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00:00Is Andrew Barry just really good at drafting,
00:01or what's the development here within the Browns?
00:06Well, I think that, first of all,
00:08I think that this is the best class that they've had,
00:10which is a good sign of improvement.
00:12And I think that Barry has had some pretty good draft classes.
00:15I don't think that he's produced, like,
00:18if we look a couple of years removed, especially last year's class,
00:21there were some major big-time players that were impactful,
00:25especially if we look at Swessinger having the role that he did
00:28and being a Defensive Rookie of the Year type player.
00:30Like, to have that evidence of what they were able to accomplish last year
00:35and then to add in these pieces on the opposite side of the ball,
00:38that's why I think Browns fans should be excited.
00:40The one thing that they, which not rushing the process
00:44with two bad quarterback classes,
00:45is they haven't been able to find the quarterback yet.
00:47It just goes to show how important it is to do the quarterback,
00:52do it right, to be diligent, to be very direct,
00:55to pick that guy early, to pick the right player
00:58that's going to lead your team into the future, into future success.
01:02I think that this is a really good foundation after two straight drafts.
01:05It just all comes down to what does 2027 look like
01:08when they finally do get to pick that QB.
01:10What was your favorite pick?
01:14For me, the favorite pick was getting Emmanuel McNeil-Warren in the second round.
01:19And I think the rest of the early picks that they had,
01:22I really liked and was excited about
01:24because they all play off of one another.
01:26And offense was such a priority.
01:28Offensive line was such a priority.
01:29We almost, I feel like all the talking that we did
01:32leading up to the draft,
01:34there was never any belief that they should even consider
01:37taking really any defensive players within the first two rounds.
01:41But McNeil-Warren on the board where he was,
01:44you couldn't pass up on that value.
01:45I think that this is such a huge next piece to add to a group
01:49in a spot where you can get unique and creative.
01:52You have a already really good front seven.
01:56And I personally see Emmanuel McNeil-Warren as a front seven piece
02:00because he's going to be a sub-backer.
02:02He's going to be like Nicky Manwari and to play in the slot
02:04and to be able to be impactful against the run.
02:07And he has the athleticism and the range to play over the top.
02:09I think knowing how good your defense was last year
02:12to the point where it was winning you football games,
02:14even when your offense was lagging behind,
02:17to have one more big-time athlete on the back end,
02:19that's really exciting and it's really, really promising.
02:23Joe, obviously we came into this offseason saying,
02:26can you fix the offense now that we have free agency trade,
02:30the draft kind of all the way through here,
02:32do you think the Browns have enough on offense to be at least functional,
02:36to be at least maybe even league average this year?
02:39I absolutely think that's the case.
02:41And I look at the steps that they took last year first
02:44with getting guys that pinch on Judkins
02:47and getting guys like Harold Fannin.
02:51You've got some playmakers, you've got some weapons,
02:53but you didn't have the receivers that you needed
02:56in order to be able to be dynamic and be explosive at receiver.
03:00Remember, this was a huge home run to come away with two guys
03:05whose skill sets play off of one another really well.
03:08I liked the KC Concepcion pick,
03:10but personally I was thinking to myself,
03:12is he going to work if he's really the best receiver in the offense
03:15and there's really not much else there?
03:17As solid as Jerry Judy has been,
03:20I felt like he needed a running mate.
03:22And the same thing applied for Denzel Boston.
03:24I felt like Denzel Boston needed to go to a situation
03:26where he had a running mate,
03:27where he had somebody who was a speedster who was all juiced
03:30who was able to win over the top.
03:32So now you've got those two different body types.
03:34Now you have Boston who's going to be able to win along the bound.
03:37You have KC Concepcion who's going to be able to take the top off of a defense
03:41and also be able to produce big plays after the catch.
03:44The last part with this is you showed a big step with your offensive line
03:49with Benning Fano.
