Hour 4: Carnell Tate's 40 + the 1st Round Conundrum

0:00Life can feel overwhelming, but all my podcasts from the heart with Rachel Brayton were in it together. Every Friday a new episode brings you a new story with topics on motherhood, wellness, self-love, and more. Listen to From the Heart with Rachel Brayton wherever you get your podcasts. The moment you've been waiting for basketball fans of northeast Ohio, always a great event every year, mid-America conference tournament, and now your chance to win championship tickets. On the men's side Saturday, March 14th, Rocket Arena, end of the word bid, B-I-D, by the end of the hour, at 923-the-fan.com to get registered to win get tickets at Rocket Arena.com, all from sports radio, 923-the-fan this year with the Mac tournament, and undefeated Miami. A lot of eyes going to be on Cleveland, Ohio, come basketball tournament time. Meanwhile, Dale Rider, in for Ken Carman, brought to you by Shibon Jewelers, Cleveland's premiere jewelry store. If you're just joining us now, the Browns

1:00taking that first step in reformatting the offensive line, bringing in Texans, right tackle, Titus Howard, three years, $63 million contract extension. You traded the first pick of the fifth round for his services, and then immediately inking him to an extension. So we've been talking a lot about that as the plan is in motion, Darryl. John McClain, who's covered the Houston Texans, and football in Houston for nearly five decades. He posted this after everything Browns GM and Drew Barry has done to help rebuild the Texans. Nick Casario has done him a solid with Titus Howard for only a fifth round pick. That seems to be the consensus side of Houston. They're not happy about this trade. Well, they've obviously got to figure out any time a team is in the playoffs, and as frequently as the Texans have been in the playoffs, it's pretty staggering how often they go to the playoffs. A lot of it has to do with their division as well, but they actually win their

2:04division on occasion, like the Browns. They have, and they've obviously, they haven't really had playoff success. They do have four playoff wins, you know, in recent memories. Still more than the Browns. Well, I think that's everybody virtually at this point. Darryl, but they had overall their offensive line. They tried to do it at the start of last year. They have money committed to a lot of veterans. Yep. And they had to say goodbye because very rarely do you even get the opportunity to get even average offensive lineman teams don't really tend to give them up. Now his age kind of working against him a little bit because he's going to play next season for the Browns at age 30, which offensive lineman, you start to get into. But you know, beggars couldn't be choosers. Browns had to do something and they had to take some stabs here. It just feels like draft five rookie. Yeah, it just feels like they got good value here. Right. I know it's the first pick in the in the fifth round, but I really do feel like the Browns got good value here. And you know, you give him the contract extension. Zach Jackson mentioned with us at eight 20. It

3:11remains to be seen if he'll be at guard or tackle. I'm leaning towards probably put him at tackle considering the money. You just put out there, but he has the ability to play both of those spots and play well. But yeah, I mean, you, you, Andrew Berry had talked at the combine looking at the Bears model. Okay. Well, they, well, they traded for guys, they signed guys, they drafted guys. Well, I already got our first trade, right? Now, now just for folks to understand this is the in the weeds here, but you know, this isn't going to be official or announced by the team until the new league year that this trade can't be completed until then. But the agreement in place and so one of five down, they got four more to go. We'll see what Joe Botonio decides here over the next week before the legal tampering period actually begins a week from today. Think about week from today, legal tampering for free agency begins. Oh, by the way, half the

4:14deals were already done in Indianapolis last week, but that's neither here nor there. Yeah, which is typically how it works. Meanwhile, how about this from field yates? So we are wondering what the dominoes are going to be, especially with everybody post combine, starting to truly think about what could they do at number six overall? There's been so much chatter about them trading down. Field yates has draft impact from the trade. The Browns own pick number six. Miami, right tackle, Francis, Mountoa, and obvious potential target. He played zero college snaps at left tackle. If he's still on the Browns radar at six, it would signal confidence. They believe he can play left tackle or is a guard. What does it mean for you, Darryl and that number six overall? Yeah, I mean, I, you know, I think Monroe Freeling is another guy to keep him keep an eye on here. The Georgia tackle and remember where the Browns new head coach coach in college, Georgia Bulldogs, so have no shortage of intel coming out of there on him as well. Look,

