Joel Bitonio Returns & Nick Chubb's Future | Cleveland Browns Daily | 3-6-25 - Cleveland Browns Podcast Network

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to Cleveland Brown's Daily live on the Cleveland
Browns Podcast Network, presented by Brown's VIP Tailgate.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Coming to you live from the Cross Country Mortgage Campus
in Barrea, Ohio. This is Cleveland Browns Daily, presented by
Bally Bett, an official sports betting partner of your Cleveland
Browns on eight fifty ESPN Cleveland. You are your hosts,
Bo Bishop and Nathan Zegura.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
He Serre live on a sun kiss Thursday edition of
Cleveland Brown's Daily. I am merely Bo. He is the
great Z. You're back, Baby, I'm back.

Speaker 4 (00:56):
I feel like I got so much son, I almost
leaned into the background the color.

Speaker 3 (01:00):
Yeah, I got a little bit of sun. Look at
the juxtaposition of seeing an orbit in the sky for
several days consecutively and not and not. Although we had
one good day, I heard that we had one good day.
Was it gibe? Was it Tuesday?

Speaker 5 (01:13):
Tuesday?

Speaker 3 (01:14):
Tuesday was good? It was good. It was sixty sun.
Oh God, Buddy Garritty was loping in the yard. We
had a little fetch real excited, picked up sixty five
thousand pounds of his feces. It was great and then
gone and this is what you want.

Speaker 4 (01:29):
By the way, it's hard for me to believe it
because as we got on our plane, yeah, to leave
on Saturday morning, Yeah, it snowed out of nowhere. Even
though when I was pulling in from Indianapolis at around
seven thirty on Friday nighty night, Yeah, it was it
was sixty and raining, and by the morning it was snowing.

Speaker 3 (01:48):
Yeah, that's right. So no wonder everybody.

Speaker 4 (01:50):
And then I've landed and it was snowing again. So
you had in late last night, yeah, like one oneish
in the morning.

Speaker 3 (01:56):
Yeah. And so when you de boored, it hits you.

Speaker 4 (02:00):
A the second you take one step on the jellway, like,
this is ridiculous.

Speaker 3 (02:04):
What have we done? What have we what are we doing?
I declared winter over while you were gone. Declared it over?

Speaker 5 (02:11):
Wrong?

Speaker 3 (02:12):
Well, this was a state. This is all over by
what like Monday? Doesn't matter, dude, It March.

Speaker 5 (02:18):
What you declared is this is not going to be
a long term like multi day month.

Speaker 3 (02:26):
Like this, we're gonna get more of.

Speaker 5 (02:27):
Daylight savings comes your way Saturday.

Speaker 3 (02:29):
Night, Oh my gosh, thank goodness. By the way, how
about the fact that Musk is now tweeting do you
want longer days or shorter days? And he actually has
the power now to just make it happen. They're just
gonna make it happen longer. We want longer days, he tweeted.
I think it was yesterday. Do you want longer? Do
you want longer in the morning or at night? Longer?
Longer at night? Night, night nights. I saw day long

(02:54):
daylight savings time this Saturday right that where I grew
up in monte It works out true by the time
we get to Sunday. Just the idea that spring is coming,
all of those things, an extra one hundred minutes of sun.
We're around eighty minutes of sun in the day by
the change, but around one hundred minutes. Yeah, a big deal.

(03:14):
How are you? How was it? How'd you live? God?
You look great? The documentarian, she was really ripping it
off all sorts of food.

Speaker 4 (03:21):
He's like, how come you don't post it? I said,
because anybody who knows me follows you. Because I don't
need to repost.

Speaker 3 (03:27):
You do it all. You're an elite documentarian. You don't
walk up to Kenny Burns and say Kenny Burns's wife
and say, why don't you document more right, she says,
because I am married to the best. Yes, come on,
miss kay, you're the best. Let's go. She is. She's tremendous.
It was great. It was great. It started off a
little bit not great. But we'll see what the resolution

(03:51):
of this is. So so you don't have to get
all of the details.

Speaker 4 (03:55):
But I'll hit the keynote. H the hit, the hit
the big ones. Give a I don't think Gibbe knows
this story yet, So.

Speaker 5 (04:03):
I don't I leave you all alone with you, at
least I tried to you do it.

Speaker 4 (04:10):
So Saturday morning it had snowed again. So before we're
going to fly down to Atlanta, we need to be
de ice. Now we have a tight connection. I think
it was like booked at forty five minutes.

Speaker 3 (04:22):
Here's the deal though, you booked it on their site,
right of course, so they know they allow you to
book it. Yeah, they're tight. They're saying, this is the flight,
this is where you're at. Yeah, so they they, by
the way, build the game.

Speaker 4 (04:37):
If you leave the gate on time, you get in early,
so it shouldn't be an issue. Well, we leave the
gate on time, but because it was snowing, we've got
a d ice.

Speaker 3 (04:45):
And the snow must have snuck up on folks. They
weren't prepared for the snow.

Speaker 4 (04:48):
Or it felt like they had like one de ice
are working because it took us an hour to d
ice and we're just sitting there forever.

Speaker 5 (04:58):
That happened to me when we went to Florida a
few weeks ago, literally a two and a half hour
flight to Florida took four hours and ten minutes. I
might as well Florida the west coast because we had
to wait to de ice.

Speaker 3 (05:14):
I understand why this is Cleveland.

Speaker 4 (05:17):
There should be no shortage of detroure, Like, let's have
everybody ready to de ice and then we can. It
only takes it so many minutes per plane, Yes, quick,
let's call it ten minutes a plane. Yeah, you should
have five d iicers out there. You can get five
planes every ten minutes. They're not taking off any faster
than that. No, so like there'd be no delays with it.

(05:38):
So nonetheless we're delayed. So now it's getting like it's
getting antsy. But they're assuring us, you know, okay, we're
going to get there on time. Well, now we're not
going to get there on time. Now we're going to
be twenty minutes late, which gives us a twenty minute connection.
But we're flying into the A gates and we're leaving
from the A gate, So feel finer, right, Atlanta feels possible?

Speaker 5 (06:00):
Serious luminaries, Yeah, there are a lot of people in
this building today.

Speaker 3 (06:04):
No, quite serious. That's pray as serious. It's on a
short list of as serious as it gets walking by.

Speaker 4 (06:09):
Yes, yes, in this state, yeah, I would agree, or
the nation.

Speaker 3 (06:13):
Yes, yes. So we're getting miss k very nervous. Long
story short.

Speaker 4 (06:21):
We were supposed to land it let's call it nine
fifteen for a ten am connection. We land end up
landing at nine to thirty for a ten am connection. Okay,
then we got to get back. Now we get off
this plane very quickly. They say, you know some people,
most people don't listen to that, like, hey, there are

(06:42):
and they listed the flights are like these three flights
all have connections in the next thirty minutes. If you
are not on these flights, please sit down and just
let them.

Speaker 3 (06:50):
Anybody follow or did everyone just go to help?

Speaker 4 (06:52):
I would say maybe ten percent of people followed because everybody, yeah,
bait most people, But we we only get up. We moved,
so we're like, we're we got off the plane a
quick as we couldn't. Turns out, because we were late,
our gate at the A gate was gone. They fly
into the Tea gates. So people are familiar with Atlantic
goes T Gates, ABCD all the way out to eat.
Now TA Gates is just one gate away.

Speaker 3 (07:13):
So it depends where you are.

Speaker 4 (07:14):
Here we go, so we're there, so we've got ten
am departure. We are off the plane with I want
to say, twenty one minutes to go to ten. We
are like, I'm like, babe, we've got to go. So

(07:36):
we get out there and mind you folks, Miss Kay
is with child, with child late second trimester, like, this
is not we're no, there's this is little zogs. It's
like a basketball running around right. So we're running and
at one point I say, listen, I'm gonna go ahead.

Speaker 3 (07:57):
It's my move. I go ahead, I'll go ahead and
get to the gates and I'll hold it. Get here.

Speaker 4 (08:05):
So from the Tea gates, we couldn't wait for the train,
so you sprint down in the in the bowels of
the Atlanta Airport. For those who've been there, I get
on two of the moving sidewalks. I am cooking.

Speaker 3 (08:15):
Yeah, like I have.

Speaker 4 (08:16):
Not run this fast in a long long time, bob
and weaving. Maybe feel good, maybe feel young and a
lot so. And then I gotta go up and that
escalator from the train, like two thirds of the way there.
I was just like, took a pause and then kept going.

(08:37):
Got up to the top.

Speaker 3 (08:38):
Boom.

Speaker 4 (08:39):
We're at twenty four, which is not that far from
the middle boom, booking it. I make it from our
gate in the tea gates to gate A twenty four
and six minutes.

Speaker 3 (08:48):
Jeez, that's humming, humming. Yeah, that's cooking.

Speaker 4 (08:52):
So I get to the gate, yeah at nine for
a ten am departure fifteen minutes before. Good, use ten
minutes now now it's fifteen minutes four.

Speaker 3 (09:03):
Yeah, you're safe, So I'm good. So I get there.
Planes there.

Speaker 4 (09:09):
Oh, by the way, they decide we're going to actually
leave a nine to fifty five most people here. I'm like,
wait a second, you know that a flight's coming in
with people on for this plane?

Speaker 3 (09:16):
Like, why in the world. He gets a little computer.

Speaker 4 (09:18):
So she's like, don't worry. We count it from from
ten o'clock to quila, look at them.

Speaker 3 (09:23):
I love this. Guy said, we counted ten o'clock.

Speaker 5 (09:26):
You're good.

Speaker 4 (09:26):
I said, yeah, but and my wife is with me.
My my wife is pregnant. She's like a minute or
two behind me. It's like, oh no, no way, can't
let you on. You never told me that part of it,
that you were good. And they were saying, oh no, no, no,
they said I could get on. But you've got to
be kidding. You're like, but she's not here. I'm like,
she's in the airport, like she is a minute behind me.
So we go back and forth. At nine forty seven,

(09:48):
I call miss Kay who answers the phone, and I'm like,
where are you? And guess what lo and behold we
see her. We can see her. I go there, she
is right there, she goes, go goes, no, it's too late.
I said, what do you The play is right here,
the plane's right here. You said, I'm good. I said,
this is my pregnant wife, Like we're going on a
baby moon. Like you're a human being. I'm a human being.

(10:08):
Like this is not gonna delay anything, No, can you
You said you were gonna let me on the fight.
She's here now, it's now nine forty eight, and she's
physically here and she won't let us on the plane.
And then she tells us sorry, like sheesus is not
having it, and she's like, well, the best we can
do now is book you on a flight that leaves
at four point thirty and you'll get into Puerto Rico

(10:31):
like nine. And I'm just like, man, the plane is
still right here. Somebody just walks up from the gate
I go and open. So I'm like, the door is
you can let you can allow us to do this
if you would like to do it, like please, will
you let us do this? No, she won't let us
do this. I was like, then I'm like, okay, I

(10:54):
need to talk to like a supervisor. Supervisor comes and
my recollection of it, I wrote a whole long thing
out to to Delta that has the exact details. But
at one point, I'm pretty sure the supervisor was there
when she said and I quote because I was like it, go, man,

(11:19):
she's pregnant. She cannot run like I can. You knew
I was here, She's two minutes away. Like you saw
her at nine forty seven. You made visual eye contact
with her for a ten am flight. That is right, here,
and she was pregnant at some point. Again, I don't
know the exact time, but I have to go read
my notes. She says an I quote, that's no excuse.

