May 21, 2025 • 34 mins
On this week’s edition of the Best Podcast Available, Andrew Siciliano sits down with both Dylan Sampson and Harold Fannin Jr. to talk draft process, rookie minicamp and season expectations.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thirty two possible destinations. The one you got was at home. Congratulations.
What does it feel like to be a Cleveland brown Man?
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Thank you man?
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Just truly just bless really, I mean growing up about
an hour from here, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
I mean a lot to the family, so.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
The family can be here on game day.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
That's gotta be cool too, That's gonna be dope.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I just already know.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
I mean like I'm gonna turn around and then they're
all gonna be right there, So I'm gonna be sprinkling
in over there.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
They're gonna be pretty much here.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Is it training camp yet? No, it's just May. But
with that, we welcome you to another edition of the
best podcast available post Rookie Mini Camp slash Schedule release edition.
My name is andrews Aciliano. On the other side of
(00:52):
your screen or the other headphone, maybe the other ear,
not making an ear joke, just you know, if you're
listening in stereo, that don't and tones and now the
guffaw of Jason good night, everybody good at everybody? Hey,
how are you? I'm good, I'm good.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Hey.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
We're almost into ot AS. Somebody, We're a week away
from OTAs and then mandatory mini camp. We've already got
like three weeks left of the of the off season program.
It has been there and gone. It's been quick.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
There is no off season. Remember that there is no
off season. So here's what's happened.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
This in the in the info that Kevin Stefanski's assistant
sends out from a scheduling standpoint, it is off season program.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Yes, the OTA's off seat organized team activities right, off
season program. We'll get to that later, right, but they
are voluntary OTAs. Mandatory mini camp is in June. We'll
do that in a bit. When last we spoke, you
and I were awkwardly standing on a field next to
each other, wearing hats and wrapping up day two. At
(02:01):
that point of rookie minicamp, there was a Day three,
a Sunday, media not there. I wasn't there. It was
Mother's Day, right, You were with your family. I was
with my family again, happy belated Mother's Day. And then
of course the hot takes about which rookie quarterback look better. Guys,
They both look good, they really did. They both look good.
And I said that last time. Nothing has changed since
(02:22):
they stepped off the field this past Sunday. So let's
forget about that for a second and let's talk about
the schedule.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
Gibbe, we have the schedule. What do you think, Buddy
number one? A little birdie had told me that Rammitt
was going to be coming to Cleveland for the preseason.
And boy, the Los Angeles Rams have to be going.
What did we do to deserve this? After we had
(02:49):
to go to Seattle a year ago? The Rams get
to come here for a ten am their time on
the West Coast kick for the final preseason game.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
And for those who don't know, I worked with and
for the Rams for fourteen preseasons and all kinds of
other stuff in the community fourteen years. The Ramley as
we call it, is coming to town. And yes, a
little birdie with the Ramley did tell me that a couple.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Of weeks ago.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
And give me I gave you the heads up on that. Look,
it's a preseason game. It's the third and final preseason game.
I can tell you, having worked with Sean McVay for
many years, he is going to run the ball fifty
five times in that game. Perfect goal is to get
back to Hopkins as fast as humanly possible. Now, what
is Also interesting to your point about the long flight
is that in years past when the Rams have taken
(03:37):
a long road trip for a preseason game, it usually
involves a joint practice. A couple of years ago with
former assistant Zach Taylor, obviously head coach of the Bengals,
used to be oc with the Rams. We meeting the
Rams when I was there, went to Cincinnati and spent
a couple of days, actually the same hotel we stayed
in last December, and had joint practices with the Rams.
(03:58):
I'm sorry. With the Bengals, the surprised, Yes, the Frank
is Aaron Donald surprised. There is no joint practice. But
the Browns, as we know, are doing joint practices with
the Panthers and the Eagles on our first two preseason
games before coming back home.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
To wrap it all up, you might as well just
come here spend the entire month of August, because you're
going to be in that You're gonna be in Philly,
you're going to be in Cleveland, and then it's a
whirlwind four or five weeks.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
That is that is the plan. I'm moving there in August.
So perfect look for preseason is let's get out of that.
Let's get to the regular season schedule, and let's harken
back to twenty twenty three. This is a twenty twenty
three redo when it comes to week one. In Week eighteen,
you open at home with Cincinnati, you close on the
(04:48):
road at Cincinnati. Now, in twenty twenty three, that was
a Jeff Driscoll game that hey was in the bar
and the Browns are going to the playoffs after beating
the Jets on TNF after Christmas, so that game really
didn't mean much at all. David Bell got in the
end zone and fond memories. Had to get through that
game healthy. That was the only concern ahead of the
eventual playoff loss in Houston. It's two with the division
(05:11):
to open Cincinnati at home, Baltimore on the road Week two,
and then to end the season it's home for Pittsburgh
on the twenty eighth, that's after Christmas Sunday, one o'clock,
and then the TBD because all Week eighteen games are
TBD at Cincinnati. So two with the division to open,
(05:32):
two with the Division to close. Obviously, give me. What
stands out to me is that fourteen of these seventeen
games are one o'clock games, there are no primetime games.
The Browns are one of three teams without a primetime game.
The others are the Titans, who are picking number one overall.
Obviously we would have picked two overall without the trade
with Jacksonville, the Titans, the Browns, and the New Orleans Saints,
(05:54):
who had been picking number nine overall. Now the Browns,
unlike those other two, have a standalone game. That standalone
game is London, which we knew. It is Week five,
Tottenham Hotspurs Stadium against the Vikings.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
Your thoughts, I'm fine with it. I think the first
month and a half of the season is going to
test this football team. Yep, right off the get go.
I mean you're you're talking about the Bengals at home.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Now.
Speaker 4 (06:23):
The good news is, if I'm correct, the Bengals haven't
won a season opener since twenty twenty one.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Correct, But the Browns no longer owned them at home
as had been the case.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Usually I could.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
Use a Miles Garrett crossover and then you know, you know.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Beat them week one in the rain, twenty three at home,
Yeah exactly so.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
But then on the road it home road, home road,
and then you know you can call it a home
game against Minnesota. But it's a road game, it's a
styke game.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Yeah, we're.
Speaker 4 (06:55):
And then you know there's no bye week after. I
think we were kind of hoping South for a bye week,
you and.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
I really selfishly, but that is a football decision.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
And I don't think that's a bad decision. You don't
want to take your bye week that early. That's really
really early to be taken a bye.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
I'm with you, and internally and I can't I can't
say this for certain because I haven't followed up on it,
but there was a thought I think internally. Listen, if
the London game is Week five, then you don't take
a bye, you go home. And the teams have the
choice now. Years ago, when the International Series began, teams
were told, hey, if you go overseas were giving you
(07:32):
a buye. And then when these games got pushed earlier
onto the schedule, some teams raised their hand and said,
what if we don't want to buy like week six,
it's a long season. What if we want to push
it later? And teams were then given the option. So
the Browns are like, we don't want it week six,
we'd like it later. The bye is week nine. Correct,
But yes, you and I selfishly obviously would have enjoyed
(07:55):
that buye. I was, you know, gonna you know, Normandy,
I've ever done that, you know, things like that.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
Instead, we were flying back. Now we're on the East
Coast time zone, so it's not like these aren't long flights.
You just have to get to the airport. And since
there's no police escort because we're not the King of England,
I mean we could be Kings for the day. I
mean it would be nice. You know, by the time,
it's going to be the struggle to get to the airport,
(08:22):
but once you're on the plane, you know we're back
probably middle of the night, maybe, yeah, I mean it's
not It would be like going to the West Coast
for a nighttime primetime game and then flying home and
the problem is five days later you're on a bus
to Pittsburgh. Unfortunately, that didn't do you a lot of favors.
