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00:00As we welcome in Brian Baldinger, Odyssey NFL Insider.
00:04Brown's getting ready for training camp, which officially starts next week.
00:07Rookies are showing up to town this week, and Brian Baldinger is one of the best.
00:11You've seen him all over the place.
00:12NFL Network, Compass Media Networks, does games, does analysis, former NFLer.
00:17Again, Odyssey NFL Insider, Brian Baldinger, joining us this morning.
00:20Brian, good morning.
00:22Good morning, guys.
00:23How are you?
00:24I'm sorry to call you by your government name.
00:25I know we've always called you Baldy.
00:27Everybody calls you Baldy.
00:28I'm sorry about that.
00:29But, Baldy, good morning to you.
00:30It's wonderful to have you again.
00:31We know you're a traveler.
00:32We're glad to have you back.
00:33I'll ask you about your trips and everything coming up here in a bit.
00:36But I've got to ask you right now, if it were your choice, if you're Todd Munkin,
00:40if it's Brian Baldinger, the head coach of the Browns,
00:43who do you think you're starting week one right now off the top of your head?
00:48At quarterback.
00:50I really don't know.
00:51I mean, we haven't seen Deshaun play in forever.
00:53You know, and I don't know what he looks like.
00:55I don't know how he's digesting a new offense.
00:58I don't know physically what he looks like.
01:01I really don't know.
01:02I don't know if Shadour has improved physically from what he was a year ago,
01:06whether he's, you know, just stronger, bigger.
01:10And I think he needed to improve athletically and physically from a year ago to be,
01:15you know, a better version of what we saw last year.
01:17I don't really know.
01:19And I don't know if it – I don't know that Todd Munkin knows,
01:21even after the spring.
01:23So, I don't know who's going to start.
01:25I mean, I wish I could give you an answer, and I'm not trying to dodge the question
01:28because everybody's asking the same thing.
01:30But, honestly, I don't know because I have a feeling I know what Shadour is,
01:34but I don't know what Deshaun is.
01:36Is this maybe the only true open competition for quarterback in the NFL between these two?
01:44Well, I think you could have one with Michael Penix, you know, down in Atlanta right now
01:48and in Tua.
01:50So, I mean, I think that could be an open competition.
01:52I believe Kyle Murray will be the, you know, be the starter in Minnesota.
01:57But I think there's one probably in Atlanta.
02:00I don't know what Michael Penix Jr.'s, you know, health and status is right now.
02:06But I feel like he's going to be ready to go pretty soon.
02:09So, I feel like that's a legit competition.
02:12Baldy, we've had a bunch of discussion about Todd Munkin,
02:15who obviously has a lot of experience at different levels and also in the NFL,
02:21you know, handling various situations.
02:24And yet, we're wondering if he's on the clock in terms of his age,
02:29his opportunity finally breaking through.
02:31But yet, does he need to win right away,
02:34even though he's been given a roster that probably does not point in that direction?
02:38So, how would that, you know, color a quarterback conversation where you have a veteran
02:44and then you have somebody as young as Shador?
02:47No, I mean, part of the reason he got the job is his ability to work with Lamar Jackson
02:54and do some really good things with Lamar.
02:56And we saw real improvement from his game.
03:00And I think then if you go back to his days at Georgia and, you know, college
03:03and even go back to the NFL before that, I mean, I think you've seen a real market improvement
03:09in quarterback play under his direction.
03:11And so, I mean, I think, you know, I mean, whether either one of these quarterbacks are the answer,
03:16he at least deserves to get to be able to coach an offense and coach a team
03:21that has a frontline starter at that position.
03:24Maybe they have to, they've got all these assets now with the trade they just made.
03:28I mean, maybe they might have to go to the well and find, you know,
03:32a guy to compete with Joe Burrow and, you know, Lamar in that division right now
03:38and other teams, Josh Allen and Patrick and, you know, Justin
03:42and all the guys that are in the AFC right now.
03:44Maybe he needs that time and maybe they give him that time.
03:47I don't know what Andrew Barry and the owner thinks right now about, you know, his timeline,
03:51but I think he deserves that chance if you're going to make that hire
03:55and move on from Kevin Stefanski, who got a job immediately,
03:59then I think he deserves a chance to be able to coach an offense with a frontline guy.
04:04And we'll find out with either one of these guys or that guy.
