Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Type in media for the Burning River sportscast. Happy Independence Day, Cleveland. Though it's not yet time for the Brown season to officially begin, that day is quickly approaching and will be there every step of the way. The Cavs have made some under the radar moves to address their shooting woes as the NBA offseason gets rolling, and the Guardians continue to sort their way through the Central, quietly trying to stay near the top of the division with the All Star Brick on the horizon. And finally, last week, we announced star official partnership with the Cleveland Browns Fan Cruise. And as of now, there are only 251 days until we set sail for the beautiful Caribbean with a full boat of Browns alumni. Get your tickets now. You do not want to miss this event. And where else is there to be except right here, where we break it all down for you?
[00:01:08] Speaker B: Next.
[00:01:08] Speaker A: Steadfastly, undeterred, unafraid, and uncancellable. In another no holds barred edition of the Burning River Sportscast, jacob Phillips has been nothing but hurt in his time here. Butthurt.
[00:01:22] Speaker B: Jacob Phillips is so butthurt. First of all, surprised ESPN has any employees left now.
[00:01:29] Speaker A: Not a hot take at all. Week prediction for this year's preseason. I think a lot of people will.
[00:01:34] Speaker B: Be hot take it all.
[00:01:36] Speaker A: It's not a hot take at all.
[00:01:36] Speaker B: It's as cold as cold. Cold a take as you can get.
[00:01:39] Speaker A: Hashtag placid.
[00:01:41] Speaker B: You heard it here first, though.
[00:01:42] Speaker A: Elijah Moore's slept with Zach Wilson's mom. Take that, burning river sports guest. Hot take.
[00:01:48] Speaker B: Those kids let me just say this. Those kids should be embarrassed. Their lack of any skill whatsoever in this clip was infuriating.
[00:02:02] Speaker A: Welcome into the Burning River Sportscast, presented by Tapin'media and brought to you officially by the Cleveland Browns Fan Cruise. I'm Kenny Thunder, seated beside the world's foremost explorer of black holes, and current Tapin'media space exploration consultant, red Hot Ronnie Jams. Ronnie, where can the people find the best Browns pod in the Milky Way?
[00:02:22] Speaker B: I appreciate that introduction, Kenny.
[00:02:24] Speaker A: I know how much you love black.
[00:02:25] Speaker B: Holes, and they can find the podcast wherever you get your podcast. I'm talking Apple Podcasts, spotify Stitcher. Google Podcasts. Amazon Music. Pandora iHeartRadio Podcast castro good pods and so many more. And while you're at it, go ahead and check out our merch at WW Thetapinmedia.com Backslash Shop. Go to show specific, go to Burning River Sportscast and check out all we have to offer. We obviously have dropped the Chubb line, which is the Dopest T shirt line in the game. And you can now let everyone know just how excited excited you are while you're gorged the games. Yes, and then make sure you check out everything else we have. We just dropped a new shoe line for the Guardians, which I'm sure I'll mention that again later. But check out our merch and yeah.
[00:03:13] Speaker A: Premium merch direct to you.
[00:03:15] Speaker B: Yeah.
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All right, so before we get into the meat of things the meat, let's start with the Burning River News story of the week.
Did you see what happened there? I put the wrong emphasis on the wrong syllable and we were the Burning River News story of the week instead of the Burning River News story of.
[00:05:12] Speaker A: The week emphasis on the syllable.
[00:05:16] Speaker B: Yeah, but guys, listen, the news and certain environmentalists have hit a new low and I'm not starting a war on environmentalists. We'll get to that in a minute. But this is a headline from CNN Travel from Friday, June 30, an actual headline, and I quote, giant kites could pull cargo ships across the ocean and slash their carbon emissions.
There's a lot that goes into this, but the gist of the article was this that two engineers from French company Airbus yes, that Airbus that makes all the big flying planes that go through the air, came up with this idea back in 2016 and is now starting to gain some serious traction.
[00:05:58] Speaker A: Basically been working for years on this.
[00:06:00] Speaker B: Yeah, basically they want to pull freighter ships with 1000 square meter kites flying 300 meters above the water.
Do they know that that's just sailing?
[00:06:15] Speaker A: Science is officially reinventing sailing.
[00:06:17] Speaker B: It's literally sailing. Like this story is about sailing.
[00:06:21] Speaker A: This has taken two basically rocket scientists years to figure out. We could pull cargo ships by the wind.
[00:06:32] Speaker B: This whole thing is mind boggling to me that this is even an article, because you would think that them staging this as this is revolutionary. This is really going to change things. That they would have found something new that they could do to kind of get over the limitations of sailing and wind energy on the open seas. Right.
[00:06:48] Speaker A: If only we could harness the power of the wind.
[00:06:51] Speaker B: Yeah. But you would think they came up with something to get over the limitations, correct?
[00:06:54] Speaker A: Well, yeah. I mean, the reason we're wrong, they didn't.
[00:06:58] Speaker B: They came up with nothing. This is another quote from the article, and again, I quote the issue with any wind assisted shipping, it really comes down to which way the wind is blowing and where do you want to go. Dr. Richard Pemberton. Which that's a name. Dr. Richard Pemberton, a lecturer in mechanical and marine engineering design at the University of Plymouth in the UK.
He said that, and then he also went on to say, if the wind is directly on your nose and that's the direction you want to go, there isn't a wind system out there that works well enough for that.
[00:07:31] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:07:32] Speaker B: So this is literally sailing.
[00:07:34] Speaker A: Literally sailing. I mean, Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 19 1492.
[00:07:38] Speaker B: Right?
[00:07:38] Speaker A: I mean, we're talking about technology that's at least 500 years old, and that was just to get across the Atlantic on a huge voyage. I mean, they've been sailing ships for ever, literally ever, like the Vikings. And everyone has literally understood, son of Utred, the wind could move a vessel in the water.
[00:07:58] Speaker B: I just don't understand.
There's so many things I don't understand about this article, but how is this news? How is this news? And you think it can't get any more bizarre that they're actually reporting this and this is a thing.
But here, let me just go on.
[00:08:12] Speaker A: I'm just living in a world that I don't understand. I mean, nothing surprises me at this point.
[00:08:16] Speaker B: No. In AIRC's co founder and CEO Vincent Bernatz.
[00:08:24] Speaker A: It'S like if he mixes the burning river sports gas with tits.
[00:08:27] Speaker B: Yeah. Vincent Bernatz let me just first say, Airseas is the company making the kites. He says, we are absolutely convinced that wind is really the next big thing that will radically change and maybe revolutionize shipping.
It was so bad the first time around that they literally went away from it with what we have now.
[00:08:51] Speaker A: It was not efficient.
[00:08:52] Speaker B: No, because you can only go which way the wind blows.
[00:08:55] Speaker A: Once the internal combustion engine was available, they were like, this is great. We can go anytime, anywhere, anytime we want.
[00:09:02] Speaker B: Yeah, there's a lot of reasons why it was better, and that's what we went to. But they're convinced. I mean, this guy's convinced. If you're convinced first of all, I don't know how Vincent Bernatz became co founder and CEO of anything, but I guess if you're convinced, you're not really going to last very long.
[00:09:23] Speaker A: Bernatitz they're literally trying to take credit for reinventing sailing.
[00:09:29] Speaker B: And here's the thing. Like, no shit. You're convinced you're the snake oil company that's selling this bullshit to everybody out there. Like, yeah, guys, listen, I got this big idea. I got this real big idea.
Picture this.
Sails that the wind can take us whichever way it's blowing.
[00:09:51] Speaker A: I mean, what if you need to.
[00:09:53] Speaker B: Go east and it's going west? Well, don't have an answer for that. We're going to turn the engines back on and we're going to keep going.
[00:09:58] Speaker A: And we're going to keep going.
Here's the really amazing thing. I mean, you read through some of the article and you realize and you go, the idea is that you could within two to five years, start after that period, start to recoup some of the initial investment after you would buy one of these mammoth kite sales.
Interestingly enough, all of shipping across the globe only makes up about 3% of all greenhouse gases. Which to me is actually an incredible number.
[00:10:27] Speaker B: Yeah, I thought it was much higher.
[00:10:28] Speaker A: And speaks to the efficiency big these things. I mean, these cargo ships are massive. I mean these are big enough to.
[00:10:34] Speaker B: Literally block how much fuel your boat eats.
[00:10:38] Speaker A: Yeah. And that's a tiny boat you're talking about to fill that tank up on the marina. You're talking about a few hundred bucks. I mean, these have thousands and thousands of gallons of tank room for fuel.
[00:10:52] Speaker B: Literally their fuel tank could hold like 45 of your boats.
[00:10:55] Speaker A: Yeah, not a joke at all.
But again, I think it speaks to the efficiency of even these huge freighters that out of all the greenhouse gas emissions, only 3% comes from these. I mean, these move all of the goods around the entire world for everybody.
Think about the last time you went to a store and think about how many things weren't made in America. They were shipped here.
[00:11:18] Speaker B: Yeah, you know what, I think these two engineers for Airbus are trying to take the heat off of Airbus's emissions.
They're going to say these freighters, those sons of bitches, they're causing all these greenhouse gases. But really it's the planes that they.
[00:11:32] Speaker A: Worked on because the planes have to be contributing far more than that. I like too that the end goal here is to reduce emissions by up to 20%.
[00:11:43] Speaker B: Tell us what that means. I know you've done the math.
[00:11:45] Speaker A: I mean, let's just think about this for a second. What's 10% and 3% is three tenths of a percent. Double that and go to six tenths of a. So in a best case scenario, you would lower their emissions from 3% to 2.4% of the global emissions. And let me remind you all about the pandemic that we had in the last couple of years and what that did to shipping and what it did to the supply chain. I mean, can you imagine if we just were saying, well, the wind's not blowing my way today.
[00:12:16] Speaker B: There's not only that aspect of it, but what was part of the big global supply chain issues is for a while, all the ships were stuck at port, right? So can you imagine 1000 meters kites on every single one of these ships? And they're all stuck in a port? And somehow we're supposed to keep that untangled? Are you kidding me?
[00:12:38] Speaker A: I'm living in a world I don't understand.
[00:12:42] Speaker B: Don't get me wrong. I'm all for trying to help the environment where you can. Everybody doing their part, that type of thing. We recycle a lot. We're very diligent about it. We do a lot of things to try and cut down on different plastics or whatever we're using. But this is literally sailing.
[00:12:58] Speaker A: They'reinventing sailing. It's sailing. They don't even reinventing it. They're just calling it something new.
[00:13:04] Speaker B: What are they calling it? I don't even know. I didn't even get that out of it. They're just calling it they're just saying.
[00:13:08] Speaker A: Giant kites could pull cargo ships. Giant kites, which is, like, literally what sailing is.
[00:13:14] Speaker B: Did you guys know that you can sail across the ocean?
[00:13:17] Speaker A: Look, and I don't want to go, like, way down the rabbit hole here, but here's my issue with this, too. This is being passed off as news. News. You can use sea wing.
[00:13:25] Speaker B: That's what it's called. It's the sea wing.
[00:13:27] Speaker A: We're told you're supposed to trust the people in the science community when it comes to vaccines and the environment.
[00:13:36] Speaker B: Then they go and do something like this and lose all credibility. I'm not a naysayer.
I won't get into all that. But I'm not a naysayer on vaccines and those things. I'm just like I'm with you, man.
[00:13:48] Speaker A: I'm just saying all these things, whether it's the environment, whether it's vaccines, whether it's just basic biology, you got to trust the science. This is the best science can do at the moment.
Sailing sea wing.
[00:14:03] Speaker B: Don't call it sail. It's not sailing. It's the sea wing. It's the future. This is the future.