(08:46):
I really felt like the league would have been nice
to have a home game after going to London, but
London and the league say, well, your home game is
against the Minnesota Vikings. So I would have liked I
would have liked a home game, but.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
I have some thoughts on that. I'm with you, I
would have liked a home game. Be careful you ask
for if you don't want to buy after week five,
that's fine. You don't know what that next game is
going to be. Now they try to do you some favors, like,
for example, if you're a West Coast team AFC West,
NFC West and you have to play in Europe, a
lot of those teams ask, hey, can we play the
(09:23):
week before on the East Coast. So in other words,
let's say the forty nine ers just play make believe here,
wouldn't play a London game after they It wouldn't be
a London game after say a game in Denver where
they got to come home and then they got a
lot of these teams say, hey, send us to say
like New York will play New York and then we
(09:45):
will go straight over after the game. Right, So those
requests are off and honored. I don't know what the
Browns requested on the back end, other than no BUYE.
At least you're not getting on a plane, You're taking
the bus. You could lead EVE at three o'clock on
Saturday afternoon and bust to Pittsburgh and it's not as
(10:06):
bad as a flight. My biggest issue with that one though,
is I don't know if you noticed. The Steelers are
going to be coming off a bye correct, So the
Steelers will have been in Doublin and I are play
the Vikings more than that. In a second. The Vikings
week for the Steelers said, we want our bye, So
the Steelers are going to come home, be rested, and
(10:28):
We're going to be coming back trying to fight through
everything and then have to play them and they are
rested off an early by.
Speaker 4 (10:37):
The Steelers can do that because they have four primetime games. Yes,
so they're gonna have They're gonna have a mini by
weekend from playing on a Thursday night. We don't even
get a mini bye week this year. Correct, we have
one bye week for eighteen weeks. Yeah, it's week nine.
They have that luxury.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
It's different now. Look at the Titans. I said, the
Titans don't have a picking ahead of the Browns number one.
We're all with the number one overall pick ham Ward
and they're quite upset there in Tennessee. No primetime showcase.
Guys got to go a good record last year. I
would argue the Browns didn't have a good record, but
there are reasons to explain it, and they are far
more likely to bounce back this year. And I would
(11:15):
also argue that you could put any AFC North game
at a primetime window and chances are it's gonna be
good television.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Now.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Browns and Bengals got flexed out in December last year.
I hated it at that moment it happened. In retrospect,
it wasn't that good of a game other than miles
one hundred sack. We were freezing because the Bengals refused
to put the heat on. But that's another issue we
learn from that. It's not about my comfort ever, But like, hey, Bengals,
you can put the stinking heat on. But I digress.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Where was I?
Speaker 1 (11:45):
The Titans every they don't have any standalone games and
they have like US fourteen one o'clock games, They have
three four o'clock games. That is their schedule. So it
could be a lot worse.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
Yeah, and it gets a little easier, like like I
don't want to say easier, because here's good news is
we have the schedule. Bad news is you're starting to
break down the schedule. A year ago we looked at
our schedule and I think probably nine out of ten
people would have said, oh, we're playing the We're playing
in Washington, Yeah, this is going to be a walk
(12:21):
in the park. Well, they were a game away from
the super Bowl. So the schedule is on paper. You
got to go play the games, and a lot could
change things. Maybe the NFC North isn't as good this year,
maybe they take a step back.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
I doubt that highly, but you know.
Speaker 4 (12:36):
Maybe the AFC East has some issues, you know with
maybe the Dolphins aren't as good as we all think.
Maybe the Patriots, you know, still aren't back yet totally
with Vrabel, the Jets, maybe they're still trying to figure
out their quarterback situation. We've go three straight AFC East
opponents with a buy in between there. But so the
(12:58):
schedule paper tells you, and based on the record from
a year ago, that maybe things loosen up a little bit,
lighting up a little bit. But you know, then Thanksgiving
weekend the forty nine ers, you have the Titans at home,
then you got to go to Chicago. Then Buffalo comes here,
Pittsburgh comes here at Cincinnati. I mean it gets tough
again as we go.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
It's tough in the beginning and it's tough at the end.
And I would say this to Brons fans myself included
here that you're aggravated. You don't have more primetime games,
any primetime games that we're aggravated everybody is. You have
a chance on the back end of that schedule if
you get out of the gate well, which I know
it's a gauntlet there after you go Bengals, Ravens, Packers, Lions,
(13:42):
Vikings and London Steelers. That ain't easy. But if you
can navigate that, and if you can get good in
the middle of the season with that buy in the
AFC East teams, I'm telling you you have your chance
to flex your way in to big TV windows at
the end of the year. Whether it's the Bears the Bills.
(14:03):
You telling me that on September I'm sorry, December twenty first,
four days before Christmas. If the Browns and Bills mean
something that isn't going to a primetime window it is.
So you have the Bears, the Bills, the Steelers, and
then who knows Week eighteen with the Bengals. Love that
game to mean something. My money would always tell me
(14:24):
right now, it's an NFC Easter or NFC North game
then gets into that window. But you never know, you
have your opportunity to stake your claim. And I also
believe that the lack of primetime games could and should
be a motivational factor. It's only May, it's very minor,
but hey, this is what they think of you.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
Yeah, exactly, that's exactly right. That's what the NFL thinks
of you. You're not worthy of a primetime slot. All right,
Well it's up to us to go earn it.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
And you know, the one thing that really annoys me
here about the no primetime thing. I don't want to
harp on it too much, because they truly do believe
that the Browns are worthy of a prime time slot.
I think they put on a good show generally, whether
it was the Broncos last year, a loss, the Steelers game,
the snow Globe, we know what happened, and then they
got flexed out of the two games.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
Ratings get ratings.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Exactly, especially with Miles coming back with the quarterbacks, like,
I really do think they deserved one. Here's what I
can't stand. So I mentioned Tennessee number one overall doesn't
have a primetime game. I kind of get it. Number two,
where we would have picked without the trade, we don't
have one. Number three The New York Giants, same record, Browns, Titans,
(15:33):
Giants right one, two three, same record. Came down to
tie breakers as to how the draft fell. The Giants
have three primetime games. I know it's New York. This
is not like some anti New York rant. I went
to school in New York. I get New York. It's
the number one market. Went exactly Central New York, not
New York City. Very very very very very very very different,
(15:54):
very different. I get they're going to be on TV,
but do you know what that York Giants are since
twenty twenty in primetime giving a don't okay, unwatchable? They
are two and fifteen since twenty twenty in primetime, two
and fifteen. I get it. It's big blue, it's a
(16:16):
big market. They're a big brand. And they did make
the playoffs a couple of years ago, not last year,
the year before NOE with Daniel Jones and Saquon they
won in Minnesota, Okay, three years ago, whatever, it was.
My point being, they're two and fifteen in primetime. You
cannot tell. Look the back pages in New York are like,
can Jackson Dart save Brian Daboll from getting fired by November.
(16:39):
I don't think Brian Dabele personally should be fired. I'm
not advocating for that. I'm saying that's the talk. They
get three primetime the Patriots, who won four games, who
are picking fourth. The Patriots have three primetime games as well.
Now one of them is against the Giants, right, so
there's a crossover. But I don't get that. But the
(17:01):
Browns have a way to fight themselves out of that
hole if they want to. So that's that, all right.
Let's go back and listen to an interview that we did.
Full disclosure, This was taped after day one of rookie
mini camp. Okay, they got off the field, the rookies did.
Dylan Samson, fourth round pick, walked over to me. Love
(17:21):
the conversation. I'm very excited about this backfield. I don't
know if you could see it in the final cut,
but in the background you may see a rookie quarterback
wearing number twelve getting in some extra work after day
one of work. You got one practice in the books.
Dylan Samson is an NFL running back. How to go.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (17:44):
Uh, I think it was good, you know, just feeling
comfortable with the playbook, you know, getting my feet you know,
wet on the ground and everything, but I feel like
it went smooth.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Had a field to actually get your feet on the ground,
to put this new number two, this twenty two jersey
on and get out here.
Speaker 5 (17:59):
Yeah, it felt great. You know, you know those feelings
hit you when you take the field. It feels good that,
you know, be back in just football clothes again, and
you know, now I'm part of a team again, you know,
so it feels good.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
So much attention on the quarterbacks. Can we talk about
the running backs here as well? Because you and Quinn
Shawn's seeming they already have something going. Watching the two
of you with Duce Staley doing position drills before the game,
he was getting on you a little bit and you
two were both giving it back to me.
Speaker 5 (18:25):
Well yeah, yeah, I think it would be like a
great relationship.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
You know.
