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00:00This whole quarterback competition that, you know, we're going to debate until Todd Munkin
00:04makes an announcement. Another really good point that I think has gone under the radar,
00:15so to speak, because I could make an argument for years when the Browns do these quarterback
00:24competitions, the entire exercise has been flawed. Okay. And not flawed because they're
00:36doing it, okay, and wasting our time while doing it, but flawed in the sense of the supporting
00:45cast. Like, how are you judging the aptitude of these quarterbacks when you have a supporting
00:52cast incapable of supporting the quarterback? And let's be fair and very honest about this,
00:59for many a years, that was the case when it came to the Browns. Very rarely did they have
01:05a supporting cast that was commensurate with a tangible evaluation of a quarterback, okay?
01:14And here's what I'm getting at and why it applies to what is taking place today.
01:22Last year, the year before, I don't think anyone's going to argue about the quality or the lack
01:29thereof when it comes to the offensive playmakers and supporting cast around the quarterbacks,
01:35right? Oh, come on. Severely deficient, okay?
01:39You're shortchanging people.
01:41No, I'm not.
01:42You add in this year, Isaiah Bond, who has reshaped his body, put on some really good
01:50weight. You add in Casey Concepcion, you add in Boston, and now you throw in Jerry Judy,
02:01Dylan Sampson. This is from the conversation I had with Andrew Siciliano yesterday on the
02:08Sunday show here on The Fan. Talking about what the offense looks now around these quarterbacks.
02:17You got weapons. Obviously, Harold Fenton has not been on the field much, if at all. But when you
02:22include those wide receivers, you mentioned Daryl Isaiah Bond, and that is huge. He did not
02:28have camp last year. He practiced week one for really the first time and got thrown in week one.
02:35He put on about 15 pounds of muscle. He looks more confident, more comfortable. He is not a
02:41one-trick pony that only could run straight downfield. This offense, if you could figure
02:46out the quarterback, has playmakers. And we have not been able to say that a lot of late. I'm not
02:50saying it's the Jarvis Odell team. That was a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. But this
02:55team
02:56has young playmakers. And the offensive line is a heck of a lot better now than it was when we
03:00left
03:00Cincinnati January 8th. I think it's going to take time to gel. That's the biggest concern.
03:05But if they could get someone to get down the ball, it's going to be fun on Sundays.
03:09And that right there, I think, is that now you've got this young group of playmakers
03:17offensively. By far, not a polished or finished product. I understand that.
03:22But they are players that, when you get the ball in their hands, they can do something
03:31with it. And I think that gives Todd Munkin and his staff and Andrew Berry and his staff
03:40a more realistic view of where these quarterbacks truly and honestly are. You don't have a bunch
03:50of slappies that belong on a practice squad running these routes anymore. You've got legitimate
03:57players with the size, the speed, the hands, the physicality to be able to now evaluate,
04:08okay, which one of these quarterbacks works best with these guys. Same thing goes for the
04:15offensive line. Because while we're all focused on the quarterback, and understandably so,
04:20that's usually what we do every year, right? That's just standard operating procedure.
04:24If you're a Browns fan, you also are going to have to really pay attention to the offensive
04:33line and how that group is structured. Is it Brailsford at center? Is it Elton Jenkins
04:40at center? If it's Brailsford, that means Elton goes to right guard. If it has to be Elton
04:47at center, well then now you're talking a multiplayer race, whether it's Tevin Jenkins,
04:52KT Levinston, and another guy in that mix, right, for that right guard spot. But for the names,
04:58we know. But like, okay, so how does that group function with each of these quarterbacks?
05:07So I kind of feel like it's not just about a quarterback competition for the Browns.
05:14Like, I feel like there's a broader scope here in that, all right, which quarterback works best
05:21with the group collectively in addition to being the best player? Because the group collectively
05:31is there's still a couple of question marks. Well, they finally addressed the wide receiver
05:38position the way that has always made sense to me when it comes to building a wide receiver room.