[00:14:10] Speaker A: We are officially there cutting edge technology in the 21st century for shipping. It's amazing.
[00:14:16] Speaker B: All right, I'm done with this story. Let's get into the Burning River Rundown.
[00:14:19] Speaker A: Burning River Rundown.
[00:14:26] Speaker B: Okay, guys, so just like the news, this is the most offseason part of the offseason for the Cleveland Browns, so not a lot happening this week. We'll keep this short and sweet, and we'll talk about the few things that we were able to dig up here. So, first off, in free agency news, the Browns have said that they are comfortable with their linebacker room. What are your thoughts on this, Kenny? Because we had a lot to say going into the draft on this.
[00:14:48] Speaker A: Yeah, and what's interesting to me is they're comfortable with the linebacker room, and that includes not signing. Re signing Dion Jones, who they had traded for last year at the Falcons. Midseason who played in he had a down year. Eleven games. He didn't rate out PFF grade. He was under 50% on his PFF grade, but still, he was a warm body when we needed one. And you would think that as somebody that they made investment in last year, they would want to have back, but they're saying no.
[00:15:14] Speaker B: Well, and you would think that, like, last year, we both mentioned him not playing as well last year. That's probably like, he played about as bad as Dion Jones can play last year.
[00:15:24] Speaker A: And would I mean, he was treated midseason. You're picking up a new team.
[00:15:27] Speaker B: And I agree. I'm just saying, like, you can only get better from there. So why not resign him? Not a real sought after commodity right.
[00:15:33] Speaker A: Now, let's be honest. The guy that was coaching that unit's no longer here.
[00:15:36] Speaker B: Right.
[00:15:36] Speaker A: So it's not like there was a lot of things going right with that.
[00:15:40] Speaker B: Anything was going right with that unit.
[00:15:41] Speaker A: Just absolutely surprising to me. But this just continues to baffle me because whether it's Jacob Phillips, J-O-K anthony Walker Jr. Or who's the other guy I'm missing, who's the fourth linebacker?
[00:15:58] Speaker B: Put me on the spot here.
[00:16:00] Speaker A: Phillips, J.
[00:16:01] Speaker B: Okay, we sound stupid right now.
We'll come back to that.
[00:16:07] Speaker A: There's four linebackers. They all finished the season last year on the injured reserve. They were all literally all of them. Yeah.
[00:16:14] Speaker B: Jones was the other one.
[00:16:18] Speaker A: No, there's another one that's on the roster for this year that's coming back from injury, and I can't think of that's. How big of a sioni Takitaki?
I don't have any idea. Too many drinks today.
So, yeah, all four of those were on the injury report last year. You don't know how any of them are going to come back.
And I just think it's short sighted to not bring someone in.
One interesting name that's been thrown around a bit is Miles Jack, and he's still out there.
[00:16:49] Speaker B: And obviously he doesn't have as big of a market as they thought he would because he's still out there.
[00:16:53] Speaker A: I mean, here's a guy for the last three or four years that has eclipsed the Hunter Tackle.
Is he going to change the way your defense operates? Maybe not, but is he a potential starter and a good role player?
[00:17:06] Speaker B: We could have the best travel agency in the world, miles and Miles.
[00:17:09] Speaker A: Yeah. Miles and miles. Just taking you out on a kite.
[00:17:13] Speaker B: On a Browns fan cruise in the Caribbean.
But yeah. So like you said, no plans to bring back Dion Jones. So far, no chatter about Miles Jack, really. And we're just okay with the linebackers we have, even though they were all hurt and even when they played, most of them. I mean, underperformed last year.
[00:17:32] Speaker A: Well, you just don't have look, J. Okay. Is undersized. He's got good speed and all those things, which are great, but he's not a prototypical linebacker. No, Anthony Walker is more in that prototypical linebacker size. But he's your oldest.
[00:17:47] Speaker B: I like Anthony Walker a lot.
[00:17:48] Speaker A: He's your oldest linebacker, and he's had continued injury issues now over the last couple of years, and it wasn't like the market for him was going to be big if he would have, you know, I want to test it for you.
[00:17:58] Speaker B: Not enough tape.
[00:18:01] Speaker A: And then jacob Phillips has been nothing but hurt in his time here. Butthurt.
[00:18:07] Speaker B: Jacob Phillips is so butthurt, and Sony.
[00:18:09] Speaker A: Takitake has always been a developmental you just I just don't have a lot of confidence in that group. And the interior of that defense is one of the places you struggled mightily last.
[00:18:19] Speaker B: They're like the sea wing. They're the future.
[00:18:21] Speaker A: Yeah. The wind goes into them and the players go all around.
[00:18:26] Speaker B: I mean, I'm pretty frustrated with this news, if that's actually true and they're not looking at anybody. I'm pretty frustrated with that because I like all the guys we have, but I also know that we need far more than what we have if they're actually going to be a solid, solid linebacker.
[00:18:42] Speaker A: And it's just surprising because it seems like AB has taken steps intentionally to try and fix the other gaps we knew were there.
[00:18:49] Speaker B: Do you think that's, like the one where he's like, of all the places on our defense, linebacker is going to be the one we can live with? Because we've got to build this team and we got to fill all these other gaps where he's just like, we got to live with linebacker.
[00:19:00] Speaker A: But with a guy like Miles Jack out there, why wouldn't you take a swing on him?
[00:19:03] Speaker B: I mean, I don't know the reason for mean I'm not AB, how did.
[00:19:06] Speaker A: Your team get worse with Miles Jack? Edit this roster doesn't unless Jimmy is like, quit spending my money at this.
[00:19:19] Speaker B: Yeah. So I hope that that changes. I hope they take a look at Miles Jack and we can get at least another linebacker in here to help with the depth, if nothing else.
[00:19:28] Speaker A: Yeah. I will say this. I will say this. And it's July. It's July. Independence Day week.
The. This could be the thing that disrupts the entire Brown season. I mean, I think a lot of it hinges on how Deshaun is going to play, but on the other side of the ball, this is the unit that's going to make or break this team.
[00:19:44] Speaker B: It goes back to last year, the defensive line, they kept saying, yeah, it's fine, it's fine, it's fine, it's fine, it's fine. And it was the opposite of fine. And we got shit on all year because the defensive line could stop nobody. And we were not making contact with running backs till they were seven yards.
[00:19:59] Speaker A: Deep and DBS were making the contact.
[00:20:01] Speaker B: Right. I mean, literally, almost every game that we covered last year, a DB was at least second, if not first, in tackles.
[00:20:09] Speaker A: It's not a recipe for success.
[00:20:11] Speaker B: No. Another free agency news. DeAndre Hopkins still out there, and it's kind of come back around for a while. They were saying the Browns had no interest.
[00:20:20] Speaker A: Yeah. Albert Breeer had the report that the Browns were kind of out on DHOP. But I think the interesting thing here is that DHOP. Has always been somebody that Deshaun wanted. I mean, that's been clear since they're close.
[00:20:31] Speaker B: They've been friends their entire I mean, they've played together since they were in Houston back in the day, and longtime friends, got along great when they were there, had a lot of chemistry, played well together. Yeah. Why wouldn't he want him to come here?
[00:20:44] Speaker A: And I just think it's one of those issues where the longer it festers and whether or not they sign him or don't sign him I mean, if this is somebody truly that the guy that you sold out. You sold the barn for draft picks, capital, everything. You said, this is the guy.
[00:21:00] Speaker B: That's for sure.
[00:21:01] Speaker A: We want to be our quarterback. And he's saying, Guys, this is important to me to bring this guy in. I think he makes the team better. This could be the first rift between your quarterback, your $230,000,000 guaranteed quarterback, and this front office.
[00:21:15] Speaker B: Yeah. And I hope not. I mean, at this point, I can't imagine if he's not signed yet, the DHOP is actually going to land the money that he's hoping for.
[00:21:24] Speaker A: It's amazing the market for DHOP that is not there, because we've seen lesser players get better, like decent contracts.
[00:21:33] Speaker B: Odell Beckham, who hasn't played for real in a few years yeah. I mean, not worth half of $13 million from Baltimore.
[00:21:40] Speaker A: Right. So not worth half of that in terms of what he'll produce on the field this year.
[00:21:44] Speaker B: But he got I like Odell, but he's not worth that, right?
[00:21:47] Speaker A: No, no.
[00:21:48] Speaker B: He hasn't been worth that in several yeah.
[00:21:52] Speaker A: So I just think there's a real danger of creating a fracture between your quarterback and your front office.
[00:21:59] Speaker B: I like that it's come back around, though, because my prediction when we first started this whole thing was that the Browns were going to end up with DeAndre Hopkins. So now I've got a chance again.
[00:22:06] Speaker A: Well, okay, so maybe this is AB playing 40 chess again. Right. Maybe this is AB saying, hey, let's let DHOP go out there and let the market totally cool off for him and then come to him with a deal. That's reasonable.
Okay, fine. If that happens, great. But if that doesn't happen, at the end of the day, if they're truly saying, we're comfortable with this wide receiver room, which, guys, it got better in the offseason, but it's still not great.
[00:22:31] Speaker B: It's middling.
[00:22:32] Speaker A: It it's still middling.
So, yeah, she gets to sign a guy like that, and we're talking all the only thing you're going to lose is money.
[00:22:40] Speaker B: You hear me? A few seconds there. My hat gave the microphone the most devastating move in WWE history.
[00:22:45] Speaker A: I hate when that happens.
[00:22:48] Speaker B: But moving on here PFF, we talk about them a lot. They go strictly off of statistics and grading out players on if they're doing the right thing on the field or and this just the last couple of weeks here, PFF ranked the NFL top QBs for the upcoming season, and Deshaun Watson came in at 1313. So I'll talk about some of the quarterbacks ahead of him at first, but this is kind of what they said about him. They said maybe the hardest player to rank on the list. Watson has one of the widest ranges of outcomes in the NFL. He finished 2022 with just a 55.3 overall PFF grade after returning from suspension and didn't noticeably improve as one does if they are just shaking off the rust. In his last full season with Houston, he earned a 92.5 PFF grade and was one of the best quarterbacks in the game. I have no earthly idea still quote, I have no earthly idea how good Watson will be in 2023, and neither does anybody else. And that's kind of what we've said about him. I mean, until he actually proves anything, as much as I think he can turn the corner and be a top ten quarterback, he hasn't yet. So he just kind of sits right there in the middle until you know what's going to happen.
[00:23:59] Speaker A: Yeah. Last week or last week, last year hurt a lot in terms of the projection of Deshaun Watson, and I don't know if that's fair because I think that the expectations outside of what he did just weren't reasonable just because of the situation he was put in.
[00:24:16] Speaker B: Yeah, he's the savior, but I also.
[00:24:19] Speaker A: Am surprised at some of the names on this list that were put ahead of him.
[00:24:23] Speaker B: Yeah. So we'll go through that real quick, and I'm just going to run through and we'll just run down the list. Number one, Patrick Mahomes.
[00:24:29] Speaker A: We could all make sense. Fair.
[00:24:31] Speaker B: Number two, Josh Allen. That's probably about right.
Three, Joe Burrow. Sure.
[00:24:36] Speaker A: I give you that.
[00:24:37] Speaker B: Yep. For Justin Herbert. This is where I started getting a little iffy, because I think Justin Herbert's very good. Do I think he's number four at this .4?
[00:24:45] Speaker A: Seems probably not high on Justin Herbert, right.
Hasn't he hasn't done anything for that. I mean, he's thrown for a lot of yards on touchdowns, but they haven't done anything. They haven't made any noise, and I just don't know that is he number four is the thing.
If you would have said that he told me he was nine or ten on that list, I could probably get comfortable there.