Speaker 5 (18:30):
I feel like in the league, you know, it's competition
everywhere and you want to be the best in the room.
Speaker 6 (18:34):
But you know, at the end of the day, we
all working towards the same goal.
Speaker 5 (18:37):
So as many talented and elite people you can have
on your team.
Speaker 6 (18:41):
It makes everybody else elite.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
We got to workshop this. There's thunder and lightning, there's
smashing dash, there's Sonic and knuckles in Detroit. So what
are you guys gonna be?
Speaker 6 (18:53):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
We were gonna think about it, you know, come up
with it.
Speaker 5 (18:55):
But you know, step one, it's got to make sure
we you know, take advantage of camping and everything leaning up,
just to put ourselves in a position.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Have you guys talked about it?
Speaker 6 (19:04):
The nickname the nicknames, it's unspoken.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
We understand, Okay, So.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
You gotta let your play on the field figure it
out and then maybe it'll be up to me and
Nathan in the booth. Not that I want to give
you a nicknames.
Speaker 6 (19:15):
Yeah, you know, I think I think that's how it goes.
Speaker 4 (19:18):
You know.
Speaker 5 (19:18):
I think if we go out there and you know,
the world sees something in us and it'll give us
a nickname, you know, hopefully it's something great.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Okay, now that we're at it, we're kind of a
nickname for you guys. Obviously a lot of eyes on
the quarterbacks as well, with both Dylan Gabriel, I'm sorry, Yeah,
Dylan Gabriel and Shorge Sanders. At my Dylan's got two Dyllons.
Man already mix them up in my head, early impressions
on the two of them, and I guess all the cameras,
the lights. I'm sure your phone's been blowing up about
(19:45):
it as well.
Speaker 6 (19:46):
What do you think, oh man, two great guys.
Speaker 5 (19:48):
You know, having a chance to get to talk to
him should do us lock of literally right across from me.
But you know, both home of guys. I think, both
ready to attack the opportunity that they have. You know,
felt comfortable with them in the huddle of the day.
Made my job easier, you know, just just relaying the
plays back. But uh, you know it's it's great. There's
two great quarterbacks and they'll definitely put each other and
you know you could definitely see leadership traits in them.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
How many times joking aside? Has your phone blown up?
Speaker 5 (20:14):
It was real hot, like after I get drafted, you know,
but I kind of try to put it down.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
How's Cleveland been treating? You saw we had crawfish already, right.
Speaker 6 (20:23):
That's crazy.
Speaker 5 (20:24):
I just got here yesterday and you know, got a
chance to meet some you know, my old lineman and
so that was that was good. It felt like I
was back home as soon as I left. But uh,
you know, the day's been busy, so I can't wait
to just get around the city and you know, really
get comfortable here.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Did Wyatt Teller make that crawfish or did he bring
it in?
Speaker 6 (20:44):
He made it? Okay, he made it good. I'm from Louisiana.
Speaker 5 (20:48):
Yeah, so I'm not gonna say its top tier, but
I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 6 (20:52):
I would sit there and eat it like it was good.
You know what I'm saying. They don't.
Speaker 5 (20:55):
They don't even have all the season is here to
make it how we make it. But definitely better than
some carfish I had in Tennessee and wim on North,
which I was like, man.
Speaker 6 (21:04):
You got it any from Virginia.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Hey, he got it, so you didn't just eat it
to be nice to a guy that's got a clear
holes for you.
Speaker 5 (21:12):
Man, Look, he got a family. He got a clear
holes for his family. He don't got a clear holes
for me. You know, he he gotta get paid, so
he gonna clear holes regardless. You know, I'm gonna keep
it real because hey, you know, keeping it real just
make you better.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
You also keep it real with the legacy of the
Tennessee running backs as well. You're from Louisiana, so you
were a Saints fan. I a soon growing up, right,
Alvin Kamara forty one with the Saints, but six with Tennessee.
That's your number as well. What is Alvin Kamara meant
to you?
Speaker 5 (21:41):
Yeah, you know, just just looked that looked up to him.
You know, I follow his story since, like when he
was at Alabama, you know, and just the things he
went through going from Juco to Tennessee and especially when
he got to the league. He happened to go to
my favorite team at the time, and just you know,
watching him, seeing a player that I could, you know,
find some similarities and was very morenovational for me. You know,
(22:01):
I never like to look up to like too many
big running backs because it's not my play style. But
I saw traits in his game that I knew for
sure I could emulate. And just having a chance to
go to Tennessee, and you know, it was crazy. I
saw him in the airport, but I didn't speak to
him because he looked like he was just you.
Speaker 6 (22:16):
Know, minding his business.
Speaker 5 (22:17):
You're a little kid, nah, I mean I was committed
to Tennessee already, you know, but I just was like, man,
I'm gonna let him be in. You know, if the
time is right, I'm going to Tennessee. I'll meet him
one day. And you know what happened. You know, got
a chance to you know, spend like a week with him,
pick his brain. You know, he gave me game and
he came to my couple games over this year, came
to BEMA this past year, and you know, you know,
(22:37):
it's just cool seeing things come full circle.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
That is pretty cool. You said you're not entirely his game,
but at the same time, people say you're the home
run hitter. He's a home run hitter, but you're gonna
be You're gonna be the ANFC North now. So you
do have a physical side to your game as well.
But people have often said, hey, Quinn, Shine's a physical guy.
You're you're the speed guy. Do you like that? Because
I would have to think that you don't want to
(23:02):
shy away from being physical.
Speaker 5 (23:04):
Man, it somebody has to be something, you know, somebody
has to be something. But I just let my place
speak for itself. I think at running back in general,
you have to be physical there's not many running backs
who succeed for too long without being physical, you know,
and there's different type of you know, levels of it.
Speaker 6 (23:19):
You know.
Speaker 5 (23:20):
I want mine to speak out because I'm not the
biggest running back, but i know the mentality that I take,
and I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get
better and make this team go forward.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
You spoke earlier today when you met with the media
about your why, Dylan Sampson, what is your why?
Speaker 6 (23:35):
Yeah, biggest is in my faith.
Speaker 5 (23:37):
You know, I truly believe we all like put on
this earth for a reason, you know, and we're gifted
with certain talents for a reason, you know, whether it's broadcasting,
you know, sports.
Speaker 6 (23:46):
Like even all of us.
Speaker 5 (23:48):
We have deeper talents than just football, you know, and
it's our job to tap into that and use the
platform that we've been given to effect you know, positive
change and really be a role model. You know, we
have an opportunity of lifetime to be a role model
and lead the charge, and I don't want to take
that for granted.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
Well said, love it, welcome again, good luck, Yes, thank you,
Dylan Samson. Everybody, we have all year, we have all
camp to work on that nickname. We are open to suggestions.
Feel free comment on wherever and however you listen or
watch this podcast. You could hit me up on the
socials as well. You know where to find me. We
need the nicknames. Let it come organically for both Dylan
(24:27):
Samson and Quinn Sean Judkins. All right, let's also go
back and do another rookie interview here. This is way back.
This is This is right after This is during the draft. Actually,
this is on Saturday of the draft. After camp. McKinley's
Harold fannin junior was taken on Friday and made the
(24:50):
drive up to the Cross Country Mortgage campus. Again, consider
the time frame here. I sat down with him in Burria.
Harold Fan and Jr. You had no idea where you
would go in the NFL Draft. There are thirty two
possible destinations. The one you got was at home. Congratulations.
What does it feel like to be a Cleveland brown Man?
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Thank you man? Just truly just blessed.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
Really, I mean growing up about an hour from here,
you know what I mean. I mean a lot to
the family, so.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
The family can be here on game day.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
That's gotta be cool too, That's gonna be dope.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
I just already know.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
I mean like I'm gonna turn around and then they
all gonna be right there, so I'm gonna be sprinkling
in over there.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
They're gonna be pretty much area.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
I'll be honest with it. That could also be that's
a lot. Yeah, And I'm not like making you love
your family certainly. And some people say I don't want
to play at home. You're cool with it though, you
like it?