5:19I, I think that what this trade does do, Anthony, is tell you that it's going to be a left tackle in, in the first round. Okay, they got two picks. One of the two picks going to be a left tackle. The other selection, probably going to be a wide receiver. Like I, I'm, I'm, I'm pretty firm in that conviction regardless of whatever debates are out there about tie Simpson and Ohio state safeties and all that. I just, I, I feel like, and that's why I asked Zach when we had him on, like, you know, has your opinion changed about what the Browns plans were going to be. And then he's like, yeah, no, not really. So I, I feel like offensive line wide receiver, more specifically on the offensive line, left tackle and wide receiver are going to be those two positions. The Browns would be looking to attack with either number six or a little lower with the trade down and the 24th overall selection. Well, let me hear from Browns fans on whether or not they are starting to get to the point where they know what they want to do at six because I always give everybody kind of a pass until after the combine, because I didn't want to get bit like we

6:23got bit last year. We were talking about should or Sanders number two overall in the draft behind Cam Ward. That was the talk seriously, not just here. That was a talk in a lot of places before the combine after the combine when basically anybody who was plugged in was like second overall try may not go in the first two days of the draft. It totally changed. It was it was crazy. But here's why it changes because the the the combine is where everybody finds out once the true serum is flowing at one a.m. at prime, then everyone finds out what is really thought about a lot of these either top prospects or highly touted prospects. And that's why the narrative changed. So anytime you're hearing all this guys flying up draft boards, now he hadn't fly up any draft board. It just means that you're finding out what teams really think and feel. They go to the combine with an idea of what their draft boards look like already. It's all about confirming information they already know or maybe coloring in some of the lines that are still

7:26blurry for them. But like the from an NFL front office standpoint, if the combine is completely turning your draft board on its head, you're doing it all wrong. Okay, blow your organization up, fire some people, you're scouting departments not doing it right, your GM's not doing it right. The combine should not be drastically altering draft boards organizationally from a media standpoint. Yeah, it should because that's where the information kind of comes out about how these teams feel about a lot of these prospects. Looks like from just a few minutes ago, we're hearing from the brand new Cleveland Browns, offensive lineman Titus Howard, who apparently said I wasn't surprised. They're trying to get younger. He's talking about the Texans here and pay some guys. I ain't mad. I kind of knew it was going to happen, signing a three year, $63 million deal with 45 million in new money. So that's let another added dimension to the contractor, staying $45 million is basically in addition to what was already on the books. So Titus Howard,

8:31a Cleveland Brown, that all coming from Aaron Wilson, they're on social media. So I also thought, you know, the debate, I don't know if it was all that much of a, quote, controversy surrounding the 40 time of Buckeye stand out wide receiver, Carnell Tate. So let me set the scene of what went down. And this, I don't know if you think this rose to the level of controversy, but did you see, he ran the 452 and came in even a little shorter than was his advertised at the combat. What do you measure in at 62? And I was here in 64, Carnell Tate. No, he came in at 62. His hands were massive, which is just one of those indicators. You know what I care about? What's that? Big catch football. Okay. That's what I care about. Well, that, that was the thing. Like, Harold, Harold Fanon, his tape, you couldn't find a drop. And then last year in camp and during especially the first half of the season, he had accumulated some drops. And so that surprised

9:34some people. So it's, it's hard to know what's going to, what's going to always translate when you get to the next level. Obviously, big hands that comes to the forefront, catching a football, but it's also being able to get able to be able to be able to get open and to shed some guys at the line of scrimmage because he's going to have a size advantage. Wait, I mean, we can play the pause game toward below in the face. And, and I know a lot of us did that last season, right? With these receivers and talking about windows, whether it was for Dylan Gabriel, or should we Sanders a quarterback in these guys hitting or missing the, the windows. And you're like, oh, well, this guy's open and that guy's open and that guy's open whenever. Tell me, yeah, you're going to, but are they really, really open? You know what I'm saying? So, uh, yeah, can you get open? Can you catch the football? That, that, that's kind of what, what I, uh, care about the, the measurable's conversation, the, the 40 yard dash time conversation is all well and good. But for me, it, it always goes back to the tape. And for front offices, it always goes back to the state. Now, any executive that saw those 40 times in his, you know, his,