[00:25:11] Speaker B: Yeah.
I might even have him a little bit higher. Maybe seven to ten is probably where I would put him, but like, four is pretty high.
[00:25:18] Speaker A: Pretty high.
[00:25:20] Speaker B: Next up at number five, Aaron Rogers, which I even find that hard to believe. I mean, I know Aaron Rogers is a perennial All Pro quarterback, but the dude's like 39 years old and he just went to a new team, a new system, new organization.
Unless he literally is Bret Favre.
[00:25:38] Speaker A: Reincarnate and Bret Farv didn't do well in New York.
[00:25:41] Speaker B: No, he didn't do well until he got to Minnesota. Then he had the best year of his entire career before he retired.
[00:25:47] Speaker A: Yeah, this is another one. Again, you're not wrong that he's ranked high.
[00:25:52] Speaker B: I get why they have him there. But I also on the flip side of it, the cliff is coming.
[00:25:58] Speaker A: Here's the other thing. It's not like he's going to a good organization if he was going the jets are trash. If like, Aaron Rodgers had landed, do.
[00:26:06] Speaker B: We want to do the jets are trash?
[00:26:07] Speaker A: Let's not throw them in the trash can just yet because they're going to be better this year.
But organizationally, they've been trash for decades, just like the Browns in terms of front office and coaches and players that have run through there.
[00:26:20] Speaker B: Talk about that later.
[00:26:21] Speaker A: But yeah, it seems high for him to be so old coming into a new situation on a bad team.
And I just think if he had gone to New England, I was like, okay, you're going to a strong organization, a culture who knows how to win.
They'll probably get the most out of Aaron Rodgers. I don't know that that New York Jets organization is currently constituted gets the best out of Aaron Rodgers. This looks to me like it could be another flame out just like Bret Favre, where it's just not a good fit. It's surprising to me that it landed.
[00:26:56] Speaker B: There well, and all the hype around it, too. Especially he's part of the team, he's part of the city, all this stuff. It just seems too good to be.
[00:27:05] Speaker A: Mean unless like, Shailene Woodley has moved herself to New York. I don't really know why you got the sounder.
[00:27:13] Speaker B: Next up at number six, we got Lamar Jackson. As much as I'm not a huge Lamar Jackson fan, I can actually get behind this, even coming off the injuries, because when the dude plays, their team is phenomenal.
[00:27:23] Speaker A: Yeah. And it makes the Browns pay all the time. Former league MVP. I think the question with Lamar is, can he stay on the field?
Because if you're only good for ten weeks a year, that's not helping your team.
[00:27:35] Speaker B: Next up at number seven is Jalen Hurts. He's kind of in the same boat as Lamar Jackson for me. He's obviously not a former MVP, right, right. But he did play very he was arguably what, he finished number two in MVP last year. So he's been very good. But kind of like PFF said, I mean, the hardest thing about being a good player in the NFL, especially quarterback, is sustaining it. And it's like that was his first really breakout season. Let's see if it stays that way.
[00:28:07] Speaker A: Agreed. I do think, though, that he has the supporting cast. There.
To continue to grow. So to me, I almost would rank him ahead of some of the other guys that are on this list already because I feel like he's going to continue to grow.
[00:28:22] Speaker B: Oh, I put him ahead of probably both Justin Herbert and Aaron Rodgers.
[00:28:25] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:28:26] Speaker B: Next up at eight, we have Trevor Lawrence, which I don't understand. I understand that Trevor Lawrence had a very good second half of the season last year. He does play for Jacksonville. So as much as they've improved and they may be kind of a sleeper team this year, still Jacksonville, this smells like Baker Mayfield.
[00:28:45] Speaker A: After he had his half of a season that was getting in, everybody was like, he's a top ten quarterback.
[00:28:51] Speaker B: Okay, they didn't say top ten for Bay. They said top 15, though. But still but a lot of people.
[00:28:55] Speaker A: Had him ranked top ten after that half.
[00:28:57] Speaker B: The tail end of the top ten. Yeah, look, eight where he's at.
[00:28:59] Speaker A: Trevor Lawrence, I get it. He's one of the highest graded out prospects to come into the NFL in years. For instance, probably Andrew Luck. But man, I still don't know what Jacksonville is overall. They're another team out there that has had just ass in terms of front office and coaching. And I know that they've got a guy and a team they believe in there now, but they still have a bunch of just like, young, talented, raw guys. So whether or not they can keep that together and sustain what they put together at the end of last year, I think is a question mark. And I think eight is asininely high for Trevor Lawrence.
[00:29:37] Speaker B: I think it's high. Number nine, Kirk Cousins. I can get behind this. Kirk Cousins is, I think, one of actually the more underrated quarterbacks. I mean, there was a while where everybody was overrating him, I think, but I think he settled back into that underrated. Everybody kind of talks shit about him. He's like, I know he doesn't win, like, big games or playoff games, but he puts up numbers all the time.
[00:29:56] Speaker A: Kirk Cousins to me is his numbers are better than his performance.
[00:30:00] Speaker B: He's Tony Romo.
[00:30:01] Speaker A: He's almost he's your when I think of, like, the baseline NFL quarterback, it's Kurt Cousins. He's not bad enough that you're going to lose a bunch of games. He's good enough to win you some games, but is he good enough to win a Super Bowl? Probably not.
He's like the Tony Romo absolute he is every man quarterback. He's Tony rumble.
[00:30:21] Speaker B: And speaking of the cowboys, number ten is deck prescot. That's probably about right for him. I don't know. He played better last year, but I don't know.
[00:30:31] Speaker A: I don't know.
[00:30:31] Speaker B: He still goes through stretches almost every like, even if the Cowboys are playing well, he'll go through a stretch where people are like, should we move on to the next? Like, last year, they were talking about moving on from him Cooper Rush.
[00:30:40] Speaker A: Sure, for a minute Cooper played good.
[00:30:43] Speaker B: That's what like like for a minute they literally and I know it was because of injury that Deck Prescot was out, but they legitimately for a second talked about moving on to Cooper Rush.
[00:30:51] Speaker A: And he's another one though that has been injured quite a bit.
[00:30:53] Speaker B: Yeah, just like this next guy, number eleven is Tua. Not even going to pronounce his last name. Don't like trying to, but don't get me wrong, he played phenomenally when he was in last year, but he hasn't been able to stay healthy at all his entire career.
[00:31:10] Speaker A: Last year to me is the anomaly. Right? Because you surrounded him.
[00:31:15] Speaker B: Tyree Kill, he's got so much talent.
[00:31:18] Speaker A: I mean, put Baker Mayfield in Miami and you'd probably ranked number eleven on PFF list this year.
[00:31:25] Speaker B: Although Baker Mayfield, we saw enough of him. He'll probably just underthrow Tyreek Hill. Every single time Tyree kills fast enough.
[00:31:30] Speaker A: He'Ll go back and get it.
[00:31:31] Speaker B: He'll just run a circle around his guy, catch the ball.
[00:31:34] Speaker A: His problem was overthrowing guys anyway.
[00:31:36] Speaker B: He did both wildly interactive.
[00:31:39] Speaker A: Yeah. Tua to me is not a top eleven quarterback in terms of skill level. I think because of the surrounding cast that he has there, he can play above his skill level in terms of team success. But to me in terms of skill size, what does this guy bring to your team outside of the intangibles? I think he's probably a good locker room guy. I think he does put the work in. I think you hear those stories and it seems Mike McDaniel really likes.
[00:32:10] Speaker B: I.
[00:32:10] Speaker A: Don'T know, he's a physical specimen. You need to run your team. Which again, like Ronnie said, all last year his head was mashed potatoes because he just doesn't have the body way.
[00:32:21] Speaker B: To put that delicately to get through.
[00:32:22] Speaker A: A game this season.
[00:32:24] Speaker B: Yeah, so I'd agree with that. I think Tua is probably high on that list as well as he plays. When he plays, he just doesn't play well enough or he doesn't play enough in general to warrant number eleven in my eyes. Next up, rounding out everybody ahead of Deshaun Watson here number twelve is Matt Stafford and that's probably about where I'd put Matt Stafford. He still can sling it but he's getting up there in age.
[00:32:46] Speaker A: Well, what's interesting too about Stafford is Stafford really didn't play last year. So you have Stafford and Deshaun kind of neck and neck here, which Stafford still ranked ahead of Deshaun Watson even though he didn't play at all last year. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know what this Rams team is.
[00:33:01] Speaker B: I don't buy that he's number I mean, I would put myself personally, I would put Matthew Stafford around twelve. I don't buy that he's better than Deshaun Watson right now, but we'll see.
[00:33:11] Speaker A: I would agree with you. I mean, he's older, he's less mobile, he's probably not as strong or he doesn't have any of the physical attributes that Deshaun has. He's just got a better resume to this.
[00:33:23] Speaker B: I I totally agree with and so that rounds out all the quarterbacks, though, that are ranked ahead of Deshaun Watson. So out of this mean, I would say Patrick Mahomes for sure, josh Allen for sure, joe Burrow for sure, aaron Rodgers, I would still keep ahead of him for now. That's just barely in my eyes because the age thing, I guess the bigger.
[00:33:46] Speaker A: Question, though, is like as we get through the end of this season, how does this ranking change for Deshaun specifically?
[00:33:54] Speaker B: Yeah, and we've talked about it. I think he's going to break into that top ten. I think he probably finishes somewhere between seven and nine would be my guess.
[00:34:03] Speaker A: I mean, if you got names like Justin Herbert, a 40 year old Aaron Rogers, jalen Hurts who's had one good year, a Trevor Lawrence who had half of a decent season inside the top ten, deshaun Watson at $230,000,000 guaranteed, should be a top five quarterback.
[00:34:21] Speaker B: Should be a top five. Yeah, like I said, I'm going to go with seven and nine is where I think he finishes this year because I don't know.
[00:34:31] Speaker A: Well, that's pretty close to where their Browns record basically going to end up this year. It's six and eleven.
[00:34:37] Speaker B: Speaking of Browns quarterbacks, the Browns doubled down this week. I don't know if you saw this and said they are completely comfortable with Josh Dobbs as their backup. And so my question to you, Kenny Thunder, is are we completely comfortable with Josh Dobbs as our backup? Especially when you take into consideration that there's guys out there, like Teddy Bridgewater, like Carson Wentz, like Matt Ryan that you could bring in and obviously none of those guys are going to be your starter, but are they a better backup than Josh Dobbs?
[00:35:08] Speaker A: Yeah, the question is they're comfortable with him as the backup. Like, are we, though?
[00:35:13] Speaker B: That was my exact thought.
[00:35:15] Speaker A: Are we, though? I don't dislike Josh, dobbs Maybe you're comfortable I don't dislike Josh Dobbs. I think Josh Dobbs, I think he's.
[00:35:26] Speaker B: A team guy, but he did what.
[00:35:30] Speaker A: Was expected of him in the preseason last year. He got a chance with Tennessee at the end of last season and afforded himself okay.
But I think you also saw him thrown into a high pressure situation because they were looking at making a playoff still and he didn't get the job done. No, that concerns me that though physically, his skill set may be similar in some ways to Deshaun's. He's certainly not the dynamic athlete that Deshaun is.
And if it was me, and you're asking me as a backup quarterback that's as a GM, as AB my insurance policy if deshaun, heaven forbid, sprains an ankle or something and it has to miss three or four weeks, can you afford to lose all of those games? Or do you need someone like a Teddy Bridgewater that has proven time and time again he could come in and go at least 500?
[00:36:25] Speaker B: Yeah, teddy bridgewater. I would love to give Teddy Bridgewater a contract and say, you're our backup. Because I actually would feel like if we only needed like three, four games out of him if something happened, I'd feel pretty comfortable with that. I'd be like, yeah, he's probably deshaun Watson.