05:45Oh, you mean not using fourth or third, fourth, and fifth round picks on receivers and then
05:50expecting them to be your number one? Like Browns fans were hoping would happen for the last,
05:56I don't know, five years? I had always believed in the idea that you build a receiver room the way
06:01that you build a basketball team, where like you have a lot of guys who could do a lot of
06:05different
06:05skill sets with some overlapping in between. And so they went out and got a ball winner in Denzel
06:09Boston. True route running ball winner, X wide receiver who could go up and get it. You got a
06:15speed guy in Casey Concepcion who could do a couple other things as well, but could be used for all
06:19sorts of different ideas. Isaiah Bond, who it sounds like his route running has gotten better. He's
06:26hopefully has because you can't really test that in camp, but with that extra muscle, he should be
06:30able to not get pushed around at the same level that he did and also is a deep threat on
06:34top of
06:34that. So now you're starting to see all those different routes and all those different boxes
06:38getting checked in the same way you build a basketball team with, okay, this is the guy that's
06:42going to be able to fill it up. Here's my long defensive stopper who could hit corner threes.
06:46Here's my center who could do this. Like you're building it with all these different skill sets in mind
06:50that could all do different things. Then throw in Harold Fannin, who's a fantastic safety valve,
06:56slash bowling ball. You know, like that's, that's what that guy does is it's yeah. Cause he'll just
07:01throw human beings off of him. Like back in the day, watching Fred Taylor run, you know, that's
07:06what he does. He's just a, he's built that way. So they finally did that. Daryl, the offensive line
07:12scares the hell out of me. I don't love rebuilding the offensive line in one off season. I know the
07:17bears were able to pull it off. I know they are using that as their guiding light to do this.
07:21I hate the idea that we are going to have four or five brand new offensive linemen. I've just
07:27watched it. This be way too much that you need that cohesion, that communal language, and that
07:33understanding, even between coaches, being able to have guys that at least know each other's
07:38strengths and weaknesses. It can play off of it. I hate that you have four guys who walked into camp
07:42and all had to shake each other's hands. I don't. Okay. Considering what we feel better.
07:48Well, considering what they had last year in the MASH unit that they've gone through the last
07:53couple of years, you have guy, it basically, and Andrew Barry's talked about this. You have
08:01now five guys that are going to be in your starting lineup that can play multiple positions.
08:07Okay. Let's start with Spencer Fennell, right? Let's just, let's go negative Nelly and say it
08:13doesn't work for him at left tackle. Okay. I'm not saying that. I'm just saying just for the sake
08:18of this conversation, but let's say, let's say left tackle doesn't end up being this thing,
08:23right? Right. Guess what? There's four other spots. You can play that kid and try and get some. So
08:27it's not a sunk cost immediately. Correct. Jed Wills was a sunk cost immediately. Right? Correct.
08:34That's, to me, that's the difference. You know, Zion Johnson right now, pounces in left guard.
08:40He can play multiple positions. Okay. Elton Jenkins, we talked about him briefly. He can play center.
08:47He can play right guard. He's a, he's a, he's a, I've watched it with the Packers for many years.
08:51He's a better right guard than he is a center. I was going to say that you want him to
08:53play guard.
08:54Right. And that's where you really need Parker Brailsford, their fifth round pick. You really
09:00want him to win that bat, that, that starting center job so that you can put Elton Jenkins at
09:06right guard in a strength. But again, let's go negative Nelly for a second and say, well,
09:10Parker Brailsford's a fifth round pick. He's not exactly ready to be his starting center. Okay.
09:15Then Elton Jenkins can hold down the center spot for a moment. Well then now you have, okay,
09:20what do you do at right guard then? Well, you have Tevin Jenkins, who you just brought back.
09:24You have a KT Leveston, who I think we'd all agree is better anywhere, but a tackle. Correct. Okay.