03:51I'd be curious to see where he actually ends up slotting
03:53if he does end up playing tackle
03:54or eventually if he does end up moving inside to guard.
03:57They say tackle right now.
03:58They want him to be the left tackle, Joe.
04:01Yeah, that was what I saw,
04:02but I still don't know if for me on film
04:05if that's going to come to fruition
04:06and if that's actually going to work.
04:09I don't know if it's like a Will Campbell situation
04:11because he's also not particularly long.
04:13He's never played left tackle.
04:15He hasn't played left tackle recently.
04:17He was a right tackle for Utah, obviously.
04:19But Barber and Brailsford, I think,
04:21are really underrated depth pieces to add to the mix
04:23who both guys have traits of potentially starting
04:26if they needed to down the line.
04:28All right, so you mentioned Barber
04:31and it knocked kind of loose a thought there.
04:34Liked him.
04:35Would have preferred my guy Jennings Dunker
04:37who went I think six or eight picks later.
04:39Is there one pick that somebody went afterwards
04:43that you thought could have made this Browns draft
04:45just a skosh better?
04:49Not off the top of my head that there was anyone
04:51that I was disappointed that the Browns missed out on
04:56because overall a lot of the guys that they went after
04:58fit exactly what they were looking for.
05:02I personally, I know that you like Jennings Dunker
05:04and you guys were big fans of his
05:06because of the mentality
05:09and the energy that he could have brought to the roster.
05:13But at the end of the day,
05:14I just think that Barber,
05:16you're looking for, Dunker's a guard.
05:18You're looking for a guy
05:20who could potentially maybe play both.
05:21I don't see Dunker being able to play tackle in the NFL
05:24or do it at a high level.
05:25Barber has some really underrated film.
05:27I think that having watched him
05:29and evaluated him the past couple of years,
05:31he moves pretty well for his size.
05:32He's got some pretty good length.
05:34He's got some pretty good physicality.
05:36I don't think that he'll ever really truly become
05:38a starter in the NFL,
05:39but if he needed to start a stretch of games for you
05:42some point in the next few years,
05:44it's not something I'd be overly concerned about.
05:47I want to go back to what you were talking about
05:48with Spencer Fano, though,
05:49because again, this is not,
05:51I know we don't treat these guys' words as gospel,
05:54but Andrew Barry could not have been more clear
05:56about his plans to play him at left tackle on draft night.
05:59He was, I just, there was no other way around it.
06:00He wasn't really having much of any other discussion
06:03attached to it.
06:03You don't think that's going to work, though,
06:05is what it sounded like to me.
06:08It's not that I don't think it's going to work,
06:11because he's a very, he's very athletic.
06:14He moves really well.
06:15He's got super light feet.
06:16Those things tend to translate
06:18and tend to work at left tackle,
06:20but the thing that puts me off,
06:22and my reference to Will Campbell here,
06:25he's not as short-armed as Will Campbell,
06:27but he's a little bit under-requisite
06:29that you look for tackle length.
06:31If he had been a left tackle in college,
06:32I think this conversation is a completely different discussion.
06:34Will Campbell at least was a left tackle in college.
06:37We at least had context in film
06:39of how he was able to make up for the fact
06:41that he didn't have length.
06:42He was able to win with nuance with his hand usage.
06:45He was able to win with the way that he's set in college.
06:48Obviously, that's had to change in the NFL,
06:50but Bono, he's played right tackle,
06:52and the reason why he worked really well
06:53He played left tackle his first year, though, Joe.
06:57Yes, but he very recently has only played right tackle.
07:00So, like, if he had played left tackle last season
07:03is my whole argument here.
07:04He played left tackle when he was a freshman,
07:06and that's not enough recently enough to me
07:08to buy into that he has what it takes.
07:11If he was so good at left tackle
07:12and Utah felt so secure about him at left tackle,
07:15they would have kept him there,
07:16and Loma would have been playing right tackle.