[00:36:39] Speaker A: B. And the problem is that because they drafted a quarterback this year, I would imagine they're going to carry him on the active roster so he doesn't get cooped up in any practice squad moves. So they're going to end up who.
[00:36:49] Speaker B: Are you talking about? You moved on to Dorian Thompson Robinson.
[00:36:51] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm just saying that because we drafted a quarterback this year, they'll probably.
[00:36:56] Speaker B: Keep it on the actor dorian Thompson Robinson.
[00:37:00] Speaker A: I'm saying the Browns will keep it three quarterbacks probably. They're saying? Josh I agree. Dobbs is our number two for sure. They're probably going to carry three so that Dorian Thompson Robinson doesn't get picked up off of practice.
[00:37:11] Speaker B: His last name is so annoying, we're just going to call him Brings. That all brings up a good point. That's probably the reason why they're saying they're comfortable with Josh Dobbs, in my eyes, is because I think that they think DTR can develop and be a viable quarterback in the NFL.
[00:37:31] Speaker A: And it's possible because they may be saying if Dejon misses four weeks again this year or sometime, we're screwed anyway until this guy is ready to play, which is fair. If it were me, I would want more insurance than Josh DoD.
[00:37:44] Speaker B: That's fair. I mean, and that's where I'm at, too. I think they should definitely go out and get somebody my vote's. Teddy Bridgewater.
[00:37:50] Speaker A: I think it's a great I mean, any of those guys that are out there, they're not buying a starting job, right?
[00:37:59] Speaker B: Deshaun Watson goes down. We roll out Matt Ryan with like a walker and we're like, hey, go ahead and throw some passes.
[00:38:05] Speaker A: Yeah, he wasn't great last year, but he's 54 flags.
[00:38:11] Speaker B: Why banana.
[00:38:12] Speaker A: He's still seen more than Josh Dobbs and has played a lot of football and played at a high level for a long time. So I trust him more than I trust Josh Dobbs.
I do think that this preseason is going to get very interesting between Josh Dobbs and DTR because I was going to be named.
Well, I think Josh Dobbs clearly probably has the upper hand and probably should be the backup. He's been in the league for a while, this and that. But we know who the most popular guy in Cleveland in most towns usually is. This is the backup quarterback. And most people aren't expecting Josh Dobbs to ever take the mantle of starter. But Dorian Thompson Robinson could maybe be a starter just because of the unknown.
[00:38:59] Speaker B: Well, he might be the guy you drafted for when Deshaun watson's contract is up. That's what you're grooming him for? Sure.
[00:39:04] Speaker A: Nice.
[00:39:06] Speaker B: That was a bad take. Bad.
[00:39:10] Speaker A: Just again, just kind of like not a hot take at all. Week prediction for this year's preseason. I think a lot of people will be saying it's not a hot take at all.
[00:39:21] Speaker B: Cold a take as you can get.
[00:39:22] Speaker A: Hashtag placid.
People will be saying, cut Josh Dobbs and make Dorian Thompson Robinson the backup.
[00:39:28] Speaker B: That's fair.
[00:39:29] Speaker A: Save a roster spot.
[00:39:30] Speaker B: Save a horse, ride a cowboy again. Speaking of Browns quarterbacks or past Browns quarterbacks anyways, your boy Baker making headlines again this week, taking shots at the Browns, saying he's finally having fun playing football again. So we're just always on Baker's mind. The Browns live rent free in Baker's mind. He just can't stop thinking about the Cheesecake Factory in Cleveland, Ohio.
[00:39:54] Speaker A: I mean, could you look parking at the cheesecake? I think this is as good a shot as Baker's going to have for the rest of his career.
[00:40:04] Speaker B: This is definitely his last shot. If he wrecks this, if he plays.
[00:40:07] Speaker A: Well in Tampa Bay and takes him to the playoffs, this you've got you've got some room to talk again. But you start throwing balls over people's heads and throwing multiple interceptions in games and just doing nothing but pouting, it's going to be over real quick there.
[00:40:24] Speaker B: Yeah, I agree. And it's just funny to me because he just can't help himself. It's the thing that I've always disliked about Baker that I've always disliked about him is that he just can't help himself from making headlines. Like like, why couldn't you just say, yeah, I'm just really having fun out there? Sentence.
[00:40:42] Speaker A: Look, I actually disagree. I think this is one of the things that I've always liked about Baker. The problem is Baker then couldn't back it up on the field consistently. I mean, when Baker had good games and was just dong flopping on the sidelines with his bros, like, hey, you see that handoff that Nick Chubby ran 92 yards. That was the Baker I loved.
This is our guy. I get behind this. And the problem was when you're not performing and all I see is commercials of you.
[00:41:08] Speaker B: That's what I meant by that's. The part that I liked is right now, he's proven nothing and he's already I mean, this is the stuff.
[00:41:16] Speaker A: Yeah, but there was a time when we were fully in belief that this guy was going to be potentially the future of our franchise.
[00:41:22] Speaker B: I agree with you. At the point that he was playing, he had already proved it as far as, like, I played.
[00:41:28] Speaker A: Well, by the time he got to the end, he had no room to talk.
[00:41:30] Speaker B: Right. That's my point. Anyways, you mentioned him handing off to Nick Chubb and then dong flopping, as you so eloquently put it.
[00:41:40] Speaker A: He did the dong flop celebration.
[00:41:43] Speaker B: Nick Chubb was named the 25th biggest draft steal of the past decade by ESPN's Matt Miller this past week. First of all, surprised ESPN has any employees left.
[00:41:57] Speaker A: Man.
Sorry, what's her face? Susie Colbert. I feel bad for her.
[00:42:04] Speaker B: So many so, so many people got let go, so many big, big names in the industry. They do great work.
[00:42:12] Speaker A: What is happening to sports media when ESPN is laying off their top tiers?
[00:42:16] Speaker B: I don't know, man, but Pat McAfee is going to ESPN, which I'm excited about.
[00:42:21] Speaker A: I had to save some money for that.
[00:42:22] Speaker B: Sure, I mean, a lot of people were giving Pat McAfee shit. Sorry, not to get on a tangent here, but if you think about mean, that's the move, right? Instead of paying a whole bunch of people a whole bunch of money, you pay one guy a bunch of money and hope and put a bunch on him and hope that he's going to kind of revitalize, not revolutionize, but modernize your sports media coverage. Right?
[00:42:47] Speaker A: Well, I think one thing about Pat is it's a lot like what we do. It's raw, it's unadulterated, it's an actual commentary versus sports media has become so diluted with either your Skip and Shannon shows, which is we're going to argue.
[00:43:04] Speaker B: Favorite shows, or it's just a bunch.
[00:43:06] Speaker A: Of guys that are just paying lip service and being a professional. And I think that that only goes so far in the ratings, which will.
[00:43:13] Speaker B: Be interesting because that's the big knock on Pat right now, is that you're going to go to ESPN and they're going to neuter you.
[00:43:20] Speaker A: And it's possible.
[00:43:21] Speaker B: And it's possible. I'm really interested to see what will happen. I love Pat, I love his show. I think Pat does good work. Not a plug for pat.
[00:43:27] Speaker A: I'm just saying he's a good don't listen to Pat, listen to The River show.
[00:43:31] Speaker B: Yeah, ours is better. But I mean, just he's very good at his craft, just like we're very good at our craft and it's going to be interesting to see how that changes.
[00:43:41] Speaker A: And I think the thing about Pat is because he's still so fresh from his NFL days, he has so many good relationships.
[00:43:48] Speaker B: I make one joke about ESPN and we just start ranting about ESPN and Pat McAfee and all the people getting laid off.
[00:43:53] Speaker A: I just think, I mean, there's a there's a ton of corporate influence there. So I will give Pat McAfee credit if he can if he could stay.
[00:44:01] Speaker B: Raw and stay yeah, stay raw. Raw dog ESPN, budy, give ESPN the old raw dog.
[00:44:08] Speaker A: We would never be on ESPN because they wouldn't want us to raw dog them.
[00:44:10] Speaker B: Yeah, but anyways, Nick Chubb speaking of raw dogs, nick Chubb was named the 25th biggest draft steal of the past decade by ESPN's Matt Miller. As I said, he went 35th overall when he was drafted and he spent six seasons in the NFL so far, and he is already fourth in Cleveland Brown's history with 6341 rushing yards. And third in touchdowns with 48 and he has never averaged below five yards per carry in a single season. Been over 1000 yards every season except his rookie season when he finished with 996. And if you remember, he actually did.
[00:44:46] Speaker A: Go over 1000 yards and then they ran the ball carries.
[00:44:50] Speaker B: That our line. Decided to black nobody. Yeah, I do remember I was pissed, but yeah, that's always nice to see. Unfortunately. Sorry, AB. You don't get credit for this. That was John Dorsey's pick.
But I would agree with Mean. They devalue running back so much in today's NFL. We've talked about it on the show before, but here's a guy Mean came out and proves why you should pay a guy like this to be on your team.
[00:45:18] Speaker A: Invaluable look again, we can't say enough nice things about Nick Chubb. I mean, the guy is consummate, professional, gets the work done.
[00:45:28] Speaker B: My favorite brown of all time.
[00:45:29] Speaker A: My favorite brown of all time. Yeah.
[00:45:31] Speaker B: In my lifetime, I should say.
[00:45:32] Speaker A: Nick Chubb could murder the rest of my family tonight. He's the best guy I've ever seen.
[00:45:36] Speaker B: This guy's so awesome. Like, I love him. Oh, my God, he just killed your you know, everybody has their flaws.
[00:45:45] Speaker A: That's how much cloud Nick Chubb has with me right now.
[00:45:47] Speaker B: No, but but Nick Chubb, speaking of this, the professional that Nick Chubb is came out this past week and said amidst all this chatter that the run game is going to go to hell and we're just going to throw the ball all over the yard. He said, you know what, I don't think my production will be hindered whatsoever by a more pass heavy game plan. And to mean I think we have the same thought, right?
[00:46:11] Speaker A: We've always said Nick has very underrated hands.
[00:46:14] Speaker B: Yeah, but there's that. But I was talking about the other side of it. You get 13 carries a game anyways.
[00:46:18] Speaker A: With well, yeah, if you're going to get 13, there's still going to be room for at least 13 carries a game. So if you're used to making your career on 13 carries a game, he's right. It's not going to change.
[00:46:27] Speaker B: The formation may change, nothing else. Your yards per carry is probably going to go up.
[00:46:31] Speaker A: Yeah.
Less carries.
[00:46:33] Speaker B: Yeah, same yards, less carries.
[00:46:36] Speaker A: Perfect. I think that's probably the conversation they had with Nick. They were like, Nick, we still need 1300 yards out of you, but you're going to we're going to give you 20% less carries.
[00:46:44] Speaker B: Can you do this for we can.
[00:46:45] Speaker A: Reduce carbon emissions by 20% over the next two to five years. You might recap some of your initial investment.
[00:46:50] Speaker B: And he's like, coach, not only will I do that for you, but yes, I'll do that for you.
[00:46:57] Speaker A: Captain shows no mercy.
[00:46:59] Speaker B: Yeah. So just love Nick Chubb.
I don't care if he would have went in the first round, he still would have been a steal. That's how great Nick Chubb has been for the Cleveland Browns.
[00:47:08] Speaker A: He is. I mean, you can't say, though, the impact that he has on a team you haven't seen since Adrian Peterson, probably. No, I can't think of any other.
[00:47:18] Speaker B: Real running back, maybe Derek Henry, just because that team is they're completely and they run the ball like we want to run the ball in Cleveland because they give him 20 some carries a game.