(11:44):
When I was pregnant, I would have made it on time.

Speaker 5 (11:50):
Wow. Someone really is looking forward to being unemployed, like I.

Speaker 3 (11:57):
Want to an eternity in hell. I'm going to go
ahead as well.

Speaker 4 (12:00):
I'm gonna go ahead and pat my back because lose
it like young me would have ended up in prison. Yes, wow,
And I'm just like, what did you say? Like what,
I'm pretty sure the lady must have been there. Rosa
was her name, who was tremendous. The supervisor's tremendous. She
is basically like we're telling her story.

Speaker 3 (12:20):
She's like.

Speaker 4 (12:22):
What She's like, they have five minutes of leeway, like
she you totally should have been on this flight.

Speaker 3 (12:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (12:29):
So now they're told, you know, once it's closed, it's closed,
but like, yeah, it wasn't gonna exact.

Speaker 3 (12:34):
The door was closed because when you got there.

Speaker 4 (12:36):
Yeah, because they close it early because they moved it
from ten to ninety five, but they still count the
fifteen minutes from the original ten. So I was there
even though the door is physical closed. So she was
gonna again let me personally, but yeah, my wife who's
two minutes away not And she was well aware she's
pregnant and made that comment, which was like, so we're

(12:58):
going back forth with and at this point the planes
now moved away from like there's.

Speaker 3 (13:02):
Gear cooked, it's done, it's done. What's the best we
can do?

Speaker 4 (13:06):
So we run through the whole thing with with Rosa
and she was again tremendous. And then in the middle
of it, this lady because we're talking and telling the
story at least like rolling her the lady one Lessid's
like rolling her eyes and be like oh, like I'm like,
are you is this? Are you serious? I go you insulted,
like you insulted my wife. Whether you think it or not,
it was in some ways like discriminatory against her for

(13:28):
being with child, which should create sympathy.

Speaker 3 (13:31):
Not the other. And then she started screaming.

Speaker 4 (13:35):
At me like I'm not your wife, I'm not your wife,
and I'm like, no kidding, and I because that many
things which I said, none of was just like.

Speaker 3 (13:44):
Okay, right, and the Rosa is like this like go
take a walk, like oh, she told her, you got kindly.

Speaker 5 (13:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (13:53):
Yet wow.

Speaker 4 (13:55):
So long story short, they were very apologetic. The next
flight out was noon, which we were told was over sold,
and initially Rose even said that.

Speaker 3 (14:05):
But then once she's made those comments, well figured out,
all of a.

Speaker 4 (14:08):
Sudden, we're booked in very nice seats on the noon flight,
and she was like, you know, write this up, file this,
do it all, blah blah blah blah blah. Like she
walked with us and stayed with us for like ten minutes.
It was beyond apologetic, like she's like, I am shocked,
and I said this sen at the end of the day,
I don't want this person like give a I don't

(14:28):
want her to.

Speaker 3 (14:29):
Lose her job. Yeah yeah, yeah, We're not trying to
affect somebody's life.

Speaker 5 (14:32):
But I'm all in.

Speaker 3 (14:36):
That's why I said, this is a customer service business.
And I said it's not anymore.

Speaker 4 (14:40):
Back in the day, I actually consulted when I worked
for McKinsey, I consulted for Delta Airlines, and one of
the things that they always stressed and any customer service
Act act is it's not necessarily even about that moment.
It's about the life value of the customer. And you
have in those moments, a situation where she could have

(15:01):
been gracious, and that it makes me say I would
like to fly Delta always.

Speaker 3 (15:06):
They were human in the situation, they were.

Speaker 4 (15:09):
Kind, and that enhances thus my life value as a customer.
The converse of that is you do something like that
and it's like, I don't even want to fly on
this airline ever again now because Rosa was so great,
Delta so very much in my good graces, but this
was an appalling situation. Again, Supervisor crazy could not have

(15:32):
been better, Like it was nuts and miss Kate, you
know when you're with child, I don't know these spirit we.

Speaker 3 (15:37):
Don't, but women can be.

Speaker 4 (15:38):
She's like emotional about this, like all of a sudden,
we're going on this baby moon and we're supposed to
be there, you know, one in the afternoon, and now
it looks like we're gonna get there eleven at night. Yeah,
like all kinds of badness anyway, So she makes it,
Rosa makes it good, ends up working out, it's all fine,
but just like a completely just a ludicrous situation. And

(16:01):
then to be like rolling your eyes and mocked, like
mocking the whole thing.

Speaker 3 (16:05):
I did not know in the original telling of this,
which we did be a text on the day that
it happened, that you were there and were letting you on. Yes,
that wrinkle to this story. It's even crazier. It takes
it from a nine to a ninety on an obduced behavior,
and then our comment takes the comment that nukes it

(16:26):
all right. Couple of things. Number one, I wonder if
because all of these flight are oversold and someone who's
in the industry can correct me if I'm wrong, But
I wonder if they gave away one of your seats, no,
and there was only one seat left. I asked that
do we but how could we prove? Because Rosa knows
that's the supervisor was like, She's like, actually there were

(16:47):
two empty seats. Hey, your seats are on. Your seats
are empty. This plane flew empty. Wow, that's crazy because
that I was thinking, like, well, maybe they gave one
of them away, but there was only one and so no,
put you on but not the other.

Speaker 4 (16:57):
That was literally because I was there and she was
two minutes away.

Speaker 3 (17:01):
I know that that they their thing of like the
doors closed. They can't like it's like turning a key
on a nuclear submits. Also not true.

Speaker 4 (17:09):
What the truth that they have leeway within five minutes,
they have discretion, and they had they would have to
then explain it.

Speaker 3 (17:19):
Yeah, but she's like, this is a pretty like easy
one to explain.

Speaker 4 (17:26):
Meanwhile, there were within the time before ten am, before
ten am at we're having art, there were another ten
people that came that were like they had come after
like they called let's say nine fifty two to nine
fifty six, they got there still before ten We're all
just like goodbye, you're out of luck.

Speaker 3 (17:46):
And those people for sure were not on the next light.
They were on lucky. If they're on the last one's right,
it could be it could be losing a whole day.

Speaker 5 (17:54):
You never know.

Speaker 3 (17:54):
Yeah, it's a broken industry. You know. You said that
what you were talking about with Mackenzie and how they
you consulted for Delta. The reason that they had to
have that stance then is because there was true competition.
Yes there is not anymore. No, there are four main carriers,
then there's the other carriers. But oftentimes in order to
get from we just don't have options anymore. So they

(18:15):
don't have to treat you well, no they don't. They're
not in the customer service business anymore. They're in the
money making business and they don't really care. And there
is no grace. I mean there was. We are old
enough and flew regularly enough to where if you missed
a flight, they would get on the phone and put
you on another carrier. Put called FIM. Yeah, they three
on another carrier. They would let's let's make this right

(18:36):
for you. There was a an effort to have customer service.
It's gone. It's entirely gone. They don't care about any
of it. Rosa is might be the most shocking part
of the whole story, and I'm guessing that only because
she was right there and witnessed it. And the miscay component.
I think the mis case is a big part of it, right,

(18:58):
But that part of it is something that ends up
on the evening news if it's told, I mean, something
goes viral or whatever. Yeah, yeah, that's probably what was
the catalyst for it, because if it was you and
me and it wasn't you and miss k then I
think we're flying at night. It's those circumstances that let
and then the fact that Rosa was there, I think
she that's that's as much of a surprise that she

(19:19):
was there and she made it right. That was God
bless her.

Speaker 5 (19:21):
That's great.

Speaker 3 (19:21):
She was fantastic. The reality is that if you want
to go back to Puerto Rico, you're gonna have to
fly Delta more likely than not. Yes, you know, they
just you don't have the options. We don't have the
options to hold these people accountable anymore. And in terms
of when we were talking about like the ten percent
of people who stood up thing and said let the
rest of these people go yep, the airlines have created

(19:45):
a Lord of the Flies environment where none of us Nope,
nobody is looking out for anybody else because they're not
looking out for you. So you're asking passengers to be
selfless when you're into tea is not So we're just
behaving the way you do.

Speaker 4 (20:04):
Right, It's it was wild. Nonetheless, worked out. We get
down there. The resort was the original was supposed to
depart Atlanta at ten am.

Speaker 5 (20:17):
So what flight did you get on?

Speaker 3 (20:18):
So Rosa got us on the next one out, which
was noon. Okay, so that's fine, fine, salvage. We still
had a wonderful first hours in the Atlanta airport. That's fine.

Speaker 4 (20:27):
To make it work, it's fine. And then we went
down and say the Candado Vanderbilt. It was electric, it
was elite, first class, great hotel, great view, great weather,
great city, great country, great territory. I guess of the
United States love Puerto Rico. The people there were so great.

(20:47):
The food was excellent, weather was excellent, it was perfect.
It was a perfect I could not urge not to
be that. I'm not on the Puerto Rico Board of Tourism,
but I could not urge people to go. It's very easy.
You do not need to pass support. It is a
US territory. The currency is the dollar, makes everything very simple. Yeah,
and it was awesome. Old San Juan is rich. Was

(21:09):
so much history, just incredibly incredible. It was better than
I could have imagined. And I've done, you know, Bahamas,
I haven't done some of the you know, super you know,
the Saint Lucia's and the Yeah Kits and Saint Bart's
and all of those things which would be certainly fun
to do. I I thought it was fantastic. I really

(21:32):
thought it was really really cool.

Speaker 3 (21:34):
Well, and now I'm back and we got a lot
we had the NFL. The last twenty four hours has
been bonkers. A lot going on. We've we have a
lot of people in here. We have like national luminaries
and then yeah, we had draft luminaries. Uh cam Ward
reportedly uh in town here today to make his Top

(21:55):
thirty visit. We had Abduel Carter, Travis Hunner, Shuder, Sanders
yesterday on THEIRS and then cam Order portly will be
here today. So you have that going on as we
inch closer to the draft. We also have the return
of Joel Atonio yes, which is which is fantastic.

Speaker 4 (22:09):
It's not only as a good news, it's great news.
And we had that feeling right at the combine. We
said if he was retiring, they would have I think
known at the combine and so this is this is
great and I think, you know, for Joel, if I'm
putting myself into Joel's mind, it's I want to play
another year. I want to see this thing turn around.

(22:32):
And I think he's got the potential to do a
couple of things right. One too, come back Brown's, you know,
bring in a veteran quarterback. The Browns draft a quarterback
at the top, and we start turning this thing back around.
Or you know, things are there are signs of progress
but it's clear this year is not going to be
a postseason year.

Speaker 3 (22:53):
You know, in the middle of the season.