Speaker 3 (25:45):
Yeah, yeah, of course seen the brown Stadium. It's huge,
Like who won't want.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
To play at home?
Speaker 1 (25:50):
And you're wearing the same colors as well.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Yeah, they ain't gotta really do too much.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
You have a lot of orange in your closet as well,
coming from bowling Green.
Speaker 4 (25:58):
Ye.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
All right, let's talk about old fan of growing up
as a kid. Because you grew up, as you said,
Kate McKinley an hour down the road, you weren't necessarily
the biggest Browns fan. I think your generation, I'm going
to age myself right now. Okay, your generation, the younger generation.
You grew up in an era of fantasy football. You
can get every game on TV. It's less about teams,
it's more about players, right, For a lot of young guys,
(26:22):
who are the players in the NFL that you watched
a lot growing up and maybe you modeled your game.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
After so growing up. I definitely say Leon Bell. I
definitely watched him a lot.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
You played a lot of running back, too, played.
Speaker 3 (26:34):
A lot of running back. And then this one might
sneak up on you. Antonio Brown. I thought he was
the best player on earth really.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Well, as you transition to a guy that catches passes
for a living, his footwork, the way he was able
to get off the line, that's a good guy.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
To look up to. That's a great guy.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
So what do you take from his game?
Speaker 3 (26:55):
I think is just his like ability to just catch
the ball. Like you ever watch them, I remember watching
them catch the ball, his helmet, you know what I mean,
late hands. You know he pretty much got the receiver
part packed down. If you just watch him, you know
what I mean, and you kind of take his little
bits and pieces, you gonna end up, you know what
I mean, being a little great.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
It's funny you said late hands was the first.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Thing that came to my mind. He has late hands.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
So for those who don't know listening, late hands meaning
you look back, DB's got his back to the quarterback.
You don't want to put your hands up too quickly.
dB knows now, either get in there, turn around, go
find that football, your late hands and advantage against the
guy who's checking you down the field. Right Yeah, And
(27:36):
that's obviously part of your game. Also part of your game.
How you Harold stepped up when you when Bowling Green
were on the biggest stages. We're talking some of the
Brown Scouts earlier today. What you did against Penn State,
what you get against Texas A and M, what you
did with seventeen catches. You and I were talking about
this last night in a bowl game. Those big moments
(27:58):
meant a lot of those big games.
Speaker 6 (28:01):
Do to you.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
Man, those big games, man, I mean before the game,
it gets me fired up, you know what I mean,
the whole week, you know what I mean, I'm really excited,
you know pretty much. You know you always told you know,
you ain't really got nothing to lose, and you ain't
got really nothing to prove, and you know, you just
really just let it fly, you know what I mean,
Like you know, whether right or wrong, you really can
just let it fly. Because everybody think he's supposed to lose,
(28:25):
so you just go out there with a four hundred
percent confidence and you really just make them prove it.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
This isn't a knock on the MAC at all, but
it certainly helped you in this process. Then against SEC
and Big ten teams, you put on a show. And
you've heard that in the pre draft process. Certainly I'd
have to think how tempted were you to leave? Because
like Ashton Genty, for example, Mountain West, you had a
chance to leave quiny On Mitchell last year in the
Mack you had a chance to leave. I'm assuming you
(28:51):
had a chance to go somewhere else last year.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Yeah, not really.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
You know, I had a great relationship with my head
coach at the time. I mean we still do. I
mean to start to him yesterday, but you know I
kind of built that relationship with him in the next obviously,
you know the players just bringing back and you know
the relationships had my teammate and everything that was going on.
I mean I pretty much already knew I wasn't going anywhere.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
Stayed at home and then you get to stay at
home here. What were the two didn't go Thursday? You
had to wait till Friday? What was that weight like
for you trying to figure out where your journey is
going to take you.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
I mean, want me to be honest, it kind of
went by fast, you know. I mean, I'm you know,
I'm just I'm a really humble person, you know, so
I don't you know, I'm not really looking for anything,
you know what I mean. I'm really you know what
I mean, low key. So, I mean like it kind
of snuck up on me how quick they called me.
In my mind, people might think I was supposed to
go higher, YadA ya da this. I mean, I just
(29:49):
I was just shocked, man.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
Really, I mean, for the for the average person who
comes out of college and maybe does some interviews and
you know, hopefully you get a pick of a job
somewhere and you can figure out where to spend your life.
The NFL player, the guy that comes out of college
like you, people can't walk in your shoes, Like, what
(30:11):
is that like knowing that it's a TV show for
three days, someone's gonna likely send you a plane ticket.
In this case, you hopped in the car and you
have no control over the next chapter in your life.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
Was that like, uh, you know, it's kind of crazy.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
People can ask me, like, are you nervous, you know,
all these questions, and I'm like, no, man, I'm good.
You know, I know God got me, my family gonna
support me. So I mean, I knew pretty much it
was gonna go smooth for me regardless.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
Let's talk about the number, Greg Newsom, right now, we're zero.
You look good in zero.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
I appreciate.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
Okay. It's not usually a pass catching number in the NFL.
And as I said, right now, somebody has it here.
Have we thought about what number Harold Fannin is gonna
be wearing next year?
Speaker 6 (30:57):
Oh? Nah, not really.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
You know, I gotta look at into it, you know,
I got to see you know, probably count a couple
even try it all, you know, just kind of see
how I look.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
Do we want an eighties number?
Speaker 2 (31:07):
I mean, it really doesn't matter to me.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (31:09):
I feel like every number I didn't put on, I
don't you know, made it to something that somebody else
will want.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
There you go, that's the right attitude. I was talking
to Carson Swestinger earlier and he wore forty nine at
UCLA mm hmm, and I said, I don't. I don't, like,
can we think of a great linebacker that's warned, forty nine,
it's kind of an awkward NFL linebacker number. And his answer,
you know what it was. It was because that means
no one good enough has worn it yet.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
M that's perfect. There you go, it's perfect, all right.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
A number to be named later for Harold fannin Junior
and undoubtedly a number of touchdowns coming up as well.
Congratulations again, man, welcome to Cleveland.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
No, thank you, thank you, thank you all for having.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Me Gibbe's new favorite player, Harold fannin Junior wearing eighty eight.
Go back to what Z had been saying, weapons weapons, weapons,
weapons weapons. I know the board didn't necessarily fall the
way anyone thought it was going to fall. But after
watching Quinchean, forget about the quarterbacks for a second, give
a quin Schewn, Dylan Samson and Harold fanned out there.
(32:09):
They found themselves some weapons.
Speaker 4 (32:11):
Absolutely bolstered the running back room, bolstered the tight end room.
I mean, people knew at rookie Minni camp that Harold
fan and Junior was getting the ball and he still
was running routes open and catching the foot yep like
he was still making plays, whether there were people on
him or whether he found a way to get open
on his own and find the opening in the scene.
(32:34):
A great weekend for him.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
Running backs.
Speaker 4 (32:37):
The running back room is going to be really, really
fun in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
And I'm going to use that to button up one
final thought on the rookie quarterbacks here. As well as
people over analyze rookie quarterback performance over a three day
let's just get in the building and get your feet
wet and learn the playbook. Mini camp Harold fan and
Junior was and I know there were there were a
couple of wide receivers signed after tryout players signed after
(33:01):
the rookie Mini camp, But for all intents and purposes,
the guys that are going to be playing on Sunday,
Harold Fannin Junior was the only one out there for
rookie Mini camp. So when you consider quarterback performance, consider
they all just met a couple of days earlier, and
really Fannin, one of those rookies at mini camp and
training camp, could just make a huge leap and be
(33:23):
playing on Sundays. Oh, that does happen. But Fannin was
that one guy who was out there. So consider the
circumstances when we overanalyze quarterback play. All right, fun, We're good.
All right, that is good baby. My name is Andrew Siciliano.
Coming up next week, our next episode, we will talk
to rookie linebacker Carson Swssinger number thirty three overall but
(33:47):
number forty nine in your Hearts, and Brown's d line
coach Jacques Sazaire his early impressions of the piece of
clay that he is molding in the number five overall
pick Mason Graham, all right, gibe until next week, my friend,
until next week. Thank you for listening, watching. Be sure
(34:07):
to like, subscribe, share, comment all those things, because not
only does Gibby love you, the algorithm and I love
you as well, so
Thirty two possible destinations. The one you got was at home. Congratulations.
