00:00Right call, Kyle Wright Hotline. Adam, good morning to you.
00:03Guys, good to be with you. We've got MLB starting this week. Cannot wait for that.
00:08And the weather's changed. We're actually getting some warm weather out east.
00:12Cavs are doing well. I follow the NBA closely, so it's a good week.
00:15I'm freezing like crazy here, so I'm looking forward to a little bit of warm weather myself here.
00:21Adam, Ty Simpson, Dan Orlovsky talked him up yesterday on ESPN.
00:26Again, we're a team that, hey, I'm willing to roll the dice with Shador.
00:30Maybe you'll disagree in your answer. I'm ready to roll the dice for at least this year with him.
00:35Should we be thinking about Ty Simpson in No. 6 or maybe a small trade back
00:40and taking him still high in the first round?
00:42It's probably a little early, but by the way, for folks out there, for your listeners,
00:46Greg Cosell works with us inside the Birds, and we just dropped it today, this morning,
00:53our quarterback breakdown of just about every quarterback who could be drafted with
00:57in the first five rounds.
00:58So we covered Ty Simpson, so that's inside the Birds.
01:02If you follow me on Twitter, KaplanNFL, you could see I retweeted it.
01:06We'll have some information out on that later in the day.
01:09But, look, Ty Simpson's an interesting quarterback.
01:11If there are going to be two that go in the first round, he certainly will be the other quarterback.
01:17He's a guy that's got a lot of talent, a lot of upside, but he needs further development.
01:20It's a little bit early for me.
01:22What I do like about the Brown situation in terms of draft picks, they've got three in the first 39.
01:30This is a roster that needs a lot of work.
01:32It's a very middling roster.
01:33That's the way it's seen around the National Football League.
01:35But the quarterback situation, really, guys, they've got to get this right.
01:41Shadour, we'll get to him in a second, who's a very intriguing quarterback, no doubt about it.
01:46But no matter what Andrew Barry does, until they get the quarterback position right, they're not going to be a
01:50solid playoff team.
01:52It's like this every year.
01:54We know that with the Browns.
01:55They've got to get this thing right.
01:58Do you believe that Shadour has a chance to get this right, or are we just kicking the can down
02:03the road until 2027?
02:05All right, so here's the way that they think about it, based on my conversations with people around the Browns.
02:11And also coaches who know what's going on there.
02:14But there was this belief in coaching circles that if you want to work with the Browns, you've got to
02:20at least believe that Shadour Sanders will be a factor in the quarterback position.
02:23Nobody's handing him the job, to be clear.
02:26But there was this belief that, look, there's talent with this guy.
02:30There's no doubt about it.
02:32As a matter of fact, I strongly believe, had there not been concerns with his character, he would not have
02:39gotten out of the third round.
02:40He's a drop-back quarterback.
02:41He's not a runner.
02:42He could scramble.
02:43He's not a runner.
02:44There's a lot of talent with this guy.
02:46The question is, is he committed to being it?
02:49Is he committed to being and developing his talent?
02:53That was the issue coming to the draft.
02:55That's why he dropped to the fifth round, which definitely was surprising.
02:58I'll admit it.
02:59I thought he'd go earlier.
03:00But based on the teams I spoke with, who interviewed him, we talked to him before the draft, you could
03:06see why he dropped.
03:06Now, that was then.
03:08This is now.
03:08He's got a wonderful chance to be their quarterback of the future.
03:12I'm very interested to see what Andrew Barry does with all this draft capital.
03:16He set themselves up.
03:17He set them up pretty well.
03:19As I mentioned, three picks in the top 39.
03:22They've got a three.
03:23They've got a four, two, five, a six, and a seven.
03:26But quarterback, guys, is not the only position.
03:29They have very little depth on this football team.
03:32They haven't been very aggressive other than they're rebuilding their offensive line.
03:36Potentially, they're going to have five new starters, certainly going to have four.
03:39The question is what they do with DeJuan Jones, who's spent three years on injury reserve.
03:43They've got to figure out the left tackle position.
03:45But to move this forward here, guys, they've got a lot of questions.
03:48There's no question about it right now.
03:50There's a big mystery about where this roster is going.
03:53Adam Kaplan with us.
03:54I want to follow up.
03:54We'll get to some other things outside of Shador, because I'm very interested in your
03:57perspective on a lot of that and what you've been hearing around the NFL.
04:01You said something that is going to be very triggering to a lot of our fans.
04:06And I want to be as fair as we possibly can be here.
04:09You used the term character about the fall.
04:13We all know that Shador plummeted in the draft.
04:16Can't believe with his skill set that he fell all the way.
04:19A guy that we were talking about, a first-rounder, potentially, at one point before the Combine.
04:23After the Combine, all we heard is nobody has a first-round grade on him.