[00:47:27] Speaker A: But Derek Henry is just such a Frankenstein of a human that it's like.
[00:47:32] Speaker B: You almost see everybody making fun of him on Instagram this past week. No, they posted a picture just, like, hanging out with somebody, and they're like, bro, you skipped leg day. Everybody just making fun of him. His legs were small.
[00:47:42] Speaker A: He's just so big. He's a big dude that he doesn't do the same things Miles or Nick Chubjet does because he's not fast. Like, elusive. So it's almost like Mike Allstott was a great running back, was fun to watch, but totally different game. Your own bet is totally different game. Could those guys effective? Sure. But his size is what does it it's not all the things that you work hard at. If Derek Henry I guess my point is, if Derek Henry was I was.
[00:48:12] Speaker B: Like, Are you shitting on if Derek.
[00:48:14] Speaker A: Henry was five foot, 9198 pounds, would Derek Henry be Derek Henry?
[00:48:18] Speaker B: Probably not. No.
[00:48:20] Speaker A: But because he's Frankenstein, he's like, I ran over you.
[00:48:23] Speaker B: Yeah, but Nick Chubb, like you said, you can't speak to how much he brings to a football team both on and off the field and just in leadership.
[00:48:30] Speaker A: And he squats a lot.
[00:48:31] Speaker B: Yeah, a lot, a lot, a lot. Speaking of strong dudes, miles Garrett held his second annual youth football camp at Gilmore Academy this past week. Seems to be another huge success. But did you see the clip that came out of that thing? Miles Garrett just obliterated a kid that tried to block him. It looks like they were doing, like, a hamburger drill. A kid tried to block him. Miles Garrett threw him on the ground and then stole the ball from the other kid that was playing quarterback. And those kids let me just say this. Those kids should be embarrassed. Their lack of any skill whatsoever in this clip was infuriating.
[00:49:03] Speaker A: All right, we're canceled.
[00:49:06] Speaker B: Joke. I joke. I joke. It was a really fun moment from his camp. It was really cool to see him kind of playing with the kids.
[00:49:16] Speaker A: Here's a clue.
[00:49:17] Speaker B: Really helping the youth out there.
[00:49:18] Speaker A: Don't try and stop Miles Garrett from doing anything.
[00:49:22] Speaker B: Listen, guys that are six, 6350 pounds can't stop Miles Garrett from doing what he does. That little kid, that was probably 40 pounds and five foot flat, if that you ain't stopping Miles Garrett.
[00:49:35] Speaker A: No, just get out of his way. Let the train roll.
[00:49:37] Speaker B: Yeah. So just a and then finally, for the Browns here, I've seen the graphic floating around this past week of the most losses by franchises in the last 20 seasons. The Browns, as you can imagine, topped that list. Do you know how many losses they have?
[00:49:51] Speaker A: A lot.
[00:49:51] Speaker B: 222 losses in the last 20 seasons. You know what that averages? A lot. 11.1 losses per season for 20 years in a row.
[00:50:04] Speaker A: It's like they're playing a different game.
If you were intentionally trying to be this bad, you would accidentally be good at least once.
[00:50:12] Speaker B: Yeah, well, the Browns were. We made the playoffs once, beat the Steelers.
[00:50:15] Speaker A: All right, maybe more than once.
[00:50:17] Speaker B: I would say you'd be good at least twice.
[00:50:20] Speaker A: The ODS are astronomically stacked against you in the NFL. To be bad for this long, it's the greatest sport in the world. The reason people watch the NFL every year is because every year, even Browns fans feel like, this is our year. We've got a chance. We've got the team, we've got the coaching staff. Because of the parity that exists in NFL, because of a good salary cap, and because of the way that they do their draft.
[00:50:45] Speaker B: We've had some talented teams. Like the fact that we lost that many games with as much talent that's rolled through Cleveland is embarrassing. Super embarrassing. It's just the pain that Cleveland fans feel is completely unmatched. And as if you could hurt anymore, I'm going to throw some salt in this wound and tell you that the next closest on this list in our division was Cincinnati, with 172 losses over the course of the last 20 years. That's 50 50 less losses than the Cleveland Browns.
[00:51:19] Speaker A: The crazy thing is about that, I've never respected the Cincinnati Bengals until Joe Burrow showed up.
Even in our worst years, when I would see the Bengals on roster, we may win this week. We'll probably win this week as the Bengals, they suck. 50 wins.
[00:51:35] Speaker B: 50 more wins than we have in 20 years.
[00:51:37] Speaker A: It just didn't even seem real.
[00:51:39] Speaker B: No. So it just feels real bad.
I guess what I'll finish that with is, once again, there's always next year. So hopefully this year is finally next year.
[00:51:51] Speaker A: Yes, hopefully this year is next year. And then we get to celebrate on a Cleveland Browns game cruise.
[00:51:56] Speaker B: Hell, yes. Moving on to the Guardians, currently sitting at 41 and 42. They're first in the Central, and we did I mentioned it earlier in the show. We launched some Guardians themed shoes on our shop to celebrate. So go ahead and check those out again. WW dot Thetapinmedia.com shop and go to showspecific Burning River Sportscast, and you'll find all our shoes and stuff.
[00:52:18] Speaker A: Can I get those in a wide size?
[00:52:21] Speaker B: I don't know. I don't think so.
[00:52:23] Speaker A: Great.
[00:52:24] Speaker B: Perfect.
[00:52:28] Speaker A: We don't make shoes for behemoths like you Frankenstein's.
[00:52:31] Speaker B: Yeah. You're an idiot.
I'm sorry, I didn't mean to question your intelligence just because you're a big guy.
[00:52:35] Speaker A: The worst part is my feet aren't even that big.
I could get gastric bypass tomorrow and your shoe still wouldn't fit me.
[00:52:42] Speaker B: Yeah, sorry, but yeah. So everything is kind of starting to come together for the Guardians. Like I said, 41 42 1st in the Al central. Looks like they might be able to finally start making a run and put some wins together. I mean, they won eight out of twelve at one point here recently.
[00:52:57] Speaker A: That's a rosy outlook you just painted there.
[00:52:59] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:52:59] Speaker A: Everything's coming together.
[00:53:01] Speaker B: Yeah, there's just under 500 ball club.
[00:53:04] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:53:05] Speaker B: It's a good thing we play in the Al Central, because here don't get me wrong as a whole, when it comes to baseball, we still ass.
[00:53:14] Speaker A: But.
[00:53:14] Speaker B: We play in the Al Central, and we all know once you get into the playoffs in the MLB, anything can happen. True.
That's the goal. We just got to win the Central.
[00:53:23] Speaker A: And I think it's got to stay healthy. The guys got to come back from injury. The bullpen especially has to be healthy.
I don't know what it is about this year's team. It just feels different.
[00:53:37] Speaker B: Just doesn't feel as cool.
[00:53:39] Speaker A: It doesn't feel as cool, but thankfully we are in a shit division, and if you're anywhere near 500, you got a shot at it. And like Ronnie said is if you get into the game, sometimes it all takes.
[00:53:50] Speaker B: Best part about being up there fighting for the division is we don't hear much chatter about Terry Francona anymore, so that's over.
[00:53:57] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:53:58] Speaker B: But some news out of the MLB. The All Stars were announced this week, and the Guardians only got two players in, jose Ramirez and Emmanuel Klase, who leads the MLB in saves.
[00:54:08] Speaker A: Did you see J Ram still home the other night?
[00:54:10] Speaker B: Yeah, that's dope. Dope ass. Dope ass.
But I mean, that just goes to show you how underwhelming this team has been and frankly, just disappointing considering that they brought pretty much everybody back and there was a little bit of hype. Now to only have two people on the All Star team is pretty disappointing.
[00:54:29] Speaker A: Yeah, it doesn't seem like a lot of the guys that they've brought in have done a whole lot to this point. In fact, Mike Zenino, I think, just got DFA.
[00:54:39] Speaker B: It's the worst thing in baseball.
[00:54:41] Speaker A: Yeah.
Look, hopefully they stay where they're at.
[00:54:44] Speaker B: But Bo Nailer is playing now.
[00:54:46] Speaker A: Keep playing 500 ball. Bo Nailer is kind of the one bright spot that you're hoping that he's.
[00:54:51] Speaker B: This year Steven Kwan.
[00:54:52] Speaker A: He can develop into something real nice, but unfortunately there's no Shohei Otani sitting in our pharmacist him anywhere.
[00:55:01] Speaker B: That dude, we didn't just have a full episode on him. Dude's, unreal leading the majors right now in home runs and strikeouts. Not since 18, like 76 since happened.
[00:55:09] Speaker A: He's a creative player.
[00:55:11] Speaker B: He's unreal. Anyways, I digress. We get to have a whole conversation about that next up here. NBA free agency is upon us, and it looks like the. Cavs are trying to solve their shooting woes.
[00:55:20] Speaker A: Thank goodness.
[00:55:20] Speaker B: Yeah. They acquired Max Stress in a three way sign and trade with Miami and San Antonio. The contract is for four years, $63 million. And then we also got rid of Cheddar Osmond.
Good luck on your future endeavors. A lot of people will be happy he's gone because he bleeds yellow blood. He bleeds yellow blood and he grossly underperformed last year, especially towards the end of the season. So Cavs have also acquired Ty Jerome on a two year, $5 million deal. And they acquired center Damien Jones in a trade with the Jazz. So making some improvements. Hopefully it's enough.
[00:55:58] Speaker A: I will say this about Chetty.
San Antonio and Pop is probably the best place for him to land an old Wemby. Yeah, I mean, you may not have.
[00:56:07] Speaker B: Heard the last of young Wemby, but.
[00:56:10] Speaker A: You may not have heard the last.
[00:56:11] Speaker B: Of yasmin old Pop and young Wemby.
[00:56:13] Speaker A: He actually may fit in San Antonio.
[00:56:17] Speaker B: Well, if any coach in the NBA can get the most out of their players, it's Greg Popovich.
[00:56:21] Speaker A: And he's just used to dealing, working with that kind of skill set and getting the best out of it.
[00:56:25] Speaker B: Yeah, so hopefully the know, maybe we'll take that next step next year, make it out of the first round of the playoffs, not get shit on by New York.
But anyways, onto some non Cleveland news here. Let's talk about contracts a little bit. We just talked about the NBA, we always talk about football. So let's start with the NFL. Tyree Kill is the NFL's highest paid wide receiver, right? Four years, $120,000,000. His contract, 72.2 million guaranteed. Christian McCaffrey is the NFL's highest paid running back. Four years, 64 million, 30 million guaranteed. And Darren Waller is the NFL's highest paid tight end, which I don't know why, but he is. Three years, 51,000,019.25 million guaranteed.
[00:57:01] Speaker A: He's in recovery. He's a hero.
[00:57:02] Speaker B: Yeah.
Desmond Bain.
[00:57:06] Speaker A: Who's? Desmond Bain?
[00:57:07] Speaker B: Desmond Bain, the NBA's 9th highest scoring shooting guard. 9th highest scoring shooting guard. Just got a contract in free agency for the NBA for five years, 207,000,000 fully guaranteed.
What? Bro, the NBA money is just wild.
I guess if we break it down though, it's not that wild.
[00:57:34] Speaker A: It's pretty wild. I just think that this move in particular underscores the lack of superstar level players that are in the NBA right now.
[00:57:46] Speaker B: Because a guy like this gets $207,000,000.
