00:00She usually joins us via phone on the Y chart, right? We make it right. Call Kyle, right? Hotline.
00:06But for the second straight week in person, I think that was last week, too. I don't know. Time's a
00:10flat circle.
00:12Cleveland.com's Ashley Bastock joining us now. Hi, Ashley.
00:14Hi, guys. Are we going to get a third straight week? Are you guys out here next week?
00:18This is our last day.
00:19This is the last day. Final open practice. Okay, yeah. So you'll have to settle for phone next week.
00:25For my betterment, I need it to be the last day because we have gotten progressively closer and closer to
00:33me just snatching a dog and taking it home.
00:35Yeah, I saw you yesterday.
00:37I have been warned. You saw those great Pyrenees puppies.
00:40I saw you with those puppies, and I thought for sure you were going to walk out with one.
00:45There was literally a mound of puppies, three of them napping on one another. It was very sweet.
00:50And my wife literally had to say, walk away. She knows me.
00:54She knows that I got puppy fever, and it's a real condition, and the only cure is more puppy.
01:01I understand. Well, I can't.
01:04Paul Inca, my dog currently, is definitely an only child.
01:07He's too smart and bad for his own good.
01:09I did try to bully my boyfriend and convince him that he should adopt one of them,
01:13and I had to stop the bullying because I had to get to working and watching practice.
01:18And he said, if I had kept it going a little bit longer, I was almost there. I didn't know
01:23it at the time.
01:25We've had all sorts of people. Grant Delpit did a whole interview with one of the dogs right in his
01:29lap.
01:29Yeah, I saw that.
01:30I was just going for it these days.
01:31Didn't Denzel Boston say he got his pup from here this year?
01:34He did. He did. That's right. He did.
01:36We love Denzel Boston. How much time have you spent around him?
01:39I think he's absolutely fantastic.
01:40Yeah, first of all, I think he's had the most impressive camp for a rookie that I can remember.
01:47I mean, he just catches everything.
01:49Now, to put that in context, I've been here since my first training camp would have been the 2022 season.
01:55But even more impressive than, like, Harold Fannin was last year.
01:58Yeah, you know, I would say it's just the way they're utilizing him.
02:01And I thought Harold Fannin was great last year, but I think Denzel Boston,
02:05why he gets so many eyeballs, which we talked about last week,
02:08is just those kind of contested plays he continuously makes that have really just impressed me with him.
02:16And the fact that he's a bigger receiver than they've had, he's the biggest guy in that room right now.
02:21I think he's pretty good when you get to talk to him for an interview.
02:24And, you know, these guys cycle through during training camp,
02:27so most of them you only get, like, one, maybe two times.
02:30But when we talked to him, I really liked the mentality about how mad he was.
02:35He was not a first-round pick.
02:36I love when guys find those little ways to get juiced up.
02:40Todd Munkin, of course, is like, well, it's not that bad if you got taken 39 in the NFL draft.
02:45But, no, I love when guys, you know, do the little Michael Jordan and I took that personally thing.
02:50So I think he's a great addition for sure.
02:53We're that way about interviews and radio.
02:55Yeah.
02:55If somebody gets one of our interviews, oh, do we take it personally?
02:58I do want to know, obviously today Todd Munkin said he'll be telling whoever will start on Saturday at quarterback,
03:07he'll be telling them after practice.
03:09How surprised would you be if that was Shador Sanders?
03:12I would be a little surprised just because I do feel like this has been trending towards Deshaun starting that
03:19first game
03:19and Shador starting the game at home.
03:22It just, I don't know.
03:24It's mostly a feeling.
03:25I think it's largely the fact Deshaun has really come along this last week or so.
03:31And it just kind of feels like they're going to want to get that first look with him.
03:35And we also did find out today that whoever doesn't start is going to play in the third quarter.
03:39So it's also like, eh, how much does it really matter necessarily?
03:44Just because we're going to both see both of them play in that game on Saturday too.
03:50How much do you feel like they're going to actually weigh these preseason games?