What does it feel like to be a Cleveland brown Man?
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Thank you man?
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Just truly just bless really, I mean growing up about
an hour from here, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
I mean a lot to the family, so.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
The family can be here on game day.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
That's gotta be cool too, That's gonna be dope.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I just already know.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
I mean like I'm gonna turn around and then they're
all gonna be right there, So I'm gonna be sprinkling
in over there.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
They're gonna be pretty much here.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Is it training camp yet? No, it's just May. But
with that, we welcome you to another edition of the
best podcast available post Rookie Mini Camp slash Schedule release edition.
My name is andrews Aciliano. On the other side of
(00:52):
your screen or the other headphone, maybe the other ear,
not making an ear joke, just you know, if you're
listening in stereo, that don't and tones and now the
guffaw of Jason good night, everybody good at everybody? Hey,
how are you? I'm good, I'm good.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Hey.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
We're almost into ot AS. Somebody, We're a week away
from OTAs and then mandatory mini camp. We've already got
like three weeks left of the of the off season program.
It has been there and gone. It's been quick.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
There is no off season. Remember that there is no
off season. So here's what's happened.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
This in the in the info that Kevin Stefanski's assistant
sends out from a scheduling standpoint, it is off season program.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Yes, the OTA's off seat organized team activities right, off
season program. We'll get to that later, right, but they
are voluntary OTAs. Mandatory mini camp is in June. We'll
do that in a bit. When last we spoke, you
and I were awkwardly standing on a field next to
each other, wearing hats and wrapping up day two. At
(02:01):
that point of rookie minicamp, there was a Day three,
a Sunday, media not there. I wasn't there. It was
Mother's Day, right, You were with your family. I was
with my family again, happy belated Mother's Day. And then
of course the hot takes about which rookie quarterback look better. Guys,
They both look good, they really did. They both look good.
And I said that last time. Nothing has changed since
(02:22):
they stepped off the field this past Sunday. So let's
forget about that for a second and let's talk about
the schedule.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
Gibbe, we have the schedule. What do you think, Buddy
number one? A little birdie had told me that Rammitt
was going to be coming to Cleveland for the preseason.
And boy, the Los Angeles Rams have to be going.
What did we do to deserve this? After we had
(02:49):
to go to Seattle a year ago? The Rams get
to come here for a ten am their time on
the West Coast kick for the final preseason game.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
And for those who don't know, I worked with and
for the Rams for fourteen preseasons and all kinds of
other stuff in the community fourteen years. The Ramley as
we call it, is coming to town. And yes, a
little birdie with the Ramley did tell me that a couple.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Of weeks ago.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
And give me I gave you the heads up on that. Look,
it's a preseason game. It's the third and final preseason game.
I can tell you, having worked with Sean McVay for
many years, he is going to run the ball fifty
five times in that game. Perfect goal is to get
back to Hopkins as fast as humanly possible. Now, what
is Also interesting to your point about the long flight
is that in years past when the Rams have taken
(03:37):
a long road trip for a preseason game, it usually
involves a joint practice. A couple of years ago with
former assistant Zach Taylor, obviously head coach of the Bengals,
used to be oc with the Rams. We meeting the
Rams when I was there, went to Cincinnati and spent
a couple of days, actually the same hotel we stayed
in last December, and had joint practices with the Rams.
(03:58):
I'm sorry. With the Bengals, the surprised, Yes, the Frank
is Aaron Donald surprised. There is no joint practice. But
the Browns, as we know, are doing joint practices with
the Panthers and the Eagles on our first two preseason
games before coming back home.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
To wrap it all up, you might as well just
come here spend the entire month of August, because you're
going to be in that You're gonna be in Philly,
you're going to be in Cleveland, and then it's a
whirlwind four or five weeks.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
That is that is the plan. I'm moving there in August.
So perfect look for preseason is let's get out of that.
Let's get to the regular season schedule, and let's harken
back to twenty twenty three. This is a twenty twenty
three redo when it comes to week one. In Week eighteen,
you open at home with Cincinnati, you close on the
(04:48):
road at Cincinnati. Now, in twenty twenty three, that was
a Jeff Driscoll game that hey was in the bar
and the Browns are going to the playoffs after beating
the Jets on TNF after Christmas, so that game really
didn't mean much at all. David Bell got in the
end zone and fond memories. Had to get through that
game healthy. That was the only concern ahead of the
eventual playoff loss in Houston. It's two with the division
(05:11):
to open Cincinnati at home, Baltimore on the road Week two,
and then to end the season it's home for Pittsburgh
on the twenty eighth, that's after Christmas Sunday, one o'clock,
and then the TBD because all Week eighteen games are
TBD at Cincinnati. So two with the division to open,
(05:32):
two with the Division to close. Obviously, give me. What
stands out to me is that fourteen of these seventeen
games are one o'clock games, there are no primetime games.
The Browns are one of three teams without a primetime game.
The others are the Titans, who are picking number one overall.
Obviously we would have picked two overall without the trade
with Jacksonville, the Titans, the Browns, and the New Orleans Saints,
(05:54):
who had been picking number nine overall. Now the Browns,
unlike those other two, have a standalone game. That standalone
game is London, which we knew. It is Week five,
Tottenham Hotspurs Stadium against the Vikings.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
Your thoughts, I'm fine with it. I think the first
month and a half of the season is going to
test this football team. Yep, right off the get go.
I mean you're you're talking about the Bengals at home.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Now.
Speaker 4 (06:23):
The good news is, if I'm correct, the Bengals haven't
won a season opener since twenty twenty one.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Correct, But the Browns no longer owned them at home
as had been the case.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Usually I could.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
Use a Miles Garrett crossover and then you know, you know.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Beat them week one in the rain, twenty three at home,
Yeah exactly so.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
But then on the road it home road, home road,
and then you know you can call it a home
game against Minnesota. But it's a road game, it's a
styke game.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Yeah, we're.
Speaker 4 (06:55):
And then you know there's no bye week after. I
think we were kind of hoping South for a bye week,
you and.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
I really selfishly, but that is a football decision.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
And I don't think that's a bad decision. You don't
want to take your bye week that early. That's really
really early to be taken a bye.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
I'm with you, and internally and I can't I can't
say this for certain because I haven't followed up on it,
but there was a thought I think internally. Listen, if
the London game is Week five, then you don't take
a bye, you go home. And the teams have the
choice now. Years ago, when the International Series began, teams
were told, hey, if you go overseas were giving you
(07:32):
a buye. And then when these games got pushed earlier
onto the schedule, some teams raised their hand and said,
what if we don't want to buy like week six,
it's a long season. What if we want to push
it later? And teams were then given the option. So
the Browns are like, we don't want it week six,
we'd like it later. The bye is week nine. Correct,
But yes, you and I selfishly obviously would have enjoyed
(07:55):
that buye. I was, you know, gonna you know, Normandy,
I've ever done that, you know, things like that.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
Instead, we were flying back. Now we're on the East
Coast time zone, so it's not like these aren't long flights.
You just have to get to the airport. And since
there's no police escort because we're not the King of England,
I mean we could be Kings for the day. I
mean it would be nice. You know, by the time,
it's going to be the struggle to get to the airport,
(08:22):
but once you're on the plane, you know we're back
probably middle of the night, maybe, yeah, I mean it's
not It would be like going to the West Coast
for a nighttime primetime game and then flying home and
the problem is five days later you're on a bus
to Pittsburgh. Unfortunately, that didn't do you a lot of favors.
(08:46):
I really felt like the league would have been nice
to have a home game after going to London, but
London and the league say, well, your home game is
against the Minnesota Vikings. So I would have liked I
would have liked a home game, but.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
I have some thoughts on that. I'm with you, I
would have liked a home game. Be careful you ask
for if you don't want to buy after week five,
that's fine. You don't know what that next game is
going to be. Now they try to do you some favors, like,
for example, if you're a West Coast team AFC West,
NFC West and you have to play in Europe, a
lot of those teams ask, hey, can we play the
(09:23):
week before on the East Coast. So in other words,
let's say the forty nine ers just play make believe here,
wouldn't play a London game after they It wouldn't be
a London game after say a game in Denver where
they got to come home and then they got a
lot of these teams say, hey, send us to say
like New York will play New York and then we
(09:45):
will go straight over after the game. Right, So those
requests are off and honored. I don't know what the
Browns requested on the back end, other than no BUYE.
