00:00to talk a little bit more about what exactly is going on in Berea. It's our good friend
00:03Mary Kay Cabot from cleveland.com. She is on the Wise Hard Right. We make it right. Call Kyle
00:08Right. Hotline. Hi, Mary Kay. How are you? I'm doing great, guys. How are you doing?
00:13We are doing good. We are doing good. Phase three. Is that what we're calling this?
00:20Yep. Phase three. Phase three. Three weeks of organized team activities and then
00:29and then after that is the mandatory minicamp. But this concludes the the rest of the offseason
00:36program this three weeks. Is everybody here? Do they have to be here? No, no. It's voluntary.
00:42This is still voluntary. You don't have to be here until the mandatory minicamp, which starts
00:47June 9th and June 11th. So, yes, this is still absolutely voluntary. And as I wrote in my story
00:52yesterday, I'm not really expecting Myles Garrett to be here for this. He really didn't come to this
00:57last year. There probably will be a few other guys that don't come to voluntary OTAs. So, you know,
01:05it shouldn't be a shock. And the Browns aren't going to say anything negative about any of those
01:10guys because they all know that this is voluntary. Mary Kay, what kind of a vibe do you get from
01:15what's going on there now compared to the last several years, obviously, with a coaching change?
01:22Well, I think that in terms of the OTAs, I think we're going to see a lot more 11 on
01:2811.
01:29Kevin Stefanski ran OTAs largely like a passing camp. So, actually, it wasn't all that imperative
01:36for some of the bigs to be there, for some of the linemen to be there. I mean, certainly good
01:40for
01:41those guys to get their camaraderie down and all those kinds of things. But he ran it more of a
01:47passing camp. And I think this is going to be more of full squad work. And that's what they
01:51really need. They really need those 11 guys working together and repping it over and over again,
01:58because not only do they have a completely new offense, new terminology, and an overhauled
02:03offensive line, but they also have a new defensive coordinator. So, it's important to be here. It's
02:08important to get all of those 11 on 11s going. And I think you'll see plenty of that.
02:12All right. Let's get into what you were talking about today in your story,
02:15the quarterback situation. The headline makes me want to read it no matter what.
02:19Even, you know, you just look at it. It's Deshaun Watson versus Shador Sanders. It's going
02:23to heat up. And other things to watch at OTAs as they begin today with Mary Kay Cabot. And
02:29make sure you're reading that on cleveland.com. What are you specifically looking for in this
02:34quarterback competition that you can see? I think it's still hard with no pads on. But
02:37tell me, what can you see that will help you define who you think the starting quarterback
02:42is? Well, the first thing that we will all be looking for when we're out there tomorrow,
02:48because we are only allowed to watch one practice out of these next three weeks, each
02:53one each week. So, every Wednesday, we'll be out there during these OTAs. And what I think
03:00all of us will be looking for is who's going first in the 11 on 11s? And are they dividing
03:07it up? Or is one of them taking the most of those 11 on 11 reps? And, you know, I
03:15think
03:15that's it. So, in addition to what they look like when they're out there throwing, you'll
03:21be able to pick up keys and clues based on who is doing what, when, and with who. Now,
03:27just because we see, let's say Deshaun's taking a bunch of first team reps tomorrow, or goes
03:32first in most of those 11 on 11. It doesn't mean that that's what happened today when we're
03:38not out there. It doesn't mean that that's what's going to happen on Thursday when we're
03:42not out there. Todd Munkin has stated unequivocally that he will switch it up as he sees fit and
03:49that the reps are not going to be even. He's been very adamant about that. They're not going
03:54to be even. And I believe what he means by that is, if I see a guy with a hot
03:58hand that
03:59deserves the first team reps, he's going to get those first team reps. So, I think we'll
04:04be able to pick up some clues, but we will not be able to definitively state how we think
04:11things are going based on what we see. Now, we may have people tell us things, we may hear
04:17other things, but the reps that we see them take aren't necessarily going to inform who
04:23the starting quarterback is going to be.
04:25Mary Kay, what you just laid out, and using what Todd said as your reference there, does
04:31nothing but scream competition. And I like that. It clearly seems like he is going to have these
04:37guys going against each other and making sure they know they're competing for opportunities.
