00:00We bring in Super Fred to the show, Scott Petrack from BrownZone.com and, of course, the Chronicle Telegram.
00:06Hello, Scott. How are you today?
00:09It's not me, is it?
00:11Scott, are you there?
00:11What's going on, guys?
00:12Hi, Scott.
00:12Yeah, what's going on, guys?
00:14We're good. It's a little windy for golf today, but I'm sure you'll figure out a way to do it.
00:18Maybe some rain, too. We got a lot of rain yesterday.
00:19Keep the ball down. That's how you play in the winter.
00:22I'm not playing today, but I played Monday, Wednesday, and I'm playing tomorrow.
00:25So I think we're good.
00:27What a life. It's good to be, Scott Petrack.
00:30Hey, for all the hours you put in in Berea, you've earned it.
00:33That's very true.
00:33I know Jeff wants to sit here.
00:35Jeff wants to make fun of you and think that you have a really easy job.
00:37No, I just said it's good to be Scott Petrack.
00:39That's awesome.
00:40For about two weeks a year.
00:41Yes, this is it.
00:44Until you do realize we are in a rest season, too.
00:48We'll talk about that at some other point.
00:50Let me just ask you about this Brendan Sorsby story.
00:53Just kind of get it out of the way.
00:54What are your thoughts, and do you think the Browns should put a bit in on them?
00:58I think it's really interesting.
01:00I think there's a lot of things in play here.
01:02Number one, he's a quarterback.
01:03Number two, he's pretty talented.
01:06Supplemental draft, so it's a dead period of the NFL year, so it gets a lot of attention,
01:10and it's an interesting story.
01:12When it comes to the Browns, I don't think they should put a bit in.
01:17I know I'm more conservative in this area than Andrew Barry is.
01:22I just worry, if you're the Browns, that what if something happens?
01:27Gambling is nothing to take lightly.
01:30All you have to do is look at the Guardians, what happened with them last year.
01:35I know there's differences, and the kid's young, and everybody gambles these days,
01:41but I just have a problem with it, and I don't know if, kind of like what Todd Munkin said
01:47at the golf outing on June 1st.
01:49It's a slippery slope, and I don't know if you can trust Brendan Sorsby, and maybe that's
01:55a premature judgment on my count, and he deserves a second chance, and I'm sure he'll get it.
02:00But I think I'd be really leery if I were any NFL team, especially the Browns who've dealt
02:06with their share of drama and unnecessary drama throughout their years, that I think I'd
02:13stay away from this one.
02:15Especially when they're so set up to get a quarterback in 2027, Scott.
02:19That's been my thinking.
02:21It's like you're kind of in play right now already, and chances are you'll be able to
02:27get a guy you like more than Sorsby in the 2027 draft.
02:32Would you think that's accurate?
02:34I would, Jeff.
02:36You know, it depends on their evaluation.
02:37If they love this kid as a player, you know, I don't think he's going to be the second-best
02:42quarterback coming out, would have been the second-best quarterback coming out in 2027.
02:47Then it's all about mitigating risk.
02:50But if, you know, you think he's a second-round quarterback, and you've got four guys higher,
02:55well, yeah, they should be able to get one of those guys.
02:58So I do think that factors in.
03:01But it's interesting because, on one hand, you go, well, they probably don't have their
03:06franchise quarterback, right?
03:07Who knows?
03:07Maybe Shader Sanders turns out to be the franchise quarterback, and he's getting a chance to
03:12show, you know, to win the starting job now.
03:14But I would say odds are that they don't have their franchise quarterback.
03:18So that opens the door forever to where can you find that guy?
03:22So that's why Sorsby is even in the discussion.
03:26But to counter to that is what you said, that there might be easier and better avenues to
03:32find that guy if you wait until April.
03:34That's what I'm inclined to think, Scott, because where would Sorsby be?
03:39We've seen him, you know, top four, five, top ten in next year's quarterback rankings.
03:47I don't know if it's worth the hassle and even worth the investment, no matter what that
03:51might be.
03:52Now, if you get him for a fifth or a sixth, you know, you put in a sixth round bid
03:56and
03:56nobody else does, who knows?
03:59Yeah, right.
04:00And that's a really good point.
04:05If you're willing to take some risk, what is that risk?
04:09Now, the fact is, if you have him, like, let's say they draft him and who knows, maybe he
04:13gets suspended by the league, maybe he doesn't.
04:15But he's missed all of the off-season program.
04:19You know, he's showing up for training camp.
04:21You know, who knows, get to start a training camp, maybe a little bit into training camp.
04:24Maybe he's suspended.
04:26He's probably not going to have an impact in 2026.
04:30So do you get a long enough look at him where you say, then, okay, it's automatic that he's
04:36the guy and you don't have to get a quarterback in the 2027 draft?
04:39I just think that's another layer to this where you could be asking the same questions.
