00:00Talk the Browns draft. What he loved. What he loved even more. What he loved maybe even more
00:04than that. We head out to the Make It Right Call, Kyle Wright Hotline, CBS Sports, football game
00:10plan owner, the great Emery Hunt with us now. Emery, welcome to the show. Appreciate you guys
00:16having me on, man. Always a pleasure. Well, it's great to have you here. I actually want to start,
00:20I know you're a big Shador guy. So much of last year was this guy is not being put in
00:26a position
00:26to succeed, not just with how they handled him in terms of reps and development and all that,
00:32but with the talent around him once he got on the field. Do you feel like the Browns are finally
00:37giving Shador or anyone who starts at quarterback this year a real chance on offense given the
00:44weapons they brought in, the offensive talent they brought in this offseason? Absolutely. This is
00:51what the talent looked like when he made the playoffs. You had a Jarvis Landry, you had the
00:56Kareem Hunt and Nick Chubb. This is what that looked like. And I feel like,
01:01if health permitting, we're seeing the same building blocks and foundation here with the
01:09last two draft classes. I absolutely love what they did in free agency. It set the table for them to
01:14go into the draft and pinpoint who they wanted, targeted players that can help them right now
01:20without having to be pressed to double up on offensive linemen or take the tackle at six
01:25and whatnot. So because he did a great job in free agency and because they had the multiple
01:31first-round picks and how the board fell, man, they did another great job in just acquiring talent.
01:38I love what they've done. We combined the last two draft classes, A-plus job by Andrew Barry.
01:45All right. Tell me what your favorite pick then of this draft was for the Browns.
01:48My favorite pick was getting Denzel Boston. And then the reason why, listen, I'm a Casey
01:54Concepcion guy. He was my number two Z receiver. And I just assumed that Denzel Boston would go
02:00to the Jets at 16 as opposed to Omar Cooper because Denzel Boston was my number one inside receiver.
02:08And when I say inside receiver, think of the Marcus Colston prototypes, right? So the fact that they got
02:14my number two Z and my number one inside guy, along with one of my top tackles in the class
02:19and fandom, I was like, whoa, they're cooking with gas because Concepcion can win deep down the field.
02:25He can win short. He can also do a lot of creative things in the wide receiver run game.
02:29And Boston can win short, intermediate, and deep. And I also felt like his run after catch skills
02:35were very underrated. So he can take a short pass a long way and he gives them a big dog
02:39at receiver.
02:40Something that I always kind of envision when I'm creating these receiver rooms, you want to create
02:47complimentary players of each other. So you have the big guy in Boston. You have the speed guy in Bond.
02:52You have to kind of do everything on a move guy in Concepcion. And you still have a bona fide
02:58stud,
02:59I feel like, in Jerry Judy, along with Harold Fannin. So for me, I just felt like this was an
03:05amazing haul
03:06because of Boston alone. Emory, given the way defense has evolved, we know we have a couple
03:13extra archetypes of safety utilization of the NFL. When you look at Emmanuel McNeil-Warren,
03:19what do you think is his ideal role in the NFL?
03:23That third safety role. And the guy I copped him to this whole draft process was Deshaun Golsan that played
03:30for the 49ers. Big physical, you remember they had him and Dante Wittner at safety, two guys that
03:36could really knock the you-know-what out of you. And so Warren, I feel like he wants to attack
03:41downhill. He wants to be aggressive. And that, therefore, one of the areas of concern I had for
03:47him was because he's so fixated on attacking and what's going on in the backfield, he wasn't getting
03:52the most or the best depth in his drops, which kind of, you know, let the ball go over his
03:57head a
03:57couple times. But when he's playing top-down, man, he's aggressive. Case in point for how many
04:02fumbles he's forced and how many times he's found himself around a football. So as a rookie in a
04:07three-safety look or as a nickel defender, he can truly excel. I think that's why I love this
04:14fit here for him with the Browns. Emory, I know you love quarterbacks and love talking quarterbacks
04:18the way that we do. Taylon Green, I think there's a lot of talent here. I do. I think the
04:23upside is
04:23incredibly high as well. Some people on the station already are trying to make him a wide receiver and
04:27get him away from being a quarterback. Emory, I see a lot there. I really do. A weird arm throw,
04:33weird arm mechanics, understandably so, and completion percentage, maybe not the greatest.
04:37But is there something there? Absolutely. Listen, he was my number two quarterback in the class.
04:43And I comped him to Randall Cunningham. I comped him to Colin Kaepernick. And both of those guys
04:48went round two. So I thought that he might be the second or third quarterback off the board
04:55if I was Arizona, because you could slow walk him to where he can start maybe next year,
05:01you know, learning from behind Jacoby Reset. So when you look at Taylon Green, and those
05:05receiver talks, anytime they see someone that looks like Taylon Green that runs fast, they
05:11automatically want to move the receiver. But the caveat is, whoa, whoa, whoa, Matt Jones,
05:15Matt Jones, Matt Jones. No, no, no. No. They do this with all quarterbacks that look like
05:18Taylon Green. But when you look at him, he doesn't move or run like a wide receiver. He is a
05:23quarterback. He worked with Bob Petrino for two straight seasons. He got better as a quarterback
05:28at Arkansas than he was at Boise State. So there's a lot here. And I was asked this question
05:34earlier today. What do you think about four quarterbacks? Well, I feel like Deshaun Watson
05:39only has the one season left under contract. And, you know, so one of these guys, Green and
05:46or Gabriel, whoever wins that battle is going to be on the practice squad. I think it's more
05:51likely will be Dylan Gabriel. And you can keep all four quarterbacks. So when you do move
05:56off from Deshaun Watson, you already have your three quarterbacks now ready to go in Green
06:01and Gabriel and Shadour Sanders.
