00:00He played the schedule game and has them still as a 10-win team post the Miles trade.
00:05To do so, we head out to the Wisehart-Wright.
00:07We make it right.
00:08Call Kyle Wright Hotline.
00:09Find out why Emery Hunt.
00:11CBS Sports HQ football game plan believes that.
00:14And Emery joins us now.
00:15Emery, welcome to the show.
00:17Glad to be on the show, guys.
00:19Great day to be a Cajun.
00:21Why is that?
00:22Like Louisiana Lafayette, the Raging Cajuns.
00:25Exactly.
00:25Well, I play a running back, so it's always a great day.
00:27I hadn't used that in, like, 20 years, so I wanted to get that off.
00:31We'll allow it.
00:32That seems like it.
00:33I used to love – I don't play video games anymore, but, like, when I did, like, a million years
00:38ago,
00:39I'd play with Louisiana Lafayette, the Raging Cajuns, just because I thought that was awesome.
00:44Hey, you're my favorite guy right now.
00:46I used to do LaTac.
00:47I'm sorry.
00:49I just – it was Skip Holtz, right?
00:50Come on.
00:51What was I going to do?
00:54No.
00:55Emory, you played the schedule game, and despite trading Myles Garrett, you still have the Browns as a 10-win
01:02team.
01:03Walk us through.
01:05Well, it was interesting because when we heard the – because I did the schedule game as soon as it
01:10came out.
01:11I'm talking about the official schedule, and I said the Browns can win 10 wins.
01:16I listed off reasons why.
01:17And in that clip that went viral, I said Myles Garrett.
01:21Now, obviously, a couple of weeks later, Myles Garrett gets moved, and so they had me back on to talk
01:26about the schedule game again.
01:27But what made me go through the schedule and look at it again without Myles Garrett a part of the
01:34team was the fact that they got Jared Verse.
01:36And I felt like, okay, yeah, Verse is not Myles Garrett.
01:40Myles Garrett is an all-time great future first ballot Hall of Famer, Cleveland Ring of Honor, all of those
01:46things.
01:47But Jared Verse ain't no slouch either.
01:49And so when you look at what he can do, and if you think about it from Verse's perspective, like,
01:55man, I thought I was entrenched in L.A. with how I played and what we did together as a
02:00group.
02:00And he viewed me as, you know, expendable, I'm about to go out here and ball out with the Browns.
02:05We might see him get his first double-digit sack season as a pro based on what he just went
02:10through in terms of getting moved for a guy in Myles Garrett.
02:15So I still feel like the Browns have enough offensively and defensively to where 10 wins is definitely possible.
02:21Yeah, so now is that playing with the idea that Shador is starting, or is that with Deshaun?
02:25Because I've had a hard time, Emory, playing the schedule game because I think highly of Shador, and I just
02:30don't think highly of Deshaun at this point.
02:33For me, it's with Shador starting.
02:35And I will say this.
02:37You know, it's always fascinating how the – and I'm not talking about you guys.
02:41I'm talking about the people that are on my side of things that kind of pontificate and talk how disingenuous
02:47many people are.
02:48And how they're looking at this Shador thing with disingenuous eyes.
02:53If Shador is drafted in the first round, they talk about his three and four finish with the opportunity to
02:59go five and two to be like, wow.
03:00I mean, look at what he had.
03:01He barely had this and that.
03:03And they won three games.
03:04They should have won five.
03:05But because he went in round five, they're saying now, well, he threw seven touchdowns and ten picks.
03:11They lose all contact, and they'll bring up QBR and all that stuff like that as if QBR matters when
03:18we watch Dylan Gabriel perform worse than Shador with better numbers.
03:21So that tells you how much QBR doesn't matter.
03:24But I'm saying I'd like to say this.
03:26With Shador out there, you have an ascending talent.
03:28You have a guy that played good football, solid football with, you know, considering the situation.
03:34And now you have better offensive weaponry around him.
03:36He has a stable offseason.
03:38And for Deshaun Watson, I just want to see him get back to that fluid throwing motion that we used
03:44to see from him in Houston.
03:46I said this.
03:47This was maybe the 2023 season or 2024 season when they played the Cowboys, and it was evident in that
03:52game he couldn't push the ball deep down the field.
03:54And it was frustrating because when you watched him in Houston, he legit threw the football like Warren Moon.
04:00It was a smooth stroke.
04:01He could throw it deep down the field accurately.
04:03And until I see him ripping like that again, then I would know for sure he's fully back.
04:09And it's unfortunate we're talking about something that happened in 2020 because we're six years removed from that.
04:14And he acknowledges the fact that he's not the same player.
04:16So we don't know what this version of Deshaun Watson looks like, but I do feel like at worst he
04:21gives you a solid veteran backup right now.
04:24But Shadour Sanders is the ascending talent, and you want to maximize that with how well he finished last year,
04:30just as opposed to what you built around him.
04:33Emory, I think it's interesting.