04:45Well, I mean, theoretically, that is what we always thought was going to happen and what
04:50we think might happen. But I don't honestly know if that is what is going to happen in
04:56these OTAs. I don't know that yet. I mean, you guys know that I have stated that I thought
05:01it would be best for Todd Munkin to kind of identify ahead of time who he believes is in
05:08the lead and give that guy most of the reps. Because Joe Burrow is not down there in Cincinnati
05:12splitting up first team reps in OTAs. And Lamar Jackson is not over there in Baltimore splitting
05:18up first team reps in OTAs. Aaron Rodgers, well, he might because he's older and doesn't
05:23need as much practice. But when you look around the league, Pat Mahomes is probably working
05:27with his first team offense and getting his timing down and honing his offense. And that
05:33is what the Browns need to be doing, in my opinion. So I have no idea yet if they're going
05:38to do that or not, or if they are going to use these 10 practices to really, truly sort
05:45this out and try to make it more of an even competition. We'll know more about that probably
05:51tomorrow, but we may not know as much about that as we would like to.
05:56Where is Dylan Gabriel in this whole scenario? It's still kind of a mystery to me. A mystery
06:04to me from day one. Why do they draft two of these guys? And where are we with Gabriel
06:09now? And how much of last year was Stefanski? How much of it was him? What should fans think
06:17at all about Dylan Gabriel other than, man, I hope they trade him so if he really wants
06:20to play, it's not going to be here?
06:22Well, first of all, when I look at Dylan Gabriel, I see a quarterback who was thrust into a very,
06:28very difficult situation last year. It was tough. And the reason he was able to handle it at all
06:35is because he had played so much football in his career and because he was very prepared and he was
06:43ready to handle getting thrown into that situation whereby he had to start his first game across the
06:49pond in London. And then his second game, he had to go into Pittsburgh and they almost won the London
06:55game, but the defense let them down in that game. So I think that Dylan Gabriel had it rough just
07:01the
07:01way every other quarterback did last year. Joe Flacco did not fare well here. And then he went down to
07:08Cincinnati and started throwing the ball around and throwing touchdown passes and throwing for 300 yards
07:13again. So this was not a good offense to be in last year, especially for a young quarterback. So Dylan
07:20suffered from that, as did Shador at times, as did Joe Flacco. So that's what I think about Dylan. I
07:28think he got
07:28kind of dealt a pretty tough hand and I think he's a better quarterback than he gets credit for. And
07:34I don't
07:35know if he's going to end up on this team or not, but I think he's going to stick around
07:39in the league and I think
07:40he's going to get better and we'll see how it plays out.
07:43Mary Kay Cabot joining us from The Plain Dealer at Cleveland.com and of course her podcast, The Orange and
07:48Brown Talk.
07:49Make sure you listen to Mary Kay on that. You mentioned the defensive coordinator change.
07:54This team seemed to go absolute crazy trying to keep Jim Schwartz, yet didn't make him the head
08:00coach. Mike Rutenberg comes in and a lot of the talk at the time Mary Kay was, oh he plays
08:06a very
08:06similar system, so that's good. How similar of a system do you think it's going to be? And how does
08:12this defense need to grow regardless of who the defensive coordinator is?
08:18Well, I do think that it will be very similar because they're going to see to it that it is
08:23similar. They're not going to bring in Mike Rutenberg and change everything up overnight.
08:28They have maintained the rest of the assistants and they've kept most of their personnel. So he's
08:35coming in and he actually is going to have to adapt himself to the scheme that's in place,
08:42the terminology that's in place, and the personnel that's in place. He will, as time goes on, be able
08:47to put his own stamp and his own mark on it. But for all intents and purposes, he's carrying forward
08:53what Jim Schwartz has done over the past three seasons here. There will be nuances. There will be
09:00some things in the back end that will be different because he is a secondary specialist by trade.
09:06But for the most part, this is still going to be Jim Schwartz's offense. I mean defense.
09:12Mary Kay, let me go back to offense here for a second. We can talk about Denzel Boston and
09:15Casey Concepcion. Will this give you the opportunity to kind of see as they blend in with veterans
09:21to catch passes? Will it give you a better feel for how things might play out for both of those
09:26guys
09:27and for the way the Browns are looking at them? I mean, Cedric Stelman is still in the mix and
09:32who knows, you know, Isaiah Bond's there too. I'm wondering how the wide receiver room is going
09:36to shake out when it's all said and done. And Jerry Judy, obviously.