03:53Obviously they're weighing everything that's happening in practices,
03:55but how much is it going to account for what happens in those games?
03:59I don't know, honestly, a percentage because like I could say, eh, it doesn't count as much as practice.
04:05But then if, I don't know, if something crazy happens, it of course is going to count more.
04:10But I do think like what Todd Munkin values is just that ability to get the unpredictable stuff in the
04:17preseason games.
04:18And I think that's why we're going to see maybe more veterans play than in the past,
04:21because there are just certain things out here that you can't manufacture.
04:25And again, I think with the quarterbacks too, and I've talked about this way regarding Deshaun Watson
04:30and like whether he'll play again.
04:32And it felt like the last few times we saw him play, 2024, you know, parts of 2023,
04:38I would even argue that you weren't seeing that sort of feel for the pass rush or that feel for
04:44getting hit.
04:45And now we're talking about a guy who hasn't played a game since 2024.
04:50So I am curious about that.
04:52I think he's had some stronger practices out here, but what is that all going to look like
04:56when that threat of getting hit is actually there?
04:58Shoulder Sanders, I thought, had a really funny joke about that today.
05:01As you saw how many times I got hit in college, it doesn't really impact me anymore.
05:05But I think there's an element of that with every quarterback.
05:08And I think with Deshaun, when you're talking about a veteran,
05:10a veteran who has come back from significant injuries that hasn't played a game in almost two years,
05:16that to me has to be a huge factor in your decision.
05:21And I'll be curious to kind of hear what Todd Munkin says about that.
05:24Ashley, I thought it was interesting today.
05:25Deshaun compared, you know, playing quarterback again, he said it was like riding a bike.
05:32And when we were talking about it, I was like, I'm pretty sure he said the same thing in 2022
05:39after his 11-game suspension.
05:41And JP looked it up, and he did.
05:43The week after he was getting ready to come off the suspension, he compared it to like riding a bike.
05:49And Deshaun has been so positive, so optimistic about where he is,
05:55that it's interesting because on the field, he looks like a different player the last week
06:00than he looked like the week before heading into camp.
06:03But yet the messaging hasn't changed.
06:05So I'm not sure what is real with him and what isn't.
06:08But, like, are you convinced, not convinced, are you gaining some suspicion that he might be back?
06:15Well, I think the more interesting answer from him to me today was when he got asked about,
06:21like, is there a chance you're going to be 2020 Houston Deshaun?
06:25And he said no.
06:27And, I mean, he said, I'm older, I'm 30, I've had all these injuries,
06:32like I'm going to be a different version of who I was, and I kind of recognized that.
06:37I thought he gave a pretty thoughtful answer to the point that I wanted to ask Todd Munkin about it
06:41because Todd Munkin's been around all these quarterbacks, and I'm like, hey,
06:44is it important for a quarterback to sort of have that, you know, you want to be competitive,
06:49but to have an awareness, a self-awareness about your skill set and where you're at.
06:53And Todd Munkin actually said he refused to acknowledge that.
06:57Yeah, he's like, I won't put a ceiling on him.
06:59Yeah, he said he won't put a ceiling on him that he was like,
07:02maybe he can get back to that 2020 version of himself.
07:04So I was like, okay, well, yeah, whatever, sure.
07:07So I thought that was interesting.
07:09Isn't that a little alarming, though, that Deshaun himself would be acknowledging
07:13that that part of himself doesn't exist?
07:15It's interesting.
07:16A part that Munkin himself has said, like, I've gone back and I've watched the Houston tape.
07:20He's like, shouldn't you be watching more of the Browns tape?
07:22No, I went back and watched the Houston tape.
07:24And it's like, well, you're searching for something that even Deshaun has acknowledged isn't there.
07:27Yeah, it's fascinating.
07:28And, like, part of that, to me, I sort of wonder, we've talked about before this idea.
07:33Todd Munkin obviously has a pretty high opinion of himself and his ability to work with quarterbacks.
