00:00Mary Kay Cabot, super friend of the show, from the Plain Dealer in Cleveland.com,
00:03and she is on the Make It Right. Call Kyle Wright Hotline. Hi, Mary Kay. How are you?
00:08I'm doing great, guys. How are you doing?
00:10Hi, Mary Kay.
00:10We are doing good. Question. Is draft weekend the hardest weekend of the year for a beat reporter
00:15when it comes to covering the NFL?
00:17Yeah.
00:18You know what? This weekend was particularly challenging in terms of drafts because there
00:25were so many trades and it was hard to keep up with things. And normally on day two,
00:30most teams will have two picks and no trades. And, you know, we just had a really insane
00:35day two trying to keep up with everything. But, you know, it's fun. It's fast-paced. It's a little
00:40bit crazy. It's hectic. But, you know, it was kind of fun to see how it was all unfolding.
00:47Impressed with what Andrew Barry did and his staff?
00:52Yes. I did not think that he could top last year's draft, but somehow, some way, I think
00:59he actually may have pulled it off. Now, we have to see how these guys are going to play
01:04and perform. That's the most important thing. But on paper, this looks like he knocked it
01:10out of the park in a big way. I had told you guys so many times going in that I
01:14felt they
01:15had to come out of this draft with two premier pass catchers. Not just, you know, hey, you
01:21drafted somebody in the fifth round or the sixth round that might be able to help you out.
01:24No. I had been very vocal about stating that I felt they needed two Pro Bowl caliber pass
01:32catchers added to this football team in this draft, whether it was two receivers and a
01:37tight end. I mean, two receivers or a receiver and a tight end, whatever the case may be.
01:41And they did that. And they did it early on. Those are very, very premium picks that they
01:46took those receivers with. They got their left tackle of the future. At least they hope it
01:50turns out that way. And then they added a lot of other really good pieces. I mean,
01:54they're so excited about E. E. W. Emanuel. So the deal Warren. Yeah. The play by play guy
02:02from Toledo sold us yesterday. Just call him E-Man. E-Man. It's easier for all of us. E-Man.
02:08Yeah. So we can all just follow that. Let's go E-Man. You got to trust the play by play
02:12guy.
02:12Multi-syllabic hyphenated names. Not good for us or you.
02:17I know. So yeah, that was a cool pick. And I'm curious to see what they're going to do with
02:22him.
02:23And then I was very, very intrigued about the whole Talon Green pick. I just think I had been
02:30saying that they needed another quarterback, that they should do that. You guys know that I
02:34actually said they should draft Ty Simpson. And I have a story up this morning stating that with,
02:40you know, confirming, which I had said on this air a number of times, that they would consider Ty
02:46Simpson at 24 and 39. And they actually did do that. And Andrew confirmed that they considered
02:52Ty Simpson at number 24. So I thought that was really interesting. He confirmed that in the
02:58Jory Epstein's War Room story that she did. She was embedded in the War Room. And he basically
03:03confirmed in that story that they did think about or would have thought about Ty at number 24
03:10had he not gone at 13. So lots of cool things in this draft. And yeah, I think it was
03:17really good.
03:18All right. A couple of questions for you. One, was it Fano all the way? Like if they had stayed
03:23at six, were they taking Fano?
03:25Yes. That's what they would have done there.
03:28Okay. Jeff and I were talking about that yesterday.
03:30Yeah. I was wondering if Carnell Tate had slipped. I wonder what they would have done. But it sounds
03:33like, sounds like Fano, right?
03:36Well, you know, that's a good question. I still think it probably would have been Fano there.
03:43So yeah, they didn't have to make that decision. I mean, they, they may have had a couple of other
03:47guys that were rated around the same area as Fano, but, but I think that that was their primary
03:54target.
03:56The other question I had for you too, was like, okay, so I'm trying to grasp everything
04:01that happened. Like, I feel like this was a good draft. I need to see how it plays out
04:05to everyone wants to give out letter grades. I'm not giving out a letter grade until after
04:09I see these guys actually play. Like I can go back and easily say last year's draft was
04:13an A yet, you know, they didn't have many wins. So my question here is, can we have better
04:18perspective now on what Andrew had to work with in those three drafts prior where he didn't
04:24have first round picks? And in some of them, he didn't have first or second round picks.
04:28Does it give you a little better perspective on, on Andrew Barry and what he's able to do
04:32or is trying to accomplish since he got here?
04:36Well, I think what was cool about this particular draft is that not only did he have first,
04:40a first round pick, but he had two first round picks and then he had a lot of other pieces
04:45to work with. So he was able to move up and down the board strategically. And the way that
04:52he did it, I mean, he ended up with 10 players, two picks in the 2027 draft. And it just,
04:59he
04:59just maximized the selections that he had going in. So yes, when you have first round picks to work
05:06with and you have a lot of picks to work with, you can do some really fun things. And that's
05:12exactly what they did. Is their last group think now, you know, obviously that Paul
05:16DePodesta wasn't there this year. So, and some people will say, well, look what he did
05:20last year. Look what he did this year. And it was probably near the end of DePodesta. So
05:23maybe he didn't have that much influence. Is it, is it more Andrew now, or I wonder how
05:28his philosophy has changed and, or how do you see it? Is the philosophy changed a little
05:33bit knowing that maybe this year, definitely there were less, there should have been less voices
05:38in his head when it came time to make the pick. Well, this year it is, you know, Andrew
05:43is obviously, uh, completely 100% in charge, but he did have some trusted advisors helping
05:52him. Uh, they've got Tom Telesco, the former chargers general manager serving as a senior
05:56consultant to them right now. And he was in that room. And I think that, uh, you know,
06:02I think that gives Andrew a lot of confidence to have him in there. He really believes in Tom
06:07Telesco. So they've got, you know, they've got guys in there, uh, that have some really,
06:12really good football experience in the drafting space. And so I, I think that helps a lot. I
06:18think Andrew figured out over the years that having those kinds of guys around is extremely
06:24beneficial and they maximized it this year for sure.
