00:00we head out to the wise heart right we make it right call kyle wright hotline as we do every
00:04wednesday at 320 and welcome on of cleveland.com and the orange and brown talk podcast ashley
00:10bastock ashley welcome to the show thanks for having me guys well it's great to have you here
00:15i thought those were there's at least one funny comment from jerry judy in response to media
00:20questions and then all of his comments did seem to be telling do you expect jerry judy to be here
00:26after the trade deadline i mean i would say i do still expect him to be here right now and
00:32i know
00:33you know my colleague mary k cabot has reported that they aren't looking to trade jerry but you
00:39know i think too we have to look at the browns overall situation and they're four and two right
00:45now they're at the top of the division i think in theory if things keep continuing along the way
00:52they are this is a team that's not going to necessarily be looking to sell at the trade
00:58deadline right like i think they're a team that uh could be looking to add some pieces and you know
01:04we know andrew berry likes to wheel and deal uh these draft picks especially and they have some
01:10later round picks i think that they could do some stuff with like we're not talking about giving up
01:15one of those firsts or one of those seconds even necessarily like uh they might want to look to
01:21bolster the running back room or the tight end room at this point there there are different things i think
01:26we could see them adding and and i think at four and two that's kind of what i'm thinking about
01:32and
01:32and you look at jerry judy specifically and i mean he's had a good attitude even after you know we
01:38go from
01:39andrew berry saying he's still going to be the bell cow receiver to him uh if you want to say
01:45getting demoted or losing out on that x spot to denzel boston the rookie uh in favor of moving him
01:52around more and taking a bit of a back seat like he's handled it all really well and has made
01:57big plays
01:58when they needed him to like i don't i don't know that if you're the browns that you would want
02:03to be
02:03losing pieces of this pass catching core uh when you're still kind of waiting for this offense
02:10and the passing offense to get humming along particularly earlier in games all right so if
02:16you want to be a buyer maybe not as much of a seller what's the what's the best draft compensation
02:21that you'd be willing to give up what's what's your is it a second round is it a third round
02:25there's got to be there's got to be a stopping line somewhere yeah probably like a second or third
02:30round i think is like a good a good answer for that right now um you know i don't know
02:36that i'm
02:37too crazy about parting with with first but here's the thing too we always joke about draft picks being
02:43marketing strategies right i know i've said that on this show before uh and you know we talk about
02:49two first round picks and that sounds great but if i tell you you know oh the first round picks
02:54are
02:54going to be jedwills and greg newsome the second both of whom didn't get to second contracts here
02:59uh then it's it's not so great so i i typically have never one to put like oh you absolutely
03:05can't
03:05lose this pick because you just don't know what a draft pick is going to wind up being and if
03:12you
03:12have a veteran that's going to be available to you right now then i think it's like almost always
03:18worth considering but you know i think value wise you want to try to hold on to those two firsts
03:24at
03:24this point uh but i mean i would be more than fine to to part with a second if you
03:30know you're
03:31getting a veteran that is going to help bolster what you have and help you win now all right ashley
03:36so uh obviously there's some name candy out there but uh just in terms of the the positions you think
03:43they should be looking for well give me like the top three spots you think the browns should be
03:47looking for if they are in fact buyers of the deadline yeah i mean i definitely think running back
03:52right now we know that run game has not gotten going i mean i was talking back in the summer
03:57about
03:58some of my concerns about this running back position and uh the the depth behind quinshawn judkins and
04:04here is sticking quinshawn a while to get going so i think that is a position group i would continue
04:11to look at uh tight end they've been thin at tight end because of the whole joe royer situation you
04:18know i think they anticipated that he was going to be a big part of this offense as a rookie
04:23and
04:23he hasn't been here uh so that's been hurt carson ryan who you know they drafted late on day three
04:29uh he had an injury last week he's obviously not gotten a ton of playing time uh harold fanon jr
04:36has you know gotten off to a bit of a slower start so i definitely would consider looking there
04:44uh and you know i don't know if they'd be interested in looking at linebacker i think
04:49they're a little thin there but we've talked about that that's why uh they've relied so heavily on
04:54three safety looks so i would say either they're like in the trenches because we know how they view
