Lindsay Rhodes: There are so many questions about this Browns team

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1:24Find your next car. Digging JP back on afternoon drive. The Shedorchers, the debate rages on what's going on over their fanatics. What do they know that we don't know? Clotheers and the common man, all uniting and curiosity. But we got a game on Sunday and to talk about the outlook for the 2026 Cleveland Browns. I think I think I'm going to have another supporter here. I've said the Browns are an eight-win team while a bunch of very smart people. Do you know, Windsies? Do you know our answer before we bring around? Oh, I'm flying blind here. Okay, then I'm going to say unequivocally. The sumer sports side of her will not let her believe this Browns. But Jeremy Fowler's on my side of Browns could surprise. I got Oyafuji. I got bass stock. I am collecting. I'm a massing. A bunch of people who have logged on to my way of thinking. We'll see if Windsies right there with us. On the Wyandeside right, we make it right,

2:27call Kyle right, hotline of sumer sports. Lindsay Roach joins us right now. Lindsay, welcome to the show. Hi, I think I'm having some technical difficulties. I couldn't hear that question. I'm not going to answer it. Okay, which one about the Shedorchers? I thought this was a, yeah, that's a setup. Eight. Eight is what he's saying. Okay. I don't know. I don't. So here's, Lindsay, don't be nice about this. He's walking around as a nice. This is the assumption and as if everyone should have this take of eight wins. Because don't hurt me. Don't be nice here. Don't be nice. Be nice. Okay. Well, I'm, I'm going to still try to be nice. I don't. Here's where, here's where I'm hung up here. Is I just don't know where the confidence in making that prediction is coming from because there's so many questions about this team. Like, there's so much that I don't know to be honest with you. And I think that that honestly makes this team a fascinating team to watch in week one in particular because I just, it's going to be just like an information like fire hose, right? We're

3:32going to learn so much about what they're going to do and what they're going to look like. But like, I don't even know what the schemes are going to look like with this new coaching staff. I mean, across the board, we're looking at new, right? What does Watson look like? We haven't seen that for a while. He hasn't looked good in years past. Will that be different now that they've added some different pieces around him? We've got a new coach in place. What's the protection look like up front with a heavily turned over offensive line? I mean, in the early going, I've got communication-related questions for them. What does the blitz pick up look like? The communication on stunts, the run block timing. I don't know what do the wide receivers look like? And this is a very different looking room than it was last year. Who's the first three most frequent landing? Jerry Judy was the primary receiver last year in addition to like Harold Shannon, David and Joke about what did the target shares look like now that you've added these rookies? Concepts shown is one of my favorite guys to have come out of the draft. How is he used? In this offense, is it predominantly him or Denzel Boston? How does he work into all of this? I haven't even talked about the defense, which also

4:36is Schwartz-Liff and Garrett-Liff. I just have so many questions that I have no way of framing any kind of prediction that would say they're going to be better or worse than the markets are suggesting at this moment. You were so respectful on that that when I am proven right, I will not have a victory lap on you. And the same way you didn't take a victory lap when you said the Brown should trade miles Garrett about a year early and people were very mean to you. You were so respectful that you never took that I will be taking a victory lap, but I won't be taking one on you. Here's my elevator pitch. One of the easiest strength of schedule, both predictive and travel. The offensive lines fare, but we saw New England and Chicago rebuild their offensive lines in one off season as soon as last year. I do think they finally have playmakers that might allow you to overcome the lack of talent at quarterback, at least if to Sean Watson's instructor. And I honestly think people have forgotten the Browns actually have plenty of really

5:37good defensive football players that aren't named miles Garrett, namely Carson Swessinger, namely Denzel Ward. And honestly, I think being people is freaking about Malik Collins who was on a career year pace last year before getting hurt. Yeah, no, there's no doubt there's a lot there on the defensive side of the ball in particular. You bring up great points. I think in terms of making a prediction about it, I just want to see how the new defensive coordinator who wasn't even the defensive guy last year, how is he going to use them? Is he going to use them the same way that Schwartz used them? I mean, are we going to see more like coverage influence defense as opposed to like it stemming from what's happening up front? I am a big proponent of Jared Burst, and when that trade happened, I was a big proponent of this thing of good trade for Cleveland in a ton of different ways. One, in terms of rebuilding, collecting the assets that you get in exchange for this guy who is going to go at the highest price that you're going to get. But then also the