09:40Well, yeah, that's one of the biggest things to watch on this football team during OTAs. And you can
09:45really kind of get a handle on how it's going to shake out and how guys are faring in the
09:50passing
09:51game. It's easy to see that. It's easier to see that than how the left tackle is doing or how
09:56the center
09:56is doing. But by the same token, you're not really going to get an accurate picture of how these guys
10:04are going to do until they do have to take some contact, until they do have to make that contested
10:09catch, until they do have to make the sight adjustment against the blitz and things like
10:13that. So we'll be able to glean a lot. And the first thing that they have to do, of course,
10:18is catch
10:19the ball. They just, that's got to be it. You know, this is the easy part for them where they're
10:25not
10:25getting the contact and whatnot yet. So, you know, they've got to make sure that they're as
10:30sure-handed as possible. And they look really good in minicamp, both of them, rookie minicamp.
10:35So that's going to be important. And then it's just going to be a matter of how the pieces and
10:42parts are going to fit together in terms of, you know, three wides, two tight ends, four wides,
10:48and how they're going to play all that out.
10:50Mary Kay, what did you think of Aaron Rodgers finally deciding, yeah, I'll go back for another
10:54year and the Pittsburgh Steelers saying, great, good to have you.
10:57Yeah, well, I mean, it reunites him with Mike McCarthy. So that makes a whole lot of sense
11:02for them. And, you know, he'll be another year out from his Achilles surgery. And I think that,
11:09you know, that will be good for him. It probably takes a lot longer to feel like yourself coming
11:14off of such a big surgery. So, you know, maybe he'll be better for them for that. And it seems
11:23to me
11:23that's what they were counting on happening. So I think that, you know, you've got some
11:28really interesting quarterback matchups in the AFC North now. If Deshaun Watson starts and Aaron
11:34Rodgers, Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, I mean, those are, those are some pretty good quarterbacks.
11:40Yeah. America, I don't, did we get, we did not get a chance to talk about the schedule last
11:43week, did we? We did not. I don't think we did. I don't just, can you give me your thoughts
11:46on that and the way it shook out? It's a, it's an interesting schedule with the two games
11:50in Florida to start things off. And then, you know, with the bye week, you're home for
11:54five weeks. And, you know, I think if they can survive the beginning of the season, it's
12:00the season, definitely that the schedule should not be a hindrance for a team that doesn't
12:04have to travel very far and barely has to go outside of the Eastern time zone.
12:10Well, all of those things are true, but they do have six of their first nine on the road.
12:16And that's the part that stands out to me because when you have a fledgling offense that they're,
12:21they're learning a new terminology, a new scheme, and they're learning each other. And you've got
12:25five new guys probably on the offensive line, including two rookies. And then you have to go
12:31on the road and you've got to get the, uh, the silent counts down and you've got to play in
12:35hostile
12:35environments six times out of your first nine games. I think that's going to be pivotal and crucial
12:41for this football team. And I think that will make or break them in terms of whether or not
12:45they're going to be in the conversation for a wildcard spot as they move into December.
12:50So they have got to come out of that first nine games, in my opinion, with about four victories,
12:55or it's going to be really tough to move forward and try to remain relevant.
13:00All right, real quick. Did you see the, the, the team, 3% of the team, uh, sold to Arctos,
13:06a private equity firm, just any thoughts on that? And what does that mean?
13:11Well, I think this is a function of the, you know, the Haslam's are, are raising plenty of
13:16money to, um, you know, to put up for the stadium more so than they originally planned to do. And
13:22this is just a way to kind of offset that a little bit. I just think it's weird that they
13:27own
13:288% of the chargers and 10% of the bills too. Like, I don't know how long does the
13:33league really want
13:34that? I guess they do if they're taking the cash. Well, they're, they're voting on it today. Um,
13:40it's in Orlando and it seems like they're on board with it. And I, I've heard, you know, more and
13:45more
13:45about the private equity piece when they opened that, that door to that. And this is just business.
13:50I mean, this is, you know, this is what billionaires do. They use, you know, they use other people's
13:54money to help them make more prosper and get what they want.
13:59Outstanding. Count me in Mary Kay. Let's go. So use money to make money and not have to do any
14:04work. I, what a great plan that is. I like it. Sounds good. All three of us will start our
14:10own
14:10private equity firm. I don't know. We've probably scraped together about 10 bucks. We'll be in great
14:14shape. Mary Kay. Thank you very much. Appreciate your time. And of course, we're reading you every
14:18day in the plain dealer in cleveland.com. Thank you guys. Take care. Bye.
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