07:18That, to me, is already a little bit of a confusing evidence
07:21for if this is actually going to work or not.
07:23I think he'll be fine because he moves well enough,
07:25but I would have much preferred him to have been drafted
07:28to play right tackle or to play guard.
07:30All right, Joe.
07:31I'm fascinated by the Brennan Soresby situation.
07:35I feel like I'm at the point where I'd be surprised
07:38if he ever played college football again,
07:41given how the NCAA has just hammered anyone
07:44that has done anything similar to what he's done.
07:47If he looks at this and sees an eligibility ban coming
07:51and he decided to enter the NFL supplemental draft this summer,
07:56where do you think ultimately he would go knowing,
07:59let's just say, the weaker draft class we're coming out of?
08:04Well, first of all, I really don't see a world
08:08where he's going to get eligibility.
08:09I think that it was smart by his representation
08:14to have checked him into a rehab facility
08:17because they're going to try and go the route of,
08:20they've already done it, of trying to make the case
08:22that this was not a kid who was deliberately violating the rules
08:26and was ignoring them.
08:27He had a mental health problem that led him to make these mistakes
08:31that he was making in clear, blatant violation of NCAA rules
08:36and could not be as direct of violating them the way that he did.
08:40And it's easy to get caught these days with legalized sports betting,
08:44especially knowing that Hunter Deckers, too,
08:47the Iowa State quarterback who lost his eligibility,
08:50had to go the JUCO route or the NAIA route,
08:54so he wasn't able to get back NCAA eligibility.
08:56I don't think he's going to be able to play.
08:58I really just don't see a way that it's going to work.
09:00NCAA's been trying to make statements with situations like this
09:05and to reflex its power since it's lost it over the past couple of years
09:09by getting completely smoked in court cases.
09:11And the last bit with this is the whole mental health route.
09:14Chandler Morris tried to go the mental health route
09:16and say that that was why he deserved extra eligibility,
09:18and the NCAA didn't care in that situation.
09:20Neither did the courts care,
09:21and Chandler Morris had to move on from playing college football.
09:25With that being said, though,
09:26I'm curious to see how the NCAA,
09:29sorry, the NFL is going to look at this.
09:32I think that because there's a lot of desperation for a couple of teams
09:36that need quarterbacks and want a young quarterback to build around,
09:39there were teams that told Soresby if he declared he would go in the first route.
09:43There were teams that wanted him to go and declare
09:45and to be a part of this class because this class was so bad.
09:48I think he would have been that third quarterback
09:50that could have been picked in the first.
09:52I would imagine that maybe a team like the Jets or the Steelers
09:55would take a flyer on him,
09:57but we don't know how they're going to maybe take that as seriously of
10:02are they worried that he's going to get in trouble
10:03or do something stupid in the future?
10:05The NFL is going to take that very seriously,
10:07and who knows if we get a Jim Trestle type of a situation
10:10where they suspend him, the NFL suspends him after the fact
10:14because he did something as serious as get in trouble for sports gambling.
10:17All right, so what round do you think it would be then?
10:19Because remember, whatever round you declare,
10:22you then have to give up in the following draft.
10:24So if you get it wrong, that can be a pretty big miss.
10:28Ah, man, that's a tough question
10:30because I would imagine not a round one pick.
10:34In terms of we're just talking straight tools,
10:36if this was not sports gambling related,
10:38and then there would be a potential fear of him.
10:43You know, he's claiming he has an addiction.
10:44An NFL team is going to closely evaluate this and think,
10:47do we trust him that he's not going to do this again in the future?
10:52Because if he does it in the NFL, he's cooked.
10:54I don't think a first round pick,
10:55I think a lot of these teams would be very careful not to waste a first round pick
10:58because they're going to want to use that first round pick next year
11:00to draft the quarterback.
11:02But I would guess like a third would probably be the starting point.
11:07I think Jermon McCoy is a good recent example of how late he went.
11:11A fourth round pick has little risk attached to it.