At least you're not getting on a plane, You're taking
the bus. You could lead EVE at three o'clock on
Saturday afternoon and bust to Pittsburgh and it's not as
(10:06):
bad as a flight. My biggest issue with that one though,
is I don't know if you noticed. The Steelers are
going to be coming off a bye correct, So the
Steelers will have been in Doublin and I are play
the Vikings more than that. In a second. The Vikings
week for the Steelers said, we want our bye, So
the Steelers are going to come home, be rested, and
(10:28):
We're going to be coming back trying to fight through
everything and then have to play them and they are
rested off an early by.
Speaker 4 (10:37):
The Steelers can do that because they have four primetime games. Yes,
so they're gonna have They're gonna have a mini by
weekend from playing on a Thursday night. We don't even
get a mini bye week this year. Correct, we have
one bye week for eighteen weeks. Yeah, it's week nine.
They have that luxury.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
It's different now. Look at the Titans. I said, the
Titans don't have a picking ahead of the Browns number one.
We're all with the number one overall pick ham Ward
and they're quite upset there in Tennessee. No primetime showcase.
Guys got to go a good record last year. I
would argue the Browns didn't have a good record, but
there are reasons to explain it, and they are far
more likely to bounce back this year. And I would
(11:15):
also argue that you could put any AFC North game
at a primetime window and chances are it's gonna be
good television.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Now.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Browns and Bengals got flexed out in December last year.
I hated it at that moment it happened. In retrospect,
it wasn't that good of a game other than miles
one hundred sack. We were freezing because the Bengals refused
to put the heat on. But that's another issue we
learn from that. It's not about my comfort ever, But like, hey, Bengals,
you can put the stinking heat on. But I digress.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Where was I?
Speaker 1 (11:45):
The Titans every they don't have any standalone games and
they have like US fourteen one o'clock games, They have
three four o'clock games. That is their schedule. So it
could be a lot worse.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
Yeah, and it gets a little easier, like like I
don't want to say easier, because here's good news is
we have the schedule. Bad news is you're starting to
break down the schedule. A year ago we looked at
our schedule and I think probably nine out of ten
people would have said, oh, we're playing the We're playing
in Washington, Yeah, this is going to be a walk
(12:21):
in the park. Well, they were a game away from
the super Bowl. So the schedule is on paper. You
got to go play the games, and a lot could
change things. Maybe the NFC North isn't as good this year,
maybe they take a step back.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
I doubt that highly, but you know.
Speaker 4 (12:36):
Maybe the AFC East has some issues, you know with
maybe the Dolphins aren't as good as we all think.
Maybe the Patriots, you know, still aren't back yet totally
with Vrabel, the Jets, maybe they're still trying to figure
out their quarterback situation. We've go three straight AFC East
opponents with a buy in between there. But so the
(12:58):
schedule paper tells you, and based on the record from
a year ago, that maybe things loosen up a little bit,
lighting up a little bit. But you know, then Thanksgiving
weekend the forty nine ers, you have the Titans at home,
then you got to go to Chicago. Then Buffalo comes here,
Pittsburgh comes here at Cincinnati. I mean it gets tough
again as we go.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
It's tough in the beginning and it's tough at the end.
And I would say this to Brons fans myself included
here that you're aggravated. You don't have more primetime games,
any primetime games that we're aggravated everybody is. You have
a chance on the back end of that schedule if
you get out of the gate well, which I know
it's a gauntlet there after you go Bengals, Ravens, Packers, Lions,
(13:42):
Vikings and London Steelers. That ain't easy. But if you
can navigate that, and if you can get good in
the middle of the season with that buy in the
AFC East teams, I'm telling you you have your chance
to flex your way in to big TV windows at
the end of the year. Whether it's the Bears the Bills.
(14:03):
You telling me that on September I'm sorry, December twenty first,
four days before Christmas. If the Browns and Bills mean
something that isn't going to a primetime window it is.
So you have the Bears, the Bills, the Steelers, and
then who knows Week eighteen with the Bengals. Love that
game to mean something. My money would always tell me
(14:24):
right now, it's an NFC Easter or NFC North game
then gets into that window. But you never know, you
have your opportunity to stake your claim. And I also
believe that the lack of primetime games could and should
be a motivational factor. It's only May, it's very minor,
but hey, this is what they think of you.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
Yeah, exactly, that's exactly right. That's what the NFL thinks
of you. You're not worthy of a primetime slot. All right,
Well it's up to us to go earn it.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
And you know, the one thing that really annoys me
here about the no primetime thing. I don't want to
harp on it too much, because they truly do believe
that the Browns are worthy of a prime time slot.
I think they put on a good show generally, whether
it was the Broncos last year, a loss, the Steelers game,
the snow Globe, we know what happened, and then they
got flexed out of the two games.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
Ratings get ratings.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Exactly, especially with Miles coming back with the quarterbacks, like,
I really do think they deserved one. Here's what I
can't stand. So I mentioned Tennessee number one overall doesn't
have a primetime game. I kind of get it. Number two,
where we would have picked without the trade, we don't
have one. Number three The New York Giants, same record, Browns, Titans,
(15:33):
Giants right one, two three, same record. Came down to
tie breakers as to how the draft fell. The Giants
have three primetime games. I know it's New York. This
is not like some anti New York rant. I went
to school in New York. I get New York. It's
the number one market. Went exactly Central New York, not
New York City. Very very very very very very very different,
(15:54):
very different. I get they're going to be on TV,
but do you know what that York Giants are since
twenty twenty in primetime giving a don't okay, unwatchable? They
are two and fifteen since twenty twenty in primetime, two
and fifteen. I get it. It's big blue, it's a
(16:16):
big market. They're a big brand. And they did make
the playoffs a couple of years ago, not last year,
the year before NOE with Daniel Jones and Saquon they
won in Minnesota, Okay, three years ago, whatever, it was.
My point being, they're two and fifteen in primetime. You
cannot tell. Look the back pages in New York are like,
can Jackson Dart save Brian Daboll from getting fired by November.
(16:39):
I don't think Brian Dabele personally should be fired. I'm
not advocating for that. I'm saying that's the talk. They
get three primetime the Patriots, who won four games, who
are picking fourth. The Patriots have three primetime games as well.
Now one of them is against the Giants, right, so
there's a crossover. But I don't get that. But the
(17:01):
Browns have a way to fight themselves out of that
hole if they want to. So that's that, all right.
Let's go back and listen to an interview that we did.
Full disclosure, This was taped after day one of rookie
mini camp. Okay, they got off the field, the rookies did.
Dylan Samson, fourth round pick, walked over to me. Love
(17:21):
the conversation. I'm very excited about this backfield. I don't
know if you could see it in the final cut,
but in the background you may see a rookie quarterback
wearing number twelve getting in some extra work after day
one of work. You got one practice in the books.
Dylan Samson is an NFL running back. How to go.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (17:44):
Uh, I think it was good, you know, just feeling
comfortable with the playbook, you know, getting my feet you know,
wet on the ground and everything, but I feel like
it went smooth.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Had a field to actually get your feet on the ground,
to put this new number two, this twenty two jersey
on and get out here.
Speaker 5 (17:59):
Yeah, it felt great. You know, you know those feelings
hit you when you take the field. It feels good that,
you know, be back in just football clothes again, and
you know, now I'm part of a team again, you know,
so it feels good.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
So much attention on the quarterbacks. Can we talk about
the running backs here as well? Because you and Quinn
Shawn's seeming they already have something going. Watching the two
of you with Duce Staley doing position drills before the game,
he was getting on you a little bit and you
two were both giving it back to me.
Speaker 5 (18:25):
Well yeah, yeah, I think it would be like a
great relationship.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
You know.
Speaker 5 (18:30):
I feel like in the league, you know, it's competition
everywhere and you want to be the best in the room.