04:27And then he ends up getting taken in the fifth.
04:29And his fan base, they wondered about a conspiracy, wondered what was going on in the NFL that
04:36he could fall that far.
04:37You used the term character.
04:39What specifically are you hearing?
04:41Because since he's been here, I've got to defend him.
04:43He has been so likable.
04:46He's been out in the community.
04:48He seems to be a guy putting in all the work from everything we've heard.
04:51What were you hearing character?
04:52All right, it's nothing to do with off the field.
04:54We're not talking about getting in any trouble.
04:55We're talking about, was he totally committed to being a great quarterback?
05:00You watch the tape.
05:02Again, everything I've been told that, from a talent standpoint, should go no further than
05:06the third round.
05:07There was no conspiracy, folks.
05:09It's such complete nonsense.
05:11For people who are plugged in, for folks who cover the league, or if you talk to coaches
05:18and front-off executives, you know, you heard stuff.
05:21Because I was kind of surprised.
05:22I mean, fifth round was ridiculous.
05:24But there was a sense that, is he committed to being a great player?
05:29Is he totally committed to doing it?
05:31And now, everything I'd heard last season was good.
05:34Around the coaching staff, they were happy with his progress.
05:38And I know Andrew Barry drafted him.
05:39He wants to see him do well.
05:41And it's just a situation.
05:43Guys just don't drop because of happenstance.
05:46Like, it's not like 32 teams wake up.
05:49You know what, guys?
05:50Let's just not draft him in the first four rounds.
05:52It doesn't work that way.
05:53There's always a reason, no matter what the conspiracy theorists think.
05:58Well, I've got to ask another follow-up to that.
06:00Because, boy, that's Adam Kaplan joining us.
06:02NFL Insider, host for SiriusXM and Inside the Birds.
06:06Greg Cosell works for them for Inside the Birds.
06:08They had a breakdown of the film.
06:10And Ty Simpson, that dropping today.
06:13Right there, Adam?
06:13Is that right?
06:14Yes.
06:14In fact, you know what?
06:15Greg told me.
06:16I remember, I said, hey, what do you know about Shadour?
06:19He goes, I love this tape.
06:20Greg really thought, I just remember it distinctly.
06:23Because I had heard some stuff about Shadour before the draft.
06:27Just about, you know, how serious is he about being great?
06:31And the league kind of told you what they thought.
06:33He dropped to the fifth round.
06:34But Greg told me that the tape was pretty good.
06:38But Greg only goes by what he sees.
06:40He's not into, you know, the chatter, the rumors, and that stuff.
06:44I just remember him.
06:45He and I exchanged notes, you know, after the draft.
06:48And I said, Greg, I understand from, if clubs don't trust you,
06:53you're going to drop at that position, especially that position.
06:55But he's never been in any trouble.
06:57Like, I, it's just, it's still surprising.
07:00I'm just going to be honest with you.
07:02I, I, I, and I hope, but look, I, I do hope that he winds up being their starting quarterback.
07:08And it works out.
07:09And, you know, because you guys, Browns fans have been through so much.
07:12I've covered this business 27 years in the Browns a lot.
07:15I've done, I've done a lot of work on the Browns over the years.
07:18And, unfortunately, they've really never gotten a right quarterback, as you well know.
07:22Well, and there was another little snippet in there, Adam.
07:24Was it a requirement for guys who were interviewed to be open-minded for Shador to be the starter this
07:31year?
07:31Is that what I'm to take from that?
07:32No, it wasn't.
07:33But let's put it this way.
07:35This is from coaches I spoke with.
07:37If you thought Shador could not even compete, I don't think, if Todd Mankin, for instance, we haven't talked about
07:45Mankin.
07:45If Mankin was totally against it, I can't imagine he would have gotten the job.
07:50I just, that's my opinion based on people I spoke with.
07:52Well, we'll never know for sure.
07:55But everything they've done so far at the quarterback position, which has been zero, as you know, Watson, we know
08:00about the Watson situation.
08:01Dylan Gabriel is a backup.
08:03Shador's got way more talent than Gabriel.
08:05Now, we haven't gotten to the draft yet.
08:06But if they don't draft a quarterback in the first two rounds, they've already told you where this is headed,
08:10that Shador's going to absolutely compete for the starting job.
08:13And there's nothing out there.
08:15Aaron Rodgers hasn't come to Cleveland.
08:16There's not a quarterback right now that's out there on the street.
08:20And as I open my Excel file here, I'm looking at my, who's out there.
08:25There's nobody, Kirk Cousins, I'm not saying they're on Cousins, but there's no quarterback out there on the street that
08:33could say, yeah, he's going to be the starter.
08:35So, what they've done so far, and we're talking about Andrew Barry here, the general manager, would tell you without
08:40saying it, I want this guy to compete for the starting job.