04:07Brian Baldinger joining us on the show.
04:09The Browns had one of the best defenses in all the NFL last year, even with the record.
04:13They trade away Myles Garrett, but they bring in Jared Verse.
04:16How much of a drop-off do you think they have in total defense?
04:20I just spent two days with Jared out at the SAC Summit in Las Vegas,
04:24and I don't know if anybody worked harder and wanted to get better.
04:28I mean, whether I was in the film room with him or on the field with him,
04:32like he's a legit player.
04:33In fact, you know, guys like Myles Garrett and Max Crosby, Cam Jordan,
04:38guys that kind of run the SAC Summit, I mean, they all want to see him take a jump.
04:45Like, he is a big-time player right now.
04:47He's very good.
04:48He's not Myles Garrett.
04:49Nobody is.
04:50But he's a very good football player, and he's young.
04:53And I think he has to learn some finesse to his game.
04:55I think it's just he almost tries to out-physical everybody, every play.
05:01And that, you know, guys just don't, you know, guys wear down when you play like that.
05:04So they were working with him on a lot of different finesse and different types of moves.
05:09He was sitting in the front row, you know, in the film session.
05:12I think they're getting a great young player, and I don't care where he plays,
05:17whether it was in Los Angeles or in Cleveland.
05:19I think you're going to get a very good player, a guy that I think, you know,
05:24when you look at the defensive line and lining up maybe next to Mason Graham
05:28and some of the guys, I think they're going to get a good player.
05:31Baldy, they got you front and center on the website in one of the pictures.
05:34It's awesome.
05:35And you look dialed in.
05:36I mean, you're out in Vegas, and yet here you are sweating it out with these players.
05:42He's been in Taiwan.
05:43I mean, it doesn't matter to him.
05:44He's all over there.
05:45Or Thailand.
05:46He's all over the place, man.
05:47He knows.
05:47Vegas doesn't impress him.
05:49This is good stuff, by the way.
05:50Well, I mean, the midnight flight to Dallas to be at the offensive line
05:54Masterminds the next morning, that was a little bit of a challenge now,
05:58you know, to hit that field running, put a microphone in your hand
06:01and talk to, you know, 300 offensive linemen.
06:03That was probably a bigger challenge than 107-degree heat in Las Vegas that day.
06:08It's hair of the dog, Baldy.
06:10That's what they tell me when I go to Vegas.
06:12Just get started early, and you're going to be good to go.
06:14Brian Baldinger, join us right now on the hotline.
06:16So, we've been having a very polarizing discussion in town about Shador Sanders,
06:21and I've been accused of leading that discussion because it's my thought,
06:26and you let me know if you think the coaches have adjusted to this,
06:29but it's been my thought over time that coaches want their quarterbacks especially
06:33to be 24-7 football.
06:36But that is not Shador.
06:37Shador is a lot of football.
06:39He's showing the workouts, but he's also doing music.
06:42He's modeling.
06:43He's in short films.
06:45He's in reality TV.
06:47He does all of that stuff.
06:49Do you think in this day and age coaches have just had to deal with that,
06:54or do you think they still have typecasted what they want their quarterback to be?
07:00I think it's pretty typecast what they want them to be.
07:03They want them to be 24-7 because, honestly, it's tough enough, you know,
07:08to play at a high level and a consistent high level in this business.
07:11We've seen the turnover.
07:13You know, we've seen the number of failures at number one picks.
07:15Certainly Cleveland has seen their share of number one picks just fizzle
07:20if they ever even got started.
07:22I mean, to fizzle, you know,
07:22you actually have to have been pretty good at one point probably.
07:25But they've seen their share of guys just not work out.
07:30Honestly, the best thing that can happen to Shadour right now is just the, you know,
07:36they completely rebuilt their offensive line,
07:39and it's the most important position in all of football.
07:41It's more important than the quarterback.
07:43And I've never seen five new starters on an offensive line.
07:49Like, they've got five new starters.
07:50I've never seen that before.
07:51I don't know how quickly they can all come together,
07:53but that's the most important thing to be able to have an offensive line,
07:57be able to get Quinshawn and Dillon and those guys going.
08:01The quarterback is, you know, I mean, Josh Allen isn't Josh Allen and the MVP
08:05if his offensive line isn't one of the top three offensive lines in all football.
08:10And so I think that's the most important thing.