Speaker 4 (22:54):
He's somebody that could say, hey, you know, do me
a solid let me this is this is my last rodeo. Yep,
send me to a contender. You'll get something for it.
We all win, right, So I think that for Joel
it's still all on table. And I love the fact
though that he was initial goal is to come back
here with the Cleveland Browns and have us you know,
he wants to be a part of us winning here

(23:14):
in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 3 (23:16):
Yeah. So obviously at this stage of his career, he's
not going to play unless a he wants to be,
he thinks it's worth his time. And so this offseason
plan is one that worked for him and one that
or one that he anticipates working and being in the
middle of a competitive team. He's such a The other
thing is just like the individual career accomplishment start to

(23:37):
stack a little bit too for Joel, So right now
probably the outside looking in for gold jacket. But if
you were to stack and play a couple more years
and get some All Pro recognition, then maybe you could
find your way into that conversation, but obviously thrilled to
have him back, and as Kevin said, I don't want
to contemplate the idea of not having Joel PLATONI does.
It's great. So that's good, that's huge. The Browns reportedly

(24:00):
restructured the contract of quarterback DeShawn Watson. It frees up
thirty six million in cap space, converting roughly forty five
million of his twenty twenty five salary into signing bonus.
Team is now compliant. They hold twelve point eight million
in cap space, and there'll be other moves.

Speaker 4 (24:14):
I think they'll be able to free up a little
bit more, but you needed to be compliant. And for
people who are trying to understand this, what it does
is it sets up this contract, which was a five
year contract being paid out now over seven years. The
Browns are pushing some of that money into the future,
which is good because remember, if DeShawn misses this season,

(24:34):
which is the expectation coming off of the second tear
of the Achilles, the Browns will get some as reportedly
will receive a large chunk of money back as a
salary cap credit for the twenty twenty sixth salary cap
so they're taking some of his cap off this year,
they're moving it forward over the next few years to

(24:54):
the point where you know that number will helpful, it
will be somewhat offset next year by the credit that
you get. And what it's setting up for is in
the future when the Browns decide to you know, part
ways that a post June first, twenty twenty seven would
make this so that there really is not much of
a salary cap impact on the Browns. They've they've maneuvered it.

(25:17):
And with the fact that they're going to get that
cap credit back reportedly, with the insurance that they're now
in a good spot to absorb this without it being
so penal and really detrimental to them going forward. And
by the way, you're pushing things forward where we know
the CAP's going to continue to go up and up,
so it becomes a smaller and smaller percentage of what
is out there.

Speaker 3 (25:39):
The How closely did you watch like all of the
stuff that happened yesterday in terms of the league, like
in terms of the dock restructure that happened both Seahawks
guys lock it being released, Metcalf go get a trade. Yep,
there were eight nine things Bosa released last night. Sam oh, yeah,

(26:04):
Debo traded commander you had, you got another one?

Speaker 4 (26:07):
He's got anything left in the tank. By the way,
that is, that's what you do. You trade fifth round
picks for proven players. It's not a bad idea at all.
And given how dat of Cliff is, we've done it
right with them already and with Jerry Judy. Yeah, you've
got Yeah, you've got. I like that move for Washington.

(26:28):
The Niners have salary cap issues as well that they're
trying to work around. But yeah, cowboys doing that. I
think that's Listen. We talked about there. The way that
they approached free agency last year was not a great
way to do it. They now they've got some opportunity
to maybe do some more there. Tyler Lockett, that's seventeen
million back to the Seahawks. Now, DK wants to trade.

(26:50):
If I'm them, I figure out how to keep him.

Speaker 3 (26:52):
Why would you trade him? I wouldn't see. Asking price
was a first and a third, so obviously they're not
serious about trading him.

Speaker 4 (26:57):
He feels that way, yep. And he's gonna because you
have trade a first third and pay him thirty million
a year. Yeah, Tarreon Armstead dropped to the minimum, clearing
thirteen point six for the Dolphins, and then Sam Hubbard retired.

Speaker 3 (27:07):
So Hubbard retired since you were gone, Kappa was released
and then signed. We talked yesterday. They were the team
we talked about yesterday was the Bengals. They we had
Jeff Hoompson on that full belief they're keeping all of them.
I think they will. Why and they're gonna keep all
of them. So they're gonna keep Higgins and they're gonna
have all of even Hendrickson, Gaseki, all of them, and

(27:27):
they're gonna have all of that money, and like five
guys is the way it's gonna go. But they're gonna
do it. They're gonna get under the cap. They're gonna
do it, and uh, get that thing done. I do
think that the news of Max Crosby's extension highest paid
non quarterback is illuminating, not only for Jamar Chase, who's
gonna want to topple that. Micah Parsons Hendrickson only at
thirty one? Do you think he can top that at

(27:49):
thirty one? He just didn't. He'd leave the league in Saxonyes. Yeah,
but I don't want to. If his age is like Miles,
I'm sure will want to. But like I just wonder
liked his Maybe yeah, maybe Hendrickson too. I'm sure agent're saying, look,
we just led the league in sacks. We got to
go more than that. Yeah, but I didn't know if
his age would be. It might be he might say, okay,
give me more than that for two years or two yeah, yeah, Chase,

(28:09):
for sure he's gonna jump that. So that Crosby signing
the Parsons deal is out there as well. I want
to I have to share a quick story, so a
loyal listener in the morning that contributes to the email
segment that we do. And by the way, the mailbig
is open today for us. We'll get to that at
two o'clock. Relate a story for me because I've always said, well,

(28:31):
don't take your kids to comment, there's nothing to do.
So he didn't listen. He took his kids, so he said.
They drove into downtown Indy. They saw the Cowboys bus Yep,
he sent his kids to the door to try to
get a picture with Jerry knocked on the door. Guess
who opened the door, Stephen Jones. So Jerry Jones treats

(28:54):
Stephen the way I treat my kids, like, go get
the door. Yeah, and he's sixty, so that I thought
was hilarious. He goes wait a second, he goes back,
he gets two Jerry Jones signed ball caps and gives
him to his sons. Like that's perfect, that is amazing.
That's everything I want the Cowboys bus to be. That's
exactly That's exactly what I want it to be. I

(29:16):
want Jones open the door. I want Jerry having just
stacks of Cowboys signed caps that he can give to kids.
That's everything I want. That was great. That is absolutely fantastic. Yeah.
One other thing I want to run by you Cavs
clinch the playoff spot. I put his head in the pretzel.
I think it's going to be Lebron against the Calves
in the finals. I think that Lakers teams getting the finals.

(29:37):
That'd awesome. Yeah, yeah, I think that's That's what's the
tough part about the NBA is.

Speaker 4 (29:43):
It's such a long playoff season that there is so
far to go. The hunt getting a Hunter for that
team has been incredible. They haven't lost since they've acquired him.
If I'm not mistaken, I think this is eight. This
Cavs seemed absolutely can win it all. They've got to
stay healthy, They're gonna have a Listen, the Celtics are

(30:03):
not just gonna be No, their Celtics are still very good.
And yes, the Caves came back and they won on
the road in that game, but that game was played
without Porzingis or Holiday.

Speaker 3 (30:14):
True, but I think it's almost like you can count
on one of those guys not being there.

Speaker 4 (30:19):
To your point of availability timing. But that's gonna be
That's gonna be it. This team right now absolutely has
the ability to win it all.

Speaker 3 (30:28):
This cap out and I think the Lakers are gonna
come out of the West. I think Luke and Lebron's
just ridiculous.

Speaker 4 (30:33):
And there they'll be a tough out for anybody. Calves
included in a seven game series.

Speaker 3 (30:38):
They're the two seed in the West already, They're like
seventeen and three in their last twenty. Yeah, they're good,
they're formidable.

Speaker 4 (30:44):
Yeah, because Reeves is a very good third Yeah, and
he hasn't even playing. Because the weird thing is they
should have gotten that center.

Speaker 3 (30:49):
Yeah, I don't know what happened there. He failed physical
and then played the next night and like through double.
But then they're they're blaming the Lakers for failing him
on the physical, So why would the Lakers have not
done it, just taken him. I don't know. He must
have had second thoughts on I'm the acquisition. I don't know.
It seems very connect has played well since you know
last weekend he did with Reeves out. So anyway, the
NBA's been a lot of fun. So there you go.
Those are you hot topics today, presented by University Hospital's

(31:10):
special healthcare partner of your Cleveland Browns. I don't know
if I'll ever be able to shake the idea of
you can get on. Oh no, but we have to
wait two minutes for your wife. Sorry, No, that's craziest.
And knowing that, I will say this, I have not
run like that a long time.

Speaker 4 (31:25):
My calves, especially after're going up that my calves were burning, burning,
for the rest of that day burning.

Speaker 3 (31:32):
There's something about sprinting that's different. It hits a little
different than a nice jog. I tell you the bobbin
and weavin all of it. You turned into like a
little bit of a superman.

Speaker 4 (31:41):
Even I'm so happy when I wrestled that I came
out of that unscathed. And then you watch clips of
people just doing normal stuff and like their acls go
or their Achilles pops or whatever. Like I was bobbing
and weavens, I was boom boom cutting.

Speaker 3 (31:56):
I was just happy. I was okay. I would it
happier on the plane, would have been better? All right.
We got predicting the seven eventual deals for the top
seven free agents. And remember the mailbig is open. Get
those questions into Gibbe. We will get to that at
two o'clock. We are often running on Cleveland Browns Daily,
represented by a bally Bet official sports betting part of
your Cleveland Browns on eight fifty ESPN Cleveland.

Speaker 2 (32:23):
Cleveland Browns Daily presented by bally Bet, an official sports
betting partner of your Cleveland Browns on eight to fifty
ESPN Cleveland.

Speaker 3 (32:54):
Add more fun to your fantom with a bally Bet
sports book up download today and get fifty back in
bonus betz when you place your first way of ten
or more bally Bet, official sports winning partner of your
Cleveland Brown's. It's from of friends at ESPN predicting offers
and eventual deals for the top seven free agents and
what they will receive this week. Do we have this here?

(33:14):
It is? Here, it is, here's the print out. Good
jeb to you. All right, let's start with Sam Darnold,
who's really the big domino here, right, and that's when
we're we're waiting think he is.

Speaker 4 (33:26):
Yeah, it seems like people think his market is not
going to be as robust as these numbers would indicate.

Speaker 3 (33:33):
So the two offers that they so, they say so,
the two offers that they have do not include one
from the Minnesota Vikings, correct, which I would think that
there would be an offer there. But they say Raiders
three years one to twenty five with fifty five guarantees.
That's forty plus a year, Titans three years one twenty
eighty five guaranteed. And then they have him. It's Grasiano

(33:55):
or buddy who writes it up. They have him going
to the Titans.

Speaker 1 (34:00):
Oh.

Speaker 4 (34:02):
The interesting thing is, I don't know if you saw
this yesterday or for you guys talked about it.

Speaker 3 (34:05):
I don't know what time this was posted.

Speaker 4 (34:07):
But Mike Florio has predicted that if the Vikings bring
back Sam Donald on a two year deal, and he
said that he thinks that there is a that the
market for Donald is not maybe what other people think
it might be okay, and that you know, maybe they
can bring him back at like twenty five a year

(34:35):
on a two year deal. That's what Florio threw that out.
Then he went on to say, if the Vikings do
bring back Sam Donald a two year deal, JJ McCarthy
will ask to be traded. Not only that, and then
Florida went in. He says there's a sense from people
who are dealing with the Vikings that they do not
know who's in charge in calling the shots.

Speaker 3 (34:52):
Well, that's kind of a hit piece on everything Minnesota,
which from every doesn't seem to have any sort of
that disruption at all. It feels like they're and lockstep totally.
I see. And Kevin O'Connor, we're not in this building,
but we used to do MVD we've done in the
past from America A great view. But no, I don't
see any scenario how, No, I don't buy that at all.