07:38So if you're this guy who's worked with everyone from Stetson Bennett to Lamar Jackson
07:43and gotten, like, you think the best out of them,
07:45of course you're going to look at, I think, a former pro bowler and be like,
07:49yeah, I can get shades of that guy back here.
07:52So sometimes I think with Todd Munkin, the way he says things is very much like
07:57how a coach would talk to a player, even when he's talking to the media.
08:02So it plays a little bit differently, I think, with us than it does with players.
08:07But you kind of get that, you know, Coach Munkin out there that's speaking.
08:11And I think he's done that a handful of times.
08:13And today was maybe the best example.
08:16But I would have been curious to hear his answer to, is it important?
08:19Like, do they need this self-awareness to them?
08:21Because, like, how I took his answer is, no, they shouldn't have that much self-awareness about themselves.
08:27I took it that way, too, as if delusional is almost better for them.
08:30I always joke about that, that I think, you know, delusion gets thrown around a lot online and memes or
08:38whatever.
08:39But I do think to be, like, a successful professional athlete, every single one of them has to have some
08:43level of delusion, right?
08:44Because the dream itself is so crazy, so few people make it.
08:49You have to have that ability to think about yourself in these larger-than-life terms.
08:54Ashley, it's interesting.
08:55Todd Munkin talking within the last 48 hours about how much the guys are going to play in the preseason
09:00game,
09:01whether it's this one or the next one.
09:03We're not really used to this a lot.
09:05No.
09:05Because, again, kind of going along with the practice stuff.
09:08Like, they're practicing more this year than they were with Kevin.
09:12Obviously, they seem like they're going to play more in the preseason.
09:15Do you have a similar outlook on playing that much in the preseason as you do with kind of concern
09:20that maybe they were trying to practice too much?
09:23Yeah, you know, the thing that always makes me nervous about playing your key either starters or role players in
09:31these preseason games
09:32is if it gets out of balance with what your opponent is doing.
09:35Because if you're sending out, I don't know, like maybe not a starter, but a significant depth guy.
09:42And there's a possibility in my eyes that they get injured if someone on the other side is trying to
09:47make a play because it's like do or die for them.
09:49They're just trying to do anything they can to get on the practice squad, for example.
09:53So that's when I get a little more nervous, I would argue even, is just this idea of there's so,
09:59to Todd Munkin's point,
10:00there's so much in these games that you can't control.
10:02I actually am a huge advocate of joint practices for that reason.
10:06I think joint practices are really key because you can control them and you are going up against a different
10:11defense.
10:11But you do kind of have to be wary, and I don't know, like the injuries are piling up on
10:16this team, especially on the D-line.
10:19I looked yesterday, this team, two of their top six defensive tackles on that unofficial depth chart are healthy right
10:27now.
10:27Two out of six.
10:28And one of them is Mason Graham, who was banged up like last week.
10:32So I get a little wary depending on the game plan of the other team and who is going to
10:38be out there for them.
10:39Ashley, great stuff as always.
10:41We appreciate you joining us every week here.
10:43And I think we get real credit here that we didn't just say, who looked better today, Deshaun or Shador?
10:50So who looked better today, Deshaun or Shador?
10:52It was a different day.
10:53Our credit just got taken away.
10:55You did get taken away.
10:56Do you actually want me to answer?
10:57We got the credit, and then here we go.
10:58All right.
10:59I mean, I would say I would give today to Shador Sanders based on that Isaiah Bond throw that I
11:06was right in front of today.
11:07That was a nice throw.
11:08It was a very nice throw.
11:09It was a very nice catch by Isaiah Bond.
11:12So that would be my answer for today.
11:14That's all I needed to hear.
11:15Ashley, great stuff.
11:16We appreciate you.
11:16Thanks, guys.
11:17Ashley Bestock here, live out of camp.
11:19Of course, she usually joins us in the Wiseheart, right?
11:21We make it right.
11:22Call Kyle Wright Hotline.
11:24Kyle Wright Hotline.
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