6:39guy that you got in return is so talented. And so will he reach the ceiling that Miles Garrett did probably not, but is there a massive drop off? Probably not. So I think that I am with you in that sense. I just don't know how it's all going to come together. We still seeing the least highest rate of man out of this defense. Like, how do they use them? You know, we've talked a lot here, while at Sumer, where the nerds talk about coverage rates and going to like light personnel groupings and seeing one of the takeaways from last night was, we saw a lot of heavy personnel from the Seahawks. We saw a lot of light personnel defensively. I think that that's something to look for as we move forward. We've talked about a ton of teams going to like, they drafted a lot tight ends this year. And are we going to see teams throwing a lot of, you know, two and three tight end formations onto the field? And then how do you match that as a defense? Are you in,

7:39they're trying to get you back to base to threaten the run and to get you in a run look and then try and pass on you in that way? But, you know, we saw last last night, they got to nickel. And so we're seeing a lot of nickel. And I wouldn't, like tonight with the Rams, I wouldn't be surprised if we see a ton of dime from the Rams defense, 60 defensive backs on the field to try and stop the past, especially with the front that they have there. So there's just so many questions that I have about how you manipulate those pieces that admittedly are good in defense. Like how do you use them? That's a lot of minutia, which I agree with you that the Cleveland defense will keep scores down. Brass tax, I think that the defense will continue to be good. Will it be as good as it was last year, where you're keeping scores down to the degree because the sacks that Miles Garrett was racking up, I don't know that that number is going to be as high this year. But I should have, I had a lot of questions about the offense and whether or not they're going to take steps forward to the degree where they can win enough of those games even if they're low

8:46scoring. But I do agree if you have the wider heavers. And frankly, Fanon was a find in the draft. I think that they've done a pretty good job in the draft. I loved that they went wider heaver, wider heaver. I love the fact that they did that. And just took two bites in an apolit of position they needed. They needed to upgrade this off season. And like I said, conception is so versatile. And one of the sacks that I like about him the most, I don't have it right in front of me. But in college, the Texas A&M quarterbacks completed their deep throws. 15 yards or more at like a 53% clip or they're on target rate was like 53%. Long story short, they were not good throwing the ball accurately down field. And he fall is a vibe. So what's yours? Do you go wild or get a little nostalgic? Do you like to cozy up indoors or kick it outdoors?

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10:53LACarGuide.com is the perfect place to find your next car. He still produced at like every facet of the field at every depth inside, outside with the ball in his hand creating separation. And so I think he's already shown us that he can produce in spite of quarterback play in some ways. And I think that that makes him a really interesting piece to this browns often. I hear a lot of agreement here. They only, so I think my counterpoint in the offense because I really do hear all the what ifs. The only counterpoint is that was not a functional offense last year. They could not, they couldn't run motion because they would immediately trigger some sort of penalty. I don't think it's that hard to be functional on offense. And I think, Munk of the Maximizer, which is what I'm a trust in Todd Mann-Linsey. And I think I think they're going to be able to be functional even if that seems to be the lowest bar to clear. I just don't know. I think that in this particular case that the quarterback play is such a huge

11:58part of the functionality. And I think like if you look at the Raiders last year and maybe clear this up for me if I'm if I'm incorrect. I think when you look at the Raiders last year, the functionality issues stemmed from everywhere. I mean, we, you know, there were stories about like the offensive line meeting by themselves because they felt like they weren't getting what they needed out of the coaching staff. That is massively problematic because it all stems from what's happening up front. And then you have like, you know, past catchers like who are the wide receivers there? There's just like, there's so much environmental breakdown that then you go, okay, the quarterback play was terrible, but the quarterback play was also a reflection of the environment. Like all of it kind of it worked in concert where it was all bad. And so it was hard to point at one specific thing in Cleveland. I think a lot of the functionality did stem from the fact that they just haven't been able to find a quarterback that is. And it's the I disagree with that.