08:43So, that's where it is right now, but we'll see what the draft tells us.
08:47So, now, as we're, by the way, talking to Adam Kaplan, right now, one of the NFL insiders.
08:53So, the Browns are sitting here at number six.
08:56And everything I hear from the pundits are that this is not your typical year, your premium positions.
09:03You do not have elite prospects.
09:05But that doesn't mean there aren't going to be really solid players there.
09:08So, the Browns certainly still need a left tackle.
09:10They certainly still need a wide receiver.
09:14Does it make sense to just run up to the podium and take Carnell Tate?
09:19See, the thing is, guys, it's, you have to make a decision at the receiver position, especially.
09:27This is not, and I know with Greg, we're actually going to tape the receiver and tight end show tomorrow.
09:35If you're looking for a receiver, the beauty is going to be out of the beholder.
09:39That's the way I would see it, and we're still four weeks away.
09:42That's based on the coaches I've spoken with.
09:44It's not on paper.
09:46It doesn't look great.
09:47It doesn't sound great.
09:48There's depth to that position.
09:51But it's just not that type of draft.
09:56To me, they don't need an edge rusher.
09:58We know that.
09:59But edge rusher, to me, is a position, if you really look at overall right now, I'm looking at my
10:05board.
10:06I'm looking at the positions that you would go with early.
10:11Tate's going to go.
10:12He should go in the top 20.
10:14Jordan Tyson, mixed reviews on him.
10:18Do they go with it?
10:19Look, left hat, again, it depends on how Barry sees this.
10:24But the thing that the Browns have to do, I wish we had more time to talk about this because
10:27I've got a lot more on this.
10:29But what the Browns have to do is they've got to rebuild this offensive line.
10:32I understand that Barry's done that to a certain degree.
10:36But really, when you look at this thing, Titus Howard, I get it.
10:38They extended his contract.
10:40Zion Johnson got a big deal.
10:41He got a big contract.
10:43But Elton Jenkins will at least be a starter for two seasons based on his contract structure.
10:47They need more talent on the offensive line.
10:49They have very little depth.
10:51I want to see a big-time left tackle.
10:53Andrew's got to get a look at that.
10:55And he knows from working in Philly, nobody's done a better job of building an offensive line for well over
11:00a decade than his mentor, Howie Roseman.
11:03That's why they've won two Super Bowls under Howie.
11:06I did want to ask you, because of your Philly connections, and obviously you're observing them,
11:11this show had a field day, as did other shows in town with the Jalen Hurts discussion, and then Tanner
11:19McKee as well.
11:21So, first of all, did Tanner McKee, the asking price of a second-rounder, is that legitimate?
11:26What could they seriously get for him?
11:28Yeah, they won't take less than a second-rounder.
11:30Tanner McKee is kind of like a spin-scouting phenomenon.
11:32Let me tell you about Tanner McKee.
11:34Tanner McKee was a guy who was drafted in the sixth round in 2023 by the Eagles.
11:39He was an afterthought.
11:40He was a little bit of an older player.
11:43Didn't have great mobility.
11:45And he just, you know, he just, he fought backup only.
11:49And then, in 2024, I don't know what happened.
11:53I don't know where he worked out.
11:54He looked like he gained mobility, and then he looked like a different quarterback.
12:00And Jordan Mylar, the Eagles, left tackle calls him the Mormon missile.
12:04McKee's got elite arm strength.
12:07He's got way better mobility.
12:09It kind of came out of nowhere.
12:11In their building, Eagles building, they absolutely love him.
12:14Yeah, I mean, I know they trade for Andy Dalton.
12:16They almost signed Andy Dalton three years ago.
12:18In fact, it was either going to be the Panthers or the Eagles three years ago.
12:21And Dalton, in the last minute, chose the Panthers.
12:23But Tanner McKee is this kid who's got a rifle of an arm.
12:27Tapes mostly pretty good.
12:29The game that he played this past season was not great.
12:31But the Eagles, McKee was playing with backup, so that was part of it.
12:36But the Eagles love McKee.
12:37And with Hurts' injury history, and he's coming off of a disappointing season, they don't really
12:42want to move McKee.
12:43I mean, I could tell you that's a fact.
12:46Adam, gosh, I really wish we had more time.
12:48Follow him on Twitter, at KaplanNFL.
12:51Adam, thank you so much for the time.
12:53Would love to have you on again very soon.
12:55For the draft, if I have any time available, draft week, maybe we'll try to revisit.
13:00Absolutely.
13:00Let's make it happen.
13:01Adam, thank you very much for the time.
13:03Adam Kaplan, on the Make It Right, Call Kyle Wright hotline.
13:06There's a lot of stuff to unpack from that one.
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