[00:57:49] Speaker A: Well, yeah. I mean, LeBron James gets $207,000,000. Or Kevin Durant or Steph Curry. But all those guys are aging out. And you got clowns like John Morant that can't stay on the court now because they do goofy things on their instagram and you just don't have enough backfill. Now coming into the NBA to where guys like this are getting LeBron James money, I can see why so many young athletes in college now this was the guard or the tackle that we drafted that's like seven foot tall and 800 pounds. He's want to be a basketball player. Like, hell yeah, I'd want to play basketball.
[00:58:25] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:58:25] Speaker A: I can be a bench player and make $100 million. Why not? Meanwhile, Nick Chubb is running his ass off and is probably one of the best athletes.
[00:58:33] Speaker B: They probably won't even give him 30 million guaranteed, any sport, period.
[00:58:36] Speaker A: Probably. He's one of the best athletes in general in the world right now. And, yeah, 35 mil was, like, topped out.
[00:58:43] Speaker B: Yeah.
Whoa. Almost died there.
[00:58:47] Speaker A: I wish you would have.
[00:58:48] Speaker B: So the NBA money is just wild, but I guess it does make a little bit of sense in the fact that there's only twelve people on an NBA roster to pay sure. Versus the 52, I guess, in the NFL.
[00:58:59] Speaker A: But you should still have to be good to get that kind of money.
[00:59:02] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, I agree with that. So speaking of tons of money, the Nil is fucking wild.
Just wild, bro.
[00:59:10] Speaker A: He f bombed us.
[00:59:11] Speaker B: Yeah.
We're Ohio State fans here, so we hear about a lot about Ohio State and all their players. Kyle McCord will be rolling around this year in a 2023 MercedesBenz Amgt 53.
Want to take a guess how much this car costs?
[00:59:31] Speaker A: Those are a solid set of wheels. I mean, those are six figure wheels.
[00:59:34] Speaker B: Yeah. MSRP on this baby. $126,000.
Dude hasn't even been named the starter at Ohio State yet. He's just competing for the starting job. True.
Where was this first? Not that we were good enough to really get any of it, but where was this when we were in college?
[00:59:59] Speaker A: Look, I think these things have always been going on. They're just so much more public now with Nil because they're legal. They can actually be reported on now.
[01:00:06] Speaker B: He could just put on his Instagram, like, look at my ride.
[01:00:08] Speaker A: I mean, do you remember LeBron's Hummer? We know Gloria didn't buy him that Hummer.
[01:00:13] Speaker B: Difference between LeBron and everyone else, though, is everyone knew LeBron wasn't going to college.
I'm going pro. True.
[01:00:21] Speaker A: But I'm pretty sure didn't he get that Hummer, like when he was in high school? Still driving.
[01:00:24] Speaker B: Yeah, but in high school, they just turned a blind eye to it.
[01:00:28] Speaker A: And I think that the schools that have been really good, I think this is why you hear so many of the Nick Sabans of the world and Stoopses of the world, these guys that are complaining about Nal because it's for the first time, leveling the playing field. And you would think that these bigger universities actually still would have a stranglehold on this because they would be able to have their own collectives, and a lot of them do that have tens of millions of dollars in them for this stuff. But for the first time now, smaller schools are able to raise just as much money because they have wealthy alumni, people that want to see their programs do well. Ex players that have boatloads of money. I mean, hell, if you're in the NBA, you could donate 10th of your salary every year no matter what position you are.
[01:01:11] Speaker B: 9Th highest scoring, shooting guard and guaranteed.
[01:01:14] Speaker A: All of a sudden. I'm telling you, the college sports, especially football, is going to get super interesting, I think, over the next ten years because of Nil. Because you're going to have teams all of a sudden out of nowhere that were not powerhouses in football, that are going to be able to compete with your top tier level Colorado. Yeah, I mean, Colorado is certainly one to watch because of yeah, schools like that, you only had any interest in those teams. Like if you got randomly mixed there playing NCAA football.
[01:01:45] Speaker B: Actually, I don't know if this is considered a hot take or not. Probably not, but I think that Dion to Colorado, I think that's going to be the same as Dion was at, what was it, USF or UC?
Jackson State. It's some weird college.
I went even bigger than what he was at. So at Jackson State, it's going to be the same situation. He's going to be there for like three years, completely turn shit around, and then he's going to actually land like a big name school and that's where.
[01:02:11] Speaker A: He'S going to why wouldn't you? Because somebody like USC is going to come calling and why wouldn't, wouldn't yeah, because Dion's proven already he can be a think. I think Jackson State, I have to double check this, but I think they just got a huge endowment from Charles Barkley now too. So schools like that are just seeing the benefits of Nil that never would have been anywhere close to that in the.
[01:02:39] Speaker B: I mean, it is wild, but just the money that goes into college football. But speaking some more of money, apparently money is the theme today.
Sports gambling in the NFL is apparently a big problem. A big, big problem. We're now up to I don't even know how many players there's been. At least I would say like 20 players suspended for a big portion of the it ranges from half the season to indefinitely. And we don't know when they're coming back or if they're even ever going to be allowed to come back.
[01:03:11] Speaker A: To me, this feels like a failure on the NFL's part.
Totally. This is new, right? It's legalized. Sports betting across the country is new.
[01:03:21] Speaker B: And it's all done from your phone.
[01:03:22] Speaker A: All done from your phone. It's done in apps like DraftKings that people do daily fantasy on. They never really considered that sports batting or gambling, they just consider a game. Yeah.
[01:03:32] Speaker B: And when you're a millionaire and so.
[01:03:35] Speaker A: It feels like these suspensions are coming down. Before the expectation was really made clear by the NFL.
[01:03:42] Speaker B: Now, I will say this, I will say this while you're there, common sense to me and the NFL did make this part clear, is you don't bet on the NFL and you don't bet on your own team. So we will say outside of those guys.
[01:03:54] Speaker A: Well, yeah, but it seems like a lot of these guys are just getting dinged.
[01:03:58] Speaker B: Oh, they are. They are. So like one of the big rules that they have is that you are not allowed to make any bets while you're in a team facility. But there's a lot like you would think that, oh yeah, that's simple. Just don't do it while you're in the building, okay. Or on the practice field or something like that. But it's not that simple because when these guys are on the road, they consider the hotel or anywhere that they hold meetings. They consider those team facilities. So you could be lying in bed after your game just like, you know, I want to go out and bet on college basketball today. You did a sports bet while you were at a team facility and now you're suspended.
[01:04:30] Speaker A: I mean, the only thing that could tell people that are either professional athletes or young kids coming up is just like, just don't do it until they don't do it.
[01:04:41] Speaker B: Like 100% outline this and you know you're not breaking any rules.
[01:04:44] Speaker A: I wouldn't play fantasy, daily fantasy. I wouldn't make bets on a sport, other sport. I just wouldn't do it. I wouldn't get in a master's pool with your friends.
Stay away from all of it.
[01:04:54] Speaker B: The only other thing I will say on some of these players is where it starts to look bad is like they were trying to get away with something, knowing that it wasn't quite right. Was a lot of these people are using friends to place bets or they're using a fake name on their account to place bets. And it's like, guys, all these sports books are in bed with the NFL. They're going to report you. Well, especially they're going to tell the NFL who's betting on what and what's going on.
[01:05:22] Speaker A: Especially like when your boy Shorty G Holmes doesn't have a job and an income comes in and he's like, I'd like to put 100 grand on Colorado.
[01:05:29] Speaker B: That's interesting. We'll take your bet. But we're also going to let the NFL know that this bet was placed and we're pretty sure we know where it came just it's, it is policed by the sports books themselves because they have so much money to lose in sponsorships from the NFL if they don't do what the NFL wants them to.
In that, in that same vein, though, it's just typical NFL. You mentioned how it hasn't been really explained to players very well. I mentioned just like, team facility thing is a big gray area where that's where they're getting a lot of them right now is the guys are like, I didn't think being in my hotel room was a team facility.
[01:06:04] Speaker A: Well, the NFL has built that intentionally because they want to be able to hold court pretty much anywhere. It's just like you can't take photos or distribute media, any of those things without their permission or you get to cease and desist those sorts of just. But to me, this feels like when these things went legal and they started to become so widespread, these should have been daily memos to all teams.
[01:06:30] Speaker B: When you walk to that exact point, they didn't send the memo recently. They just sent a memo recently. But it wasn't until like 40 people or something stupid had been caught and it's like, why did you wait that long to send this memo if it's that many people? Why don't we maybe take a step back? Yeah, the egregious ones we can suspend, but take a step back and say, maybe we should really talk to our.
[01:06:53] Speaker A: Players, even institute a second chance rule for some of these guys, too, just to say, okay, look, maybe this wasn't super clear up front. Let's make it crystal clear now.
[01:07:01] Speaker B: In NFL, if you didn't want this to be a mess, you shouldn't have been thinking with just your wallet and all the money that you can make off of sports betting.
[01:07:09] Speaker A: Well, that's what I mean. So I think this should be like when you walk into the facility and there's the signs that say, no drugs, no guns, no weapons, no sports betting should happen. And that should be posted everywhere before you head out to the field. Coming out of the locker room. Those signs should be everywhere. They should be getting those memos in their email daily, weekly, whatever, that continue to explain different rulings and different states and their regulations because it's the only way to have these things and have any kind of symbiotic relationship where you're allowing marketing and benefiting from this as an organization.
But that has to be then clear to the players because so many of the I mean, I got older ladies at work that don't have any interest in sports at all, but they're betting on the apps. They're like doing gambling. Seven game parlays ladies like their slot machines. It's just fun for them. They're like, I don't know which team is which, but they'll bet the odds and they're like, yeah, I'm up $42 because it's so disconnected from ever having to be like, go talk to a like people don't think of that. Yeah, that's the thing as gambling anymore.
I just think it's a failure on the NFL to not police this appropriately unintended consequences.
[01:08:26] Speaker B: Think of how many players are off the field now because of this. So does the product suffer in the end?
[01:08:30] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, 100%.
[01:08:33] Speaker B: It's just wild. But that'll do it for the Burning River Rundown. You know what's next? The Burning river sports has hot.
[01:08:39] Speaker A: Takeout hot take hotline.
[01:08:51] Speaker B: So don't forget to call and leave your hot takes on the hot take hotline. Remember, these are hot takes. I want to hear Watson predictions. I want to hear if Stefanski is going to keep his job, I want to hear someone tell everyone why they think the Browns won't move on from Nick Chubb after the season. And I still want to know who would win in a fight. Elon rolls Zucks.
[01:09:08] Speaker A: Even if it doesn't happen, we want hot takes.
[01:09:12] Speaker B: We want hot takes.
[01:09:14] Speaker A: Hot takes.
[01:09:15] Speaker B: 3302-2780-8033-0227-8080-3302-278, call now. Operators are not standing by. All right, so you know what time it is. Let's take a quick revenue break and get back here to talk about the breakout player candidates for the Cleveland Browns this year.
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[01:09:53] Speaker A: Have a yeba due time.
[01:09:56] Speaker B: Good job. John Goodman.
[01:09:57] Speaker A: We'll have a gale time.
[01:09:59] Speaker B: John Goodman.
[01:10:00] Speaker A: John Goodman. Greatest American actor of all time.
[01:10:02] Speaker B: Nobody's better. All right, let's talk about our top three breakout player. Yeah.
All right. So we're going to talk about who we think out of the Browns players is going to be a breakout player this year. It's pretty simple, right?
[01:10:20] Speaker A: This could be anybody. Could be anybody. Offseason acquisition.
[01:10:23] Speaker B: Yeah, it could be anybody. You want to go one and one? How you want to do this?
[01:10:27] Speaker A: Sure. You do one and I'll do one.