09:31And is it named Cam Robinson and therefore is a better option?
09:35All right. So I want to have an agent like Cam Robinson. All right, continue. So, so you have
09:42some flexibility there, right? And then we, we all knew that the moment they traded for Titus Howard,
09:47like he was going to be the starting right tackle. Okay. So, uh, even though Titus, although,
09:53you know, Titus Howard can move around. So like, but he wasn't exactly like the world on fire with
09:59the chargers. I know, but I'm just saying though, you have five guys that can play multiple positions
10:09on your line. And again, not about going negative Nelly, but also to looking through it. Well, injuries
10:17happen. It's not, not even about performance. If something happens, like we remember the domino
10:22effect that did not go well for the Browns when Jack Conklin kept getting hurt. DeJuan Jones kept
10:30getting hurt. Right. I mean, the best thing that happens to them on the offensive line is that Joel
10:34Batonio was able to stay healthy. And now Joel, well, he's healthy, but, uh, retired. We're
10:40talking about this, uh, rebuilt offensive line, the impact on the quarterbacks and the quarterback
10:43competition and the supporting cast that's going to, uh, play a role in the quarterback competition
10:49wanted to give you Dan. And my argument is I like what Andrew Barry did this off season with the
10:56offensive line, bringing in, uh, Spencer for no bringing in, uh, Zion Johnson, bringing in Elton Jenkins,
11:03bringing in Titus Howard, guys that can play multiple positions, even though they have a set
11:09spot on the field and a spot where, okay, they're, they're, they're better than another one.
11:14I love the fact that Andrew Barry brought in all this versatility, but you're not as crazy about
11:19that as I am. No, no, no. The versatility part I'm in again, I, I grew up always watching Green
11:26Bay
11:26Packer offensive lines where they always cross-trained every single one of their linemen for that exact
11:32reason, because when they would draft these guys, they would love the idea of let's get the best
11:37five guys out on the field, no matter the position, because they've all been cross-trained and they
11:42all understand how every single one of these works, but more than anything else, they all understand
11:48because they all grew up together. They all understand the strengths and weaknesses that
11:53the other one has and know how to chip and know how to help and know how to communicate with
11:57each other.
11:57My fear with this group and bringing in five different guys who were not here previous and
12:03not even the Spencer Fano part, because you needed a left tackle and that's how you go and address
12:07left tackle. Go get the best one. You can get your hands on. You can cross-train him at guard.
12:12You can cross-train him at center. You prefer if he was the left tackle, if he ends up playing
12:16left
12:16guard and is a perennial all pro or pro bowler in that guard, fantastic. Or a perennial top 10 player
12:23in that place, great. The fear that I have is you have someone who is coming from the Chargers,
12:29you have someone coming from the Packers, you have someone coming from other places with different
12:34terminology and different skill sets, and I don't know if these guys are going to be able to become
12:38cohesive fast enough to make this thing take off. Why do I care about the terminology?
12:43It changes organization, organization. It changes within an organization all the time.