10:36his testing times, Anthony, they know back and, and, and, and check the tape again. Well, so this was so funny to me. The controversy is that he was expected to run, you know, low, four, four, maybe even better. There were a lot of receivers that did run in the low, four, four crazy. And, and I, I made the comment on X over the weekend at, you know, because we know how much Andrew Barry loves him some speedy wide receivers, right? Um, but the problem is, is they usually can't catch the ball. Like it's great. Okay. It's great. You're fast, fantastic, but you can't catch the ball. So that really doesn't do me any good. Well, so tape ran a four, five, two, and then after people started to notice that that was a little slower than some thought they would get out of tape because for a guy that could go number six overall, right? Typically, you got to be a freak in every regard. You know, I think Jamar Chase ran in the four threes and had all that size. And obviously the big playability in college on a championship team. Typically,

11:36that's what you're looking for. You got to be a master of all of those traits. And Adam Schefter had to take to social media to clarify what some other NFL executives thought that he truly was at correcting the 40 time. And I love about all this because in the year 2026, I mean, we have a little bit better technology. I know Andrew Barry has been on this show in the past talking about the GPS technology. Yeah. Like we don't really need to measure them at the combo invisible laser lines or whatever that they they use for it. So your fastest wide receiver in the 40 was Brennan Thompson, a 426 Xavier and Thomas from LSU, a 428 and Dion Berks from Oklahoma, 4.3. Those were your top three 40 yard dash finishers at the combine. Well, by the way, how many of those three guys,

12:38any of them first round picks? Oh, those guys. Yeah. No. That's my. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There's a lot of bus. If you just go by the fastest guys of the combine, that's where they lead the way by far at the biggest bus, which is always funny when we're sitting here, examining the combine and going nuts. Meanwhile, the guy who stole the show at the combine was that Arkansas quarterback, which they're already asking if he needs to change positions because another Lamar Jackson situation. But unlike Lamar, this guy was not productive at quarterback in college. And that's Taylor Green. He broke records for the quarterbacks. He ran, I mean, he's six, five, six, six. So he came in at six, six. So good. He's fasted running away from defensive lineman. Well, it brought up guys like Terrell Pryor. Like obviously, Terrell Pryor was going to try to play quarterback because he was productive at a major football program. But you wonder if he would have been open to switching positions earlier in his career. What could Terrell Pryor have been?

13:42Had he come into the league as a slash and a wide receiver? I know. Could he have made a boatload, more money? So it's so funny when people get a hold of these conversations, they typecast these controversies and whether, you know, the fossil GMs are putting stereotypes on these guys, when you wonder, is Taylor Green better off coming into the league as an athlete instead of a quarterback? Could it actually make him more money? And what's his agent really telling him behind the scenes? Always is interesting to me. All right, 216, 474, 0092. Seriously, I want to hear from the fans on how you're feeling. Browse, I've already made a move on the offensive line. Has that changed your thinking about number six overall? Did Carnell Tate's 40 time change your thinking at all? And is it water under the bridge when it comes to Kevin Stefansky and Shidor Sanders? We have some audio. Are they being the bigger men after all was said and done after the rocky

14:43year with the two of them? That's all coming up straight ahead of you on sports radio, 92, 3 of the fans. Gone South has been a podcast about crime in the American South. But for our new season, we're widening the lens. Follow and listen to Gone South season five wherever you get your shows. I had to break me with Browse. I was an edge of barrier to GM, the head coach stopped mocking the receiver because we just talked ball. They got up there. We talked ball, put my film on, see what all I can remember. Who all positioned? I know what coverages I knew. I know we looked at a couple of players. What I could do better at? Why was it a lack of execution on this play? It don't mean a lot to stand a higher, like Columbus is the highest hour up the street. So yeah, it will mean a lot to stand Columbus, next to Columbus. And they are both there to see all my guys out there, Ohio State. And I know Ohio State fans love Cleveland Brown. So why not? Carnell Tate. Could he be the next Cleveland Brown is number six to high to take him?

