there.
02:15You know, I wasn't sure how they were going to go off,
02:17but I thought it might go a little quicker than that
02:19at receiver.
02:19So, they played it the right way in terms of
02:22which position do we address first, you know.
02:24And that was always, who knows what would happen
02:27had Carnell Tapin on the board.
02:29Was that their guy?
02:30Would they have stayed?
02:31You know, I mean, there's all these questions.
02:32But, given the way it played out,
02:34I think, you know, if Fano was the right choice,
02:38then they played it right.
02:40Eric, I mean, last year, Andrew Berry had a really good draft.
02:44Every guy he picked last year started at some point.
02:48And now we walk into another season where, you know,
02:51if he was going to take, if he was going to,
02:54if he just picked up three extra picks from last night
02:56and was going to take the same guy,
02:58I think he's starting to earn a little bit of street cred.
03:01And just your thoughts on Andrew Berry
03:03and the way he executed last night.
03:05Because he said afterwards,
03:06this worked out better than what we expected.
03:08Yeah, no, I mean, look, exactly.
03:10I mean, obviously, I think there are, you know,
03:14enough questions around the league
03:15with some of the results from last night
03:18that you have to look at what they did and say,
03:19yeah, they came in with a good amount of assets.
03:22But for where they ended up and what they got,
03:25I think it would have ended up being pretty good.
03:27And, yeah, I mean, it's hard not to associate,
03:32you know, negativity with the Browns, right?
03:35I mean, obviously, just given the long-term pattern
03:38of the lack of success,
03:40it's easy to say that people who work for them
03:43aren't as good as other people or whatever.
03:45But I think you're right in terms of figuring out the draft,
03:49figuring out how best to use your resources,
03:52seeing opportunities like the trade down on the fly
03:55and pulling the trigger.
03:57You know, last year, even with all the questions
04:00about how they handled the quarterback position,
04:03look, maybe they ended up handling it the right way.
04:06Even if one of those picks doesn't work out,
04:08if Shadur hits, then, you know,
04:10that makes that class even better.
04:11So, yeah, I mean, having a little bit of three-dimensional views
04:16on these things is important.
04:18And we do have to recognize when the teams do well,
04:22even if the big questions aren't all answered yet.
04:24Yeah, it's nice to kind of think that the Browns are saying,
04:27you know, that the medication's actually working.
04:29I don't know.
04:30We've spent so many years here trying to figure out
04:32what they were doing.
04:33Look, this team hasn't taken their natural pick
04:36at number one since Baker Mayfield in 18.
04:39And they still didn't do it again last night.
04:41And, you know, I think we just don't want to walk out every day going,
04:45oh, my God, here we go.
04:46The Browns think they're the smartest ones in the room.
04:48They used analytics again.
04:49And they blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
04:51They did their job last night.
04:53And I guess it's just refreshing.
04:56I mean, I remember, look, I was a pretty young guy
04:58and I wasn't in the business yet or anything,
05:00but just as a fan watching when Jimmy Johnson came in the league
05:03and how many people were saying, oh, he thinks he's the smartest guy
05:05in the room with all these trades.
05:07And, you know, because at the time it was so, I know we're talking,
05:10you know, 30, 40 years ago, but, like, it was so out of character
05:14for how teams acted, right?
05:16There were many, but there weren't that many.
05:18And, you know, that was the analytics, right?
05:21I mean, if we want to put it in those terms.
05:22And so I think any time you're able to seize on those opportunities,
05:26look, Bill's fans right now are saying, oh, we hate Brandon Bean.
05:31He traded three times and moved out of the first round again, right?
05:34We're going through the same old song and dance we did.
05:37But if you look at each of the trades, at least according to the, you know,
05:40the multiple charts that are out there and the ones that are more used by teams
05:44this week or this generation, if you will, they did well on all three trades.
05:49How do we get mad about that?
05:50If they're going to take roughly the same player the top of round two
05:54as they would have at the end of round one.
05:56It's the same thing with the Browns.
05:57I think if you can get your guy and move down and add extra picks,
06:01that's a home run.
06:02All right, Casey Concepcion.
06:05I like him as a wide receiver, but I see a lot of people,
06:07the first thing they're going to attach on to with Casey is it's the drops.
06:11He has a big drop problem.
06:13Is that something that you find NFL GMs really focus on
06:16and take heavily into their evaluation?
06:17Or is this something that just kind of goes by the wayside
06:21and you think guys can fix it?
06:22Yeah, I think if it's a chronic problem,
06:25if somebody is fighting the ball and having trouble catching it
06:28and has these immense physical tools,
06:30you have to weigh that and say, is this something we can teach him?
06:33Is this something that he can get better with?
06:34Or is this just going to be a chronic problem that lasts forever?
06:37It's not like coming into last season, last college football season,
06:41and people are like, well, boy, this Casey Concepcion's got hamburger helper
06:46hands here.
06:47You know, no.
06:48I mean, he was known as a pretty reliable guy.
06:50It just so happened that I think last year I think PFF said he had like nine
06:55drops or something, which is, you know, I mean,
06:57it's a notable number for the amount of targets and catches he had and stuff.
07:02And the fact that a few of them came in the end zone, too.
07:05I think, you know, one game I watched he dropped what would have been a touchdown
07:09and didn't look like it was an exceptional effort to make a play.
07:12And so that one you go, okay, that one's put a little mark by that one.
07:17And, you know, with the other ones, too, I mean, some of them were contested plays
07:21or he had to turn his body around.
07:23They weren't like, you know, balls hitting him in the chest and hitting the ground.
07:27So, yes, there was some inconsistency.
07:29I think some of it is a concentration thing where he tries to immediately kind of pivot
07:35into his yak mode, you know, running before catching, essentially,
07:40before finishing the process.