06:04All right, Emery. I'm kind of curious about up front. Obviously, the Browns drafted three
06:10guys in this year's draft. Just give us a couple run-throughs, though, on Austin Barber,
06:17the third rounder, and then Parker Brails for the center out of Alabama in the fifth round.
06:21And what do you think about those guys?
06:24Barber does a great job of combo and climbing. I like him in a run game. And that's rare you
06:28see
06:28a tackle, a left tackle as that, that can go up there and really get busy in a run game.
06:33Most
06:33teams are right-handed when they run a football. So anytime you're able to run weak side,
06:36you're cooking with gas. So I like that fit for him, especially in a reserve setting.
06:42Brailford was an excellent technician, a little small. So I think he'll spend this season
06:47putting a little bit more meat on his bones and getting acclimated to the consistency he'll see
06:52from pro strength and conditioning and explosiveness on the other side. So I do feel like that's a
06:58longer play, which is great because he has Elton Jenkins to learn from, who's a fantastic center.
07:03But now you have the chance to really grow, develop a guy to be your center in weighting.
07:07And when you think about what they did up front, you talk about, you know, Titus Howard,
07:11you're talking about Elton Jenkins, you have a DeJuan Jones, to be honest, looks great
07:16by all accounts in terms of how he looks physically. So you still have that element there too.
07:22This was just a great piecing together of the offensive line. Not really piecing together,
07:28but building the offensive line would be a better way to describe it for the Browns.
07:32Did they do enough? I'm trying to figure out. We obviously have a great defense and a lot of
07:35those pieces still return. If it's your door week one, how many wins are you expecting for
07:40the Browns now after seeing this draft and Andrew Barry hitting out of the park once again?
07:44I would also add Joe Royer, the tight end out of Cincinnati. I loved him coming out of the
07:49college. I think he has more fluidity than people are giving him credit for. So now you have a one,
07:54two puncher tight end. I think the Browns can win 10 games. Think about, we talked about this before.
07:59When you look at Shadour going three or four down the stretch, they should have been five and two.
08:04And to be honest, the only game they really outplayed was the Bears game. And they had a
08:08lead in that 49er game too, but special teams and going forward on fourth down ruined that one for
08:14them. So they weren't as bad as the record indicated. Now you add talent, again, health permitting and
08:20the confidence of each and everybody going in. And I love Todd Munkin. Todd Munkin's attitude is almost
08:26like you got an offensive version of Jim Schwartz. So with that being said, you look at this team,
08:32the confidence, the swag that yields up to this guy, these guys playing good football. So I could
08:37see 10 games for the Browns to being in the playoffs as well. Emory, what do you think of the
08:42other
08:42three drafts in the AFC North? Well, for the Ravens, I thought they did a solid job. Very
08:50Ravens liking what they were able to get. And I found myself saying, oh, wow, how this guy fall to
08:55Baltimore. Right. And so there is the AFC version of the Eagles and the Bengals. Listen, I'm all,
09:01for the Los Angeles Rams approach of I'll take my first round pick for a known asset because at the
09:09end of the day, that's what you're hoping for, for a first round pick. They did that with Dexter
09:12Lawrence and they did a solid job on the back end of the draft as well. And when you look
09:16at
09:17Pittsburgh, listen, that's the quarterback battle I'm excited to see this spring because I love the
09:23confidence of Will Howard saying, I want to be the guy. He's been very vocal about that. And then you
09:28got Drew Allen who has more physical skills, but can he get his footwork right? Can he do the things
09:33necessary to be a consistent player in terms of, you know, moving forward as a pro? So overall,
09:41the Steelers have gotten better. The Bengals have gotten better. The Browns have gotten better and
09:45Baltimore is still Baltimore. So I think we're going to be in for a great season in AFC North.
09:50Who do you think did the best job in general in the NFL this past weekend?
09:56It's a tie between, you know, the Browns and also the Giants. It's so funny when people talk about
10:03the Giants, man. We spent about two months talking about Sonny Stiles being a perfect inside linebacker
10:10because he's tall, gives you another tall player next to Tremaine Edmonds. And that way you create a
10:15tight umbrella around the second level. And a lot of those passions to get to the quarterback,
10:20you can do the same thing with Arbel Reese, who can play the same position, but also gives you a
10:27little bit more as a blitzer. So I felt like the Giants did a great job just acquiring great talent.
10:32Francis Mauro Noah gives them that guard tackle combination that they can utilize up front.
10:37And when you think about how well they've done overall in helping their football team,
10:43along with the Jim Harbaugh, John Harbaugh, I'm sorry, bringing a lot of the Baltimore Ravens over there
10:47in tow. I think that's another surprise team that can get to the playoffs here in year one.
10:53Emory, great stuff as always, buddy. Appreciate you. And we're hoping that you are correct about
10:59that 10-win team because eight wins in the last two seasons has not been a lot of fun. We
11:04want
11:04some fun now, Emory. Y'all got fun. And listen, y'all got some awesome uniforms too. I was shocked
11:11how
11:11much I liked those white helmets. I was like, wait a minute. They actually look dope out there. So
11:16you got the swag, you got the uniforms, you got the quarterback, you got the office. The Browns are
11:21going to be legit, man. Cut that and play it all week long. Let that be the promo. Hey, we
11:26already
11:27had Ross Tucker. Guarantee, or not guarantee, pick the Browns for Taylin Green and he gets the
11:32victory lap. Yours is the next victory lap we need to come true. We'll make sure to play it all
11:36the
11:37time. Emory, great stuff, buddy. Appreciate you. Thank you, guys. Appreciate you having me on.
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