15:45Is he even going to be there at six? I think he will. Well, after that 40 time, his track stock is plummeting. I know it's it's weird. I got in trouble with some of the Ohio state people down in Columbus, like a month and a half ago, just saying, hey, Carnell Tate was amazing this year, but he didn't have the job that Jeremiah Smith had. Jeremiah Smith was defended by the best, you know, weekend and week out. The game plans revolved around Jeremiah Smith. That wasn't to say that I thought Carnell Tate couldn't be really, really good at the next level. It's just it's harder for me to know what I'm looking at when he just had to run down the field and very rarely did he get anything close to the attention that Jeremiah Smith got. Yeah. Unfortunately, he didn't have, you know, it's one playoff game, but he didn't he didn't really excel big time against me. Not the end of the world, obviously. Yeah, I don't get overly worked up

16:46over a lot of the the combined testing times and whatnot because for me and just, you know, over the years covering that event and talking to decision makers and whatnot, it all comes back to the tape. Here's Ohio State tapes pretty darn good. Yeah. Oh, yeah. But that's a thing they've had. This is like 10 receivers over the last six years. Yeah. That have all had amazing tape. And I know there, there's some, you look, you can find bad plays. He alligator armed one ball in that playoff loss that they needed. Right. And so that got displayed and it's like, oh, you really want to take him number six overall. I'm like, I'm sure you could find Jamar chase alligator arming one ball that was thrown that would have gotten them killed. Right. That doesn't that doesn't make me think that guy can't play wide receiver to high level. The question is number six overall. I mean, when we are, we are talking that high up in the draft, you know, we all want perfect prospects. And in this draft, that's one thing we've kind of been told about this draft compared to other drafts is,

17:49you don't have the perfect offensive lineman. You don't have the joe all. You don't have the perfect and I know people will eye roll Trevor Lawrence. Right. Even though he turned out not to be that perfect guy, but just the Andrew Luck Trevor Lawrence in terms of a prospect. Well, people are saying is the best prospect. And I've heard Todd McShay say it. I've heard Daniel Jeremiah say it. What I've heard the most is that the top prospect in this draft is Jeremiah Love from Notre Dame. That's who seems to be coming up the most. But the Browns are in no position to take a running back at six over. No, no, and they don't they just draft the two running backs last year, too. So no, they're not. I'm going to be consistent with this. I think the smart move at six is left tackle. I think that's where they're going. I just I think that's the smart move. If the Browns, they had more on the offensive side of the ball. Anthony and

18:53they had less needs. Yeah, I'd be open to take at six. I just don't know that the Browns can do it, which is their look. It's it's their luck. But like I just keep going back to the basics. And the basics here are, okay, you take tape, then you're obviously then assuming. And I'm going by that mall. Let's say the Browns take tape at six. Okay. Then you better find your left tackle at 24. And then your quarterback, if you're drafting him, you're probably going to do that in the middle rounds, which means you're throwing something against the wall, hoping it sticks. Maybe it's true. Aller. So you know, someone like that. I think you got to draft at least two offensive linemen this year. A minimum of two, you got now you're down to nine picks. Two of them have to be offensive linemen down to eight after they trade Anthony Richardson. Well, according to Zach, you're just joining us. Yeah, Zach says that's

19:59the next move for the Browns, trading for Anthony Richardson and quarterback competition with Shador Sanders and Dishon Watson. And which, by the way, I said, you should work in with that. Yes, he can. Yes, he can. But yeah, I'm just trying to in my head right now with the nine picks they have kind of like divide up. Okay, here's where they need to spend those picks on. But I just feel like Tate at six is more a luxury pick for the Browns. And I don't and I know that sounds ridiculous because they do need a number one wide receiver. But I think right now they need to they need to prioritize the trenches. They got to win in the trenches first before you start worrying about the number one wide receiver on the roster. They're just not there yet. Like I wish that wasn't the case because I would love Tate at six. I would. I just think when I'm looking it from a team building perspective right now or in a roster build perspective, I don't know that they can afford to do that. They get too many holes. All right, let's go to the phones 216 474

