Did Day 4 of Cleveland Browns camp push Shedeur Sanders past Dillon Gabriel in the QB pecking order?

Did Day 4 of Cleveland Browns camp push Shedeur Sanders past Dillon Gabriel in the QB pecking order?

Good afternoon, man. Y’all know the vibes. If you woke up this morning, then damn it, you already won. I hope you have done something already that your future self will thank you for. I’m your boy Earl of Pearl. That there is Cecil Schwarz. And this is another episode of the Ultimate 216 show, man. Whether you are watching on StreamYard or watching on YouTube, make sure you smash that like button, man. Subscribe to the Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show if you have not done that already. And make sure you check out the UCSS newsletter that drops tomorrow morning. Yours truly put an article together. Good morning, bro. How are you? You looking like your dad with that hat on, man. You know what? This is something my grandfather used to wear when I was younger and I guess it just stuck with me. But I got I ain’t shaved my head today and we went to church so I had to put something on to look halfway decent. That’s it was excellent, man. It was excellent. Yeah, it was the third of September looking head ass. Oh, I definitely feel like Temptation 19. You look like you straight up out of town today, man. I’ll be in my front yard playing. I just I just just cut my grass, man. Hey, we used to play Dino Man in a in in the hood of the front yard in my next door neighbor, man. He hated when the ball would go in his grass. We’d be all in his yard. But you know, you had to do that. Hey man, make sure y’all drop where y’all watching from in the comments, man. Let us know how y’all feel. Hey, see reach third of September looking head ass. That’s a classic though. That’s a classic. Hey man. Hey. Shout out to everybody that always interact in the chat. Listen man, we got a fun show on the slate for y’all. End of the show. Uh we gonna do another top five in the land. We gonna talk about our favorite Cleveland Browns players from 1999 when they returned to 2006. And we chose that time frame because that’s when me and Cece graduated from Colinwood High School. Shout out to the wood. Uh, in about 8 minutes, we got Spencer German from the Locked On Browns podcast. He’ll be joining us to assess what he saw over the first four days of Cleveland Browns training camp. The Browns are off today. They are back at it tomorrow. Uh, another practice is on Tuesday. I believe those practices are around 4 or 4:30. I got to fact check that. But yeah, they’re off today. And uh we start off man with our own assessment uh from what we seen, what we watched, what we listened to, etc. Man, again, shout out to he said, “I’m watching from Earth.” That make a whole lot of sense right there. So, I would I would assume so. Hey, hold on. One more comment. This one right here seems to look like he was high-fiving Jesus. Yo, man. Look like he own a juke joint. Hey. Hey, I would love to own a juke joint. That’s fire. Hey, man. Shout out to Ian who’s watching from Boston, man. Yo, shout out to all of y’all, man. Y’all be showing the Ultimate 216 show a lot of love. So, Cleveland Browns training cap, man. Four days are in the books, bro. Uh, I was out there for the very first practice. Was not out there the previous three days. had some personal engagements that I had to tend to, but I could just tell you what I saw day one. Uh had an extended conversation with G. Bush about an hour ago who was out there the last two days. Shout out to G Bush by the way, man, who be putting on for the city. Uh he was out there and again, Spencer is going to join us with with what he saw. So get out there Wednesday, uh see the guys out there was first thing that was very noticeable to me was of course with Quinn Sean Juckkins going through his legal issues. Jerome Ford is was slated in as the starter. Uh to my knowledge, Jerome Ford still has not practiced at all uh during camp. So that was the first thing I noticed that 34 was not out there. As far as the quarterback pecking order, day one of training camp, what I saw was like a lot of Kenny Picket first, Flaco second, Gabriel third, Shador Sanders fourth. Uh it was a lot of split field work. You had the veteran quarterbacks working on the far field that was uh far the furthest field from me. And then you had the rookies that was working on the closest field to me. They took turns, you know, with the 707 uh reps and things like that. When they got to 111 reps, which is to me the more most important phase of any practice to see how you doing that full team period, it was Kenny Pick at first, then it was Dylan Gabriel and then Shador Sanders took the final few reps. Joe Flacco took none at all. Of course, by now they didn’t had three more practices. you kind of heard how everything went down. One thing I do want to point out that I noticed on Wednesday when I seen it, I didn’t want to I didn’t know how to go about it because I try not to like be dramafilled or or or or do anything that’s going to kind of