Speaker 6 (18:34):
But you know, at the end of the day, we
all working towards the same goal.
Speaker 5 (18:37):
So as many talented and elite people you can have
on your team.
Speaker 6 (18:41):
It makes everybody else elite.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
We got to workshop this. There's thunder and lightning, there's
smashing dash, there's Sonic and knuckles in Detroit. So what
are you guys gonna be?
Speaker 6 (18:53):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
We were gonna think about it, you know, come up
with it.
Speaker 5 (18:55):
But you know, step one, it's got to make sure
we you know, take advantage of camping and everything leaning up,
just to put ourselves in a position.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Have you guys talked about it?
Speaker 6 (19:04):
The nickname the nicknames, it's unspoken.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
We understand, Okay, So.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
You gotta let your play on the field figure it
out and then maybe it'll be up to me and
Nathan in the booth. Not that I want to give
you a nicknames.
Speaker 6 (19:15):
Yeah, you know, I think I think that's how it goes.
Speaker 4 (19:18):
You know.
Speaker 5 (19:18):
I think if we go out there and you know,
the world sees something in us and it'll give us
a nickname, you know, hopefully it's something great.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Okay, now that we're at it, we're kind of a
nickname for you guys. Obviously a lot of eyes on
the quarterbacks as well, with both Dylan Gabriel, I'm sorry, Yeah,
Dylan Gabriel and Shorge Sanders. At my Dylan's got two Dyllons.
Man already mix them up in my head, early impressions
on the two of them, and I guess all the cameras,
the lights. I'm sure your phone's been blowing up about
(19:45):
it as well.
Speaker 6 (19:46):
What do you think, oh man, two great guys.
Speaker 5 (19:48):
You know, having a chance to get to talk to
him should do us lock of literally right across from me.
But you know, both home of guys. I think, both
ready to attack the opportunity that they have. You know,
felt comfortable with them in the huddle of the day.
Made my job easier, you know, just just relaying the
plays back. But uh, you know it's it's great. There's
two great quarterbacks and they'll definitely put each other and
you know you could definitely see leadership traits in them.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
How many times joking aside? Has your phone blown up?
Speaker 5 (20:14):
It was real hot, like after I get drafted, you know,
but I kind of try to put it down.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
How's Cleveland been treating? You saw we had crawfish already, right.
Speaker 6 (20:23):
That's crazy.
Speaker 5 (20:24):
I just got here yesterday and you know, got a
chance to meet some you know, my old lineman and
so that was that was good. It felt like I
was back home as soon as I left. But uh,
you know, the day's been busy, so I can't wait
to just get around the city and you know, really
get comfortable here.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Did Wyatt Teller make that crawfish or did he bring
it in?
Speaker 6 (20:44):
He made it? Okay, he made it good. I'm from Louisiana.
Speaker 5 (20:48):
Yeah, so I'm not gonna say its top tier, but
I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 6 (20:52):
I would sit there and eat it like it was good.
You know what I'm saying. They don't.
Speaker 5 (20:55):
They don't even have all the season is here to
make it how we make it. But definitely better than
some carfish I had in Tennessee and wim on North,
which I was like, man.
Speaker 6 (21:04):
You got it any from Virginia.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Hey, he got it, so you didn't just eat it
to be nice to a guy that's got a clear
holes for you.
Speaker 5 (21:12):
Man, Look, he got a family. He got a clear
holes for his family. He don't got a clear holes
for me. You know, he he gotta get paid, so
he gonna clear holes regardless. You know, I'm gonna keep
it real because hey, you know, keeping it real just
make you better.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
You also keep it real with the legacy of the
Tennessee running backs as well. You're from Louisiana, so you
were a Saints fan. I a soon growing up, right,
Alvin Kamara forty one with the Saints, but six with Tennessee.
That's your number as well. What is Alvin Kamara meant
to you?
Speaker 5 (21:41):
Yeah, you know, just just looked that looked up to him.
You know, I follow his story since, like when he
was at Alabama, you know, and just the things he
went through going from Juco to Tennessee and especially when
he got to the league. He happened to go to
my favorite team at the time, and just you know,
watching him, seeing a player that I could, you know,
find some similarities and was very morenovational for me. You know,
(22:01):
I never like to look up to like too many
big running backs because it's not my play style. But
I saw traits in his game that I knew for
sure I could emulate. And just having a chance to
go to Tennessee, and you know, it was crazy. I
saw him in the airport, but I didn't speak to
him because he looked like he was just you.
Speaker 6 (22:16):
Know, minding his business.
Speaker 5 (22:17):
You're a little kid, nah, I mean I was committed
to Tennessee already, you know, but I just was like, man,
I'm gonna let him be in. You know, if the
time is right, I'm going to Tennessee. I'll meet him
one day. And you know what happened. You know, got
a chance to you know, spend like a week with him,
pick his brain. You know, he gave me game and
he came to my couple games over this year, came
to BEMA this past year, and you know, you know,
(22:37):
it's just cool seeing things come full circle.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
That is pretty cool. You said you're not entirely his game,
but at the same time, people say you're the home
run hitter. He's a home run hitter, but you're gonna
be You're gonna be the ANFC North now. So you
do have a physical side to your game as well.
But people have often said, hey, Quinn, Shine's a physical guy.
You're you're the speed guy. Do you like that? Because
I would have to think that you don't want to
(23:02):
shy away from being physical.
Speaker 5 (23:04):
Man, it somebody has to be something, you know, somebody
has to be something. But I just let my place
speak for itself. I think at running back in general,
you have to be physical there's not many running backs
who succeed for too long without being physical, you know,
and there's different type of you know, levels of it.
Speaker 6 (23:19):
You know.
Speaker 5 (23:20):
I want mine to speak out because I'm not the
biggest running back, but i know the mentality that I take,
and I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get
better and make this team go forward.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
You spoke earlier today when you met with the media
about your why, Dylan Sampson, what is your why?
Speaker 6 (23:35):
Yeah, biggest is in my faith.
Speaker 5 (23:37):
You know, I truly believe we all like put on
this earth for a reason, you know, and we're gifted
with certain talents for a reason, you know, whether it's broadcasting,
you know, sports.
Speaker 6 (23:46):
Like even all of us.
Speaker 5 (23:48):
We have deeper talents than just football, you know, and
it's our job to tap into that and use the
platform that we've been given to effect you know, positive
change and really be a role model. You know, we
have an opportunity of lifetime to be a role model
and lead the charge, and I don't want to take
that for granted.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
Well said, love it, welcome again, good luck, Yes, thank you,
Dylan Samson. Everybody, we have all year, we have all
camp to work on that nickname. We are open to suggestions.
Feel free comment on wherever and however you listen or
watch this podcast. You could hit me up on the
socials as well. You know where to find me. We
need the nicknames. Let it come organically for both Dylan
(24:27):
Samson and Quinn Sean Judkins. All right, let's also go
back and do another rookie interview here. This is way back.
This is This is right after This is during the draft. Actually,
this is on Saturday of the draft. After camp. McKinley's
Harold fannin junior was taken on Friday and made the
(24:50):
drive up to the Cross Country Mortgage campus. Again, consider
the time frame here. I sat down with him in Burria.
Harold Fan and Jr. You had no idea where you
would go in the NFL Draft. There are thirty two
possible destinations. The one you got was at home. Congratulations.
What does it feel like to be a Cleveland brown Man?
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Thank you man? Just truly just blessed.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
Really, I mean growing up about an hour from here,
you know what I mean. I mean a lot to
the family, so.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
The family can be here on game day.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
That's gotta be cool too, That's gonna be dope.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
I just already know.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
I mean like I'm gonna turn around and then they
all gonna be right there, so I'm gonna be sprinkling
in over there.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
They're gonna be pretty much area.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
I'll be honest with it. That could also be that's
a lot. Yeah, And I'm not like making you love
your family certainly. And some people say I don't want
to play at home. You're cool with it though, you
like it?
Speaker 3 (25:45):
Yeah, yeah, of course seen the brown Stadium. It's huge,
Like who won't want.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
To play at home?