12:49I don't care about that. But the cohesion is still there. Even if the terminology changes,
12:53the cohesion is there. Well, I mean, that's what you have the off-season program for. That's
12:57what you have your installation periods for. That's what you have minicamp for. That's what
13:01you have training camp for. I'm not worried about that. I'm worried about, hey, can these
13:08guys stay healthy? And also, too, can the Browns be in a position to play these guys at their
13:15position of strength and not at a position that they've been cross-trained at? I want Elton Jenkins
13:22to be the starting right guard, not the starting center. But if Parker Brailsford isn't ready to go,
13:27well, then it's going to be what it's going to be. That's my point. Yes, I agree with you. I
13:34want
13:34them to play at their position of strength where they're at their best, but also at the same time,
13:40when the stuff hits the fan, and these are the Browns, it always hits the fan every year,
13:46I'd like them to have some flexibility, some versatility to be able to move guys around and
13:53not just, okay, you lose the guy, and then all of a sudden you have this cataclysmic domino effect
14:00that just completely disjoints everything that you had hoped to build, which, by the way,
14:06has been happening to the Browns, I don't know, for the last three to four years. And I don't know
14:11if Andrew Barry finally got traumatized with what he had to deal with as the top football executive
14:20as far as patching holes with practice squad guys and whatnot and waiver wire claims and things like
14:28that to where this offseason, it just feels like he really was dead set on, okay, I'm going to bring
14:36in guys that I know that I can play them in multiple spots so that when the dominoes start to
14:44fall, and
14:44let's be honest about it, they typically do, and that's not just a Browns thing. Like, the NFL's a war
14:48of attrition during the regular season. It really is. I don't want to say it's, you know, last man
14:55standing. I don't mean it that way, but, like, it's about who typically has the best quarterback
15:03and the deepest roster. But wouldn't you feel a little bit better if, let's say, they only had
15:10to overhaul the left side of the line? Well, of course I would, but the fact of the matter is
15:14he had to do that this offseason. That's what he was... Because they buried themselves earlier on by not
15:20getting the development and not drafting the players that are capable to keep the pipeline
15:25going of offensive linemen. Yeah, he was forced into that. He had no choice but to do what he did
15:29this offseason. Were you expecting him just to run it back minus Joel Batonio? I was expecting
15:35that maybe they would try to... Were you expecting he was going to count on DeJuan Jones to be healthy
15:39enough? I was hoping that there was a better way to go about this than do a full eraser start
15:46from scratch with five new human beings. Were they supposed to count on Luke Whipler?
15:50That's on Andrew Barry, though. I mean, that's the other side of the problem. Were they supposed to count on
15:54Zach Zinter? This is on Andrew Barry. Like, that's the whole thing with this is you're supposed to be
16:01taking these lottery tickets and developing them so that you're in a position that you don't need to
16:06completely erase the slate, bring in five new human beings... Which are like KT Leveston on the outside
16:11again? That's the problem. That's the part of this. It worked for the Bears, and so now we think it
16:17can
16:18work for us? I think that's fool's gold. That's my fear. Well, this... I'll say this. I think Andrew
16:24Barry's planned this offseason's a hell of a lot better than just running... fixing one or two guys and
16:30then running it back with three others. Like, no, it needed to be a complete gut job on the
16:38offensive side in the trenches. It absolutely needed to be. There's no way you could run it
16:42back with KT Leveston, Luke Whipler, Zach Zinter, DeJuan Jones. Like, you couldn't do that.
16:48You're going to get no argument from me. Like, so I think Andrew did fairly well. Now, were there
16:54better options out there? There were better, more expensive options out there. I'm not paying
17:00what the Raiders paid for a starting center. Are you outside your mind? No, I'm not doing
17:04that for Tyler Linderbaum. That's insanity to me. Yeah. Okay? I'm not giving left tackle
17:10money to a center. No disrespect to centers. We've had some great ones here. Oh, heck yeah.
17:14J.C. Tratter, Alex Mack come to mind. Yeah. Would have been nice if... They're extremely
17:18important. Would have been nice if LaCharles Bentley was allowed to do that, or able to do it,
17:22right? That's the way life goes. Yeah, I mean, that's how she goes. But, like, I think Andrew
17:25Barry did about as good of a job as you could rebuilding a line. Is it perfect? No. And
17:32I'm sure we're going to find that out this fall. But, I mean, I thought it was pretty
17:36smart that he really built in some flexibility and some options for himself.
