00:00We head out to the Weishart Wright. We make it right. Call Kyle Wright hotline.
00:05Cynthia Freeland of NFL Network joins us now. Cynthia, as always, great to talk to you.
00:11Thank you so much for having me. I was going to make some joke like, what?
00:15Miles Garrett's not a brown, but it's not quite Father's Day yet, so I can't make dad jokes for my
00:20dad.
00:21Well, here's the thing, Cynthia. Fortunately, you're dealing with two dads and one who happens to specialize in dad jokes,
00:28but that'll be for the next time. Yes. Perfect. They're my favorite.
00:31The first game I had a chance to take my dad to in a stadium, we were going up to
00:37a suite.
00:37We were very fortunate, and there's people during football games who work in the elevators.
00:42My dad, I'm with my boss and with all these other people.
00:44My dad turns to the elevator operator and he's like, this job must have its ups and downs.
00:49It was epic. It was epic.
00:51So at my nephew's most recent party, I was telling my niece, who's four years old, a bunch of dad
00:59jokes.
01:00And if she laughed, she'd be like, you're the funniest person on the planet.
01:04But if she didn't get the joke or didn't like the joke, she would be like, you're not funny.
01:09And it had its ups and downs, much like that elevator.
01:14Exactly. Exactly. You're like, geez, tough crowd here. Got it. Okay.
01:18Now, being a Browns fan, mostly has its downs here.
01:22But I do want to know, for the Miles Garrett trade, we were trying to quantify,
01:26like, what kind of trade-off were we really looking like here from going from Miles Garrett to Jared Verse?
01:33Look, Miles Garrett is, I mean, he's Defensive Player of the Year.
01:38He's a very special person. He's not someone that you can easily replace.
01:42He's also a guy who's not quite as young as Jared Verse.
01:48And, you know, a first-round draft pick going forward could be worth quite a bit,
01:52especially in a draft that, you know, you never know until the actual draft starts
01:57or we get a little closer here.
01:58But it forecasts to be a very strong draft class.
02:02So if you're talking about how to build for the future and you're talking about,
02:05okay, they didn't give up – they gave up a lot. Let's not be, you know, unclear.
02:10But the sum of both of the things, the draft pick and Jared Verse,
02:15will be more than each individual part. It's just – it's going to take a minute.
02:20Yeah, and I think we're prepared for that.
02:22What's interesting, though, is that I'm trying to figure out how long that's going to be.
02:26And then, like, projecting out how long it's going to take, there's a lot that comes into play.
02:30But for this upcoming season, Cynthia, what should we be looking at?
02:34If Vegas had us had six-and-a-half wins previously, are we still somewhere in that ballpark?
02:38Is it – or is it still just too hard to tell because we don't know who the quarterback is?
02:41Well, the quarterback's really going to dictate a lot here.
02:45I think that's the – to me, that's the ultimate question mark.
02:49I do – I know this is going to sound strange because you have the defensive player of the year,
02:52but I think nationally the Browns' defense and other positions
02:57wasn't as highly regarded as they actually were.
03:01So I think they were maybe a little underrated.
03:03So in general, this is a very, very good defense that, yes, you lost an elite player,
03:11but you also got an elite player.
03:12Maybe not quite as elite, but okay, you're talking about marginal differences here.
03:16So to me, whatever the Browns' win totals end up being come September,
03:22it's going to really be who's under center.
03:24I don't think this really shifts it too much from the defensive side of things
03:29into the full win total number.
03:31Cynthia, kind of following up on what you're saying here,
03:34what do you see as the difference between Deshaun this year and Shador from a win-loss perspective?
03:42I mean, here's the real question.
03:45We haven't seen Deshaun move in a while.
03:50You know, I'm not suggesting that he isn't healthy.
03:53I don't know, but I'm not sure, right?
03:56And he hasn't been hit in a while, that's for sure.
03:58So what do we ask?
04:00I don't know.
04:01I mean, training camp is going to be extremely revealing because we do know that Shador is a heck of
04:05an athlete.
04:06We do know that Shador, he has the ability to be very elusive.
04:11I would say, like, one of his number one traits is, like, making things happen when other things break down,
04:18for better or for worse.
04:19I think that's kind of what he's not going to – it's not for lack of not being an athlete.
04:24How about we put it that way, right?
04:26So I'm not sure what I'm looking at here.
04:28You know, training camp is going to be massive for the Browns in so many ways.
04:32In fact, I think the Browns training camp is going to be extremely massive for the entire AFC North because
04:38I think it dictates a lot of what could potentially happen in the division.
04:42Cynthia, last year the wide receivers were just – it was pretty bad, all things considered.
04:46Jerry Judy had a bad year, a lot of drops, but there wasn't much else beyond that.
04:50Harold Fannin is a tight end, obviously had a nice season.
04:53But if we're looking at this room, you add Concepcion, you add Denzel Boston, how much better can we expect
04:58this wide receiver room to be?
05:00I loved those two picks.
05:02I thought they were brilliant.
05:03I think in other draft classes, this was like a sneaky, strong wide receiver draft with a little bit of
05:10like flavor wide receivers, if you will, right?