(35:13):
I mean I don't see that. I also don't see
a scenario how JJ McCarthy, who had not one but
two surgeries, would be in a position to say, if
you bring him back. I'm out, No, and that doesn't
fit with J's person.

Speaker 4 (35:23):
Also, does it fit with anything the quasi said, which
is that JJ's the guy.

Speaker 3 (35:27):
No, I don't.

Speaker 4 (35:28):
I don't see them moving off of him. I could
see Donald come back, maybe, but I don't know. I'm
curious to see kind of what the market is for
Donald and where he does end up. I think if
you're the Browns, you know, if he gets big money,
you would want it to be the Titans or the
Giants of the Raiders.

Speaker 3 (35:45):
I mean, that's what I said, That's exactly what you'd
want if Aaron Rodgers goes to the Giants and the
Raiders signed Sam Darnold, let's go, let's go get it up.
Now we're good. So yeah, I didn't you have to
worry about anybody jumping you. If you want to have
that conversation with the Titans, you can but two out
of the mix, yep, Ronnie Stanley, the Patriots offer four

(36:08):
years one hundred, the Ravens three years, sixty, the guarantees
forty five and forty three. Graziano says, he goes to
the Patriots, look twenty two million dollars. If that's the
deals that's pretty influential. And I also think the Patriots
had the most capped space by far in the league.
The big thing to remember with them is it was
hard to get anybody to sign there because how many

(36:29):
people want to participate in Belichick and all of that.

Speaker 4 (36:31):
When they have Vrabel, yeah, I think that'll be I
think it's a pretty desirable location.

Speaker 3 (36:35):
I agree with you.

Speaker 4 (36:36):
They're a team that if somebody was going to trade
for and be willing to pay DK Metcalf for a
few years, they would make a lot of sense.

Speaker 3 (36:41):
To me, they would, And I think they'll be an
Untie Higgins too if that ever comes to pass. We'll
see if they decide to trade him or not. But yeah,
I agree, DK would make a lot of sense there.
But they're not gonna give up a one for it now.
Josh Sweat has fictional offers from the Cardinals, the Commanders,
the Packers, and the Panthers, and they have Josh Sweat
going from Philly to the Commis. Commies are in that spot. Man.

(37:05):
You you hit the lottery at quarterback and now you
can spend Yeah, that's that's how you turn it around
very very quickly. Well, Zach Bond already got done, so
he's not. Where's Zach Bond stand stand in Philly? Yep? Interesting?

Speaker 5 (37:18):
Three years fifty one million.

Speaker 3 (37:20):
Wow, that's a lot of money.

Speaker 5 (37:22):
A lot of people got paid yesterday. Hold on second, No,
either you either got cut, got permission to seek a trade,
or you got paid.

Speaker 3 (37:30):
All right, Hold it. So you're saying Bond got three
years fifty one.

Speaker 5 (37:43):
Let's believe.

Speaker 4 (37:44):
So Okay, Okay, three years fifty one for Bond. J
didn't ja Oka gets like three years thirty nine.

Speaker 3 (37:57):
What I'm pulling up right now?

Speaker 5 (37:58):
Yeah, fifty one thirty nine for Jokay. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (38:03):
So j Okay at three years thirty seven point five
million dollar extension twenty million fully guaranteed at signing eighteen
point five is a new guarantee.

Speaker 5 (38:11):
Zach Bond's deal got thirty four million guaranteed.

Speaker 4 (38:14):
Okay, So fewer guarantees, higher salary. So I guess in
some way that's an interesting one to me because Jokay
Bond was great. I mean, first of all, no doubt,
but that makes the Joka deal look fantastic for the
Cleveland Browns. Obviously, the tough part is, right now, we
don't know if Joka is going to be able to

(38:37):
play for the Browns going forward. We haven't heard any
updates on that, but that's a that's a big number
for Zach Bond. Seventeen mil for an off ball linebacker.
It's a big, big number off a one year of production.

Speaker 3 (38:47):
Good for him. That's a great got it done. Yeah,
we had this earlier in the week in terms of
how weak this like overall free agent class is. Ye,
but it's been stocked with the release this week.

Speaker 4 (39:02):
Yeah, but it's yes, but it's like, for example, the
wide receiver group is old. It's like an awesome twenty
fifteen fantasy lineup or twenty eighteen. But man, so he
is now the fourth highest paid linebacker in the NFL
Bond behind Rokwan Smith, Fred Warner, and Tremaine Edmonds. It's

(39:23):
a pretty big that's a big pay, and they gave
Saquan a bunch of money. Supposedly, they're a team that
if there were a world in which Miles were being traded,
they're a team that was going to be very active
in going for it.

Speaker 3 (39:37):
But he's not. Nope, But there we we have now
right now, just another another move on the NFL side
of things. We will get to those moves as we
go around the league. Coming up next, listen to Cleveland
Browns Daily presented by Valley Bet, official sportsman he partner
near Cleveland Browns on eight fifty ESPN Cleveland.

Speaker 2 (40:00):
Cleveland Browns Daily presented by Bally Back an official sports
betting partner of Your Cleveland Browns on eight fifty esp
and Cleveland.

Speaker 3 (40:35):
Back for another season with your favorite four league companion.
Year three of Barking Backers presented by Milkbone the fan
plumb for Dogs, boo membership options and joined today at
Barkingbackers dot com. Time now to go around the league
presented by Lee Filter, the official gutter guard of Your
Cleveland Browns. The Chargers release veteran defensive end Joey Bosa
after nine years with the team at saves la twenty

(40:58):
five million in app space. I think he was the
last remaining San Diego Charger, San Diego, San Diego, San
Diego Charger. Little Burgundy for the kids, Papa Burgundy for
the kids.

Speaker 5 (41:10):
I was going down all stop myself.

Speaker 3 (41:14):
Yeah this is not I think he might be the
last San Diego Charger, let's say, last remaining San Diego Charger,
Joey Bosa. It is pretty wild even this far out
and that that would have been nine years ago whatever
it was. Is he the last one.

Speaker 5 (41:33):
Yep, longest tenured active player, the last remaining Charger who
played in San Diego.

Speaker 3 (41:37):
San Diago? Man, that was last in twenty sixteen? How
did they not find a How do they not? How
is that team not in San Diego? I was a
city with that much. I know that I have corporate
money there. That's one of the things that they don't
have a lot of corporate money, but there's a ton
of wealth there. The idea that the only thing that
they have is the padres with that poppy and wealth

(42:00):
is why.

Speaker 4 (42:01):
Yeah, And in twenty seventeen they played in a soccer stadium.

Speaker 3 (42:05):
Wasn't it two years?

Speaker 4 (42:06):
We were there in seventeen? I don't know how I
think they they played there till I opened. I think
they played their multiple years in that in Carson, right, Yeah, Yeah,
that's former US soccer.

Speaker 5 (42:17):
Pretty awesome experience.

Speaker 3 (42:19):
It was home Depot Center, wasn't it? Is that what
it was? It was really cool?

Speaker 5 (42:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (42:22):
I think the Buckeyes trained there once for a Rose Bowl,
if memory serves, at that place I don't know.

Speaker 5 (42:27):
There were only twenty nine thousand people in the stands.

Speaker 3 (42:30):
Pretty intimate.

Speaker 5 (42:32):
Very Yeah, I could hear everything literally, Yeah, I think I.

Speaker 3 (42:40):
Have that right. Also today this from Schefter. Within the hour,
the forty nine Ers informed defensive tackle Javon Hargraves that
he will be released on the first day of the
league year next week. He will be a free agent
as well. Where's Pedro on his Niners right now?

Speaker 4 (42:54):
He's a little bit, He's a little he's a little
down on them, unfortunately.

Speaker 5 (42:59):
It was.

Speaker 3 (43:00):
Dignity Health Sports Park is what it's called.

Speaker 4 (43:02):
That's what it is now, Yeah, is a multi use
sports complex located on the campus of California State University
Domingus Hills in Carson, California. Twenty seven thousand seat Dignity
Health Sports Park Stocker Stadium primary tenant is the LA
Galaxy mainstainem was also home to the LA Wildcats of
the XFL LA Galaxy and it's served from twenty seventeen

(43:23):
two twenty nineteen, so three years was the temporary home
of the LA Chargers, and for twenty and twenty one
served as a temporary home of the San Diego State
As Texas football team.

Speaker 3 (43:33):
Wow, they moved up there while they built their new
one because they yeah, because San Diego State played at
the Jack Murphy or whatever.

Speaker 4 (43:39):
During its first decade, it was known as the Home
Depot Center through naming rights deal with the hardware retailer.

Speaker 3 (43:43):
In twenty thirteen, it was the stub Hub.

Speaker 4 (43:47):
Center after name Race sold to this online ticket marketplace,
stub Hub, which is what it would have been when
we were there. The current name from healthcare provider Dignity Health,
debuted in two thousand and nineteen.

Speaker 3 (43:57):
Two days ago, I was on a heater like you
wouldn't believe, just Marie heater that was just on fire.
It was every the synapses were firing.

Speaker 5 (44:04):
It was Monday with Tys.

Speaker 3 (44:06):
That was Monday. I mean it was insane, crazy. Just
the recall had it going a very impressive. Man. Well
I don't know about that, but I had the memory
was was was firing on on Monday. The compensation for
DK Metcalf being asked, according to Diana Rossini, seems absurd
to me. Agreed first and the third, no one's doing that.
I just and then you have to pay them thirty million,

(44:27):
So I don't. Yeah, right, I don't think there's going
to be any of that. The Steelers, we'll talk about
a little bit later in the program, revised the contract
of linebacker Cole Holcomb, fring up four million in cap
space for them. They've got a lot of business to
sort out over there in Pittsburgh, and they still got a
land of quarterback. The reports are they two that they've offered?
You have something.

Speaker 5 (44:45):
Tyler Schuck is in their building today. T shuck the
QB out of Louisville.

Speaker 4 (44:51):
By the way, since this is not on here, I
Mitch Morse, who retired from the Jags, spent some time
in Kansas City and in Buffalo. The Rams two hours
ago agreed to a one year, ten million dollar, fully
guaranteed contract for two to two Atwell. So that tells

(45:12):
me that to to Atwell is going to be playing
a bigger role with Cooper Cup likely moving on there
in La Atwell coming off of a career high forty
two catches five hundred and sixty two yards last season
form second round pick. That's a big That feels like
a big number for two to two at Well.

Speaker 3 (45:33):
It sure does. One year, ten million fully guaranteed. Yeah,
not quite like the shock of the Ravens deal that
they gave to Odell Beckham junior.

Speaker 4 (45:42):
But it was Odell Beckham junior has was at least
so like two to Outwell's never had six hundred yards
in a season.

Speaker 3 (45:49):
No, but wasn't that coming off of the Achilles with Odell?
It wasn't it still Odell or the knee? It was, yes, yeah,
but it's still I mean, he's still at one point
you're hoping that he can be great again. Hell of
a start to the career for OBJ and had one
thousand yard season here, so you got that. Yeah, it's
very very nice. Finally, the Jaguars center Mitch Morse as retired.

(46:12):
I spent time in Kansas City and Buffalo, So that
is what is happening now around the league as people.

Speaker 5 (46:18):
Are starting much quieter day than yesterday.