07:41So when you see that a couple times, you think, all right, this is something
07:46that a good wide receiver coach can work with him on and solve.
07:49And, look, again, it's just like the number of ways he can impact the game
07:53is really impressive.
07:55And when he gets a little bit of runway, you know, he'll make you hurt on defense.
08:01Eric, I do want to thank you on behalf of the entire city of Cleveland
08:04and all Browns fans across the world that in your winners-losers column today,
08:09the Steelers were losers.
08:12You made our day.
08:14I appreciate you.
08:15I mean, I also praise Pittsburgh.
08:17So, look, I'm not exactly like the hometown hero or something.
08:20It didn't even matter.
08:22All I saw was losers and Pittsburgh Steelers, and you made my day.
08:26It didn't matter who the Browns – the Browns could have made the worst pick ever,
08:28but as long as the Steelers were losers, we're winners here in Cleveland.
08:31Short bar to cross.
08:32Yeah, right, exactly.
08:34I mean, look, I understand why they took the tackle.
08:39Obviously, the Makai Lemon video was – I don't want to say damning.
08:43It's not damning, but, like, it's unfortunate for them.
08:45I mean, it looked like they were prepared to take the receiver.
08:49And, look, I mean, you're not trying to win Curry's favor with the fans.
08:53It looked like an amazing scene out there at the stadium.
08:56But, yeah, I mean, a project tackle, yes, it's a need position.
09:01Could they have done better?
09:02I think they could have.
09:04All right, so you look at the first round.
09:06What was the kind of most shocking and questionable pick that you saw across the entirety of the first round?
09:11Well, I mean, whether it's questionable or not,
09:13I think you have to say the most shocking was the Ty Simpson pick just because I felt, personally,
09:19everyone knew that they had interest in him.
09:21But I thought when they made that Trent McDuffie trade and sent the 29th pick to Kansas City,
09:27I thought, yeah, it's going to be tough for them to get him, right?
09:30This talk about the receivers and obviously Puka being in rehab right now
09:36and, you know, the Devontae Adams questions that he was talked about as a trade candidate at one point this
09:41offseason.
09:41So, like, you know, I felt receiver has to be the pick there.
09:46That, for me, was the biggest shock.
09:47The second shock was seeing Sean McVay's reaction at the post-game press conference.
09:53Like, I've, you know, I've been in a few of these things over the years,
09:56and it's hard to get a guy to say a bad word about the player they just drafted.
10:00But McVay looked like he wanted to be anywhere else but there.
10:04I mean, it was shocking.
10:05I mean, he usually, you know, Sean's usually good at kind of talking through these things
10:10even if he's showing a little frustration and, you know, he's kind of got that down pat.
10:15But last night looked like a guy who wanted to be nowhere near that media room.
10:20So, yeah, just from a Rams fan reaction for a team that was, you know,
10:25in contention last year in the NFC Championship game,
10:29eyelash away from, you know, getting to the Super Bowl
10:32to draft a quarterback who may not play in two years,
10:35I think he'll probably end up playing next year.
10:37But this also ties into the future of McVay, too.
10:40Remember, he was talking about stepping away a couple years ago after he won the Super Bowl.
10:45So, man, that pick could have a lot of tentacles and a lot of resonance to it.
10:52Last one, just talking about winners, I just want to get to two of them here.
10:56Offensive linemen and the Buckeyes.
10:58Yeah, man.
11:00It's not like, you know, what would a bad night have looked for Ohio State, right?
11:05Take those a little bit later.
11:07It's not like there was a big range.
11:08And, obviously, McDonald not being picked was, like, the only slight disappointment.
11:13But, man, I mean, to have the top receiver in the last five drafts
11:18and they're probably going to get the top receiver next year's draft, too, unbelievable.
11:24And, look, Brian Hartline should name his price for what he wants.
11:28And, you know, that doesn't even start to talk about the talent on defense.
11:32But pretty incredible talent factory in Columbus.
11:35And, yeah, offensive linemen were kind of the story last night just because of how many went.
11:39And, you know, it reflects on the draft class as a whole, too.
11:43Yeah, Eric, I know you killed it with all this stuff.
11:46And I was actually reading, like, even your inside notes.
11:49Just thoughts on the Browns for tonight and moving forward for the rest of the draft.
11:53Yeah, I mean, I think they're in a really good spot.
11:55I mean, like you said, you kind of got the two biggest needs out of the way, if you will.
11:59I mean, I could see them obviously, you know, at some point doubling back to those positions or whatever.
12:06But, yeah, I mean, I look at this round and I've sort of been saying for a while,
12:11I felt like rounds two and three are going to be where you get the most kind of bang for
12:16your buck, if you will.
12:17So, you know, for their needs, I would say another offensive lineman, an edge, a corner, you know,
12:27could probably bolster a couple spots on offense.
12:30Do they take a quarterback?
12:31I would guess probably not.
12:34But, you know, I think maybe later on it would obviously be interesting to see what happens with Dylan at
12:40that point
12:40and see in the picture, you know.
12:42But if they did take one, it would certainly change the appearance a little bit.
12:47Eric, thank you.
12:47I know you're super busy over the last 24 hours and you're going to be busy for the rest of
12:50the weekend.
12:50We do appreciate you taking the time.
12:52And you are definitely a must-read this weekend for anybody that wants to know anything about the draft.
12:56So, thank you, Eric.
12:57Enjoy all weekend.
12:58We'll talk to you guys soon.
12:59Talk to you soon.
12:59Eric Edholm, lead draft writer for NFL.com.
13:03He's got all kinds of great nuggets in his story today and just a little behind-the-scenes things, his
13:07winners, his losers.
13:08So, if you get a chance today, you definitely want to check that out.
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