21:020092. What would you do now? Are things kind of I'm Dana Carving. I'm David Spade flying the walls back for another season now on audio and video every Monday and Thursday. So many incredible guests will be joining us. Follow and listen to flying the wall everywhere you get your podcasts. It's gonna be true. Getting clarified for Browns fans about what they should do with that coveted number six overall pick in the draft Eddie in West Lake. Go ahead Eddie. Makes his triumphant return to the show. How are you? Hey, what's going on? How you doing? What's up? Hey, you know what? I don't want anything to do with any of these linemen. Guys, it would be great to take a left tackle in a traditional year where you might have a stellar one or two left tackle, but I don't want to take another right tackle. All these guys that are the top tackles, the Miami kids, they're great. The Miami kid is a mauler. There's the kid from Utah, Fano. So what's the problem? So I mean, you just you just traded a pick and gave $63 million to a right tackle. I mean,

22:06you can only play one on matter time. I don't know, but at the end of the day, I want the Browns to take best player available. And if that's if one of those defensive players, if they're all gone, the defensive players are all gone, then I want them to take the best wire receiver. If that's paid, if that's Tyson, whoever that might be, that's what that's about. I want them to go. Am I saying that they don't need to address offensive line? No, I'm not, but I'm saying the guys that are considered the best left tackles like the Georgia kid and the other Utah kid, they're left tackles, and you get them at 24. You can get them later in the draft. Those are the left or two left tackles. The guys are these guys that the top are right tackles. They're all art. And I know people say they're interchangeable and everything, but you just traded for that guy. You didn't trade for him and give him an extension for him not to play. Now, he might play guard or tackle, but I believe that he's going to play tackle. And I believe they're going to have to have one of these kids. He's going to side Tevin Jenkins back or one of those young kids like Whiplier or or the Michigan kid. They're going to have to start at guard. And hopefully,

23:06but Tony will come back for the other area. So what are you doing at number six? And at number six, I'm taking best player available. If that's Caleb down, if that's one of them defensive in, and if that's carnal tape, I mean, whatever the case may be, I'm however the board shakes out. I'm taking best player. If both, if both of the, listen, if both of the defensive bands are gone, which is probably what's going to happen, then then you're looking at downs or cards of carnal tape. It's just, well, whoever's higher on your board, I'm not going to fall on for either one. You wouldn't take Jeremiah love, though, would you? No, 100% yeah, but I, yeah, but he's considered the bet. I mean, Todd McShay said, Eddie, Tom McShay said he is the best player available in terms of a prospect. Yeah, I'm 100% not doing that. I hear what they're saying, but I'm not doing that. I'm not doing that, but I'm also not just reaching for this need. You say you got this need, Andrew Barry is going to maneuver like you. Andrew Barry is maneuvering. We got 15, 5, 5th round pick. So he's using them, you know, wisely. You know what I mean? And so they're going to

24:09make other linemen trade. And then maybe, maybe they sign up the green Bay, I believe, I truly believe that Andrew Barry is going to either get the green Bay left tackle, or he's going to get the Raven Center. I believe he's going to get one of those two guys. And then at that point, then you're, you're, you're, you know, you know, teams are guessing at what you can do, because they don't know what you can do. He probably want to trade down and get another first round pick. That's, and I'm okay with that too. If you, if you're able to accomplish getting one of those two top offense linemen at free agency, um, then hey, do what you do. Eddie, I appreciate the phone call. Didn't even get the screaming match this time around. What's the point? You're not getting what's the point? If you're not going to get the screaming match, oh, you wanted the screaming match. What's the point? You're not going to get a 27 first rounder this year. I would be surprised if Barry could pull that off with a trade down. I think that that's something that's kind of, I feel like that'd be a miracle. No, I do too. Also, too, you don't have the second pick in the draft to really, I think, demand that.

25:15But just, I don't subscribe to Andrew Barry's theory that the tackles are interchangeable. I really don't. I think that the footwork and the techniques are different. And just because you play right tackle does not mean you can play left tackle and vice versa. But we have to keep in mind as, you know, this process unfolds here, Anthony. That is an Andrew Barry philosophy. That's one of his core philosophies is he believes the tackles are interchangeable. Well, I will say this too, because Eddie mentioned Tyler Lindnerbaum and we had seen the report at the end of last week that the Ravens were willing to get him a contract that would set the market. Yeah. Highest pace enter in the league. And now that you just committed, I know it's 40 some million in new money, but 20 plus a year for a 30 year old right tackle, slash right card or whatever. It's hard for me to see them going north of what the Ravens just

