00:00She's Mary Kay Cabot, who covers the Browns for the Plain Dealer and Cleveland.com.
00:03Hello, Mary Kay.
00:04Hi, Mary Kay.
00:06Wow, that is lofty praise there.
00:08I'll take it.
00:09You're welcome.
00:11Cleveland Sirens.
00:12Okay, that's our new WNBA team name.
00:15Hey, the Cleveland Browns were wearing football pads yesterday, Mary Kay.
00:19That's intimidating.
00:20Glory be.
00:21How'd they look?
00:23You know, it really is kind of fun when the pads go on,
00:26because then it starts to resemble a little bit more like real football.
00:30I mean, we're not quite there yet, but to see the pads come on,
00:33it really does kind of give whole new meaning to practice.
00:37So as we get going here, I think we'll see more and more, you know,
00:41just intensity on the offensive and defensive lines.
00:45We'll see some very cool things between the defensive backs and the receivers.
00:49So it's football time.
00:51Casey Concepcion yesterday, you get a little banged up on the shoulder.
00:54Thoughts and outlook?
00:57Well, fortunately for him, it turned out to be nothing serious.
01:01Now, will he sit out today?
01:02I don't know about that yet.
01:03It's still a little early for that kind of info.
01:06But it looked like he was in a lot of pain when he first went down hard on the shoulder.
01:11And then I watched him after practice, standing there talking to his fiance
01:15and talking to Dylan Gabriel, and he seemed pretty good after that.
01:20He didn't go straight in for treatment,
01:22and he didn't seem to be in any excruciating pain shortly after that happened.
01:28So the prognosis looks good, and I think people are safe to still put him on their fantasy team.
01:34Mary Kay, a big deal when they put on pads is usually the offensive line.
01:39How has it looked so far in camp?
01:41What do you think as far as what's the starting five looking like, and how are they in pads?
01:47Well, it's a work in progress, that offensive line.
01:50It's a work in progress, and it's going to be that for a little while.
01:53The thing that I'm seeing right now with the offensive line is the fact that they're going up
01:58against a really good veteran defense.
02:01And Jared Burse, I mean, he is a beast.
02:05He really is the load to try to handle.
02:07So anybody that's going against him is finding out very quickly just how powerful and explosive he really is.
02:14And he's on a mission right now.
02:15He's got a chip on his shoulder, and he really has something to prove.
02:20So I do think that they're giving them all they can handle right now.
02:27But they're coming around.
02:29They're figuring it out.
02:30Sometimes we see DeJuan at left tackle.
02:33Sometimes we see Spencer Fano at left tackle.
02:37We've got different guys working at center, right guard.
02:40So it's not a set line yet.
02:42And once they get set, then they'll have a better chance of trying to perform a little bit better.
02:48All right, million-dollar question.
02:50What have we learned about the quarterbacks so far?
02:53Well, once again, I think that we need to keep this in mind.
02:57Todd Munkin has stated that this is not really serious evaluation time for the quarterbacks in terms of the competition.
03:04They're still in their install.
03:05The install finishes on Thursday.
03:07There's eight installations of the offense.
03:09They are now through five of them.
03:11So they have three more of those to do.
03:13And then after that, they can start tailoring some practices to the strengths of Deshaun Watson and to the strengths
03:19of Shadour Sanders.
03:20Right now, they're just both going out there doing the exact same thing.
03:23So once they start to showcase their strengths a little bit, then I think we'll have a better idea of
03:29how these guys are doing.
03:30The other thing that I think that has been a little detrimental to the quarterback competition is the fact that
03:35they're two spotting a lot.
03:36And over on the far field, you'll see the second team, which includes Casey Concepcion and Denzel Boston.
03:42And then on the first team field, you'll see Isaiah Bond and Jerry Judy.
03:47And it doesn't necessarily lend itself to getting a lot of timing and rhythm down with all of the receivers.
03:52I think Deshaun Watson has been a little bit hurt by that.
03:55I think he needs to really develop some confidence in all of the receivers.
03:59And I think they need to get going on more of their three-wide packages and things like that.
04:04So I don't think that we have seen the best of what we're going to see yet.
04:10And I think at some point in the near future, I think they're going to have to start to skew
04:15towards one of the quarterbacks and give one of them more reps than the other.
04:18All right.
04:18So when we say they're in install, what do we expect the quarterbacks to know?
04:23Are we expecting them to know these plays from seeing them in the playbook, watching them on film somewhere else,
04:28and then seeing them executed on the field?
04:32What does this really mean that we're watching install, and what should the level of expectation be for each of
04:38these quarterbacks?
04:39Maybe even Gabriel, too.
04:42Well, I mean, really, you want to be efficient, and you want the ball to go where you want to
04:47go to the right place with the football and those kinds of things.
04:50But one day they're working on third and extra long.
04:53One day they're working on gap schemes.
04:55One day they're working on third and medium.
04:57So it's just different installations of the whole entire offense.
05:00Once they get it all in, then Todd Monken can go back and figure out, here's what we're going to
05:05focus on.
05:06Here's the kind of team that we are, because he will adapt his offense to the personnel.
05:10And if, let's say, Shadour starts or is QB1 for a while in practice, you might do a certain set
05:18of things a little bit differently than you would do them if Deshaun Watson is the starting quarterback.
05:23With Deshaun in there, you'll probably call some design runs.
05:26You'll let him, I would think, in the early going, have more QB control, which is a big part of
05:31Todd Monken's offense.
05:32So, basically, the install is mostly just putting all the paint on the canvas, and then they'll turn it into
05:42a work of art a little bit later.
05:44Mary Kay Cabot joining us, her coverage of training camp.
