00:00let's bring in mary k cabot from the plain dealer cleveland.com also the orange and brown talk
00:05podcast and of course she's on the wise heart right we make it right call kyle wright hotline
00:12hi mary k how are you i'm doing great guys how you doing hi mary k good i hope you're
00:17resting
00:18up getting ready for a big season up here uh i mean it's just it feels like it's going to
00:22be
00:23here before you know it like when when we talk about this kind of dead period uh for the team
00:29they're like how many guys are actually do they go out to berea do they you know are hitting the
00:33weight room in there that they just you know they're going through stuff in the offseason
00:37stories that like kind of we don't really talk about because sometimes people will tell you
00:40championships are won now when no one's talking about you well i don't think many guys are there
00:46right now this is really the dead period for them and they are scattered all over the place
00:51training in different spots and things like that i know that uh deshaun has popped in for a couple
00:56of weeks i know shador has been there uh harold fanon through with deshaun a little bit but for
01:03the most part this is their break and they actually need to get away and take this time and recharge
01:09their batteries and whatnot but i do believe that deshaun is hosting a passing camp in south florida
01:16sometime soon it's either going on this week or it will be next week but uh they are working and
01:22they're getting ready for the season but not necessarily in berea nothing like a little passing
01:28camp in south florida in july to get you ready for training camp mary k but at least you get
01:33all on
01:33the same page right well they do have their first two games in florida so they may as well get
01:41used to
01:41the heat and it's probably going to be really hot here as well uh so i think that will serve
01:47them
01:47well when they play in jacksonville and tampa i mentioned yesterday on the show mary k in you and
01:54i have talked about wide receiver forever as much as i like what they did with the drafting of
02:00concepcion in boston i i'm still my fingers are still crossed that those guys end up being as good
02:06as we all hope they're going to be but would you add any more leadership to that room would you
02:12go
02:12bring in a veteran because right now it's really fully it's full of jerry judy and a bunch of young
02:18guys well the bronze will always keep their eyes open for talent they'll always try to upgrade the
02:25roster i don't think that they necessarily have receiver targeted as a position where they're trying
02:31to add a veteran right now i really think they want to get these young guys on the field this
02:35is a
02:35team in transition as we know and this is a receiving core a pass catching core that they
02:42really want to develop and they're excited about seeing and even though they're young isaiah bond
02:47i think he seems poised to take his game to the next level this season so i would watch out
02:53for him
02:53i think same thing with harold fanon even though he had a great rookie year and then the young guys
02:58will come in and do what they can do and they're all hoping of course that jerry judy can rebound
03:03so
03:03i don't really think that they necessarily want to add to the room on the contrary i think they're
03:09going to have a little bit of a surplus and that they might have to have uh an opportunity to
03:15perhaps
03:15move a cedric tillman or someone like that if they can't squeeze all of these guys onto the roster
03:22is there a position group where you think that they think they might need to add something before
03:27camp starts or are they good to go for the most part i think they're good to go i think
03:33the one
03:33area that i see when i look out there is probably edge rusher we know they tried to add aj
03:39epineza
03:39from the bills it didn't work out and so that's one place where i think they can add a little
03:45bit
03:45of talent and sometimes you can find those veteran edge rushers later in camp sometimes some of them
03:51shake free in those final roster moves so that's one area i would be keeping an eye on
03:58uh merrick i just want to ask you there there's a report out there that was on uh i'm assuming
04:03it's
04:03a podcast called the office in cleveland and in the story uh gary barnage former uh pro bowl tight end
04:11came out and said that uh we talked about johnny manzel i'm just kind of digging back a little bit
04:16on
04:16an old story but um said that and i'll give you the quote the problem was that he just wasn't
04:22ready
04:22he probably shouldn't have played his rookie year uh at at the locker room though as a player
04:27he was great i'm just wondering like i can think of one person that probably was a little outspoken
04:33about it that probably wouldn't agree with that when you look back at manzel and what barnage said
04:38about him do you think that was true that he was was he well liked in the locker room when
04:43he was
04:43here do you think i'm sure he was i'm sure he was well liked by some of his teammates but
04:50i i we now
04:51know obviously for a fact that plenty of his teammates did not like the lack of professionalism
04:56did not like the fact that he sometimes showed up for team functions seemingly impaired and we now know
05:04that to be true because he has admitted it uh we know that he wasn't in his playbook and teammates
05:11did not like that i'm sure there were guys that just like the you know the guy's guy aspect of
05:17it and
05:17he's got a very dynamic and engaging personality but from a professionalism standpoint you had guys
05:24like joe thomas and joel batonio and brian hoyer who could see what was going on there and uh it
05:31just
05:32it just didn't speak nfl football and then he also went on to say that kyle shanahan probably would
05:36have been the head coach of the browns um if that manzel stuff didn't go on i i found that
05:42just
05:42fascinating because one i you know i like gary and i thought it was interesting that he said
05:46some of this stuff and then the the thought of kyle shanahan perhaps being the head coach here
05:52long be a long after you know would have been cool too i'm just i don't i just i don't
05:57know that i
05:57want to live in the world of regret and then i i guess maybe even the bigger question on that
06:02is
06:02do you think the haslams have learned from this stuff i think so i really do think so look at
06:08how long
06:08they kept kevin stefanski even when the team wasn't necessarily winning on a consistent basis
06:16so they stuck with him for quite a while and i do think that continuity is important to them
06:23what they can't get right and haven't been able to get right is the quarterback situation
06:27and if you can't do that then you're not going to be successful so that's their one area of extreme
06:33weakness and they must solve that problem if you are a betting woman is the quarterback
06:41of the future of this team playing college football this next year
