Podcast – 92.3 The Fan's Daryl Ruiter talking @Browns on Kenny & JT Show / @RuiterWrongFAN

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Darrell, do you have a good idea yet of how the Browns think in the moves that they make

or no?

Well, I try and figure it out.

Usually involves a few Thailand all in a beverage, but we eventually get there eventually,

right?

All right.

So makes sense of what they've done so far in free agency and trade since yesterday,

the official year started at 4 p.m. in the NFL.

Yeah.

I mean, everything that they've done so far certainly makes sense.

They bring in tight as Howard to play tackle.

We'll see if it's on the right or the left.

So I'm guessing it's going to be on the right side there.

They signed an inter, a couple of interior offensive linemen, Elton Jenkins, who can play

center as well as guard, plays guard better than he plays center.

Two well-proceded seasons there with the Packers, Zion Johnson, who they gave some pretty

nice money to another guard.

And then you went ahead and they got Jack Stoll to be their blocking tight end.

And then Quincy Williams to replace Devon Bush at linebacker.

So I'll be honest with you, Kenny, this has gone exactly the way I thought it would,

maybe not so much with the names, but just with how Andrew Berry was going to attack this

thing and what he was going to do and how he was going to do it.

I figured he was going to go real heavy on the offensive line, bring in a linebacker to

replace Devon Bush, who is now a Chicago bear, and then maybe add a tight end two or three.

And then really the only thing he's not done yet, actually there's two things, one secondary

depth and then wide receiver.

And obviously those are things they can address in the draft.

So, I'm not surprised by any of these moves to this point.

And again, they were never really in on any of the top quarterbacks, they were never really

in on any of the top wide receivers.

There let's go back to Devon Bush, you had a really nice season last year.

We didn't expect that, but is Quincy Williams an upgrade in your mind?

I don't know if he's an upgrade, but Mike Routenberg knows him from Jacksonville.

And we know how the lead goes, right?

Or coaches like their former players, I mean, look at the volume of former Browns, Kevin

Stafansky's brought to Atlanta by the way, good luck with that, Falcons, you know.

So yeah, I wouldn't say it's an upgrade, but it's certainly a player that will fit in,

I think, very well next to Carson Swashinger will be able to play that position, the way

Mike Routenberg is looking for it to be played.

And it's a player that has a pretty positive track record, he's a big hitter as well.

So I know you don't want to hear it, but it certainly is a move that Andrew Berry made

that actually does make some sense.

Darrell, how much better are there though with these moves?

They haven't made a big splash, we're used to at least one big splash.

And I know the cap situation factors into it, but, you know, how much better are they

with these guys?

And it may be my fault, I don't know a lot of these guys, right?

So I can't, I shouldn't say it's good or bad.

So what do you make of what they've done as far as impacting this team in a much positive,

much more positive way?

Well, they've already made their splashes.

The splash was the trade for Titus Howard and given him the three-year contract extension

and Zion Johnson, that was your splash.

Everything else is about filling in the margins at this point, Kenny.

As far as how much better they are, I think it's negligible at best.

Until they get the quarterback and the wide receiver thing figured out, it is what it

is.

I even said today on my own, on my own station up here in Cleveland that, you know, I don't

know that they're better today than they were a year ago.

But if anything, it's one for one at this point.

They're no worse off today than they were a year ago, so they got that going for which

is nice.

I can't sit here and say that they are dramatically improved either because they still don't

have a left tackle, which I think that's coming in the draft.

But, you know, and we don't know what the quarterback thing is going to be.

And they need someone other than Jerry Judy to be their number one wide receiver this

year.

But there's still some things that Andrew Barry needs to address.

We'll see if he's able to effectively address them this off season, but Todd Munkins

going to have his work cut out for him.

That's for sure.

They're all right.

Our 92 three.

The fan is our guest right now in the Kenny and JT show.

Dea, I got to ask you, your thoughts on this Max Crosby, Trey Hendrickson, Trey Hendrickson

stays in our division.

But your thoughts on this Max Crosby deal?

Yeah, I kind of think that there's some bush leagants going on there by the Baltimore

Ravens.