11:14Maybe someone would try to jump that, try to take him in the third.
11:17That would probably be by off the top of the head guess.
11:20All right, Joe, what other drafts did you really like that you saw around the NFL?
11:26The one that I was really impressed by, I really liked the Carolina Panthers,
11:29what they did.
11:30I think more people need to be talking about what the Panthers did,
11:33and they accomplished this entire offseason.
11:35They just decided to go all in on size,
11:37and they decided to go all in on the trenches.
11:40Taking Monroe Freeling with the Ickam Aquano situation
11:42and his health being a little bit unclear is a really smart move
11:46because once Aquano comes back, you can end up reshuffling the seats
11:50on that offensive line and figure out who fits best where.
11:54But Monroe Freeling's a pure tackle,
11:55and I think he's going to work really well there.
11:57I love Lee Hunter and them adding another big body in the inside
12:01next to Derek Brown.
12:02I think he's going to be a phenomenal player.
12:04And I also really thought that they got a huge steal with Sam Hesht,
12:08who they took on day three, who could be their starting center.
12:11He was my number one graded center in this class,
12:13and that one to me was a massive, massive steal.
12:15The one big team for me that –
12:17and the Browns admittedly were one of my few A teams
12:19that I really liked their class.
12:21But one of the other ones was the Carolina Panthers.
12:23What do you do with Taylin Green?
12:25I think there's a lot of talent there,
12:28but a lot of people just want to turn him into a wide receiver.
12:30What would you do?
12:33I'm going to play quarterback first.
12:35I like to film.
12:36He was QB3 for me.
12:37I saw a guy that physically was raw in his decision-making,
12:42but he wasn't raw as, like, a passer.
12:45He's got the arm.
12:46He has the – when he's, like, really in rhythm
12:50and he's really feeling the game,
12:52he can make some crazy plays on the run.
12:54His accuracy when he's on the run is really, really special
12:58and unexpectedly special.
12:59He can throw and rip the ball at pretty high velocity
13:02when he's off base.
13:03So I want to see if there's something there.
13:05I am very also intrigued by the fact that Munkin takes him
13:11after all the success that he got out of Lamar Jackson.
13:14I'm not saying that he turns Taylin Green into Lamar Jackson,
13:16but at the very least, could he become your very athletic,
13:20very talented backup quarterback once you draft your quarterback in 2027?
13:24I would do everything possible to develop him,
13:27and I would chip off one of the youngsters
13:29or do whatever you have to do to get rid of Deshaun Watson.
13:33I would chip somebody off during the preseason,
13:36and I would try to keep Taylin Green.
13:38All right, Joe, one before you go.
13:40Travis Pizano went number one in the baseball draft
13:43two years ago to the Guardians.
13:45He's making his debut today.
13:46He is Australian.
13:49So we'd like you to share, what is your favorite Australian thing?
13:56Oh, my God.
13:57I don't – I don't – I mean, this is going to be a really lame answer.
14:01I don't know anything about Australia.
14:03I have kangaroos.
14:04Is that the best that I could get you guys?
14:06I don't know anything about Australia.
14:07Crocodile Dundee.
14:08Crocodile Dundee, Margot Robbie, beaches, shark attacks.
14:13My take is Foster's for beer and how they don't really actually drink it there.
14:18Okay.
14:18That's not a bad one.
14:19I'll get a little more specific with kangaroos.
14:21I think Kangaroo Jack's an underrated movie.
14:22I don't know if that counts, but I'm just going to go with that.
14:25All right.
14:25Awesome restraint on not going Margot Robbie, by the way,
14:28because a lot of us were thinking it.
14:29Joe, great stuff, buddy.
14:30We appreciate you.
14:31We'll pick up with you sometime in June.
14:35Awesome.
14:35Thanks, guys.
14:36Good man.
14:36Joe Daly on there, A to Z sports, NFL draft analyst.
14:39Let's just...
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