05:00those lines i think d-line they're getting healthier that's great but you know off i feel like they're
05:06just snobs when it comes to being the game in the trenches andrew berry has joked about that before so
05:12uh i feel like the those are like my top areas that i would be looking at right now
05:18all right uh as far as deshaun watson was concerned he's really good at these press conferences when
05:23he's winning games i've noticed uh he's gotten it's funny how that works uh the the deshaun watson
05:28party that happened at his house was a big topic today it really does actually feel like he's taken
05:33ownership of this team uh do you get that vibe as well yeah you know i think it it struck
05:39me today
05:39that one of the things deshaun said he got asked about the closeness of this team compared to other
05:45browns teams and he said he felt like the closest teams with the caveat obviously 2024 is when he goes
05:53through the achilles injuries he felt like the closest teams he was a part of were the 2023 team
05:58and this team and like i don't think that's a coincidence and todd munkin said it's the best
06:03today is like what comes first is it camaraderie or winning and he kind of said chicken or the egg
06:08and i do believe that's true because they do feel closer and more of like a close-knit group
06:13and uh deshaun definitely feels like he's taking ownership in a way that he just hasn't been able
06:19to i think largely because he hasn't been the starter right for so long since that early 2024
06:25but it is like what what does come first are you winning because guys are closer or guys easily
06:30getting closer because they are winning like it is kind of unknowable to me i think it's a little
06:37bit of both like you kind of can't have one without the other but what comes first you know
06:42i i feel like the the wins make it a lot easier to go out of your way to to
06:47bond like you've covered
06:49some bad teams in the last couple years did you feel like they were close at all i feel like
06:54they're
06:54not as close as this team is for sure like that's the that's the kind of driving home the point
07:00even
07:00more right and i think it's largely because when you win it's easier to get closer to these these
07:08other guys and i just think like in football which is where i was going with this there has to
07:12be more
07:12of that concerted effort like it's not like uh basketball where the roster is smaller in the nba or
07:17baseball when you're playing games every single day and you're just always together i think in the nfl it
07:24has to be a bit more of a concerted effort uh it's easier to only spend time with your position
07:30group
07:30or or only uh your side of the ball right and i feel like in years past especially you could
07:36feel
07:36that sort of seething tension from almost like the defense especially when they would go out there do
07:42their job and just for getting no help from the offense or defense and and i definitely don't feel
07:47like that this year uh it feels like the defense is just kind of ready for anything and they're like
07:52hey we're gonna give you guys a chance and whatever happens happens so uh that to me is like a
07:59noticeable difference so with that being said and what you just said there i think it's interesting
08:04because right now all that matters is winning at some point i do wonder whether deshaun has to play
08:11better to continue the good vibes going so does does deshaun have to play better to keep this as
08:16quote unquote deshaun's team i think he definitely has to play better like this offense
08:22has to reach a different level right i mean they've had a lot of things just go their way
08:30and we were talking about this like a lot of things have gone their way at these the end of
08:34games and
08:35these four game winning drives and you know i can think of past seasons i think about the 2024 season
08:41for example right where they only won three games and it felt like in those games a lot of things
08:47were
08:47going wrong at the end of the game i think about the raiders game that year i think about the
08:53loss
08:53to the giants that year i think about the monday night loss to denver that year there were so many
08:57games that they were like right on the cusp of winning and the ball just didn't bounce their way
09:03so i feel like right now the ball is bouncing their way that's not going to necessarily carry carry you
09:09through a whole season and deshaun has to get this offense humming earlier in games like that is the
09:16biggest thing and you don't want to be in a position to constantly have these nail-biting sort of wins
09:23and you got to take care of business earlier so i i think you know it was getting to a
09:28point where
09:29last week before he led them on the comeback where it's like oh gosh like you know i was starting
09:34to
09:34wonder like if it keeps going like this and you're coming off that jets game and it looks this bad
09:39early again like is he going to be able to hold on to the starting job for much longer you
09:45know because
09:45they have a younger guy waiting in the wings so uh i feel like you know the wins have to
09:50keep coming
09:50but he does also have to just help this offense get going a bit earlier in these games too yeah
09:56what