04:44Like, well, I don't know if we have, you know, if you're LeBron's, I don't know if we have
04:47the franchise quarterback, even if you draft him.
04:50So just so much goes into it.
04:52But for me, the main point, and maybe I'm putting too much into this, but the gambling
04:57thing really is a giant red flag for me.
05:01I agree on that one.
05:03If you could get him really cheap, you know, sixth round pick, something like that, and
05:10you wouldn't even need to just to figure out if he's the franchise guy, because you could
05:15still go get the quarterback in 2027 and and have two guys and then, you know, you could
05:21trade one.
05:21I mean, at that point, he almost becomes an asset.
05:25And if it does, if you can't cash it in, well, so what?
05:28It was a sixth round pick.
05:30Yeah, that's a valid point.
05:32I could completely see that feels like that's how Andrew Barry operates, you know, unless
05:37they've decided inside the building, no, we're not going to get this guy or Todd Munkin is
05:41crazy strong about, hey, I really just don't think we should take this on right now, given
05:46everything.
05:46And he was.
05:47And he was.
05:48He wasn't.
05:49But, you know, who knows?
05:50Maybe he watches more film and you have conversations and you talk to the kid and you're like, hey,
05:54you know, we trust him to whatever degree you need to trust him.
05:57So, you know, that certainly could change Munkin's opinion.
06:00Um, but that does, to me, that feels like the right risk level.
06:06You know, even if it's a fourth round where you put in a fourth round, you know, I don't
06:10think that's the end of the world if he doesn't wind up being the guy, right?
06:13I mean, they took third and fifth rounders last year.
06:15So, um, I could see that as, but again, as long as you're comfortable that he's passed
06:23the gambling and that that's not going to be an issue because of all the things that
06:27have gone wrong with the Browns.
06:28And if you have your starting quarterback that gets suspended at some point down the
06:32line for gambling, um, you know, that's just, it's about as bad a look as you, I, I, it's
06:38not as bad a look, but it's a really bad look.
06:41And, you know, I, to me, gambling has to be separate from all the other bad stuff athletes
06:46do and people do because it's about the integrity of the game.
06:50And that's the one rule you can't break.
06:52Now, is it worse than, you know, other things that guys get arrested for?
06:56Of course not.
06:56But I do think there is a sanctity part of the game and of sports that you have, you
07:03have to take a strong line when it comes to gambling.
07:06I guess there's two ways to look at it.
07:07One, I, the Browns quarterback room has pretty much seen everything you can possibly see.
07:13Let's be honest for the last 10 years.
07:15So maybe if there's a resilient quarterback room that doesn't, that can't deliver playoff
07:21winning football, there's, I mean, that quarterback room has to be the Browns.
07:25So maybe they can, but I just don't know, because we were just talking about it.
07:29How do your teammates look at you when you've had this kind of allegation?
07:33And again, you know, I know that there are people out there that will defend him and say,
07:39okay, this is a problem.
07:40He's got, he's working at it.
07:42But I mean, I can totally see a wide receiver who gets two bad passes thrown at him, coming
07:47back at his quarterback and lighting him up in the huddle or screaming at him in the locker
07:51room because they don't know where their head is because of where their head was.
07:55Right.
07:55I like the locker room dynamic there is, I think it's just really dangerous.
08:00Yeah.
08:00And the problem is that it's just going to hang, it has the potential to hang over everything.
08:05How everybody views everything he does.
08:07And again, he, there's no evidence that he bet on any games he played in.
08:11Right.
08:11So it's not, it's not apples to apples with class A and Ortiz.
08:15So like, I get it.
08:16And I think you have to be careful in comparisons like that.
08:20But, um, I mean, we've seen how, we've seen how bad gambling can become, right?
08:27When you think of where Chauncey Billups is, right?
08:29And Damon Jones, like, and that's an extreme, but you know, that stuff has happened in professional
08:35sports.
08:35So I just think you have to be extra careful with it.
08:39And I'm sure the Browns would do their due diligence and maybe they hear everything they
08:42need to hear.
08:43And they really liked the film.
08:45I mean, the guys, obviously he's talented and he's a dual threat guy.
08:48And there's reasons to like him.
08:50I think from a purely football perspective, it's not, he's not a slam dunk that he's going
08:55to be a franchise quarterback.
08:56There's questions about him and he could have used his final year in college to answer some
09:01of those questions, uh, which is, again, it goes back to the beginning.
09:05Why this is such an interesting scenario that's going on because he's not a perfect prospect
09:10on or off the field, but he is talented and it's a quarterback and it's a unusual Avenue
09:16where quarterback needy team could find a quarterback, um, that all of a sudden becomes
09:22available to them.
09:23Scott Petrack joining us, brownzone.com.
09:26You can read all of his work as he covers the Browns for the Chronicle Telegram.