Speaker 3 (46:20):
It was I think heavy lifting yesterday, and today's kind
of a get out of town for the weekend day
and then we'll have a legal tampering beginning on Monday.
We'll hit the mail bag. Coming up next. You listen
to Cleveland Browns Daily presented by Bally Bet, official sportsmanning
partner Cleveland Browns on a fifty ESPN.

Speaker 2 (46:33):
Cleveland Cleveland Browns Daily presented by bally Back, an official
sports betting partner of your Cleveland Browns on eight fifty
esp and Cleveland.

Speaker 3 (47:04):
My Second Hour. Cleveland Brown's Daily presented by Valley Bed
official sports winning party or Cleveland Browns on a fifty
ESPN Cleveland Time for the mail Bag. It's presented by
the Crosscatcher Mortgage Company, the only official mortgage partner of
the Cleveland Browns. When it comes to financing, They'll always
get you home. Visit CCM dot com today Equal Housing
Opportunity n MLS three zero two nine.

Speaker 5 (47:23):
Hello gibbe Hi boys, uh go? You can tweet your
questions to us at Brown's Underscore Daily. I love this.
This person's name number one, Jake Trotter fan tweets have
this is it Jake Trotter Trotter. Is this your burner?

(47:44):
It should be I know Tweeter. That's for sure to
this station.

Speaker 3 (47:48):
So welcome to the party, guys.

Speaker 5 (47:51):
All right then, I know the quote first Friday part,
But why are Wednesdays also called the miracle of the show?

Speaker 3 (48:01):
Because the first Friday is a miracle. It's a beautiful thing.
It's a miracle. Yeah, yeah, it's a miracle to mindset miracle.
It's just that easy. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (48:12):
Uh, silent night night with a k Okay. Question for
Nathan now that John Cena is a heel, who would
be a good matchup for him?

Speaker 4 (48:23):
Well, I mean it's gonna be Cody Rhoads is the answer.
Cody Roads is gonna be a great matchup for him.

Speaker 5 (48:27):
It is.

Speaker 4 (48:28):
We didn't even talk about this. That was It is
the biggest heel turn in wrestling since.

Speaker 3 (48:33):
Hulkogan joined the nWo. So we're talking, wow.

Speaker 5 (48:37):
It is.

Speaker 4 (48:37):
It was that it was so well executed. It was shocking,
It was great. It was everything you could have wanted
it to be when The Rock set this all in motion.
Just absolutely incredible. I think we could see something on
Night one. It's kind of a replay of last year

(48:57):
where you get like The Rock and John Cena against
Cody Rhodes and Stone Cold Steve Austin and a tag Yeah,
and then night two you would get John Cena against
Cody Road one on one. This is incredible. I'm all
about it. I want John Cena to shave his head.
I wanted to grow a black beard. I want him
to not sell any Merdley Dice I want him to

(49:19):
have a new song obviously, whether he wants to go
to bad Man or if he wants to go to
Basic Economics. But that doesn't I just Ared Knew, just
a straight up new bad guy theme song, final bossy
version of John Cena.

Speaker 5 (49:32):
It is.

Speaker 3 (49:33):
It's great, great for wrestling.

Speaker 4 (49:35):
More people were talking about it than in than anything
in a long long time.

Speaker 3 (49:41):
It was awesome.

Speaker 5 (49:42):
Will you be going to wrestle Mania?

Speaker 3 (49:44):
No?

Speaker 5 (49:45):
Sad?

Speaker 3 (49:46):
Where is it this year? Vegas? It's my daughter's birthday
that weekend? Yeah? Atys artis seventeenth?

Speaker 5 (49:53):
Is that? Oh seventeen not eighteen?

Speaker 3 (49:56):
Nope?

Speaker 5 (49:57):
Okay, Travis ben your horse. The names today are fantastic's
great knowing QB at number two. What do picks thirty three,
sixty seven, ninety three look like in your guys opinion?
Y'all are the best? Well, it's funny you mentioned that
Travis uh Zigur and I are working on mock drafts

(50:17):
here for Cleveland. Baby, we're back to riding. I said, hey,
welcome back. By the way, you're riding now too.

Speaker 3 (50:23):
I look forward to think that to you guys's comments
on the second round picks from the Patriots. Now, what
do we have pis? What do we have to do?

Speaker 5 (50:31):
Give me?

Speaker 3 (50:32):
We just have to do our picks for how many rounds?

Speaker 5 (50:36):
Rounds one through three?

Speaker 3 (50:38):
We have two picks in around round three?

Speaker 4 (50:39):
We have three picks in round three? Geez, showing two
We're going to get a compensatory?

Speaker 5 (50:45):
Oh have I gotten that yet?

Speaker 3 (50:46):
I feel I feel like I can speak for the
show quarterback weapons, weapons weapons.

Speaker 4 (50:50):
Yeah, that's what I totally. I think we already have three.
We might have three already.

Speaker 3 (50:54):
Let's see Cleveland rounds. I thought we have five. Everybody
keeps saying we have five in the top hundred and two.

Speaker 5 (51:06):
I'm only aware of two in round three. But I
do feel like they haven't announced the compensatory.

Speaker 3 (51:12):
So we have in round three?

Speaker 4 (51:16):
These are just people making This should be so much
easier to find, all right. This is from January thirteenth.
How many picks do the Browns from Kelsey? So the
Browns have? I thought we had three in the third.

(51:36):
I was pretty sure of it.

Speaker 5 (51:38):
Again, it might not have been announced.

Speaker 3 (51:46):
Riveting. I don't know.

Speaker 4 (51:47):
I'm pretty sure we have three. We have our own picks.
We have number two. We have our own picks in
rounds two three and four, and we've got or maybe
we have two threes because the Mari Cooper trade, we
got a third and then we'll have I thought we
had a compensitory third, but I could be rung and
then we have an early fourth. So maybe that's how
it's five in the top one oh two.

Speaker 5 (52:06):
I'm only going with four picks in our mock.

Speaker 3 (52:08):
Yeah, the.

Speaker 5 (52:12):
Dog pound Cleveland Brown. If you could take one past
Brown's QB from quote the Jersey quarterback since the return,
restart their career as a rookie and put them on
our team this year and moving forward as the starter,
who would it be if any.

Speaker 3 (52:28):
Well, good grief, Deshaun Watson. And then the second one
would be Flacco. Flaco's borderline gold jacket, Like, take you
a rookie right now, para troops in is the number
two pick in the draft. Deshaun Watson coming out of Clemson,
Joe Flacco coming out of Delaware, Watson, Flacco, Couch, and Baker. Yeah,

(52:53):
Couch is the craziest piece of clay because you just
don't know. He never got a chance, you know, that's
the thing that you know he went to that expansion.
Speaking of Kentucky, We're playing NBC at a three on
three tournament at Western Reserve last night. Three three fun.
That was fun. Yeah finished second. Western Reserve was playing

(53:13):
in like their gym, like their their prep team. Mark
Pope was there, like the Kentucky coach, Like what, I
don't expect to like run into him, but there he was,
And I guess they have a junior who's like a
five star top player in the country.

Speaker 5 (53:27):
Well that I read somewhere that like one of the
top high school basketball coaches in the country is going
to the Spire.

Speaker 3 (53:35):
So Mont verd in Florida. That coach took a job
at Spire. Spire is going Spier's just they're basically doing
like IMG is what they're trying to do. So they're
gonna be on the Nike circuit as a prep team
and they're paying him lucratively to take that.

Speaker 5 (53:51):
He's one like twelve national champions.

Speaker 1 (53:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (53:53):
Yeah, well that's why I think that's where Cooper Flag
went for one Did he go there for one year?
I think he did, Joe, I believe he did. But yeah,
so that's they're trying to do that. Have you guys
been up there Aspire? Yeah?

Speaker 5 (54:04):
Oh yeah, it's a complex.

Speaker 3 (54:06):
No, it defies logic. Yes, when you go up there,
like they have the Cavaliers court I think from when
they won it, and sixteen is up there, like the
actual court they have, Like it's huge. I mean, you
can't believe the scope of it.

Speaker 5 (54:18):
Correct.

Speaker 3 (54:19):
No, And it just defies logic.

Speaker 5 (54:21):
And I think they're doing some Olympic training there like
indoor like.

Speaker 3 (54:28):
But it's all athletics, like there's no academic component at all.

Speaker 5 (54:31):
Right, So brownsbackers North Jersey. How much of a previous
season's tape goes into consideration for a draft prospect? For example,
cam Ward came back to college because his draft grade
was low. Now he's in the conversation for number one.
Flip side is yours, who was very high in twenty
twenty three but now much lower.

Speaker 3 (54:53):
That's a good question. I asked this to somebody at
the combine about I can't remember who it was, but
how does how does cam oh is Dane? I said,
how does cam Ward go from you're not good enough
to be drafted to you you're going to go in
the top two picks in this draft? How does that happen?
And he said something pretty obvious which is he improved

(55:14):
and it's just kind of the same like with Burrow.
Burrow coming out of his junior year at LSU is
a mid round pick. After his senior year at LSU,
he's the absolute number one pick in the draft, and
that guys just get better. The other thing, in terms
of the youers, part of it is habits that you
see maybe a little of as young players become who
they are as older players. And I think that's what

(55:36):
happened to Quinn.

Speaker 4 (55:38):
I think that when people talk about that, what they're
looking at is how does it improve? What were the
things that they needed to work on? How did they improve?
It's the most recent is what you watch. But what
you're wanting to see is the things that were good
in the previous years continue and things that maybe weren't
as good. You want to see those be a draft

(56:00):
and that's that's really.

Speaker 3 (56:01):
What they're looking for.

Speaker 4 (56:02):
But it's it's much more about your most recent year's
tape than it is. But you do look at the whole,
you know, body of work.

Speaker 5 (56:08):
Obviously from Love of Dog Today, Asking for Uncle Bo
and College Football, Nate's vowels of this year's class of
Buckeyes best fit for the Browns, all.

Speaker 3 (56:19):
Of them, I think, I honestly, I think they got
twelve pros probably in this group. I don't know if
they got a super duper star at all, but I
think they all can play. I'd love to have a
Mecca Bukat here top of the second round. I'd love that.
I think Quinhawn Judskins would be a hell of a
fit if he gets to the third. I know he
had a great combine. I think.

Speaker 5 (56:42):
It was that was Jordan Reid's.

Speaker 3 (56:44):
Did he have him there?

Speaker 2 (56:45):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (56:45):
I mean, I don't know if Trevion's in every down guy.
He's a weapon, but I don't know if he could
be like in every down back for what Kevin likes.
I think Quinchon might be the better fit. One cut,
get up field, let's go. I think that you can
find the like.

Speaker 4 (57:05):
I would be fine with the Browns drafting two rhymis now,
let's we didn't talk about this at all.

Speaker 3 (57:10):
That happened while I was gone. I think was just
that it kind of there was.

Speaker 4 (57:14):
A Mary Kay reported that it looks like this is
the end of Nick Chubb in Cleveland.

Speaker 3 (57:20):
So we talked about this. I can't remember yesterday before Yeah,
And I was like, well is that, like, is she
pontificating that that? I don't know what it is? Like Aby
was pretty straightforward that like, look, he's his contract is
up and he is a free agent, and who knows
what happened. I mean that I don't think Nick read
it thrown out the door. I read it at the.