Speaker 1 (25:50):
And you're wearing the same colors as well.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Yeah, they ain't gotta really do too much.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
You have a lot of orange in your closet as well,
coming from bowling Green.
Speaker 4 (25:58):
Ye.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
All right, let's talk about old fan of growing up
as a kid. Because you grew up, as you said,
Kate McKinley an hour down the road, you weren't necessarily
the biggest Browns fan. I think your generation, I'm going
to age myself right now. Okay, your generation, the younger generation.
You grew up in an era of fantasy football. You
can get every game on TV. It's less about teams,
it's more about players, right, For a lot of young guys,
(26:22):
who are the players in the NFL that you watched
a lot growing up and maybe you modeled your game.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
After so growing up. I definitely say Leon Bell. I
definitely watched him a lot.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
You played a lot of running back, too, played.
Speaker 3 (26:34):
A lot of running back. And then this one might
sneak up on you. Antonio Brown. I thought he was
the best player on earth really.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Well, as you transition to a guy that catches passes
for a living, his footwork, the way he was able
to get off the line, that's a good guy.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
To look up to. That's a great guy.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
So what do you take from his game?
Speaker 3 (26:55):
I think is just his like ability to just catch
the ball. Like you ever watch them, I remember watching
them catch the ball, his helmet, you know what I mean,
late hands. You know he pretty much got the receiver
part packed down. If you just watch him, you know
what I mean, and you kind of take his little
bits and pieces, you gonna end up, you know what
I mean, being a little great.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
It's funny you said late hands was the first.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Thing that came to my mind. He has late hands.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
So for those who don't know listening, late hands meaning
you look back, DB's got his back to the quarterback.
You don't want to put your hands up too quickly.
dB knows now, either get in there, turn around, go
find that football, your late hands and advantage against the
guy who's checking you down the field. Right Yeah, And
(27:36):
that's obviously part of your game. Also part of your game.
How you Harold stepped up when you when Bowling Green
were on the biggest stages. We're talking some of the
Brown Scouts earlier today. What you did against Penn State,
what you get against Texas A and M, what you
did with seventeen catches. You and I were talking about
this last night in a bowl game. Those big moments
(27:58):
meant a lot of those big games.
Speaker 6 (28:01):
Do to you.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
Man, those big games, man, I mean before the game,
it gets me fired up, you know what I mean,
the whole week, you know what I mean, I'm really excited,
you know pretty much. You know you always told you know,
you ain't really got nothing to lose, and you ain't
got really nothing to prove, and you know, you just
really just let it fly, you know what I mean,
Like you know, whether right or wrong, you really can
just let it fly. Because everybody think he's supposed to lose,
(28:25):
so you just go out there with a four hundred
percent confidence and you really just make them prove it.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
This isn't a knock on the MAC at all, but
it certainly helped you in this process. Then against SEC
and Big ten teams, you put on a show. And
you've heard that in the pre draft process. Certainly I'd
have to think how tempted were you to leave? Because
like Ashton Genty, for example, Mountain West, you had a
chance to leave quiny On Mitchell last year in the
Mack you had a chance to leave. I'm assuming you
(28:51):
had a chance to go somewhere else last year.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Yeah, not really.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
You know, I had a great relationship with my head
coach at the time. I mean we still do. I
mean to start to him yesterday, but you know I
kind of built that relationship with him in the next obviously,
you know the players just bringing back and you know
the relationships had my teammate and everything that was going on.
I mean I pretty much already knew I wasn't going anywhere.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
Stayed at home and then you get to stay at
home here. What were the two didn't go Thursday? You
had to wait till Friday? What was that weight like
for you trying to figure out where your journey is
going to take you.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
I mean, want me to be honest, it kind of
went by fast, you know. I mean, I'm you know,
I'm just I'm a really humble person, you know, so
I don't you know, I'm not really looking for anything,
you know what I mean. I'm really you know what
I mean, low key. So, I mean like it kind
of snuck up on me how quick they called me.
In my mind, people might think I was supposed to
go higher, YadA ya da this. I mean, I just
(29:49):
I was just shocked, man.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
Really, I mean, for the for the average person who
comes out of college and maybe does some interviews and
you know, hopefully you get a pick of a job
somewhere and you can figure out where to spend your life.
The NFL player, the guy that comes out of college
like you, people can't walk in your shoes, Like, what
(30:11):
is that like knowing that it's a TV show for
three days, someone's gonna likely send you a plane ticket.
In this case, you hopped in the car and you
have no control over the next chapter in your life.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
Was that like, uh, you know, it's kind of crazy.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
People can ask me, like, are you nervous, you know,
all these questions, and I'm like, no, man, I'm good.
You know, I know God got me, my family gonna
support me. So I mean, I knew pretty much it
was gonna go smooth for me regardless.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
Let's talk about the number, Greg Newsom, right now, we're zero.
You look good in zero.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
I appreciate.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
Okay. It's not usually a pass catching number in the NFL.
And as I said, right now, somebody has it here.
Have we thought about what number Harold Fannin is gonna
be wearing next year?
Speaker 6 (30:57):
Oh? Nah, not really.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
You know, I gotta look at into it, you know,
I got to see you know, probably count a couple
even try it all, you know, just kind of see
how I look.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
Do we want an eighties number?
Speaker 2 (31:07):
I mean, it really doesn't matter to me.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (31:09):
I feel like every number I didn't put on, I
don't you know, made it to something that somebody else
will want.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
There you go, that's the right attitude. I was talking
to Carson Swestinger earlier and he wore forty nine at
UCLA mm hmm, and I said, I don't. I don't, like,
can we think of a great linebacker that's warned, forty nine,
it's kind of an awkward NFL linebacker number. And his answer,
you know what it was. It was because that means
no one good enough has worn it yet.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
M that's perfect. There you go, it's perfect, all right.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
A number to be named later for Harold fannin Junior
and undoubtedly a number of touchdowns coming up as well.
Congratulations again, man, welcome to Cleveland.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
No, thank you, thank you, thank you all for having.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Me Gibbe's new favorite player, Harold fannin Junior wearing eighty eight.
Go back to what Z had been saying, weapons weapons, weapons,
weapons weapons. I know the board didn't necessarily fall the
way anyone thought it was going to fall. But after
watching Quinchean, forget about the quarterbacks for a second, give
a quin Schewn, Dylan Samson and Harold fanned out there.
(32:09):
They found themselves some weapons.
Speaker 4 (32:11):
Absolutely bolstered the running back room, bolstered the tight end room.
I mean, people knew at rookie Minni camp that Harold
fan and Junior was getting the ball and he still
was running routes open and catching the foot yep like
he was still making plays, whether there were people on
him or whether he found a way to get open
on his own and find the opening in the scene.
(32:34):
A great weekend for him.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
Running backs.
Speaker 4 (32:37):
The running back room is going to be really, really
fun in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
And I'm going to use that to button up one
final thought on the rookie quarterbacks here. As well as
people over analyze rookie quarterback performance over a three day
let's just get in the building and get your feet
wet and learn the playbook. Mini camp Harold fan and
Junior was and I know there were there were a
couple of wide receivers signed after tryout players signed after
(33:01):
the rookie Mini camp, But for all intents and purposes,
the guys that are going to be playing on Sunday,
Harold Fannin Junior was the only one out there for
rookie Mini camp. So when you consider quarterback performance, consider
they all just met a couple of days earlier, and
really Fannin, one of those rookies at mini camp and
training camp, could just make a huge leap and be
(33:23):
playing on Sundays. Oh, that does happen. But Fannin was
that one guy who was out there. So consider the
circumstances when we overanalyze quarterback play. All right, fun, We're good.
All right, that is good baby. My name is Andrew Siciliano.
Coming up next week, our next episode, we will talk
to rookie linebacker Carson Swssinger number thirty three overall but
(33:47):
number forty nine in your Hearts, and Brown's d line
coach Jacques Sazaire his early impressions of the piece of
clay that he is molding in the number five overall
pick Mason Graham, all right, gibe until next week, my friend,
until next week. Thank you for listening, watching. Be sure
(34:07):
to like, subscribe, share, comment all those things, because not
only does Gibby love you, the algorithm and I love
you as well, so
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