08:12But honestly, once this, I don't know, like the offseason is the offseason,
08:17but once the season starts, I don't think there's any time to do any of this stuff,
08:21whether it's, you know, going into a record studio or doing some fashion show,
08:26whatever, I don't see how any quarterback in this league could possibly have time
08:32to do anything else but prepare for the next weekend's game.
08:37Go ahead, Tom.
08:38Well, listen, you're going to come under fire from the Shador fans who they love,
08:43how versatile he is, how almost a triple threat,
08:46how they think in college he's been able to demonstrate that he can deal
08:52with all of those different responsibilities.
08:54And I've just been here to tell people the NFL is a different animal.
08:57Like you're going up against the elite of the elite.
09:00And this is obviously like this could be your career, your fifth-round pick.
09:05And if you don't make it in Cleveland, I don't know how many teams are going to be lining up.
09:10So I think 24-7 football is probably what Todd Munkin would want.
09:14But I get crushed every time I say it.
09:16Yeah, well, I mean, they don't know what this business is about.
09:19College football doesn't resemble the NFL.
09:22They're two different sports.
09:24And so the offense he ran at Colorado doesn't look anything like any offense in the NFL.
09:29Chip Kelly tried to run that offense.
09:31In Philly, it lasted two years.
09:33I mean, it doesn't work.
09:34And so, you know, but he needs to – look, every quarterback could benefit by the improvements
09:39I think they've made in the offense, especially at receiver, they were probably the worst receiving
09:45core in all of football last year.
09:47That didn't help Shadour, you know, in his debut.
09:50The offense line was a mess and it was old.
09:52And a lot of those guys aren't in the league anymore.
09:55But we'll see.
09:56We'll see what these improvements can do.
09:58It's a young team.
09:59It's a coach that has probably some really good ideas.
10:02And we'll see.
10:03You know, these quarterback competitions, you know, it always kind of amazes me when people
10:08say there's – like, even last year with Flacco and, you know, Dylan and Shadour, like,
10:13I never thought it was a fair competition last year.
10:15When I went out to Cleveland, I knew it wasn't fair.
10:17And so, to have a quarterback competition, there's a lot of things that have to happen.
10:23One is you have to have almost equal reps with the number one offense line.
10:27But the offense line is completely rebuilt, like I said.
10:31And so, they're trying to figure out the guy next to him and what his name is and how he
10:36plays and they've got to come together.
10:40You know, and then you've got to split time with that.
10:42You've got to split time, again, in the scrimmages that you have with different teams and then
10:46the games.
10:48And so, how do you make it fair and equal?
10:52That's always a challenge.
10:53I'm sure Todd Munkin has, you know, patented answers for those questions that come at him.
10:59But that's always – I don't ever think that's an easy decision.
11:03I've seen quarterback competitions where one guy wins the job and three weeks later he's
11:08benched.
11:08And the guy that – because I saw it in New Orleans last year where I saw Spencer Rattler
11:13and Tyler Shuck compete.
11:15And I thought, I went to practice and watched a 200-place scrimmage.
11:18And Tyler Shuck was a much better player.
11:22But Spencer Rattler started the season the first six weeks.
11:25And then when Shuck went in there, the team improved and he should have been the starter.
11:28And so, I always kind of just sit back and watch these competitions and see how they
11:36decide some of these things and some of these decisions.
11:39Brian Baldinger joining us here on the Wise Heart Right.
11:41We make it right.
11:42Call Kyle Wright Hotline.
11:43Odyssey NFL insider.
11:45Carson Swessinger, I mean, he plays a position.
11:48He does so well at it.
11:49I mean, he's a football guy's football player.
11:51What's the next step for him in year two?
11:56I would say, you know, at that position, if you – he filled up the stat sheet with tackles
12:02and playing every play.
12:03I mean, he knows how to diagnose a play.
12:07Now it's just the nuances of the game.
12:09You know, can you get into the passing lane better and take away some of the deep crosses?
12:14Can you anticipate seeing Lamar and seeing, you know, Aaron, you know, in Pittsburgh
12:21and seeing some of these guys he's going to go up against, can you start, whether it's
12:26stealing signals, knowing the play and where it's going, even better than what he already
12:31did?
12:31And then it's the other things of getting your hands in the passing lane.
12:35Can you get your hands on a couple of footballs, interceptions, forcing fumbles, like those
12:40kind of things.