Speaker 4 (57:41):
At the combine. This was just the way that I
read his comments.

Speaker 3 (57:46):
And you know, was that.

Speaker 4 (57:50):
Coming off of the catastrophic knee injury, coming off of
another injury last year. Knowing that his tape last year,
you could tell he was not Nick Chubb again, but
we thought it was to year injury that It's very
difficult to understand what the actual market is, especially in
a loaded running back draft, what the market is for
Nick Chubb. So you're gonna allow Nick Chubb to go

(58:11):
to the market and establish that and then you know,
you haven't I think would have an opportunity to match it.
I think I don't see how he gets a big deal.
I could see him getting a very low minimum with
a lot of incentives. If that's the case, I definitely

(58:33):
think he should be a Cleveland Brown. I mean, he's
just I think he's so important. He's literally right there
on the biggest piece of art in our building. I
think that you see just the fan reaction to even
the possibility of it. You know, I think you get
you draft Trayveon, and all of a sudden, your backfield is,

(58:55):
you know, bring back Nick Chubb. He's kind of the hammer,
and you I hope that he's actually back to being
Nick Chubb. You have Travion and Jerome Ford, like, that's
prett good. Drum Ford's a home run hitter too. That's
a pretty good backfield all of a sudden, and with
a young quarterback, it is helpful no matter how good
they are, it is helpful to have a good running game.
And you think about, for example, in Washington, they had

(59:16):
Brian Robinson who was kind of the hammer, and they
had Austin Eckler who was you know, can catch it
more of a weapon. And certainly he's not nearly as
explosive as Travion, So I think that that would be
a good thing. But I really do hope that you
can figure out a way to keep Nick Chubb here

(59:36):
if it makes sense. I mean, if somebody out there
wants to give him a huge guarantee, like you understand that,
But at the same point, it just feels.

Speaker 3 (59:43):
Like he's a Cleveland Brown. Yeah, just with the injury stuff.
Who knows, But I think that's I read it.

Speaker 4 (59:50):
That's why he's going to market because nobody really can
know what his actual value is because how could you.
You've got a situation where he's coming off of another injury.
He had a massive injury two years ago. So let
him find out the market. But I do think if
you're the Cleveland Browns, as long as it is you know,

(01:00:10):
a deal that has low guarantees with high incentives, which
I would imagine is going to be anywhere, keep.

Speaker 3 (01:00:15):
Them, let him be, keep him a Cleveland Brown.

Speaker 5 (01:00:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:00:19):
It can't hurt, no, Nope, And I think it not
help exponentially.

Speaker 3 (01:00:24):
One of the things that.

Speaker 4 (01:00:27):
While I was you know, had a lot of time
to pontificate staring at the vastness of the Atlantic really
in the Caribbean, but through that was to the Atlantic.
When you're on the north shore of Puerto Rico, by way,
if you went straight north from there and so far
south and east, like you wouldn't hit land until you
were up in Prince Edward Island, like Nova Scotia.

Speaker 3 (01:00:50):
Hold on a sec, it's that far, like east of
the coast of Florida. Yes, yeah, it's basically like a
three hour flight east. Really. Yeah, that funny. I assume
all those things are right off the coast of Florida.

Speaker 4 (01:01:01):
But no, Wow, if you went north, you'd be going
north for a very long long time, very long time.
And in fact, if you went east, I think you
run into and we pulled this up on the maple
that was there. But nonetheless, man's like, jeez, that's it's far.
You might get Maine.

Speaker 5 (01:01:20):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (01:01:21):
Maybe yep. You gotta know your longitude lines there. Yeah,
so for you your longitude boys.

Speaker 4 (01:01:31):
Yeah, So if you went straight north, this is Puerto
Rico here, San Juan, you're going straight up to Nova
Scotia's well, you would hit Nova Scotia. South you would
get right to Caracas and Venezuela. And if you go
dead east from where you are, you actually go run
into Senegal, the western Sahara. Wow.

Speaker 3 (01:01:47):
So it's it's.

Speaker 4 (01:01:48):
Quite south and quite east, but it's an incredible, incredible place.
I just hope that you can you can work that out.
And so what I was getting to is we're dealing
with a couple of things, and right now, I think
there's something that people need to be thinking of when
it comes to a lot of these decisions, and I

(01:02:08):
think it's in our in our organization, in our fan base,
and that is the notion of opportunity cost, which is
the loss of potential gain from other alternatives when one
alternative is chosen. I think there are two situations for

(01:02:30):
the Browns, and you can't make all of your decisions
based on opportunity costs, but I do think it is
something that should be factored in situation one. Well, since
we're talking about it, we'll stay with Nick Chubb. The
opportunity cost to a right now, I think it's fair.
It's a beleaguered fan base of Nick Chubb leaving Cleveland
on a cheap, incentive laden deal and being Nick Chubb

(01:02:53):
again somewhere else. Yeah, that opportunity cost is much bigger
and worse for the Cleveland Browns than you signing him
on a low end deal with lots of incentives. And
Nick Chubb does not necessarily recapture Nick Chubb of the heyday.

Speaker 3 (01:03:15):
Yeah, I don't. I think, I mean, you never you
never want to doubt him it's just hard to imagine
that with all that he's been through that you could
get to that point again. But to your point, I
also don't want to see him have a Kareem Hunt
season somewhere else like Kareem just had with Kansas City
with seven twenty eight and seven touchdowns. I don't need that.
If he's eighty percent of what he was, that's going

(01:03:36):
to be a very good running back. That's about eighty
percent of what he was seven point thirty and so
you know there's eight touchdowns. I don't need to see that.
I don't want to see that any.

Speaker 4 (01:03:44):
And then the other one is with the quarterbacks, and
I know that there are people who it has become
I would say a vast majority consensus, not a one
hundred percent consensus, mind you, but a vast majority consensus
that cam Ward is the number one quarterback in this
draft and that should do is number two, and that
there is some separation.

Speaker 3 (01:04:02):
Between those two.

Speaker 4 (01:04:03):
That is the bath the opinion of a lot of people. Yeah,
one thing about this, and if you go back and
look like this is the most inexact science in the world, Yeah,
there aren't a lot of people that have really good records,
track records. Now at this stuff in terms of the rankings,
if you go back to twenty seventeen through today where

(01:04:25):
people had quarterbacks ranked and what they've turned out to be,
it is a hard, hard business. I think I like
Schador personally from what I've seen on tape. I think
it's wild that you know, in some cases he hasn't
done anything in terms of playing football, and you've seen
some people you know, and you wonder are people smearing
them to get him to.

Speaker 3 (01:04:44):
Drop because they want him.

Speaker 4 (01:04:46):
It's very interesting it's all playing out, but I think
you can win with with both of these guys. The
notion of opportunity cost here is this franchise is desperate,
and I think that is a fair word to use
for a franchise quarterback. Drafting a quarterback at number two
or going up to number one and getting your guy,

(01:05:06):
which I think are I've got the point where I
think there are three scenarios for the Browns in this draft.
Go to one and get the quarterback that you want, period,
no chance.

Speaker 3 (01:05:17):
Take to leave it to no chance.

Speaker 5 (01:05:20):
Number two.

Speaker 4 (01:05:21):
You draft a quarterback at two, and you probably have
a preference for one, and you hope that the Titans
don't like any of their trade offers enough to risk it,
and so they stay at one and they take let's
say Abdul Carter or Hunter, whatever, they don't take quarterback.
You still get your quarterback there, or you do feel
comfortable enough with shador or Camp, depending on who your
one is, that you get them at two.

Speaker 5 (01:05:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:05:43):
And to me, the only other option is you go
from three and you have to go back and.

Speaker 3 (01:05:49):
You have to try to get as much as you can. Now,
what are you going to be able to get? I
don't know.

Speaker 4 (01:05:54):
But to me, staying at two and drafting a position
player is a tough It's a tough sell because, in
my mind, Nathan s. Gerro's mind, this asset, the number
two pick has to lead directly to a real swing
at a franchise quarterback on a rookie deal. And if
you don't get anything at number two other than a

(01:06:14):
position player, I don't think it puts you any closer
to doing that. No, So That's where I'm at with it,
and the opportunity cost. Let's say the Browns. Everybody who's
so afraid I don't like Schadoran. I've had people be
like adamant about it, dude. First of all, nobody's gonna
know who's right for a few years. Second of all,
where somebody ends up is very important. I think this

(01:06:34):
is a good place for Shador Sanders. The opportunity cost
of us not taking him or cam Ward and them
going somewhere else and turning a franchise around is so
much greater than us taking them and them not working out.
That leaves us right where we are. Yeah, whereas the
converse is, oh man, this we could have done this

(01:06:58):
and we failed to do so. I'm confident in Kevin Stefanski,
Tommy Resent, Bill Musgrave as a quarterback incubator as that group.

Speaker 3 (01:07:08):
So I just think there.

Speaker 4 (01:07:11):
And we've seen some movement in some of the box now,
but then we see Charles Davis as quarterbacks go one, two.

Speaker 3 (01:07:16):
Three, Buddy, it is a this is silly season.

Speaker 4 (01:07:20):
Pennix and Bonix and everybody I think would be thrilled
if Penicks or Bonix was our quarterback right now. None
of them were talked about being first round picks of
the combine.

Speaker 5 (01:07:28):
No, uh, I figure we'll just take this another couple
of minutes and then stack to our guests. Fad the
Preston Yep fact in question time, Oh boy fact, Puck
Satawi Phil is abysmal at predicting weather and should be
removed from all weather related activities.

Speaker 4 (01:07:46):
Nobody's good at predicting the weather, by the way these apps,
and nobody knows.

Speaker 3 (01:07:51):
It's it's ridiculous question.

Speaker 5 (01:07:54):
How would you create the perfect NFL draft prospect using
traits from existing NFL qbs?

Speaker 3 (01:08:07):
I mean, Peak Mahomes pretty much does it. Yeah, I
mean he's kind of a he's a cheat code. I
think he's kind of I don't know what more you
would need. I mean, he when he's at his best,
he's got the strongest arm he can throw off of
any platform he wants. He's entirely creative, he can he's

(01:08:28):
more scrambling than people think elusive. He's clutch. Like we
could go through and say, we'll give me Herbert's arm
and his feet and his this and all this. That's
what I'm doing. You could probably do that, So you
go like Lamar's feet I.

Speaker 4 (01:08:42):
Did, size, speed, arm, decision making, leadership, accuracy or the
six that I did.

Speaker 3 (01:08:46):
All right, go for who are yours in all those categories?

Speaker 4 (01:08:48):
So size I would say Josh Allen, Justin Herbert, Yep, speed, Lamar,
arm probably Alan or Herbert or Mahomes. Yeah, decision making,
Burrow accuracy probably Burrow. Leadership.

Speaker 3 (01:09:13):
I don't know. Mahomes is kind of like leader clutch
all of that. Yeah, I mean most of those guys
have that in spades, like Lamar, all those guys, Lamar, Alan, Burrow,
all those guys kind of have that through the room.

Speaker 4 (01:09:24):
If you had Joe Burrow and he could run like
either Alan, Lamar or Hurts even be that kind of
like a short yards goal line weapon and.

Speaker 5 (01:09:36):
Like to be.