09:56do you attribute the slow starts to yeah i don't know like it's it's very odd right because some
10:02weeks it seems like oh he's great with denzel boston and then like this past week he wasn't so
10:08much he didn't have that chemistry he didn't have that chemistry with harold fanon so i don't i don't
10:13know if it's as simple as desperation time like they're calling a bit more of a hurry up game i
10:20know
10:20that's like one of the theories like is that just better can they do some of those things earlier
10:26i don't know and i also think too when these games are close uh and when you're losing it's
10:32obviously harder to get anything going with the run game the run game has just struggled and i think
10:37that in turn has made uh the past game early struggle so that the the hurry up idea is very
10:44interesting to me in these like crunch time situations like are they just better there and
10:49right now it seems like yeah like those are some of the best plays of these last couple of games
10:53that
10:54they've had so it's interesting but you know they're going to have to try to i think maybe
10:58incorporate some of that quicker stuff earlier and see if it works so uh we played some sound earlier
11:04brian mcfadden the cbs sports analyst says this is a gotta have it game for cleveland on sunday
11:09against the titans baskin and phelps debated whether this win makes the browns legit or not what do you see
11:16is hanging in the balance of a winner loss for the browns on sunday against the titans
11:21well for me it's not just a oh you have to beat the titans like this is a trap game
11:27and then i do
11:28think it has trap game elements like it feels very similar to the jets game in a lot of ways
11:33but for
11:34me like this is a team that you should be able to beat just based on the fact of where
11:40you are as a
11:41team versus where they are you're four and two uh you're playing better overall you have i think more
11:48weapons on offense that you need to use so you just you need to win and it needs to not
11:54be
11:54particularly close like it needs to not be one of these oh my gosh we need a game winning drive
12:00at
12:00the end and it's a real nail biter until the very end like i think you need to win win
12:05at least a
12:06little bit comfortably you know we don't see many blowouts in the nfl and even when the vegas odds
12:11makers set these odds it's it's rare to find a game where one team is like a multi-score favorites
12:18anymore like points just kind of come in this league now so i think you need to win this a
12:24little bit
12:24comfortably to show like you are legit and for the browns to get some more like national recognition
12:31because you looked around even after that uh ravens game and you know they still i believe have the
12:38lowest odds to win the division uh they're not heavily favored against tennessee by all
12:44by any means i think it was one and a half points yesterday or two and a half i mean
12:47it wasn't by a
12:48lot so i think winning a game comfortably that you're just supposed to win based on talent based
12:54on what you've done so far uh is the next step that they sort of need to take ashley great
13:00stuff as
13:01always uh we appreciate you and i'm going to pat myself on the back right now because this thing did
13:06not go off the rails and uh you're welcome yeah there's just so much to talk about when they they
13:11keep winning it's hard to get off the rails that's my theory okay don't tempt him yeah don't don't
13:16taunt me like that ashley because i i if i sense an opportunity i'll go there guys you're forgetting
13:23the conversation we had last week with the uber eats driver you are right i am forgetting it uh
13:31completely forgot it yeah it's like you're right yeah but now that we're here uh explain your
13:37conversation with an uber eats driver there guys guys this like shout out to this guy who delivered
13:43i believe it was when i got friday lunch at the facility and i get a message and i assume
13:48it's a
13:48message like about the logistics of the drop-off but it was somebody who listens to this segment
13:55every week and said that i should tell nick to stop saying i digress so much and i just admired
14:02how like respectful it was there was no name calling it was just like a minor suggestion it wasn't rude
14:09it wasn't weird it wasn't creepy and it genuinely made me laugh and i sent it to you guys so
14:14yeah i
14:15mean shout out to shout out to the driver that had the bravery to message me that and i i
14:21received it
14:21with the laugh that's all i know just like he gets one note yeah that's the note hey one opportunity
14:28if that was nick it wasn't even to me it was nick it was the best part after the last
14:34two weeks
14:34yeah it wasn't even about your guardian's take i know that's what i was gonna say if after the
14:39last two weeks if that's the only note i'm getting from your uber eats driver i'm a very happy man
14:43uh but i digress ashley fan nashley that's all ashley be great great walk off nick say oh i digress
14:51a slow word but uh on the wise heart right we make it right call kyle right hotline ashley
14:56bastock at cleveland.com the orange and brown talk podcast
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