06:47probably i would say so i i would think that's probably a pretty good bet but what you have
06:54before you right now are two quarterbacks with an opportunity to put themselves on the nfl map
07:00as bona fide nfl starting quarterbacks todd munkin thinks both of them are that so we'll see if
07:06either one of them is or both of them are and if one of them can establish themselves this season
07:12then they might have a future here as the browns quarterback of the future so we'll just have to
07:17see how it plays out you never really know until the lights come on um what did we learn last
07:24year
07:24about what we can tell about the quarterback room this year as far as the way they're going to
07:28handle the numbers in the quarterback room i it's a i mean again you look back at last year and
07:33you
07:33say man why did they draft two quarterbacks and then the other was why did they get rid of both
07:38veterans last year and so i wonder you know as far as trading should or trading dylan if there's a
07:46market uh what they possibly could do with deshaun i just i think the contract is kind of goofy but
07:52maybe i if they wanted to release them i don't i don't know what that would do to the cap
07:56i'm just
07:56i'm just you know brainstorming there that what what do you think this quarterback if they all
08:02stay healthy what's this quarterback room going to look like when the season starts because i mean
08:06perhaps there could be a trade in the works or you could be thinking about trading one of these guys
08:11well they will keep three on the roster that will be the plan for this season deshaun's not going
08:15anywhere i don't think shadour is going anywhere i think there's a world in which dylan gabriel can be
08:21the third quarterback on this roster taylan green if he doesn't if he's not able to demonstrate
08:26in training camp that he can handle some of those responsibilities uh that they would like him to do
08:32in his rookie season if he needs more time and seasoning i guess there's a world in which he
08:36could possibly end up on the practice squad and so they still have to mess around with that a little
08:41bit and if they do end up trading dylan gabriel which that's always a possibility then perhaps they
08:47can add another quarterback to the mix so we might not have the exact four guys that will be here
08:54throughout the season uh but i do think that in some way shape or form that there probably will be
09:00four three on the roster one on the practice squad do you think there'd be a market for shadour
09:07yeah i think there would be a market for shadour i don't really think the browns want to trade him
09:11but i think there would be a market for him so you know we'll have to see how that goes
09:17i
09:17also think that uh it would be challenging to have him as a backup if deshaun wins the job
09:23but he will also have an opportunity to start games in that scenario because
09:29the browns rarely have one quarterback that starts and finishes the season you mentioned the name dylan
09:35gabriel hey somebody mentioned the name dylan gabriel is he on their radar at all mary k i mean does
09:42that kid have any chance at all this year yes he does have a chance to make the roster uh
09:50as the
09:50third quarterback now that doesn't mean it's going to happen like that but he does have a chance to do
09:56that what people don't understand about dylan gabriel is that he was put in some really really tough spots
10:03last season in terms of starting in london on the road his very first game then going and playing in
10:10pittsburgh not having much of a supporting cast and it just was a recipe for disaster for all of
10:15the quarterbacks really so i don't think he really was able to show what he's capable of but i think
10:23he's a much better quarterback than people give him any kind of credit for and i think he's had a
10:27nice spring again it's hard to tell because he's working with the third and fourth teamers right now
10:32but i do think that he does possibly have a future here do you think the evaluation that he's not
10:38in
10:38that competition was from the front office by todd munkin or groupthink well i think they just had
10:45to narrow it down and try to make a decision between their top two guys and so dylan really
10:50never got a chance to show maybe how far he had come or what he could possibly do and he
10:55might have
10:55a chance to start games this year look what happened last year nobody thought shador sanders was going
11:00to be starting last year so once again if he does make the team and there's no guarantee of that
11:06he's
11:06probably somebody that if someone makes them an offer around august 30th they would probably
11:11consider that but if he does make the roster and if he does make the team there is a world
11:16in which
11:16he can start some more games this year mary kate when you start to break down and i'm sure we'll
11:20be
11:21reading more about this and hearing on your podcast uh about the the battles that we're going to see
11:25uh in camp i mean obviously the offensive line one is i think it's going to be really interesting but
11:30on defense you know basically when you're returning nine starters on defense what what's
11:36the battle you see on defense that's most intriguing to you well i i think they have some um some
11:44defensive tackle positions that that will be interesting to see especially if malik collins
11:50comes back so then you have malik and you have mason graham and you know you have mike hall there
11:57and sam kamara so i think it'll be interesting to see how that rotation goes and then at the other
12:02defensive end spot uh you're going to want to see how alex wright isaiah mcguire fair over there and
12:08then again i do think they'll try to see if they can bring somebody else in so i i think
12:13you'll see
12:13some movement and some good competition on the d line and i think that'll be good because uh those guys
12:20will bring out the best in each other and i don't think that there are other positions that are
12:26really up for grabs all that much they're pretty well set uh for the most part at some of the
12:31spots
12:31except for you know you have to there are nuances like nickel and things like that but for the most
12:36part you have your starters at most positions last question for you just real quick my call is this
12:40chance for him to break out i mean if he gets the opportunity to play well it's it's his chance
12:46to
12:47to step it up and show what he can do he was a high pick for these guys he has
12:51had injuries that he's
12:52had to try to overcome and this would be a year for him to really show what he can do
12:57mary k as always we are watching you now of course on the orange and brown podcast and listening and
13:02what's going on with that too uh and of course we're reading you every day in the plane dealer
13:05in cleveland.com thank you thank you thank you thanks mary k thank you guys all right we'll talk
13:10talk to you soon
13:10talk to you soon
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