05:47Read it on cleveland.com, In the Plain Dealer, and, of course, the Orange and Brown podcast.
05:53Mary Kay, nudge, nudge, wink, wink here.
05:57Todd Monken has to know right now, at least in his mind right now, who he would start at quarterback,
06:03doesn't he?
06:03Which means to me, somebody either has to lose the job or somebody has to win the job.
06:10I can't imagine that a guy with his background is sitting there thinking, gosh, I don't know which one to
06:15start.
06:17No, I do think that right now, I think there is some uncertainty over the whole thing.
06:22I really do.
06:22I don't think that he is 100% certain about either one of the top two guys right now,
06:29and I think that's why the door is starting to just be open a crack to see what Dylan Gabriel
06:34is capable of.
06:35Not necessarily a QB one, but he seems to be moving up the ranks a little bit for something.
06:41Don't know the end game for that.
06:43But in terms of the top two guys, I think you're seeing Deshaun Watson maybe not be as productive in
06:51these practices as you would like to see at this point.
06:54Now, yesterday, there were some dropped passes when he was working with the first-team offense.
06:58There were penalties.
06:59There were dropped passes.
06:59It was a sloppy practice.
07:02So, he hasn't really stepped up and seized the moment yet.
07:07And then Shador, he's making better plays and looks better in practice.
07:11But then there are also some things that, you know, you don't necessarily see or notice right away, you know,
07:19if maybe you're a fan out here or whatever, just in terms of the whole operation and some of those
07:24kinds of things.
07:24So, I don't think he has it set in his mind yet exactly who would give them the best chance
07:31to win right now.
07:32I think both of them have to step it up in their respective areas.
07:36I think your comment about Dylan is interesting and it screams backup quarterback.
07:40Does the guy who loses the competition to be the starter, Mary Kay, do you think he's on the team?
07:48And if it's Deshaun, could he be cut in your estimation?
07:54No, no, he's not going to be cut because of the salary and all those kinds of things.
07:58So, that's not going to happen.
07:59But all of that, everything else remains to be seen.
08:03I mean, I guess there is a world in which, as of right now, I think Dylan Gabriel is the
08:08third quarterback on his football team.
08:10But you never know.
08:11I mean, if somebody makes the Browns an offer they can't refuse for Dylan Gabriel as well,
08:15I'm sure they would listen to that because you also have Taylor Greene.
08:18And you can just kind of decide to maybe accelerate his development a little bit and put him on the
08:26roster.
08:27They will keep three on the roster.
08:28We do know that.
08:30Or that's what I understand.
08:32So, they will have three.
08:34And right now, like I said, I think Dylan would be one of them.
08:37But, again, all of that still has to play out.
08:40And we'll know more about who two and three are going to be once we figure out who number one
08:45is.
08:46Why is Shador Sanders a better quarterback today than he was the day they drafted him?
08:52Well, right now, he's come so far up the learning curve in just the pre-snap process.
08:58Just everything that you have to do and know and see at the line of scrimmage.
09:00Just in terms of adjusting things and calling audibles and sliding protections and worrying about motions and all the things
09:10that have to happen, identifying the defense and whatnot.
09:14He's gotten so much better in the operation of the actual game.
09:18But now he's going to have to do it, or moving forward, he's going to have to do it in
09:23the heat of the moment.
09:24He's going to have to do it in those split milliseconds that, you know, you just have to play really,
09:28really fast.
09:29And you have to just be on top of everything.
09:31And it's a brand-new offense for him, right?
09:33I mean, he had to learn it all last year.
09:35Now he's learning new terminology all over again.
09:38So, you know, it's going to be incumbent upon him just to keep, you know, just to keep at it
09:43and just to keep going.
09:44Because he's come very, very, very far.
09:47Still has a little ways to go.
09:49Mary Kay, is there a competition at safety?
09:51Is it Ronnie Hickman's job, or is Emmanuel McNeil-Warren breathing down his neck?
09:59Well, when you draft a defensive back that high, you would expect him, I think, to start.
10:05So I would think that E-Man is going to challenge for that starting job opposite Grant Delpit.
10:10And he's been looking good in practice so far.
10:13Made a really nice breakup yesterday.
10:14And he missed a lot of the off-season program.
10:17So he's just still in a little bit of catch-up mode.
10:21But he's doing a really nice job.
10:22And I think he'll be in the starting lineup.
10:25Last question for you.
10:26Fans were out there, what, last?
10:27They've been out there twice, Friday and Saturday?
10:29How were they?
10:32Oh, it's great to have the fans here.
10:33They're going to be out again today.
10:35And they'll be here for the next three days.
10:37And it's going to be a beautiful day today.
10:39It's going to be a little bit hot.
10:41But, you know, I think it adds a little bit of juice to practice.
10:44I think it gives the players something to kind of get excited about and fired up, you know, to be
10:49able to perform in front of their fans.
10:51So, you know, looking forward to seeing that.
10:54But, you know, it's a packed house.
10:55And it just adds a lot of energy to the afternoon.
10:58I'm looking forward to watching them move over to the stadium that they're building, the high school stadium next door.
11:03I think they would do stuff in there in the preseason in the near future, right?
11:10I'm not really sure how all that's going to go.
11:12I would guess that would be the case.
11:14But things are moving very quickly here in terms of all the construction and the buildings going up.
11:19And it's coming along very nicely.
11:21Nice.
11:22Mary Kay, enjoying your coverage.
11:23Good stuff.
11:24And keep it up.
11:25We'll continue to read and listen to you and your podcast.
11:28Thanks, Mary Kay.
11:30Sounds good.
11:30Thanks, guys.
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