05:12Like they didn't all have – like they weren't all like a true X.
05:16So you have a lot of guys between – Concepcion especially, like really interesting, different – I don't know.
05:23I think that some – again, some of the parts is greater than each individual one individual.
05:28Like I think they were amazing draft picks.
05:30I don't think you could have gotten both of those receivers if it were a different draft year with, you
05:36know, whatever constraints people believed that we had.
05:38So it's interesting, Cynthia.
05:41Since the Miles Garrett trade, people have really just hit the thrusters on how bad the Browns are going to
05:47be this year.
05:48I don't expect them to win a Super Bowl.
05:51I don't expect them to be a 10-win team.
05:53I know I'm going on a limb there.
05:54That's very brave of you.
05:57Please respect my privacy.
05:58Somebody needs to give you like security home.
06:00Do we need to like –
06:01That's true.
06:02That's true.
06:03Saying this in Cleveland of all places, how dare I.
06:05But I do think they can be – I think Vegas, the last time I checked, had them at five
06:10and a half wins.
06:11And I look at that defense.
06:12There's talent.
06:13And I do think they finally have the pieces around the quarterback to at least be somewhere in that seven
06:19to eight win range.
06:21What is – what's the path forward for the Browns to surprise people this year, even if the surprise is
06:28only seven or eight wins?
06:30It's truly as simple as who's under center, in my opinion.
06:33Because I think that if you look at all the other things that were done this offseason, it was a
06:38very smart offseason.
06:40They were very good draft picks, solid free agency, all the things that you need to kind of get better.
06:46But the most important position in all of football is that for a reason, right?
06:52Like there's a reason why, you know, like the Lions have a lot of nice pieces.
06:58We're just trying to think about up the road, right?
06:59You know, and once they got Jared Goff, who is a good enough quarterback – I'm not going to crown
07:04him as anything like super elite, but he's a good enough quarterback.
07:08And in being that, then it changed the whole complexion of the team.
07:12That's all you need.
07:13You don't need Deshaun Watson fourth quarters when he was on the Texans with DeAndre Hopkins.
07:18You just need someone who is able to execute an offense, keep the ball – I mean, I will say
07:24Jared Goff with that O-line was deadly accurate.
07:26But he's not like this dynamic, like rushing threat on every single play, you know?
07:31So ultimately, that's the question mark.
07:35It's – are you going to be good enough to execute an offense that will let that defense eat?
07:42Cynthia, this is going to be year seven for Andrew Barry, and he's got two playoff games, one playoff win
07:47to show for it.
07:49It just – it feels like it's just too few for anybody to still be employed for seven years.
07:53But not only that, he's going to get this little runway here.
07:56And you mentioned some of the positive things that he's done, and I agree with you.
07:59I think there's been a lot of positives for Andrew Barry.
08:01But how does he stay employed for what could possibly be, I don't know, 10 years before Browns fans get
08:07any sort of payoff, if it ever even comes?
08:11Well, I guess the question is, how much was Andrew Barry the deciding factor for Deshaun Watson, right?
08:19Because that's, to me, like that is where a lot of money has been tied up.
08:23That is where a lot of, you know, potential value has been tied up.
08:28And I say potential value because we haven't seen on the field.
08:31So, and I don't think I'm going on a limb saying that either.
08:35But I think the question is, is how much do the ownership and the people who are making that decision,
08:41and also the fans, believe that that decision was his or was a part of a past regime or was
08:48a part of – whoever believes in –
08:51Like, I guess the question is, is who's judging, so what do the Haslam's think, that he's done versus what
08:58other people have done, and will that be enough?
09:01I think that he has done a great job.
09:03I don't know who is responsible for what – you know, he doesn't work for me.
09:08I'm not making his job description.
09:10But to my knowledge and what I believe, I think he has done everything he could given the ability, the
09:18rope that he's been given.
09:20Cynthia, it's interesting.
09:21You look at the Rams team, with or without an unretiring Aaron Donald.
09:26It looks good.
09:27I'm just going to say that.
09:28More analysis over here.
09:30Aaron Donald unretiring is ludicrous to me.
09:34Ooh.
09:35Why so?
09:36Well, I mean, it's like, okay, well, okay, you go get me Miles Garrett and Trent McDuffie and Matthew Stafford.
09:44Okay, I'll come back.
09:45Like, I would love to – it's good to be Aaron Donald, you know?
09:47These options are great options to have because I would love to be in that situation.
09:52Like, oh, come back and really contend for a Super Bowl in Los Angeles again, and then I can retire
09:58after this.
09:59You know, maybe I'll be – maybe I could do that.
10:02I would also like that just while we're clear.
10:05But, again, everyone looks at that roster and says it's chock full of talent,
10:09and yet they have a butt-ton of travel this year, and they do have a tough schedule from the
10:15just overall who you play.
10:17How do you weigh those two things, the immense amount of talent in a very tough road,
10:22one of the two toughest roads in the NFL this year, both literally on the road and who you play?
10:27Yeah.
10:28Yeah, your schedule makes so much of a difference.