trigger people like that. And I don’t know the criteria of how a training camp practice is structured from a coaching standpoint as far as the meeting indoors before the players even get out there, but you’ve been in these situations and you’ve actually played wide receiver. So, this is a good question for you. when they were going through the individual drills part of practice, the pecking it, it had four quarterbacks and they were throwing to a wide receiver and it went Kenny Picket, Joe Flacco, Dylan Gabriel, then Shador Sanders and the first three quarterbacks threw to a wide receiver and when Shador stepped up it was a training equipment guy who kind of ran a route, caught the ball from Shadore and when I saw that I just kind of thought it was odd. I didn’t really want to make too much of it. Just kind of thought that, well, damn, that’s odd. That’s a little off because it’s training camp. It’s about 11 wide receivers in camp. So, why wasn’t it a fourth wide receiver? And then I tried to be like, okay, well, maybe like, you know, somebody just kind of dropped the ball. But like, damn, like this NFL team. That’s one hell of a drop of the ball, so to speak. So, it stood out to me. Really didn’t want to kind of like fluster anything. I just kind of let it go. that news ended up getting out there. Anyway, I guess my question to you is that unusual? Have you seen something like that before? I guess I have seen stuff like that before, but I guess like I feel like sometimes there’s more context to it. Um like was it pre-practice? Was it during practice? This was this was pre like 707 pre 11 on 111 work. This was individual teams going on. No, this was just individual quarterbacks stepping up, throwing to wide receivers. And when it came to the fourth wide receiver, fourth quarterback, it was him throwing to an equipment guy. Well, why was there only three guys over there? I don’t know. So, um, it’s interesting, Earl. That That’s interesting. I don’t know. Um, I don’t really have an answer for you cuz I got a lot of questions, but outside you’re on the outside watching, it’s hard like hard to see everything that’s going on. Like I it’s not something that you I’ll put it this way. Normally when a quarterback throws, receivers are catching. There are times where uh a equipment manager or somebody will step in and catch for the quarterbacks, but normally he’s catching for all of the quarterbacks, right? He’s always catching for the guys. is not necessarily, you know, receivers for three and then equipment guy for one. So, I don’t know why that was the case. It’s something to pay attention to to see if that happens again. Um, but that’s that’s just interesting. That’s interesting. I I don’t want to read too much into it, but at the same time, I’m I’mma say this. From what I’ve been reading, um, from what I’ve been watching, from what I’ve been listening to guys on UCSS and everywhere else in Cleveland, it doesn’t seem like it’s too much of a competition like a across the board. It seems like it’s, you know, they’re going to choose between pretty much Kenny Picket and Dylan Gabriel, right? Or um, Kenny Picket and and Joe Flacco, but you mentioned Joe Flacco is not getting a ton of reps. Um, so it’s it’s it’s interesting to see cuz normally in a camp your top guy gets the reps and then you have your second team and your third team guy and then whoever’s third and fourth, they’ll kind of rotate with the guys, right? They kind of rotate with the third team or they’ll go and make sure they get reps with the scout team. Um, so it’s interesting to see how this kind of is developing. Um, I do know talking to you and a few others that Shador had a really good day yesterday. He kind of stood out. Um, but I would say this, it’s still early in camp. It’s still only what, four days? Is that right, Errol? Yeah, four days. So, it’s still only four days in camp. So, a lot can change within the next couple weeks. Um, a lot can happen throughout preseason games and stuff like that as as things get closer, but it’s just something to keep an eye on. I don’t think it’s a competition right now. I think it’s it’s cut and dry that they do not see Shadore in the plans to play a lot this season early on. I I just I just see it that way. Now, things can change right in a couple weeks, but from what I’ve been reading and from what I’m hearing on UCS and other and others, it just seems like it’s not really a competition in that quarterback room. That and that to me is very, very interesting. And to be honest, have you ever heard of a four quarterback competition? No. So, that’s what I was going to get to next, man. and Spencer will be joining us here in mere moments. So again, the last thing, couple things, other things I want to point out that my eyes saw, uh, surprisingly when I was out there Wednesday, Kenny pick it through the ball. Well, I say this too about Kenny. That boy smart. You know, it’s bread butter. You find number three early and often and you don’t think twice about it. So, uh, something else I saw, uh, Dylan got a good arm, but