06:27Mary Kay, I agree with you on the two wide receivers. We've always been on the same, on the
06:32same boat in that situation. My favorite thing that I think Andrew Barry said after
06:37the draft was Fana was our left tackle. He's playing left tackle period. And that locks
06:43up one spot on the offensive line. How does that move everybody else around? Does it, and
06:49the fact that they brought in a center makes me a little curious about Elton Jenkins, you
06:55know, could he move to right guard instead of Tevin Jenkins? What do you, how do you think
06:58that might play out?
07:00Well, they can let it play out because now they have enough pieces to put in the five
07:06best guys that they can find. And, uh, and that's what they'll do. We know two of them,
07:12at least we think we know two of them, Titus Howard at right tackle. And then, and then we
07:17know Spencer Fano at left tackle Parker, he might challenge for the, um, for the starting
07:24center job. And then the guards, I I'm pretty sure Zion Johnson will be left guard. Joel
07:31Batonio doesn't come back. And then, uh, you know, right guard, like you said, it could
07:35be Tevin, it could be Elton. So they, you know, they have some wiggle room to move some guys
07:41around a little bit. Zach Zinter in the equation at the very least, Mary Kay, it seems like
07:47they have 10 guys already who can play offensive line for them this year.
07:52Well, they do. And they, you know, they do consider themselves offensive lines, not just
07:57an area that they're going to continue, uh, to add bodies to and add talent to. And, and
08:03it was, I think they did a remarkable job of completely overhauling that line in one off
08:08season. I mean, that's not easy to do, but you know, they did it with trade.
08:11They, they did it with, uh, free agency. They did it with the draft and voila, it's done.
08:19Uh, what's the expectation now for next year? I, you got to believe that if I'm ownership,
08:25I want more than five wins going into next season. I just don't know. I still think we
08:29all ask ourselves who is the quarterback. So what's the expectation going into next year
08:34after this draft? Uh, yeah, the expectation is to win more than five games. And I actually
08:41think, uh, that if they do get some good quarterback play, and that's so vitally important, of course,
08:46that brings the whole thing together, uh, that they can make some noise in the AFC North, but
08:50you've got to get good quarterback play. And I can't honestly say yet, uh, that I know how
08:54that's going to go or how that's going to turn out. So, um, we'll have to see, you know,
08:59if they have all the weapons that they need. The only thing I think they don't have right
09:04now is certainty at quarterback. And once they get a clearer picture of that, it will be easier
09:10to say, yep, I think this is a, whatever, eight, one team, nine, one team, maybe they can go 10.
09:17I think you're right on the money with the uncertainty of quarterback still is, do you see
09:23any, and I, I'm not sure there is because of what they did in the draft. Anything that you can
09:29see
09:30coming around, you know, the June, the June moves that sometimes happen where Andrew Berry is going
09:36to have his radar up and working to bring something else to this team? Okay. Well, Andrew is still in
09:45the acquisition season and he considers this to be continuing on through probably, you know, until
09:51the trade deadline. I mean, nothing, uh, is off the table until they get through the trade deadline.
09:58So certainly anything can still happen and he's very aggressive and we know he loves to make deals.
10:04So, uh, you know, some of it can be dictated by injuries. If something happens, you never really
10:10know if they have to pivot at some point, they will right now. I don't envision anything huge
10:16coming down the pike, uh, but he will be opportunistic as always. I know a lot of people
10:21just want to talk about offense. Cause that's what they did majority of the draft. How do you think
10:25the defense feels now? You know, you brought in two guys, I expect them to start, but, um, you,
10:31well, I don't know, second round or E-man, I maybe, I, I don't know where he might fall into
10:37things
10:37after camp, but, um, you know, a lot of talk has been about the offense. How do you feel about
10:41the
10:41defense after the draft? Well, I do think that, that E-man will, um, I do think that he will
10:49be part
10:49of the safety rotation and they, they will play a lot of three safety looks. So he's going to be
10:53a
10:53key part of that. So that'll be a really nice addition for them. I still think that they're
10:57probably going to try to look for maybe another third edge rusher. They could use somebody else
11:02over there. Uh, AJ Epeniza didn't work out, uh, who they tried to sign in free agency.
11:09So that's one area that they can probably still add to the pile a little bit, but for the most
11:14part,
11:14I think they feel pretty set on defense. They know that Carson and Mason are going to take a
11:18step up in their second year. Uh, so there, there'll be improvement just by virtue of that.
11:24Um, but overall, I think they feel pretty good about the defense.
11:29All right, Mary Kay, why don't you get a little rest? I mean, you do a lot of work. I
11:34mean,
11:34I felt bad. Great coverage, Mary Kay. Yeah, it was good stuff. Really good stuff.
11:38Oh, thanks a lot. It was a lot of fun and, uh, you know, it just keeps going on from
11:43here.
11:44All right, Mary Kay, we will talk to you, uh, next week. And of course, we're reading you every
11:48week, every day, every moment we get the chance to read you in the plane dealer and cleveland.com.
11:52Thanks Mary Kay. Thank you guys. We'll talk to you soon. Mary Kay Cabot from the plane dealer
11:57and cleveland.com.
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