Speaker 3 (01:09:37):
I mean, Burrow is pretty much if he were to
be if he were to be healthy, He's kind of
the closest thing you have to Brady right at the size.
He's got a good and plenty good enough arm. He's
really bright, he throws it where it's supposed to go.
He makes the right decisions. He just has been hurt
a lot, but when he's right, he's kind of all

(01:10:00):
the things that traditionally you want from a quarterback. Alan
is the one. He offers the different thing in terms
of his size and ability to take on hits and
all of that stuff. And he's got a Cannon. Lamar
is a total outlier in terms of his ability to
run the football. And and but and Herbert's kind of
he's kind of in that. To me, he's like ninety

(01:10:22):
percent of Marino is kind of what he is. That's
kind of what his game reminds me of. But Mahomes
kind of that's kind of all of it. Yep, well,
kind of Mahomes.

Speaker 4 (01:10:33):
And what you have heard from as it relates to
you know, Shador is that he is kind of his
good traits are good traits of you know, burrow.

Speaker 3 (01:10:46):
Breeze.

Speaker 4 (01:10:46):
That's what he's gonna you know, that's where he's got
to be. That's what he's got to That's how he's
going to win more often than not. And those are
the things that I think why these meetings are so important.
When you get and really having a guy who coached
in the NFL is the NFL of Assistant Coach of
the Year as an offensive coach on Kevin Stefanski staff
as his last season's quar coordinator in Colorado, We're gonna

(01:11:08):
know everything there is to know about him.

Speaker 3 (01:11:12):
Yes, I mean we keep saying that, like we're gonna
know these two quarterballs better than anybody else in the league. Yes,
I mean you think about Glenn and his relationship at
the University of Miami, Like we know you to know
exactly what cam Ward, you should know exactly what cam
Ward is and exactly what Shoudeur Sanders is. Yep. There
should be no ambiguity yep at all. So to me,
I mean yeah, And I also reject the notion that

(01:11:34):
you're not gonna like one more than the other. You
will like one more than the other. And if if
you know it's a little percentage, go get the one
you want. Ye, Sophia, what's the best pasta shape?

Speaker 5 (01:11:45):
And why? That would be the Man's lady.

Speaker 3 (01:11:47):
That's that's the g Man's lady had a great time.

Speaker 4 (01:11:50):
We haven't even gotten to talk to talking about love,
love meeting or lovely woman.

Speaker 3 (01:11:55):
G Man was on.

Speaker 4 (01:11:58):
The I'll lump you in this what I would call
the the BZG the bows that g man.

Speaker 3 (01:12:06):
Our alliance is strong, Oh god, it's strong. What's your
favorite pasta? Let's answer Sophia's Sophie's.

Speaker 4 (01:12:13):
Question, long noodle, bucatini, short NOODLETONI I like.

Speaker 3 (01:12:18):
An angel hair.

Speaker 5 (01:12:20):
Can I go wrong with that angel hair?

Speaker 3 (01:12:21):
Like the angel hair. I like how the meat I
get the meat distribution.

Speaker 5 (01:12:25):
It's not as filling.

Speaker 3 (01:12:27):
Yeah, it doesn't have to me.

Speaker 4 (01:12:30):
I like to have a little bit of that al dente,
the snap, and you have none that you can't get that.

Speaker 3 (01:12:36):
None of there. No, you don't know. I like it.
That's that would be mine. And then I don't know
what they're called, but the ones that are Jerry, Yeah,
those guys. Like those guys because then you you can
get this the little treats in there sometimes. All right.

Speaker 1 (01:12:51):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (01:12:51):
We continue our off season preview in season review. Mike Devabo,
Steelers beat writer for The Athletic gonna on us on that.
Coming up next, you listen to Cleveland Browns Daily on
eight fifty ESPN, Cleveland.

Speaker 2 (01:13:11):
Cleveland Browns Daily presented by Bally Bett, an official sports
betting partner of Your Cleveland Browns on eight fifty esp
and Cleveland.

Speaker 3 (01:13:34):
Hell Canox Serious Sawyer Serious Injuries called one in under
elk Ohio for a free case form you Alkinox, proud
partner of your Cleveland Browns. We continue our tours around
the AFC off season preview season review. We are on
the Twisted Tea Hotline presented by twisted hard, I sed,
official sponsor your Cleveland Browns, keep it twisted Cleveland. Is
Mike Defabo, senior Steelers beat reporter at the Athletic and

(01:13:56):
he joins us there, Mike, thanks so much for taking
the time. I guess let's just start with what they
going to do a quarterback?

Speaker 5 (01:14:02):
Man.

Speaker 1 (01:14:02):
I can't tell you how many times they've been asked
that question since the season ended, but it looks like
we're finally going to get an answer before too long.

Speaker 5 (01:14:09):
So here's what we know.

Speaker 1 (01:14:11):
Art Rooney, the team president and owner of the team,
after the season, came out and he said it was
his preference at the Steelers resigned either Justin Field or
Russell Wilson. So then at the combine, general manager Omar
Khan echoed those sentiments when he said basically the same thing,
but he also added that they had to keep the
door open because obviously both of these quarterbacks have a decision.

(01:14:32):
So what this tells you is that the deadline is coming,
and if the Steelers don't want these guys to reach
free agency, and they don't want them to test the
market and perhaps get into a bidding war, they're going
to be incentivized to get a deal done, you know,
maybe over this weekend or you know, as soon as Monday,
And you know, I my sense, or my guests, or

(01:14:54):
my gut reaction is I think that they're leaning towards
Justin Fields. You know, in those inner reviews with Art Rooney,
he mentioned the fact that both those guys there's ten
years difference between them, and he acknowledged that age was
a factor. I also think that there's a part of
the Steelers, and especially Arthur Smith, the offensive coordinator, who
thought what would have happened if the Steelers had stuck

(01:15:16):
with Justin Fields when they were four and two rather
than turning to Russell Wilson. So, you know, I don't
know for certain how it's going to play out, but
that's kind of my sense, and I think that Steelers
fans will be on board with having Justin Fields back
here next year.

Speaker 4 (01:15:31):
It's kind of I thought it was shocking at the
time that it wasn't they weren't saying with Justin Fields
and that it's not a done deal already, because I
do think Justin Field's, given his age and his talents,
is somebody that if he does get the free agency,
there will be competition for the Steelers. If let's say
it's not Russell Wilson, Justin Fields were to hit the market,
what's kind of in your mind, what's the next plan

(01:15:54):
for them?

Speaker 1 (01:15:57):
Yeah, I mean I think that that's the reason why
they're saying that there is going to be one or
the other. Right, Like, why else wouldn't you come out
and say we want Justin Because if you were to
say we want Justin Fields, then Russell Wilson is going
to say, Okay, fine, well I'm going elsewhere. And if
Justin ultimately goes to let's say the Jets or something
like that, then you're crawling back to Russell Wilson begging

(01:16:18):
him to come back, and that's not a good situation,
and that fractures a relationship. So, you know, if it's
not Justin, I think the next most likely option would
be Russell Wilson. If it's neither of those two guys,
that's where things start getting a little bit crazy.

Speaker 3 (01:16:31):
You know.

Speaker 1 (01:16:33):
It seemed like Mike Tomlin has always had a lot
of respect for Aaron Rodgers, and even though Aaron Rodgers
is forty one years old and not the same Haultain
quarterback that he once was maybe the thought process would
be similar to last year when they brought in an
aging Russell Wilson, and he clearly was a diminished version
of himself. You know, if it's not Aaron Rodgers, then
you're really kind of going to the bottom of the

(01:16:53):
barrel and really opening the door to all options, whether
that's looking for a guy like Kirk Cousins who might
released or traded, a guy like Derek Carr who might
get released or traded. You know, further down the line,
do you just go with Daniel Jones and just get
through the season and hope that you get to the
twenty twenty sixth draft and have a high pick. So

(01:17:13):
that's why you know, Justin Fields is not a great option.
But this is a really poor quarterback class for the
rookies and the Steelers aren't going to be in the
mix to get one of the top guys. This is
an underwhelming free agent class. So of the available option,
Justin Fields is your best one, and I think they
will eventually get that done, but you know, you never

(01:17:34):
know until they finally signed on that dotted line.

Speaker 3 (01:17:37):
Mike, he's the best long He's really the only long
term one, right, Like I mean, this is the guy
who's a first round pick and obviously didn't go well
in Chicago, but he flashed. What do you think if
it is him, and I'm guessing the fan base would
be at least somewhat excited about that. What will Arthur
Smith do offensively to take full advantage of everything that

(01:17:58):
he is Because it felt like last year it was like, yeah,
you can drive the car, but don't shift out a
third gear.

Speaker 1 (01:18:05):
That's absolutely what it was. That's a great analogy because
you look back and from the raw numbers, Justin Fields
had the best year of his career as a passer.
You know, you look at like epa per attempt, you
look at completion percentage, you look at the fact that
he cut down on his turnovers significantly. He had just
one interception in those six games that he played. So

(01:18:26):
Arthur Smith did get the best out of Justin Field.
But the way that he did so was a really
conservative game plan where a lot of short, quick throws,
a lot of throws to the sidelines, not a lot
over the middle. They took full advantage of his running ability,
and then they just realized that the bombing the ball
deep to George Pickens is often the good play in

(01:18:48):
their playbook, and they did that at fair amount as well.
So what I would really be like to see the
Steelers do if they choose Justin Fields, is to go
all in on Justin Field and like, what was the
reason why he was eleventh overall? It's not because he
can read defenses at a high level or because he
has some incredible arm It's because of those legs and

(01:19:08):
that mobility. And often last year when Justin Fields was
the quarterback, he was the most dynamic offensive weapon that
they had. And so you know, I look back to
within this division what the Ravens did with Lamar Jackson
early in his career, where they completely build an offense
around Lamar. He was the only one or there had
not very many guys like that that could run that offense.

(01:19:31):
And so, you know, we know the Steelers have invested
heavily in the offensive line. They drafted tackles back to
back picks in the first round over the last two years.
They have a second round center in Zack Frazier. They
want to be a run heavy team that wins the
line of scrimmage and therefore wins football games. So I
think continuing to lean into that with more design quarterback
runs and other you know, different wrinkles within the run game,

(01:19:54):
I think would be really prudent. And we saw we
saw a bit of it. You know, we saw a
quarterback counter, We saw a spread triple option a couple
of times that the Steelers ran. We saw a sprint
option that Justin Fields ran. So there's a lot of
creative things you can do, and I do think that
Arthur Smith would be intrigued that all the ways he
could tap into that unique skill set that Justin Fields

(01:20:15):
does have.

Speaker 4 (01:20:16):
See That's what's interesting to me about it from the
Steelers perspective is that everything that you read or in
conversations I've had, is that Justin Fields drives Arthur Smith
crazy because Arthur Smith is about his scheme and about
scheming guys open and the layups need to be layups,
and that isn't just Justin's skillset, and that is a
great source of frustration for Arthur Smith. Do you think

(01:20:39):
that they will be able to work that out because
that's kind of been the knock on Justin Fields. Out
of structure incredible running, incredible, but we're talking about instructure
throws that you know, NFL coordinators and coaches need to
be the bread and butter, at least the backbone of
an offense.

Speaker 3 (01:20:54):
They don't have.