12:41Like, can you really help take the ball away?
12:45Because ultimately, every great defense does that.
12:49And that's probably the next step for him right now.
12:53Brian Baldinger joining us here on the show.
12:56Brian, you said they had the worst wide receiving core in the NFL last year.
13:00That's absolutely true.
13:02Casey Concepcion, Denzel Boston, which one ends up being the number one?
13:10Uh, I don't know.
13:12I don't know because I don't know.
13:14Are they going to play Casey, you know, strictly in the slot?
13:18That's, I think he could play inside and outside, but he was basically slot receiver at Texas
13:22A&M.
13:22I liked the kid personally.
13:24I met him last year before the Texas A&M Texas game, uh, announcing that game on the
13:29radio.
13:30I like him.
13:31Um, does Jerry Judy get pushed?
13:33Can he get better?
13:34He has to.
13:35Uh, and I, and Denzel Boston is a, is a true X receiver.
13:39So I don't know which guy is going to get the most targets.
13:44I do think Casey can do a lot of things.
13:47I think he can run.
13:48I want to see him run a lot of the slot receiver routes, the pivots, the shallow crosses, um,
13:54some of the things that you've got to be able to do if he is strictly an inside guy,
13:58which I feel like he's built for that.
14:00Um, and that's okay that you, you know, I saw Jackson Smith and Jigna go from that
14:05role to leading the league in receptions.
14:07And I don't want to compare him to Jackson Smith and Jigna, but you know, that's kind
14:11of like, uh, the, the multiple roles that he played because he was sort of typecast coming
14:16out of Ohio state.
14:17And now he's the most feared guy in the NFL.
14:19So, uh, I kind of want to see how they play him in this offense right now.
14:24Who is the number one quarterback?
14:26Cause you do college football.
14:28Who's the number one quarterback you're watching in 2026 for the 2027 draft?
14:35No, I mean, I guess it probably starts with arch just because, you know, everybody wrote
14:39them off after, you know, not playing great against Ohio state and not playing well against
14:43Florida, but I saw him, you know, beat Oklahoma.
14:46I saw him beat Texas a and M like I saw drastic improvement as the season went on.
14:51And then I was with university of Texas offensive line a couple of weeks ago at the masterminds
14:56and like, they, they just think like, you know, the sky's the limit and what he could
15:01do athletically.
15:02He's as good as anybody in this business, but I want to, I want to see John Mateer this
15:06year.
15:06I want to see Sam Levitt.
15:07I mean, I'm just going through guys off the top of my head right now, but I want to see
15:11those guys take a step up, you know, and they're in different places right now.
15:15Mateer is going to play behind a very good offensive line at Oklahoma.
15:19He's got a lot of talent there.
15:20It's a good program.
15:21I think he's got, he's got a lot of what makes a good quarterback.
15:26I mean, he's very tough.
15:27He's got good size.
15:30You know, he got hurt last year, early in the season.
15:32I think it bothered him the bad risks, but I want to see him have a healthy season and
15:36take a big step up this year at Oklahoma.
15:38How much will not playing this year hurt Brendan Sorsby?
15:43Well, you don't get any better by not playing.
15:45So, I mean, I know he played three years and he was a good player and a good prospect, but
15:50not playing doesn't help anybody.
15:52And so I don't see how you improve by not playing.
15:56I think it's going to hurt him.
15:58And I didn't just, you know, what he did was just stupid.
16:01And it's the king of stupid.
16:03So, like, is those type of decisions to do what he did, is that going to follow him?
16:09Now, ultimately, talent wins.
16:12And if you're a great prospect and you're a great player, like, you can overlook some
16:17of that stuff, but it's going to be hard for some teams to overlook it.
16:20Brian, thank you so much for your time.
16:22You're absolutely amazing with us.
16:24We really do appreciate it.
16:25Every single time you're willing to jump on with us, all the best to you.
16:28And you will be coming to Cleveland, I imagine.
16:30So we will see you at camp.
16:31Yes, I am.
16:32I will be there.
16:33I will be there on August, I think, August 4th.
16:38I think I'm in Cleveland.
16:39Outstanding.
16:40We will be there with bells on.
16:41Brian, thank you.
16:42All right, guys.
16:43Yep, you bet.
16:43Brian Baldinger, Odyssey NFL Insider.