Dylan, uh, he can’t see and a lot of his completions was like five yard dinking dunks closer to the line of scrimmage, but when it came down to something else, that boy was breaking from that pocket quickly to try to, you know, see what was going on. He did hit a a touchdown on a blown coverage. Joe Flacco is getting limited reps, and even that is odd. We talk a lot about Shaduran getting limited reps and we’ll get to that more to that with Spencer. But I think it’s odd too because with Joe it’s like okay is he not because you presume him to be the starter but even if you presume him to be the starter he’s 40 years old. He might know the the offense from a savvy veteran standpoint. But what about a time and a chemistry standpoint? Isn’t this when it’s go time quote unquote for real? And again it’s early in practice. First four practices pass haven’t even came on yet. for a lot can change. But it’s our job to assess what we see as of right now. I think you really can’t keep this up. I don’t think you can keep up a fourman quarterback competition, quote unquote, if it’s even a competition in training camp. I thought this is the portion where you’re really starting to get yourself kneede ready for the football season. This is where the ones is running with the ones, twos running with the twos, so on and so forth. and it just seems like it’s too much going on for to get it for them to even get a true evaluation. Uh G. Bush did have some insight on what took place, you know, during training camp yesterday that when Shadorf Sanders finally got his opportunities to get in there ahead of Dylan Gabriel that, you know, he had about three reps, three or four reps that in the 11 on 111 drills and then he went over to another field by himself and started working in red zone situations in 1111s I think with the third team where everybody else was on a far field. G said what stood out to him was this. Andrew Barry and Kevin Stfansky alike both went over there and started watching Shadore intently. Really intently. G said next thing you know a lot of people start gravitating towards that field where Shador was at. So you know I think we ask Spencer and that’s my guy so I can put him on the spot like I put you on the spot. I know you back there laughing. We gonna ask Spencer man. Do we feel like you know Shador possibly jump Dylan Gabriel after day four of of Cleveland Browns training camp? Because again, this is where we get in here and we try to assess what’s going on. But before we bring Spencer in, you know, it’s a good time to let you know that this portion of the show is brought to you by FanDuel. Summer sports are in full swing. And whether you’re all about baseball under the lights, golf on the green, or high stakes soccer action, FanDuel is the best way to make every game even more exciting. You’re always following the action. Why not make it a little bit more thrilling with FanDuel? You can get in on a game while your fans are getting sunburned at the beach. I’ve been using FanDuel to track my favorite matchups. The app keeps it fresh with new and fun ways to bet. If you’re new to FanDuel, new customers can bet just $5 and get $150 in bonus bets if your first bet wins. Open the FanDuel app today or visit fanduel.coms. And with that, man, we bring on my guy Spencer German, man. Host of the Locked On Browns podcast to talk about some Cleveland Browns football. Talk about what he seen at training camp and things like that. Y’all see the boy bio, host of the Lock on Browns podcast, reporter for Cleveland Browns on that side, co-host of the Saturday morning wakeup show, 923 the fan with yours truly, Earl Le Pearl. There he is. What’s up, brother? How you feel? I’m good, Earl. It was weird not seeing you yesterday, man. But uh we we just changed it up this weekend. We’re doing it on a Sunday instead. So it’s all good. Yeah, we doing it good, man. I got two of my guys in here, man. So me and Cece was kind of talking about, you know, the things that, you know, I saw Wednesday, the things that I’ve kind of read, that I’ve watched. Take us through just the first four days, yesterday in particular. How you how are you assessing this quote unquote fourman quarterback competition? G. Bush says it’s not a competition at all. How do you see it? Yeah, I think in some ways it’s, you know, some things have stayed the same like that we’ve already known and some things have changed slightly. I think particularly yesterday we saw that um when they broke off into doing they sort I’ve been calling it like a modified seven on seven where they put offensive lineman and defensive they put offensive linemen out there and then the reserve offensive linemen are sort of like playing defensive linemen but they’re not really doing anything. So there’s not really any blocking going on. So, it ultimately is just kind of like there’s people in front of you and guys are running routes against your linebackers and your your your secondary guys. Um, and when they split the field for that drill specifically, you had Flaco, Picket, and Gabriel all on one field