You know, there's a part of me that believes the conspiracy theory of that they really

wanted Hendrickson, you know, didn't feel that that was going to materialize.

There was some reporting that he was close to signing with the Indianapolis Colts, so

they went ahead and did the trade with the Raiders for Crosby, but Crosby's had a lot

of surgeries in recent years.

So I certainly can understand the failed physical.

The Ravens are not a team that usually trades first round picks.

In fact, they didn't Crosby would have been the first player that they traded for using

first round pick, which is almost astonishing to think about.

But, you know, then I think that they maybe got wind that Hendrickson would be available

to them.

And both, they got a comparable player, maybe a little better player, for less money when

it was all said and done.

So did they break any rules?

No.

You know, nothing is, it could have been official anyway until the newly year.

They were well within their rights to pull out of the trade, which they did.

From, I guess, an unwritten rule, ethical standpoint, might be some questions about how

the Baltimore Ravens might handle their business there.

I give them credit.

They saw a better opportunity to improve their team, not give up draft picks, pay less

money, get equal, if not more talent, moving forward.

That was a smart move.

And as long as the NFL is not going to cancel the situation or find you, then you go

ahead and do it.

And that's what a good organization does, Darryl, right?

And again, I guess who's involved the more right now is their team president.

Who's that?

Sashi Brown.

Oh, no.

Wow.

Really?

Yeah.

Yeah.

He's our team president.

River.

Wow.

He's scuttled the Hugh Jackson trade with the Cincinnati Beggles, remember that?

That's right.

I forgot about that.

And I forgot that he was there because all I see is the owner, you know, having diarrhea

of the mouth, right?

Yes.

Yes.

Wow.

Okay.

Well, maybe I learned from his mistakes.

How is that?

How is it?

It was, it was an AJ McCarran.

Hugh Jackson wanted to trade for AJ McCarran and Sashi Brown didn't get the trade paperwork

into the league office on time.

And it got scuttled.

Yeah.

Okay.

So he's Sashi Brown's first rodeo, ladies and gentlemen.

That's right.

He's on this before.

There are a rider breaking it down as only he can here on the Kenny and JT show Darryl.

The draft is what, a month and a half away, right?

And we all know what they need.

It's a wide receiver and it's a left half where you brought that up already.

They also need, you know, a quarterback potentially, but I don't know if they're going to go

after one to, you know, buy for the starting job in the draft.

So with that.

They're not.

Right.

Okay.

So with that in mind, Darryl, what are you hearing about players at those two positions that

they've already interviewed or, or linked to?

Are there any guys reportedly that they're linked to at left tackle or wide receiver in

the draft?

Well, they've already hosted tight Simpson, that was right before, that was actually last

week.

Okay.

And that certainly caught everybody's attention now.

I don't think that they are going to end up with him.

I think that that was done just to make sure that they've done their homework on him.

Right.

But he was in a carnal tape visited as well, the Ohio Statewide receiver.

They have a Markle Bell from mammoth Miami, he's a tackle, he's visited, oh, Tyson,

the Arizona State receiver, Jordan, Jordan tight, he's been in as well.

So yeah, I mean, so that this is, you noticing a pattern here.

So these are some of the guys that already been in, wide receivers, this is what it's

thought to be the second best quarterback available in this draft.

And then offensive lineman.

So I don't think that they're going to draft Tyson's in 24th.

They certainly am not drafting in six.

I still can't believe that somebody put their name on that about Tyson's in being drafted

potentially at six.

But you do these top 30 visits, one in case you ever circle back to them, right, in free

agency or potential trade down the line, whatever, hey, you know, let's pull out our draft

homework on Tyson's or whatever.

So you know, I, I think that they are going to strategically plan to do something with

the quarterback position next year when it is supposed to be a quarterback rich class.

Right.

Whether that is they try to trade their way there, which is, I think it's going to be a

little difficult because a lot, you know, the ground part, the only thing looking for

one of these quarterbacks next year, or they fail their way there.

But the challenge for them is I kind of feel like organizationally, they're stuck in

purgatory.