17:42I'm good. Again, I understand the flexibility. I understand all of those different sides of
17:48doing things. The problem that will, that seems to me, is arising is, again, getting that cohesive
17:56ability together of playing with each other for a decent amount of time that you can translate that
18:01onto the field. And when you bring in five new guys, that's tough. That's tough. It worked for
18:06the Bears. Good. I hope it works here. But that's the only one that I can ever think of who
18:13brought in
18:13five new offensive linemen, and all of a sudden it clicked and life was good. Come on. George
18:17Warhop's going to be just fine whipping those guys into shape. I hope so. I hope he's got some of
18:21that, found the collection of Bill Callahan, Magic Pixie does that was sitting in the back. Yeah,
18:27he's your new Bill Callahan. Right. And he's a damn good offensive line coach. And look,
18:31the Browns have had, I mean, Bob Wiley was a really good offensive line coach. Like,
18:34they've had some really good offensive line coaches over the years. Absolutely. Not so much in the
18:38latter years of the Kevin Stefanski era, where Mike Vrabel, as a team consultant, had to handle
18:44the offensive line coaching duties. Yeah, that was a mess. But, like, I mean, for the most part,
18:49I mean, the Browns have had some really good offensive line coaches, and George Warhop is one of the
18:54better ones in the business. And the right people are saying the right things about George Warhop.
18:59No, well, I mean, listen, words are words. Like, I mean, I get that. You know, you get Joe Thomas
19:05out here saying he was one of my favorite offensive line coaches. We've heard that from a couple
19:08other guys as well when George Warhop made his first stop. I hope you're right. I just am not
19:15the biggest fan of especially a position that requires far more than what a playbook will tell
19:21them to do to succeed of having five new guys all having to learn each other's strengths and
19:26weaknesses in that short of a period of time. Hey, you know what? Sometimes you got to have a
19:31little faith. And listen, I realize the Browns really test that. I get it. I get it.
19:39And if you're right, I give you all the credit on the face of this earth. And if I'm wrong,
19:42I'll eat it.
19:43I just, there's nothing to judge right now. They've been dancing around in helmets, shirts,
19:51and shorts. Okay. They're, they're not popping pads yet. We're not going to get a good look at
19:56it until the second week of training camp when they're allowed to put on the pads. Okay. And
20:01we're really not going to get a good look at it until they run the joint practice. Absolutely. Okay.
20:07That's see, to me, the most important part of the upcoming training camp for the Browns,
20:13it's going to be the joint practice because that's where the rubber meets the road. That's
20:19where we typically see how it really is. And it happened a couple of years ago against the New
20:26York football giants. It happened against the Minnesota Vikings. We've seen it happen in joint
20:31practices with the Buffalo bills, like where you, you really get a true idea of what is up
20:40in a joint practice because it's, it's a control device. I go back to that Vikings, uh, joint
20:46practice a couple of years ago, you know, where like, that's where we learned that the Sean was
20:51washed and didn't have it anymore. At least at that, in that space in iteration. Okay. That's
20:58where we learned that the offensive line couldn't line up correctly. Right. Uh, they couldn't handle
21:05a snap count correctly. Yeah. Oh yeah. And all of those things that we saw in those joint practices
21:13ended up translating to the regular season. The Browns were among the league leaders in pre-snap
21:18penalties, right? Uh, in the six and a half, seven games, the Sean Watson was on the field. He was
21:24a,
21:24he was a mess. The quarterback play was, uh, poor, right? And, and so on that, that was the glimpse,
21:34the view into what was going to come. So hopefully, hopefully, and we'll, we'll see, but hopefully
21:45the Browns will acquit themselves well in their joint practice and we'll feel a little bit better
21:52about things. Okay. Cause I want to be there. Cause you protect when you're going
21:58Brown against white. Okay. Browns on, when everybody knows what's coming. Yeah. When
22:02you're doing Browns on Browns, it's your, you're also trying to protect your teammates a little
22:06like Jared verse was in the back, like basically spent most of minicamp in the backfield. Okay.
22:12Uh, we used to see that from miles Garrett all the time. Of course he'd wreck practices. Yes.
22:16Right. But again, helmets, shirts, and shorts, and that's the lens with which we have to temper
22:24the excitement. Absolutely.
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