09:29We, we had an up close, uh, look at Jared Verse during mandatory minicamp.
09:35What'd you think?
09:37Yeah.
09:37You know, I want to see him at pads.
09:39Number one, just because the strength of his game is his power.
09:43And when there's not contact in these practices, then it makes it really hard to say, okay,
09:49is he doing, it just doesn't have his number one weapon.
09:53So I think that makes it difficult to get a full evaluation.
09:56Having said that, I think he's fitting in.
09:58Well, coaches rave about his ability to pick up the playbook and adapt to his new surroundings
10:05quickly.
10:06If you go back and watch his film, it's impressive.
10:09Um, like I said, it's power and he goes through guys.
10:12He's got really good hands where he can get off the block of the left tackle and get around
10:16him, which is obviously incredibly important.
10:20Um, you know, he doesn't have the move around the edge that we're so used to seeing miles
10:24Garrett do.
10:25Um, I think people are going to have to adjust their expectations for watching a pass rusher
10:31come off that, you know, right end, cause it's not going to look the same, but he's fast
10:36and incredibly powerful and, you know, I think there's reason to be excited about him and
10:40I'm looking forward to see him go against Spencer Fano when they put the pads on, because I
10:45think it's going to be a really good test for Fano and for verse too.
10:51And, you know, that's when we're going to get the full taste of verse, but there's nothing
10:55that I've seen that, you know, would have me any less excited if you're the Browns, um,
11:00because obviously he was a key piece in that trade.
11:02I thought, uh, something verse said as he walked out the door in LA was super interesting
11:06about telling his teammates to go, let's go get the Seahawks, go get the Seahawks.
11:10Um, I, I don't know if that's a, to me, that's a character thing that I can appreciate.
11:16What kind of a leader do you think he can be in this locker room?
11:18And, you know, I, it's big shoes to fill on the field when you're trying to come up,
11:24but there, it, I think there are ways to, that he might be able to fill shoes as a leader
11:29in that locker room that maybe the team is hoping for.
11:32And that, you know, after listening to Andrew Barry, it made it sound like he is going to
11:35be a leader no matter what.
11:38Yeah.
11:38I certainly think that that is his personality and, you know, Jock says there, the defensive
11:44line coach said when he called him, you know, he's like, well, what do you want to accomplish
11:47here?
11:48And he said, coach, I want to work hard enough that everybody else gets to eat.
11:53And I'm paraphrasing, but he goes, I'm a team guy first.
11:56You know, if I draw double teams and other guys get sacks, you know, that's what, what's
12:00important.
12:00So, you know, the Browns are really excited about what he brings from an intangible standpoint.
12:06And he's a young guy.
12:07They think he's part of their future.
12:09And that's good.
12:12Like personality room.
12:14Alex Wright is growing into his leadership role and he's a really good guy to talk to.
12:18And he was honest about the shock that he felt when Miles was traded and then how you
12:23have to move on from that and how he's going to have to have a bigger role on and off
12:27the
12:27field.
12:27So, Vers is definitely going to have to take some of that responsibility that Miles had.
12:32Now, Miles was a different type of leader, but he was still a captain.
12:36Guys looked up to him.
12:37He mentored those younger guys.
12:39So, they expect Vers to take that on and he seems definitely more than willing to take
12:45on that role.
12:45So, Scott, just before we let you go, I just want to, give me the biggest takeaways you
12:49got from minicamp.
12:51Yeah, I think if you go like all off-season program, to me, Denzel Boston stood out to
12:56me.
12:56And I know, Jeff, you love him.
12:59I'm a fan.
13:00I know.
13:01I heard you the other day.
13:03He really did stand out.
13:04You know, we knew the size.
13:05You knew the hands.
13:07His ability to run routes and create separation.
13:10And I saw, I don't know, six, eight comebacks where, you know, that's a tough route for
13:16a big guy to run.
13:17And he's getting separation from Tyson Campbell, coming back, making himself a big target to
13:22the quarterback and catching the ball.
13:24So, he stood out to me.
13:26You know, and then it's all about the quarterbacks.
13:28And I think it's pretty even when it comes to these two quarterbacks, which is why they're
13:33going into training camp.
13:34Like, I think they should go into training camp with this competition.
13:37And I do think Shadur Sanders had got better the later the Browns got into the off-season
13:42program.
13:44And that's one of the reasons this deserves to keep going, because I think he deserves as
13:49long a chance as possible to try to win this job.
13:51Because to me, it just makes sense to go with the younger guy as your starter.
13:56Agreed.
13:57Agreed.
13:57All right, Scott, thank you.
13:59As always, you're reading.
14:00You'll hit him straight tomorrow, too.
14:01We'll get a chance.
14:02I appreciate it, fellas.
14:03All right, we'll talk to you soon.
14:04Scott Petricks.
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