10:32I mean, I don't think anyone thinks that the Patriots team that went to the Super Bowl this year
10:35was the most talented team, the second most talented team in the NFL, and yet they were there, right?
10:40So your schedule matters a ton.
10:43If you're going to have the schedule that the Rams have, you better go get lots and lots of reinforcement
10:49because that thing's not easy.
10:51Ask the Chiefs last year.
10:52That's kind of the same thing that happened, in part, what happened to them.
10:56But I'm looking at their roster, and I'm saying, you know, the question is, like everything else,
11:03number one, look at your division.
11:05Does Kyle Shanahan have a magic elixir that he takes and gets into, like, the mind of Sean McVay
11:12and beats him for absolutely no reason with one hand tied behind his back
11:17and, like, Christian McCaffrey in a pound of dust?
11:21Like, that's it.
11:21Like, so the question is, first, worry about the division.
11:25Like, that's really all they can be thinking about.
11:27Now, I know I'm saying Super Bowl aspirations, everyone's talking about it.
11:30You have that roster, how can we not?
11:32But they need to really worry about their own division because the Seahawks are pretty darn good.
11:36The Niners are, okay, maybe the Cardinals.
11:39Okay, well, we'll just pretend the Cardinals aren't there.
11:41But they still have to play, like, the Eagles and other things, right?
11:44So there's a lot there that it can get late early, especially if, you know,
11:50you're not the youngest team in the league as well.
11:54Our boss actually floated the idea of Baker Mayfield to the Steelers next year after his comments today.
11:59Odds of that happening?
12:01Really, odds of him being not in a Tampa Bay uniform after this season, in your opinion?
12:07Here's my question.
12:08You know, we've been seeing Tampa Bay's feel, it feels a little bit like it's been held together with some
12:15duct tape in recent year.
12:16You know what I mean?
12:17Like, since Tom Brady, like, Baker Mayfield's had a good run.
12:20Let me, let me, but it's like, okay, well, last year, I mean, they had Mike Evans out for a
12:25lot of the, like, there was just, it was messy, right?
12:27So perhaps one of the ways that they move forward is if they don't win the division, they change a
12:33lot of things.
12:33Who knows, right?
12:34I think, I think Baker Mayfield will have another act somewhere else.
12:38I don't know if it's next year.
12:39I don't, I don't really know what, what I have to look at his contract and like do a little
12:44inceptioning, but like ultimately, you know, I, I don't, I don't think it's like, I, that's what I love about
12:50Baker.
12:50He could go anywhere else.
12:51Like, it'd be fun to see him maybe not in a Steelers uniform next year because, you know, I, I
12:57think Browns fans would probably not like that so much, but it would be fun to see, you know, like,
13:02I'd be curious to see what happened with him, with him somewhere else, like maybe out West or something.
13:07Cynthia, we, uh, we've been planning this conversation for a couple of days now.
13:12Uh, if we look at the last 10 Superbowls, so we know this last one was Seahawks at Patriots, but
13:18this is going all the way back to the, uh, 28 to three Superbowl with the Patriots and Falcons.
13:25What do you think is the greatest Superbowl of the last decade?
13:29I mean, it doesn't get much better than that Patriots Falcons.
13:33I mean, obviously not if you're a Falcons fan, but that one was pretty good.
13:36I mean, the Eagles beating this, the Patriots was pretty good as well in Minnesota.
13:42It's, we've been spoiled with some good ones.
13:44We've also been spoiled with some or not spoiled with some not so good ones, but I don't know.
13:50I mean, in Texas, in Houston, I don't know.
13:55That was pretty, that was pretty wild.
13:56Everyone like thought that the game was over and the Patriots were cooked and then crazy craziness.
14:02Cynthia, I got to say, when it comes to the Browns, you're well versed.
14:07But, um, oh, I thought it would have gotten better.
14:10It was a good dad joke.
14:11I thought you liked dad jokes and it turns out.
14:13No, it's okay.
14:15Listen, I love, I think Jared first, he, you need to enter when you, when you, uh, interview him, you
14:20need to be like, are you well versed in the fine breweries in downtown Cleveland?
14:24And he, maybe he'll get it.
14:26Maybe he won't.
14:26I don't know.
14:26I like it though.
14:27I think he'll leave the interview.
14:29He might, he might just instantly hate us.
14:31Cynthia, good stuff.
14:33Thanks so much.
14:34Thanks for having me guys.
14:35Have a great weekend.
14:36You too.
14:37She's so nice.
14:38They're trying to make up for the fact that my dad joke completely fell on his nose.
14:41I thought it was in safe company.
14:42I thought it was in safe place, the trust tree with the nest.
14:45You didn't even give me a courtesy laugh there.
14:48I sold it for you.
14:49I don't think you sold it.
14:50I think, yeah.
14:50I'm the only reason why it didn't die on the vine, if we're being honest about it.
14:54It died right on the vine, Jonathan.
14:55We all let it sit and die on the vine.
14:56Oh, that's a good one.
14:57That's a good dad joke.
14:58That's exactly what I needed.
14:59That's what I did.
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