Speaker 1 (01:20:57):
Yeah, I completely hear you on that, because you know,
for example, simple things like screen passes to running backs
were inaccurate, and therefore they started taking those out of
the playbook, you know, just started not calling those neely
as much or like a quick wide receiver screen. Justin
is not very accurate in those situations, and so they

(01:21:19):
called very few of those, and so they definitely do
have to work around some of those limitations. And one
thing I'll say with Justin is like when you watch
him play and you watch him live, he'll scramble for
five yards and you'll think, wow, that was an incredible play.
But really, when you go back and watch the film,
he doesn't throw with anticipation and accuracy very much. And

(01:21:40):
because he doesn't throw with anticipation, he's missing that window
and then he has to, as a result, scramble outside
of structure and create something with his feet. So that'll
be the challenge for Archer Smith. And I'll say this
about Archer Smith. You know he prefers to like throw
the ball over the middle to those tight ends. That's
one of the speoples of his game. Russell Wilson didn't
do that at all, and so he worked around Russell

(01:22:01):
Wilson's limitations, and I give him credit for that. So
now he'll have to work around different kinds of limitations
with Justin Field.

Speaker 3 (01:22:08):
If that's ultimately the direction they go.

Speaker 4 (01:22:10):
Yeah, I mean, listen, guy had five red zone touchdowns
rushing last year. Yeah, five and he started what six games?
I mean, I don't know if you have somebody that's
putting together ten touchdowns and they're only throwing one interception,
like you can win with that in the National Football League?

Speaker 3 (01:22:28):
Is it?

Speaker 4 (01:22:29):
And this is kind of the quandary I think the
Browns are in. The question is with Justin Fields, can
you operate an offense that will end the draft that
the Steelers are in right, And what I mean by
that is they have been a very competent team, but
they have not won a playoff game in many, many years.
And you're in a division with Lamar and with Joe Burrow,
and that's I think where the Browns are at. It's like,
you can get a quarterback who can be good enough

(01:22:50):
to have you win games, but Are we trying to
go ten and seven or are we trying to win
the Super Bowl?

Speaker 3 (01:22:58):
You know what I mean?

Speaker 4 (01:22:59):
And I think that's the question with Fields, given his
limitations to the throw. I loved him coming out of
Ohio State.

Speaker 3 (01:23:03):
I know you love him.

Speaker 4 (01:23:04):
I certainly would be thrilled if you were a Cleveland
Brown even with those limitations. But that's kind of I
think that's the one limiting factor you know, with him
right now, and that makes it such an interesting situation.
I think for a team that it feels like, I mean, listen,
the Browns would trade places with Mike Tomlins eighteen years
and even since he's in the time that he hasn't
won a playoff game, being a playoff team every year,

(01:23:25):
we've having won a record every year. But people in
Pittsburgh want to run him out of there, which is
wild to me. And I guess my question is, you know,
do they feel Fields can get them out of that
rut or is it kind of in some ways more
of the same but just a different presentation.

Speaker 5 (01:23:40):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:23:41):
I completely hear what you're saying, and I completely agree.
Last year during training camp, there was a huge debate
in Pittsburgh and every single day on Pittsburgh Sports Talk
radio was are you in the camp of Russell Wilson
or are you a Justin Fields guy? And I was
asked that question so many times and finally my answer became, look,
neither of is going to be the answer.

Speaker 3 (01:24:01):
I hate to tell you that.

Speaker 1 (01:24:02):
And we found that out last year. Like, let's look
back at after those six games when justin Fields was
four and too, Mike Tomlin told you with his actions
that he did not believe in Justin Fields as the answer, right,
he would not have benched justin Fields. Justin Fields himself
came out and he said, look, I didn't play well enough.
If I played better, we wouldn't even be sitting here
having this conversation. There wouldn't even be a debate. Then

(01:24:25):
at the end of the year, Russell Wilson loses four
consecutive games to close out the year and then flames
out in the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (01:24:32):
That's five in a row.

Speaker 1 (01:24:33):
In those five games, they scored fourteen point two points
per game. Mike Tomlin in his end of season press
conference comes out and says fourteen points a game isn't
going to get it done. So if justin Fields was
not your answer, in the middle of the season, and
Russell Wilson wasn't your answer at the end of the season.
Why would either one be the solution now? Unfortunately, only
because the other options are even worse. And so that

(01:24:55):
is the situation the Steelers are in. So I'll make
some people listening in Cleveland happy and tell you I
don't expect the Steelers to get over the hump next
year at all. With whoever this quarterback is. I think
the thought process here is Justin is young, he may
have not reached his potential.

Speaker 3 (01:25:11):
We'll take a fly on him.

Speaker 1 (01:25:13):
Maybe we could be the team that unlocks him. If
we don't and this goes into a complete tail spin,
that's fine too, because now maybe for the first time
we have a losing season, we're in position to draft
a quarterback in the first round. In that twenty twenty
six class is considered a much better draft class in
terms of quarterback. So you know, I think that there
you can make the right move, but it might not

(01:25:34):
be your answer, and I think that that's what it
would be with Justin Fields bringing him back.

Speaker 3 (01:25:39):
All right, Mike, we've tackled the quarterback issue. What are
the other boxes that need to be checked by the
Steelers in the next couple of weeks in free agency
and then leading into the draft.

Speaker 1 (01:25:49):
Well, one of the first ones is wide receiver, and
when Omar Khan, the general manager, took the job two
years ago, wide receiver was one of the deepest and
most talented position groups, it turned out that he was
actually also just the most dysfunctional. So he traded Chase Claypool,
he traded Deontae Johnson. Now the only reliable receiver left
is George Pickens, who, as Cleveland Browns fans know, famously

(01:26:11):
for getting in a fight at the end of the game,
wrestling match in the end zone. And that's just one
of the many antics that's gone on with George Pickens,
And so the Steelers really are reaching a crossroads with
him where he's entering the fourth and final year of
his rookie deal. Traditionally, when a player performs on the
field as well as Pickens has in the Steelers organization,

(01:26:31):
it would.

Speaker 3 (01:26:31):
Be a no brainer right now.

Speaker 1 (01:26:32):
They would be talking to his agent getting a deal done,
making him a Steeler for long term. But I don't
expect that to happen because it's just been so repeated
with Pickens, and it's gotten to the point where even
coach Mike Tomlin, who often sticks up for his players
and has defended Pickens last year, publicly came out after
the game against the Bengals when George had two on

(01:26:53):
sportsman like conduct penalties and said, like, look, this guy
needs to grow up. Those were that was a quote,
he needs to grow up. So you know, one way
or another, whether you think you could still get Pickings
back on the rails and he's going to be a
Steeler long term, or if you think you might trade
him this offseason or that you might just let him
play out the string on his rookie deal. You have
to address wide receiver. So all of the wide receivers

(01:27:16):
that become available via trade are at least something the
Steelers are considering or need to consider. And then you
look at this is a really good year to be
looking for a wide receiver and free agency and I
very much imagine the Steelers are going to be involved
in that process as well. So wide receiver is a
big one to consider. The other big one in free

(01:27:37):
agency with that starting next week, defensive back, especially corner.
The Steelers have Joey Porter Junior, but they really don't
have a starter opposite him. Dante Jackson was a starter
last year, but he's a free agent.

Speaker 3 (01:27:48):
They have a young guy and.

Speaker 1 (01:27:49):
Seven round pick, Corey Trice, but he's had some injury concerns.
So once again, this is a really good year to
need a defensive back. And like as the Steelers found
out with Joe Hayden a couple of years ago, they're
much better at taking someone else's veteran and getting the
most out of him than drafting and developing corners, something
that the Steelers get criticized for all the time. So

(01:28:11):
you know, I think I look at those two positions
as being the big areas of Steelers will address. And
then finally the third one would be defensive tackle. Cameron
Hayward's not getting any younger, Larry Ogunjobi hasn't really stayed healthier,
played at the level you would expect. So you know,
those three positions I think are big ones to circle.

Speaker 3 (01:28:29):
Great stuff, Mike, Thank you so much for the time.

Speaker 1 (01:28:31):
Thank you absolutely, guys, thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 3 (01:28:35):
All Right, there you go, Mike de Fabo, Steelers beat
reporter at the Athletic joining on the twisted tea Hotline
presented by Twisted T hard iced t, official sponsor for
your Cleveland Browns. Keep it Twisted. Cleveland football kind of
purgatory is where it is. And I know they win
every year and they have a winning record, but there's
also they haven't been a super Bowl contender for a
long time, and that's not something they like. And there's

(01:28:56):
really no easy path out of it. It's not something
that they like at all. And if you were to
go into kind of the Steelers, it has been you know,
it has been a while since they have gotten it done.
The last time that they won a postseason game was
it sixteen?

Speaker 4 (01:29:15):
I believe was it was either sixteen or seventeen. Sixteen
they got to the Commons Championship seventeen says here. They
lost in the divisional round. They were thirteen and three,
so they may have been been the one seed. They
may have been the one seed.

Speaker 3 (01:29:28):
They haven't been. Yeah, they lost. The last time they
want to play was twenty sixteen. It's a testament to
how well they're organizing their operation that they win every
year without having a franchise quarterback since been Yeah, and
they win, they still win, but they're without Roethlisberger. They
have not been a true contender, so much more to come.
You listen to Cleveland Browns Daily on eight fifty ESPN Cleveland.

Speaker 2 (01:29:54):
Cleveland Browns Daily presented by Bally Beck, an official sports
betting partner of your Cleveland Browns on esp and Cleveland.

Speaker 3 (01:30:16):
I somebody asked if I had started Severns yet with
all the travel that we're doing that we had done
with me at the Combine and Columbus.

Speaker 5 (01:30:24):
I hadn't.

Speaker 3 (01:30:25):
And I also like, feel like it'll get wrecked if
I don't watch White Lotus when those episodes drop. Okay,
so I'm watching that. Then I'm watched nineteen twenty three,
which has good two of that because those are like
coming in real time. And then I have the Severns
carrot that is out there. Tonight could be the night
thoks someon all cut up on the other stuff and
we're food it is. I'm looking forward to it again.

(01:30:47):
The first three episodes, you're kind of going to be like,
it's not very fast. You might not know what's going on.

Speaker 5 (01:30:53):
It would.

Speaker 4 (01:30:53):
What I'll say to you is, for example, somebody who
says Game of Throne season one, and so I don't
know you could say that given what transpires.

Speaker 3 (01:30:59):
In the first episode. People.

Speaker 4 (01:31:00):
I've heard people say that, But I say, get to
episode nine, yeah, and then live and then if you
if you're out after episode nine, it's not for you.
I would say the same thing you about that you're
out after episode nine, not for you. You're gonna be
I guarantee the time when episode nine ends to the
time that you want to watch the next episode will
be less.

Speaker 3 (01:31:18):
Than a second. Less than a second.

Speaker 4 (01:31:19):
Yeah, And people who watch it in real time waited
almost three years, which I can't even comprehend.

Speaker 3 (01:31:25):
That's always felt like I was always so jealous of
people who like were able to binge thrones, but then
also they didn't get, like they get the experience of
it too. So all right, next levels coming up next.
We're back tomorrow. Clevel Brown's Daily, eight fifty ESPN Cleveland.

Speaker 2 (01:31:37):
You've been listening to Cleveland Browns Daily, a production of
the Cleveland Browns and eight to fifty ESPN Cleveland

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Joel Bitonio Returns & Nick Chubb's Future | Cleveland Browns Daily | 3-6-25