[01:10:29] Speaker B: All right, so my number one is going to be Elijah Moore. And I feel like this comes as no surprise. A lot of people actually have him as a breakout player for the Browns this year. But basically, he had high expectations coming out of the draft when he came into the league, he wound up with the jets, never good, never really meshed well with any of the 1200 quarterbacks they started.
And so I think a change of scenery for him is going to be good. And even with the questions we talked about this a little bit earlier, even with the questions surrounding Deshaun Watson, and if he's going to make it back to form at the level that he played at last year, I think he's still a far better quarterback than anybody that Elijah Moore has played with in New York.
So for me, the number one is going to be Elijah Moore. I think he's going to be one of our top receivers.
[01:11:15] Speaker A: You mean Zach Wilson sleeping with everybody's mom wasn't doing well?
[01:11:19] Speaker B: No, Elijah Moore slept with his mom.
[01:11:21] Speaker A: Oh, Elijah. That's the ultimate. You sleep with someone's mom, it's over. There's no coming back from that.
[01:11:26] Speaker B: It's over. I don't know who slept with whose mom.
You heard it here first, though.
[01:11:31] Speaker A: Elijah Moore slept with Zach Wilson's mom. Take that, burning sports guest hot take.
Yeah. I'm unfortunately going to match you on this one. We'll let you go again because I think that, like you said, this is almost one that's half to because this was kind of like the biggest wide receiver acquisition in the offseason. You give up draft capital to get him.
[01:11:53] Speaker B: I feel like we didn't have this much hype around somebody, and I'm not counting Odell, because that was its own thing. But this is the most hype since Jarvis Landry. Right.
[01:12:00] Speaker A: Well and here's a guy that, like you said, had some expectations coming into the league. He's a young guy. This is a third year in the league. Didn't ever mesh well in New York, but this guy is built like Steve Smith. He has four, three, five speed and has all the tools that you look for in a highly athletic receiver. So whether it's crossers, whether it's being able to stretch the field deep, he has good hands and should be able to do it all. And it just wasn't a fit in New York. And sometimes that happens. Right. We see guys move on from teams all the time. Gino Smith, all of a sudden, is a world beater in Seattle. Couldn't get on the field anywhere else in the NFL. So I'm hoping that he becomes a staple in this offense. And I think he really when we laid out the jets being trash last year, he was the one guy that he looked at in the team last year and said, this guy could hurt.
[01:12:59] Speaker B: You picked him as he was my.
[01:13:01] Speaker A: Player to watch because do we have that clip?
[01:13:04] Speaker B: I made you do this again.
[01:13:10] Speaker A: Elijah Moore and I'll slate this in, and I don't even know if this is the right segment, but I'll slate this in as my guy to watch this week. I think if the jets not the.
[01:13:19] Speaker B: Right segment, quit getting excited.
[01:13:20] Speaker A: Sorry. I'm there. I'm in. I already went there, so I can't take it back now. Elijah Moore, I think, is probably their biggest weapon. Didn't have an overwhelming rookie campaign, 40 catches, 500 yards or so last year, but draws a lot of comparisons to Steve Smith, I think just due to stature. They're both littler guys. He didn't have an overwhelming campaign because they're the jets.
Right.
[01:13:44] Speaker B: I don't know. I don't care about the jets, but.
[01:13:46] Speaker A: In terms of being an athlete and having good hands, being a good route runner, I think he's one of the lone bright spots that if the jets do accomplish anything on offense, he's going to be the beneficiary there.
[01:14:02] Speaker B: That was a good pick.
[01:14:03] Speaker A: Yeah. I was truly worried we know what.
[01:14:06] Speaker B: We'Re talking about here on the Burning.
[01:14:07] Speaker A: I was truly worried about playing this guy last year. Thinking even with Zach Wilson banging over his like, they might still be getting the ball.
So yeah, I think he's why was.
[01:14:16] Speaker B: Zach Wilson banging everyone's mom? I just don't understand.
[01:14:19] Speaker A: This is the ultimate comeback, man. You just can't yeah, well, I had sex with your mean what else do you yeah, so hopefully none of my other ones match you. But yeah, Elijah Moore to me is number one, has to be a breakout player of the year, and I think he can do it fair.
[01:14:34] Speaker B: Since we matched on that one. I'll let you take the lead on.
[01:14:37] Speaker A: The second one here number two. I'm going to go Jordan Aikens. Look, I know he's a little bit longer in the tooth, so he's not the hot new stud coming in tight end, but I do think he's six 4245. He has great athleticism even at his age, and he has some familiarity with Deshaun, the offense and stuff that he likes to run. So I look for him to be a guy that becomes a safety blanket for Deshaun this year.
Harrison Bryan I think the case is still kind of out on what he offers to you as a tight end, but the team of Njoku and Jordan Aikens together, I think gives you such a unique advantage at that tight end spot. And I think that Jordan Aikens is every bit as athletic as David Njoku. Maybe he doesn't look like a Greek god, doesn't look like Zeus like Njoku does, but he's incredibly talented, has the range to be able to get jump balls.
So I think that if he's not a household name by the end of the season in Cleveland, that there's a problem.
[01:15:44] Speaker B: I mean, that's a pretty good call seeing as PFF ranked Jordan Aikens and David Njoku as the top tight end duo in the. So, yeah, that's fair. So my next one that I'm going to throw out here is MJ. Emerson.
And I know he already had a breakout season last year, but I think he's going to be able to expand on that. Like I said, really solid and surprising rookie year, but I think this year, going into the season, at least to start, it's going to be Newsom starting opposite of Denzel Ward. I think that you're going to see MJ. Emerson as that full time nickel corner. He's gonna come in as our extra guy anytime we need it, which in today's NFL is pretty often base defense. It's almost every and I honestly think as much as I really like Greg Newsom, I think he's a great player.
He was a little inconsistent at times.
He kind of has been since he's.
[01:16:42] Speaker A: Been with the he definitely took a step back last year.
[01:16:44] Speaker B: Yeah. And I think MJ. Emerson may steal that starting spot opposite of Denzel Ward at some point throughout the season.
And again, honestly, that's not even a knock on. Even if he did take a step back last year, that's not a knock on Greg Newsom. That's just to speak to how well MJ. Emerson played last year in the upside that he yeah, I mean, he's physical. He's not afraid of any receivers in the NFL. He'll get in your face. He just doesn't care. He just wants to compete and he brings it every time he's on the field.
[01:17:18] Speaker A: He's one of the most exciting defensive backs like prospects that I've seen in a long time.
[01:17:23] Speaker B: Yeah, me too. And talking about speaking to how well he's played so far, that's part of the reason why know if you've caught him, but in the last few weeks, there's actually been some Greg Newsom trade rumors.
[01:17:34] Speaker A: Well, yeah, there was some speculation that he wanted out as well, and he came out and know to hell with that. That's not true.
[01:17:39] Speaker B: Yeah. Which good on him. Like I said, I like Greg Newsom. I hope he stays. I think he's a solid player and a solid piece, and right now he's a starter, and I think he is a starting.
[01:17:48] Speaker A: But and you talk a little about Greg Newsom there, but I think the one that might be surprisingly expendable because of the injuries and because of the contract that if you could get we talked at length about the picks that we don't have. If you could recoup a pick for Denzel Ward and MJ.
[01:18:07] Speaker B: Emerson was have some cap room to maybe resign Nick Chubb.
[01:18:10] Speaker A: Well, yeah, just in general, just having additional cap and having picks that can only help this team at this point.
[01:18:16] Speaker B: I really like Denzel Ward. He's a Ohio State guy, all that stuff. But if you asked me tomorrow if we traded Denzel Ward so we could get some cap room back and resign Nick Chubb, I'd say do it, even.
[01:18:30] Speaker A: If he murdered my family.
And I just think, too, that, look, the Browns haven't won anything.
[01:18:39] Speaker B: All have won anything.
[01:18:40] Speaker A: We all have our Nick Chubbs and our Miles Garrett's and our Denzel Wards and our favorite players who we look at as like the face of the franchise.
[01:18:47] Speaker B: Here's the truth. They're all expendable because we haven't won.
[01:18:49] Speaker A: All expendable because you can't be we can keep them on the roster forever, except for Deshaun Watson, keep being fully guaranteed the same mediocre football team. But clearly what we have right now isn't working.
I think that is a surprise move that we might see this year.
[01:19:04] Speaker B: Yeah. So you want me to go first on the last one?
[01:19:07] Speaker A: Yeah, you can go.
[01:19:08] Speaker B: All right. So my final breakout player this year, I have Zidaria Smith. And some people might be looking at this as like, he's already really good. I understand that he's been solid for several years in the NFL, but I think with Miles Garrett opposite of him drawing double teams all the time, I think Zidarius Smith gets kind of catapulted into this almost superstar category, like kind of up there with Miles Garrett. I think they're both going to have a lot of sacks this year.
And I think he really benefits from playing on the opposite side of Miles Garrett. And I think that he's going to be everything that the Browns hoped clowney would be when they brought him in that he basically wasn't. I certainly hope you know, I've got high hopes for Zadaria Smith. I think he is Clowny, just much more athletic, to be honest with you. Clowny was strong and big, but Zadaria Smith is I think that he's just a much more impactful player than Xavier Clowney was.
[01:20:08] Speaker A: And what I like specifically about Zedaria Smith isn't even Zedarius Smith. It's the fact that you have a guy in Agro, Okanroquo, behind him who can spell him fresh. And yeah.
[01:20:18] Speaker B: So when you're both those guys, that for Miles Garrett and him, right?
[01:20:22] Speaker A: So if one of those guys isn't on the field, you're not like totally playing a jobber, right? Like you have a guy in there that's going to keep the pressure on. So as soon as Smith or Miles back in the game, you're like, holy hell, when does this stop? That I think, is almost maybe the most important season move because Darius is great. And I agree with you. I think he's one of those. Again, that has to be a breakout player for this team to do well this year. But having Agbo to spell both those guys, I think is a huge asset that's maybe overlooked right now.
I'm going to stay right here on defensive line here with you.
I frankly don't have a name. I know Dalvin Tomlinson was the big name in the offseason, but I'm going to go with just generic defensive tackle.
Generic defensive tackle.
[01:21:10] Speaker B: Create a player defensive tackle.
[01:21:11] Speaker A: Someone has to become a force in the NFL this year. And I don't know if it's Siakika, if it's Tommy Togu, if it's Perrian Winfrey, someone besides Dalvin Tomlinson has to jump in out of all those and make a name for themselves.
People around league are going, wow, that defensive front at Cleveland. They're tough.
[01:21:33] Speaker B: Out of all those, who do you think shows up? Who's most likely to show up?
[01:21:36] Speaker A: Look, I'll go siaki.
[01:21:38] Speaker B: That's where I was going to go.
[01:21:39] Speaker A: Ika. Just because he's the rookie in the class. But I just think one of those guys has to take that next step, whether it's a Jordan Elliott, a Tommy Togui, they have to quit being soft and start making plays or it has to be one of these younger guys that comes in and starts bossing people around, whether it's Perry and Winfrey or Yaki.
[01:21:59] Speaker B: I was going to say to your point, perry and Winfrey, I mean, they talked him up nonstop last year, even with all the problems he was having.
[01:22:05] Speaker A: And they've said he's done well.
[01:22:07] Speaker B: If he is past all that and his problems are behind him, maybe he does finally flourish, become a dog again. Yeah, that dog mentality.
[01:22:17] Speaker A: But I think that and we talked about coming into Kill Baby. We talked about the linebackers being an absolute weakness on this team. If there's no one up front again besides your bookends that are playing well on defensive line, that's five bodies potentially at any given time that are. Just an absolute liability for you.
[01:22:34] Speaker B: Yeah, and this whole discussion, too. It actually goes back to our linebacker discussion about are they hoping that the line is that good? Where it's like it doesn't matter?