26:19offered. Lindnerbaum. Does that make sense? Yeah. No, it makes, it makes perfect sense because while the salary cap is a myth and a lot of respects when you're, you know, you have to, you have to have some responsibility. Right. You can't, you can't go completely bananas when it comes to spending. And maybe that's what Barry was was talking about. He's looking for 25 million a year. I think Albert Brear was the one that affixed that number to all. I know the Ravens free agent. All I know is that we're a day after the combine. They've already made a trade and Andrew Berry was totally sandbagged. And they, yeah, we're not going to be real active in free agency this year. They're going to be very active. It's going to be a very busy month for the Cleveland Browns. I think so, especially if we get a bombshell over the next week or so that you're adding Anthony Richardson. I was going to say, is Anthony Richardson a bombshell for you? I think it is just because it's a quarterback. It's a quarterback with for a five. Like, is that really a bombshell trade if they ultimately send a five to Indy for

27:22hand? Okay. So when you put it like that, you're right. That's, that's not much at all. You're trading a fifth round pick. And unlike the, the fifth round pick they just traded today, you're not signing into a contract anyway. You're legit doing what you do in the draft anyway. And that's throwing something against the wall for a mid-round pick quarter back. You know how that is. Anytime you bring in a quarterback who has a reputation, he was somebody who started games and he's younger than should or. So he was a total project coming in. And now, I mean, just kind of examining Richardson. I mean, there's some traits in there that you'll fall in love with. You know what? Here's the question we should be asking. How confident are you with the staff, the Todd Munkin, his assembled here, the offensive staff? How confident are you that Todd Munkin and his staff can fix these quarterbacks, whether it's Anthony Richardson, whether it should or Sanders, whether it's the Sean Watson or anyone else in the green. How confident are you? They can fix these guys. I don't know. I wish I could answer that question. It's a great question, Darryl,

28:25because if it would have been anybody but Lamar that he had been working with, and I know his backups, you know, played to because Lamar misgames, but we're talking about developing starting quarterbacks. Right. And it's because you're talking about how much credit does he get for Lamar? Lamar was an MVP before Todd Munkin ever got to. Yeah. I mean, you're talking about the Daniel Joneses of the world and the Jared Goffs and the Sam Darnold's, right? These Justin fields, these reclamation projects out there. Okay. And we know the NFL is a copycat league and the Browns might be, and it's just the position they're in, they're looking for their reclamation project. If they can't find it in the draft, well, yeah, I mean, yeah, you have to have coaching to fix the quarterback. So, you know, how confident are you? These guys can actually fix a quarterback. Like, obviously, Todd Munkin, the resume is the resume. There's also a bunch of guys who have good resumes as offensive coordinators before they become head coaches and then can't do it at all. And then the offense is actually get worse. Right. We've had that with Kevin Stofansky at times.

29:28I mean, it's and there was mixed knots like it was up and down. Obviously, a bit of a roller coaster. Freddie Kitchens turned to eight weeks or eight games of an offensive coordinator and a head coaching job. And that was a disaster for a year. Yeah. But I didn't ask the question, you know, that 20s that that 2019 offense Anthony put up numbers. Yeah. Did did put up numbers. It is one of those years. They average over 20 points per game. They had a couple thousand yard players there. Well, hey, if you are that big of a believer in Todd Munkin and what he can do, then bringing in somebody like Anthony Richardson with that arm, with that athleticism and not going to cost you what Malik Willis was going to cost you. That's what you'd be banking on that you could take those eight plus traits, which Anthony Richardson absolutely has and then mold that into something because he so far early stage of his career looked like he did not belong on a football field. You just cannot pick up that fifth year option for him when you trade for him. You just you can't do it.

30:28All right. 216 474 0092 will take some calls on that and our young John Colovita seldomly heard today are new producer. He did what you guys told him to. He went to a Cleveland landmark and he had a $28 sandwich. What's the verdict from somebody that's used to Philadelphia and their Huggies over there will get his thoughts next year on sports radio 92 3 the fan. Hey, this is Richard Dutch, the host of the sports media podcast. If you're interested in what's happening with all the places where you consume sports, the sports media podcast has you covered. I've been turning down interviews all we coat a copy, reached out Oprah, George Stephanopolis. So I said no, I was booked on the Dutch podcast before the Taylor Swift phenomenon. I must live up to my responsibility. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.