13:02You agree that they need. Now, I looked at it more like how the Raiders were. The offensive line was incredibly injured and also just incredibly bad. And then as far as receivers are concerned, Jerry Judy was the only notable wide receiver on the team. And he was dropping passes like you wouldn't believe. So like, I mean, it's not to say that the offense was completely a waste. Judkins was good. And you can only do so much with the offensive line and fan and was good. But I think they were much more a product of the environment while also having bad quarterback play, obviously. But I think they were closer to what you're describing with the Raiders than maybe just saying the quarterback then had everything be off the rails. Okay, that's fair. I wonder. I think I think maybe what I'm getting at here. And this isn't an interesting conversation to try and kind of nail down. Is that I just am not convinced based on what I've seen from the quarterbacks there in Cleveland that even if the environment was better, that their play would be appreciably better. And so that is that's a pretty big outstanding question for me. So even if the environment is as we have sort of laid out here in a bunch of different ways,

14:05it looks like they've made really smart changes in the off season to try and make the environment better this year. And I just have question marks about the talent, frankly, in throughout the room. I don't know that I don't know that they have their quarterback of the future on staff. And I don't know that they have a quarterback that is good enough that they will be able to like we saw with Sam Darnel and the Seahawks last year, right? Like you just have to be good enough, right? If the environment is good and you can be good enough and you're not going to be the problem, then that is good enough in a lot of way in a lot of cases. And I don't know that the quarterback is there who can get out of the way and not be the problem. All right, give us a quick breakdown of Jacksonville. I think they're a very confusing team. I tend to think a little bit higher on them than I think most people do. Where do you stand with Jacksonville right now? Yeah, I think that they are an interesting team and the thing that I'm most I mean, they're wide receiving their group of path catchers is

15:07fascinating because I mean, they've got three guys and we see this in fantasy dresses off season where like none of them are going really high because no one knows who the one is. But we do think and then but then as soon as they started coming off the board, it's part for Washington followed by Jacobi Myers followed by Brian Thomas Jr. like they all go and that's I think a really strong indicator of the fact that we think that the talent is there. We just don't know if it's going to be spread around and in what way like what we saw from Parker Washington in the end of the year last year was that he was pretty interesting as a weapon. But will he continue to be is he the first street? Who does the offense run through? Like who do they in a in a perfect situation? Who are they trying to get open and get the ball to? I just don't know the answer. And then does Travis Hunter rotate in at all? Do they literally afford to they not even need him? This guy that they just drafted so high in the draft two years ago because he could go book with. Do they not even need him to go both ways? And then you know, we talked about all this heavy personnel stuff.

16:11They're like one team that I would go no, don't don't do that. Like I think you're in your best personnel grouping if you're in 11 because I want those three wide receivers on the field with a pretty high degree of frequency because I think that they're all really good at different things. And so I think that they're really interesting in the sense that they have so many fascinating pieces. And I think the Trevor Lawrence is a guy who while he has been a roller coaster and really hard to nail down and say like I think he's good and he's going to continue to be good. I don't know that I feel comfortable about that but it did seem to start clicking forum at the end of the year last year. And I'm curious to see if they can kind of pick up or they left off and continue to ride that momentum. And then I think that the defense is two degree a little bit underrated. And so I think that I think that they're an interesting team. They're not a team that I would necessarily predict is like in the super bowl contention necessarily this season. But I think they're a really interesting you know potential playoff team and a team that could be

17:13a really tough out on a week to week basis. Lindsay you always bring it. We might disagree on the Browns win total this year but you bring it every single time it come on. We appreciate you. Keep doing great work at Sumer Sports and we're going to keep bugging to come back. Thank you so much. Love coming back. And so please ask again. All right. Lindsay Rhodes there. Sumer Sports and the Wyeshart right. We make it right. Kyle Wright hotline. She's very smart. Me very dumb. I am right about the brown. So I take that. This has been right every time she's come on about basically everything. So she's doing can't have you feel she's doing. I can't have you feeling good. We'll react to it. Lindsay had to say and also get into the concerning headline about Jose Ramirez in five minutes on 92. What you're listening to presumably doesn't suck. So neither should your sound system. Sonos lets you listen seamlessly from room to room. Same great sound. Expertly tuned. Estonishingly clear. It's not magic but it's not not magic. The ocean delights us. Some marvel at the colorful world below the surface.

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