04:34If we just – let's take the quarterback out of it.
04:36Let's say we plug in league average quarterback play.
04:40So whatever you think the 16th to 17th best quarterback in the NFL can give you, let's say we get
04:46that out of the quarterback spot and you get some good performances around him.
04:50What do you – like how much of an upgrade do you think this offense can be over what was
04:55statistically one of the three worst offenses in the NFL in most major categories last offseason?
05:01That's why I said 10 wins.
05:03And, you know, if you think about league average quarterback play, and I'm glad you brought that up because I've
05:09always been – as I've been a proponent of big tackle propaganda and telling people that it's really about guards
05:15in the guard play, I've been hell-bent on letting people know, like, no one player is that good.
05:20Stop putting all the onus on a quarterback when all you've got to do as a QB is play your
05:25111.
05:26Just be 16th best or average football and you can get to the Super Bowl.
05:30And so the reason why I still say 10 wins is because they do look good on offense and defense.
05:36The problem or I would say concern I have about the Browns is the depth defensively within the front seven.
05:43You know, I know they've drafted Justin Jefferson who is speedy.
05:47I love his range.
05:48But more so along the defensive lines.
05:51Can they get consistent play from their second wave of defenders?
05:54I think they did a good job offensively adding depth along the offensive line.
05:57Guys are, you know, performing well based off what we've seen them do in shorts in terms of how they
06:02look athletically and how they're moving around.
06:04Obviously, we talk about skilled players.
06:06But in order to go from a 10-win team to a team that could go from, you know, worst
06:11to first like the Patriots did last year,
06:13they really have to tighten up their depth within the defensive line.
06:17And also, you know, adding maybe one or two more pieces on offense that really strengthens that stranglehold on the
06:232-D.
06:24I know you've been in Shador's corner the entire time.
06:26We've had you on for years.
06:28And you're kind of lockstep with me and where we stand there.
06:31But were you surprised at the narrative early on?
06:34And at least, especially during the installs, that it felt like Deshaun was just the lead guy in all of
06:39this.
06:40And now, obviously, in the past couple days, past couple weeks, it's kind of moved towards being a closer race
06:45where some are even arguing Shador has caught up to Deshaun.
06:48Some are arguing he's even passed him.
06:50But the early impression of this all, were you surprised it initially was so heavily in Deshaun's favor?
06:56I was surprised at the lack of, you know, layered questions.
07:04Because somebody said, well, Deshaun's out in front.
07:06Okay, explain how.
07:08And he never asked that question.
07:09Because if you just ask one more question, you see their house of cards fall apart.
07:14So it goes back to my initial argument.
07:17A lot of people was being disingenuous.
07:20They didn't like Deshaun Watson, but they don't like Shador Sanders more.
07:25They love the idea of this mythical QB creature in 2027, just like they did in 2026.
07:33But they saw that blow up in smoke after week one of the college football season.
07:37And so I never really bought into that because, you know, football hasn't been played yet.
07:42This is all, you know, junior Olympic testing and conditioning going on.
07:46But now they start to, you know, switch the tide and say, oh, he's catching up.
07:51But they're saying he's catching up because they don't want to say, yo, I was completely wrong and false when
07:59I put out that statement earlier in the minicamp all OTA circuit.
08:03So it's still, I still feel like Shador is the leader.
08:07Deshaun has to show that he can do this in games.
08:10Just show him from where he is from a health perspective and a mental space.
08:13And I'm rooting for him because, again, we're talking about a guy that was on a Hall of Fame track
08:18before 2021.
08:21And I think that is hard for some people to forget.
08:24And it's hard for some people to realize that that player may not be there anymore.
08:29It's almost like what we've seen happen from Russell Wilson.
08:33Once he left, you know, Denver, you just kind of assume, OK, all right, he's going to be in a
08:37nice spot in Pittsburgh.
08:38He could finish out his career there.
08:39And we saw him play in two more spots, you know, Pittsburgh and then the New York Giants didn't retire.
08:45So I feel like Deshaun has to show to himself, number one, that he still has it.
08:49He could kind of recapture a little bit of that spark that he had.
08:52But this is still Shador Sanders' team, in my opinion.
08:56All right, Emery, outside of the quarterback, give me one player that you think is the key to this offense
09:02being successful in 2026.
09:06Benzel Boston, the rookie.
09:07And it's crazy to put that type of crown on top of a rookie.
09:13But, man, we talk about some things the Browns didn't have last year.
09:17You're talking about guys that could win above the rim.
09:19You got that from Harold Fannin.
09:22As a rookie, I feel like if Denzel Boston can be that bona fide X receiver,
09:28then they surrounded him with a lot of catch-and-run guys.
09:31Isaiah Bond, Casey Concepcion, Jerry Judy is one of those guys as well.
09:36And now you have a guy that can really win those 50-50 balls.