Fans don't want to stomach another awful football season of losing 13 or 14 games.

They're convinced that they can win six, seven, eight games this year because they should

have won in their view that many last season.

And that also doesn't serve them any purpose because what does that get you that get you,

you know, like it's a draft pick in the teens with that kind of record, right?

So they're, they're in a very difficult spot right now.

This is not a complete gut tear down rebuild from the ground up.

And I got to be honest with you, there is kind of part of me.

It feels like they should be, they should be, or they should have gone that route.

They should have traded miles, Garrett last year.

They should have torn it down a little bit and just said, hey, we've got to hit the

reset button on all this.

They're kind of in Pittsburgh's dealer territory, except for the Steelers are better than they

are and the Steelers make playoffs every year, albeit they lose on wild card weekend, but

at least they make the playoffs, the Browns, like they don't make the playoffs.

And they're, so they're caught in between right now and, you know, they're caught in between

that quarterback situation.

They're going to look at the Sean Watson.

They're going to see what she or Sanders can do.

They're going to add a fourth body.

Don't know what that's going to look like.

Is it a journey to free agent?

Is it an entrepreneur free agent?

Do they draft someone middle-late rounds to take a flyer on as a developmental project?

Remains to be seen, right?

But I really feel like the Browns are just in this territory right now where they're caught

in between not wanting to bottom out while believing that they can win six to eight games.

And they're good enough to do that.

Maybe nine, maybe be on the fringe of the playoff picture, but they're still not good enough

to do anything substantive after that.

And they're never going to be until they get the quarterback.

And because they're in this purgatory, it's going to make it very hard for them to get

that quarterback next year because, unless you're counting on your scouting to do like what

Kansas City did with Patrick Mahomes, who was drafted 12th overall, like, you know,

the bills did with Josh Allen.

Like, you know, it's hard to have confidence they're going to be able to do that, Penny.

But I just feel like that's where they're all right now.

They're like in no man's land as an organization.

You hit it right on the head.

And so they can commit on a franchise quarterback, or at least a starter that they can commit

to moving forward.

You're never going to be the Chicago Bears two years ago, worst of first in your division.

You're never going to be the New England Patriots, worst of first as well.

Are you hearing about this Monroe Freeling that we had never heard of?

All of a sudden, this might be the best tackle in the draft of the Browns looking at this

guy from Georgia?

Yeah, they are.

And look, he's a natural left tackle, which is important.

I completely disagree with Andrew Berry that tackles or interchange.

We've seen it not work here for a couple of years.

Okay.

I don't like taking a right tackle and having them play left tackle.

I think it's easier for a left tackle to go play right tackle.

You typically want your best pass blocking tackle to be on the left side.

Your best run blocker is usually on the right side.

And the reason I don't believe in that because the footwork's different.

The techniques are different.

But Andrew Berry believes that if you can play right tackle, you can play left tackle.

And so, but Freeling, he's a left tackle.

And I think because he's a pure left tackle, that's why he is on everyone's radar because

he's one of the few.

Most of the quality tackles in this draft, they're right tackles.

And if they go with one of those guys, you're talking about having a convertum and making

him a left tackle.

Now, George Warholp is a really good offensive line coach.

And if Bill Callahan were still with the Browns.

I might at least be open to that thought, but, but, but, uh, um, follow in the generic

rules experience.

I'm good.

Right.

Right.

And, and, and watching how this line is functioning last couple of years and just how

difficult it's been, I, I'm not really all that interested.

So you're going to hear a lot about Monroe Freeling over the next, uh, six, seven weeks

leading up to the draft, because I do think that he could step in day one, play, and

hopefully he can play at a high level.

So I, I would not object if he is the first player of the Browns take off the board in

April.

Darryl, great stuff as always.

Thanks for joining us on short notice.

Keep up the fantastic work at 92, 3, the fan, the Browns Radio Network, follow Darryl

on Instagram and on Twitter, find him at writer, wrong fan.

Uh, thanks so much.

We'll talk to you again soon.

All right, pal?

You bet, guys.

Have a good one.

Thanks.