[01:22:44] Speaker A: Almost has to be, right? Right.
[01:22:45] Speaker B: I think that's what they're banking on.
[01:22:47] Speaker A: If one or two of these guys can pop and shine and you okay, like we can afford to have linebackers out in coverage or playing.
[01:22:54] Speaker B: That's what it feels like to me, is that Jim Schwartz is saying, look, we got a defensive line here and I'm going to do all kinds of creative shit and nobody's going to get to the second level, so it doesn't matter.
[01:23:04] Speaker A: And maybe you do. I mean, it'll be interesting on cut day to see who's left out of this group because there's so many question marks with a lot of young guys on this front. But I just think again, as far as a breakout player, yeah, I know that's like copping out, but it's just DT. Someone has to shine there in order for this team to take it to the next level this year.
[01:23:22] Speaker B: That's fair. So those are our three breakout players. Kenny gave two and a half, but whatever.
[01:23:28] Speaker A: I make the rules. Britiger sports cast. That's why you listen.
[01:23:32] Speaker B: So once again, I'm not going to go through the whole spiel, but don't forget to call the Hot take Hotline and check out our merch at WW Dot Thetappinmedia.com shop, burning River Sportscast.
But that's it. That's our show for this week.
[01:23:49] Speaker A: That's it.
[01:23:50] Speaker B: Kenny, what can we expect in two weeks?
[01:23:53] Speaker A: Well, here's the first thing I would say is just a quick PSA is happy Independence Day. Happy 4 July. Happy Independence Day. There are some of you listening to this podcast right now that have less fingers than you started the week with, and my heart goes out to you. Be careful. Fireworks are dangerous. Don't hurt anyone or yourself.
[01:24:10] Speaker B: Happy holidays. Don't blow your hands off.
[01:24:12] Speaker A: Also, please be respectful of people in your neighborhood that have either children or pets. Thank you.
Look, I get it. You want to celebrate, but that's fine. But a certain time is nighttime, right? You get to like 1130 midnight. It's time to cool off. Maybe save some for tomorrow night.
[01:24:27] Speaker B: Also, once we get to July 6, you shouldn't be shooting fireworks.
[01:24:31] Speaker A: Independence Day is over.
[01:24:32] Speaker B: Yeah, honestly, July 5 is probably too late. But once you get to July 6.
[01:24:38] Speaker A: I'll even give you this weekend, the following weekend to shoot them off.
As long as they're done by like 11:00 because it falls in the middle of the week. But yeah, just PSA, be careful with the fireworks. Be respectful of your neighbors.
[01:24:51] Speaker B: What happens. We have kids and we become old men.
[01:24:52] Speaker A: We're like, get off my bitches. And so that being said, join us back here in two weeks. We are bi weekly in the season, but we are headed down the home stretch to the regular season, which we will be back every week in your ear, bringing you Browns news, Cavs news, and Guardians season updates.
[01:25:11] Speaker B: I think we only have like three or four episodes left before we're weekly.
[01:25:15] Speaker A: We're getting back to weekly soon. We have a couple of really cool things planned, too. We have a MLB Conspiracy coming your way. We also have my punishment for the King of the north loss, ronnie's victory last year.
[01:25:32] Speaker B: I think I'm going to make him a sign that says, my name is Kenny Thunder and I suck at picking AFC North games fair, even though I.
[01:25:39] Speaker A: Picked the exact record the Browns would have last year, which is fine.
[01:25:41] Speaker B: You're good at picking browns. We don't talk about that at picking AFC North games.
[01:25:45] Speaker A: But yeah. So I did lose King of the north. I accept that I'm going to get punished. Punished. We've been waiting for the weather to clear and for a Browns tailgate so that we can get some fan involvement.
[01:25:59] Speaker B: At this point. Most likely we're going to slate that for August 11. As far as recording. So if you're up at the preseason.
[01:26:05] Speaker A: The Munilot, yeah, come find us there. And then finally, we do have, as we've mentioned a couple of times in the last couple of weeks, grand opening for the store to look forward to, which we're going to give away something very cool here that we'll have more details on for you shortly in kind.
[01:26:22] Speaker B: Of a raffle scenario, probably within the next couple of weeks. That'll be yeah.
[01:26:25] Speaker A: Before the season starts. We'll have that announcement as so join us back here in two weeks.
[01:26:29] Speaker B: Yeah. And you can find us on social media. Tap in media is on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at the Tapin'media and Burning River Sportscast. That's this podcast Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube at River Sportscast and on Twitter at Burning River Pod. And you want to know where you can find our podcast?
[01:26:47] Speaker A: Where can I find it, Ronnie?
[01:26:47] Speaker B: You can find it wherever you get your podcast. I'm talking Apple podcasts. Spotify. Google Podcasts. Amazon Music. Stitcher pandora. iHeartRadio Podcast Castro. Good pods and so many more.
[01:26:55] Speaker A: So many more.
[01:26:56] Speaker B: Literally. Our friend Zach told me about some podcast directory that I'd never heard of, and we're on it, so I don't even know the name of it right now. Anyways, do you know what that leads to?
[01:27:06] Speaker A: Yeah. My favorite part of the day, facts for Days.
[01:27:16] Speaker B: I know it's a great sounder, but it almost doesn't even need it.
It just needs us singing.
[01:27:21] Speaker A: Just us singing. Yeah. I like it.
[01:27:23] Speaker B: All right, Kenny, what do you got for me today?
[01:27:24] Speaker A: Look, we're going to keep it real short and sweet this week because I know you're all itching to blow off your fingers.
The King of Hearts is the only king in the deck without a mustache, and it's not because he has superior personal hygiene. He originally had one. It was just lost in the reproduction of the original design. Along with his axe, it's now sword.
[01:27:46] Speaker B: Wow.
I don't know why that's so intriguing, but I find that interesting. I kind of want to go home and grab a pack of cards and take a look at it.
[01:27:53] Speaker A: Yep, take a look. Because he's the only one without a mustache. Dash.
[01:27:55] Speaker B: Now two princess.
[01:28:00] Speaker A: Number two, you can'tickle yourself.
Even if you tried, it's unlikely you could tickle yourself. That's because your cerebellum predicts when you are about to apply pressure to your own body.
[01:28:10] Speaker B: What? Have you blindfolded yourself?
[01:28:11] Speaker A: That's your brain, not your eyes.
[01:28:15] Speaker B: It knows I'm going to take off myself. Still.
[01:28:19] Speaker A: It knows your plan before you do.
[01:28:21] Speaker B: Damn it. I tried to outsmart my brain, and it was too smart.
[01:28:25] Speaker A: Number three, the blue whale is the largest creature to ever have lived on Earth and is a tongue that can weigh as much as an elephant. Elephant.
[01:28:37] Speaker B: Your own sound effects. Incredible.
[01:28:40] Speaker A: And if that's not crazy enough, the blue whale's fart bubble is large enough to enclose an entire horse.
[01:28:49] Speaker B: Who measures these things? That's what I want to know. What guy had to go down there? The diver that went down and said, hang on, let me just they got, like, the caliper that you use for measuring fat, but it's like a really big one. They're like, very nice. Yeah, a horse could definitely fit in that.
[01:29:06] Speaker A: It definitely would fit in that. Yeah, it's way bigger.
[01:29:08] Speaker B: My question is, did the diver that went down to measure it swim up in it?
[01:29:12] Speaker A: There's actually, like, if you look into the science of it, because they can determine how much gas actually comes out, like, at one time, but it also comes out in, like, spurts and bubbles.
[01:29:21] Speaker B: You mean to tell me this is all a theory? It hasn't been proven?
[01:29:23] Speaker A: Well, there's some science, massage theory. There's some massaging of the numbers to say, like, if this was one full air bubble, a horse could fit inside and they would probably stick real bad because they eat plankton and krill and they're massive, massive animals that take weeks to digest their food.
[01:29:41] Speaker B: You know what that is?
That sounds like part of the problem.
[01:29:48] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:29:51] Speaker B: I stole his tagline and he died.
[01:29:53] Speaker A: Don't be a part of the problem. Be the whole damn problem.
[01:29:56] Speaker B: And only you can prevent river fires.
[01:29:59] Speaker A: River fires? I mean burning river burning river sportscast.
[01:30:03] Speaker B: Burning river sportscast. Presented by Tapia Media and brought to.
[01:30:05] Speaker A: You by the Cleveland Cleveland Browns Fan Cruise.
Are you guys going to the fan cruise?
[01:30:11] Speaker B: I'm going, I'm going, I'm going.
[01:30:13] Speaker A: Come sail away with us.
[01:30:14] Speaker B: We want to see you there.
[01:30:15] Speaker A: We want to see you there.
[01:30:16] Speaker B: All of you.
[01:30:17] Speaker A: We are the master of ceremonies.
[01:30:18] Speaker B: We are the master of ceremonies.
[01:30:20] Speaker A: Together we are breeze.
[01:30:21] Speaker B: We are breeze. Together we are breeze. Burning river sports cast.
[01:30:30] Speaker A: I am Utrit, son of Utred. You are now called Utrit. Utred. Son of Utred. You will be Utred, son of Utrecht Ice, the son of another Utrit and another. But I am Utred, son of Utred.
[01:30:45] Speaker B: Why was Zach Wilson begging everyone's? Mom, I just don't understand.
[01:30:48] Speaker A: This is the ultimate comeback, man. You just can't yeah, well, I had.
[01:30:51] Speaker B: Sex with your mom.
[01:30:54] Speaker A: The leads are weak. Leads are weak? Fucking leads are weak. You're weak.
[01:31:00] Speaker B: You mentioned him handing off to Nick Chubb and then dong flopping, as you so eloquently put it.
[01:31:07] Speaker A: It rubs the lotion on its skin.
[01:31:09] Speaker B: Or else it gets the hose again.
Let me taste that real quick.
You taste like you're ready to smash.
[01:31:18] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. I desperately want to make love to a schoolboy. Browns fan cruise and the Burning River sports staff. What better combination could you possibly think of? Who are you talking to right now? Who is it you think you see? To me, this feels like a failure on the NFL's part.
[01:31:34] Speaker B: Erroneous. Erroneous on both counts. Oh, Lord, I gotta know. I gotta know. The scariest environmental thanks.
[01:31:42] Speaker A: That's all you gotta say? Scariest environment imaginable.
[01:31:50] Speaker B: Hey, Browns fans. Here's a chance to score big with the first ever Browns Fan Cruise. Picture this. You're sailing across the beautiful open waters of the Caribbean on Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Sea, surrounded by true blue Browns fans, live music and entertainment, and more Browns themed activities than you can count for five unforgettable days beginning on March 11, 2024. You can join beach parties, take part in spirited competitions, relive the Browns greatest moments, attend exclusive touchdown talks, and enjoy world class meals in one of the many restaurants aboard the ship. And did we mention who will be joining you for all these activities and sharing the very same decks that you'll be walking? None other than your favorite Browns alumni. From Josh Cribs to Webster Slaughter, to Eric Metcalf, to Hanford Dixon and many, many more. There's a whole pack of dogs just waiting to join the fun. Get autographs Snap photos and join them in the ultimate fan and alumni experience as you sail through the warm Caribbean. Don't wait. The clock's ticking. Book now and take advantage of the easy budget friendly payment plans for this extremely exclusive and all inclusive cruise adventure. Don't miss the boat on this extraordinary Browns experience. To book your cabin or for more information, visit brownsfancruise.com or call 216-284-6472. The Browns Fan Cruise, where diehard Browns fans and Browns alumni come together for the trip of a lifetime. Don't wait. Secure your spot today and go Browns.