09:40But also, you know, he has shown so far in, you know, minicamp and OTAs and all of those things,
09:46that he understands how to win short, how to win intermediate, how to win deep down the field.
09:52And one example I could quietly, you know, put together is, if you think about the play against the Baltimore
10:00Ravens,
10:00when we saw Shadour step in for the first time, the pass he threw to Gaze Laverdain in the end
10:06zone,
10:07that was a greatly defended play.
10:08But it was an opportunity for Laverdain to make that grab, and it could have tied the game.
10:13Now you sub that out, you put Boston there, Boston makes that grab.
10:16And that's the type of difference he brings to an offense, which also means defensively,
10:21you've got to rotate coverage toward his side, which gives Jerry Judy opportunity to have more one-on-one.
10:26Casey Concepcion, even Tyler Wallace has shown he could do some good things when given the opportunity.
10:31And Bond, I mean, Bond is already open right now as we speak.
10:34Like, he just gets deep for whatever reason.
10:36Like, they just can't cover him.
10:37So, I just like the fact that Boston is exactly what they needed.
10:41Yeah, Bond's having a great camp, by the way.
10:43And I agree, I love Denzel Boston.
10:45And we're going to find out about Concepcion.
10:47I need to see what kind of bounce-back season Judy has.
10:50What is the ceiling on this wide receiver group?
10:53If it was dead last year, what do you think this one could be this year?
10:57Well, let's focus on the division.
11:00And you talk about a core within the division that they could be good and still probably end up fourth.
11:06You know, depending on, like, look at what the Bengals have, look at what the Ravens have,
11:10and what the Seals were able to add.
11:11But I do feel like this could be, you know, because they're young, and you could toss Harold Fenn in
11:17there.
11:17And I actually am a big fan of Joe Warrior, too.
11:19You toss those guys in there, man.
11:21This could be one of these young, exciting groups that grow together that we saw the Rams have, you know,
11:28when Stafford first got there, that we saw Russell Wilson have when they were drafting those young guys around him,
11:34starting with the Golden Tates and those guys, right, that was there before Russell got there.
11:37But then you saw them start to add some pieces.
11:39I feel like this could be that tight.
11:41So if they have the year that I'm expecting them to have, we're going to be talking about this receiving
11:45core of the Browns being definitely top 16.
11:48And I know that people say, well, that's league average.
11:51Well, if you think about three and four wide receiver sets and what that looks like and you start to
11:56rank them,
11:57you realize there's a lot of good cores in the NFL.
12:00And being 16th is definitely ahead of the curve.
12:04All right, Emery, right now, how would you rank these four AFC North teams heading into camp?
12:11And you know what's else funny is when I did the initial schedule grade or schedule game,
12:18I had them beating or sweeping Pittsburgh, but that was when they had Mason Rudolph as the starter.
12:24But now it changes because you got Aaron Rodgers back.
12:28You have a better roster around them.
12:29So, man, I can see this thing, to be completely honest, everybody having 10 wins.
12:35I did that, too.
12:36I did the schedule game with that.
12:37I had everybody with 10 wins, but I could also see the Browns finishing third.
12:41The difference between the Browns and the Browns this year and the Browns last year,
12:46I feel like the Browns offense will win them some of these games that they should have won last year.
12:50Even going back to when Dylan Gabriel was starting and, you know, Flacco was starting.
12:55They were in some of these ball games.
12:57They had a great chance.
12:59And now you have better skilled players, guys that can close the door.
13:02I feel like the Browns could finish third with 10 wins.
13:04Now, what does that mean, playoffs or not?
13:07Because the AFC is so super talented, in order for the Browns to make the playoffs,
13:13they need only one team to come out the east and one team to come out the south.
13:16Because I feel like the west and the north will have multiple teams.
13:22Let me ask you one more thing about Talon Green.
13:24Do you feel like we're going to see him in any sort of capacity at all this year?
13:27Obviously, Shador is the idea to start all 17.
13:29But if it starts to go a little rocky in any sort of way, do they throw him in there?
13:33Or do you feel like – I'm trying to figure out if Deshaun is going to be the guy after
13:36Shador or not.
13:38I feel like Talon Green is getting that redshirt year.
13:42And we saw that manifest itself in how they divvied up the reps in this mandatory minicamp that just ended.
13:48We barely saw Talon Green.
13:50And so I feel like, yeah, there may be some opportunities for him to be a short yardage,
13:54red zone, green zone type guy to utilize his legs or whatnot.
13:59But I don't think – I think, if anything, we'll see Shador after Deshaun or Deshaun after Shador.
14:06I think we'll see just two quarterbacks this year.
14:10Emery, great stuff as always, buddy.
14:12Appreciate you and appreciate the – I'll say analysis,
14:15but we like a little Browns positivity around here as well.
14:17Appreciate you.
14:19I appreciate y'all.
14:20Thanks for having me on.
14:21Emery Hunt there on the Wisehart Wright.
14:23We make it right.
14:24Call Kyle Wright Hotline.
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