and Shador was off on the field sort of by himself running with the with a mix of twos and threes, I would say, over on that field. And so I think that was kind of revealing even further that I I was listening before I came in like what you’re talking about. You know, you’re trying to get ready for a season. And so I do think when they get back on the practice field tomorrow on Monday, you’re going to see them really tighten up those reps and, you know, divvy them out in a different way because they can’t keep running those guys out there together and and splitting the field and all that for forever. like as much as you want to see these guys develop and and get better and see what you have, you do have to start sort of making a decision or getting closer to a decision on who your starting quarterback’s going to be. Um, but yeah, I mean like the rep share itself these first four days has been relatively even. I think I saw like Gabriel did the most like seven on seven and 11 on 111. He took the most snaps in those sessions combined throughout the first four days. I think Picket was second. I think Flaco might have actually been last. But Flacco, I think also is kind of I I think I’ve described it with you or as like a first round buy type situation. Like they they know what to expect in Flacco. I think these first four days was kind of like getting your feet back underneath you, letting guys just kind of get back in the and when the pads come on on Monday, that’s where things ramp up a little bit more. So, we’ll see what the rep share looks like, but I’m anticipating they they tighten that up a little bit. They change it up a little bit and and you’re seeing them start to pivot towards Okay, now we have to figure out who our starting quarterback is. Well, let me ask you this. If you think they’re going to tighten it up, if you think they’re going to um it sounds like focus in on who can be the day one starter, what does that look like to you? Because as you both know, in a normal training camp, you’re not using two fields for the offense because you have so many quarterbacks fighting for one spot, right? So, Flaco not getting reps speaks loudly. Like, is he just there to be a coach, right? Is he just there? Somebody something goes wrong, we put Flaco in. Shadur not getting tons of reps. That speaks loudly. So it sounds like it’s just between Picket and Gabriel. So in your opinion, Monday comes, pads come on, helmet, boom. What’s the quarterback rotation look like to you? Yeah, I’m guess they probably start with Pickicket and then I’m going to guess it goes Flaco and then I’m going to guess it goes Gabriel. And and I I it’s it’s it’s interesting you bring that up, Cecilo. the idea of, you know, there’s kind of two ways to look at the Flacco thing, right? Like I I view it from they haven’t really done a lot with him yet because he’s the guy that’s been in this offense before. He’s the guy that knows it. He’s a 17-year veteran. There’s not a lot there’s not like a big learning curve for him, right? Like he kind of you know what to expect with Flaco and he knows how to handle the the like a training camp and kind of what he’s doing in this offense. Um, but the the opposite side of that is like what you said, like are they just not giving him the rest because they’re like, “H, we want to see these guys more and we’d rather one of these guys win the job and Flacco is kind of like our our backup plan.” Um, and honestly like it’s the other part of this too is like if they get to the end of training camp and they’ve prioritized Picket and and Gabriel maybe more with the especially with the first team maybe their argument for not keeping Flaco is well we just you know we didn’t util so we feel more comfortable with these guys and in that sense you know you go back to the idea that they started this entire thing by saying it’s a fourman competition that would certainly speak to it wasn’t really a competition at all and they kind of stacked the deck a certain way for the guys that they really wanted. So, it’ll be interesting to see how that plays out. Um, but I do I I I think I kind of go into this week when the pads come on with it being like Picket and Flacco are 1A and 1B and then Gabriel’s kind of that next guy up and then Shadore is obviously the last guy. Um, and I’ve I’ve sort of heard and through conversations we’ve had with coach Stfansky, you know, it’s it they are really really really being patient with Shadore. I think that’s the important thing for people to understand because I know there’s a lot of people who think it’s unfair that he hasn’t taken first team reps yet. I get that. I I thought after what he did in the spring, he probably deserved some first team reps, but we just haven’t seen him do it yet. It’s pretty clear they’re indicating to everybody that they think he needs time and they’re going to give him that time to sort of develop. Um, so I think when the pads come on though, they have the the pecking order and then we’ll see how the chips kind of fall over the course of this next week and and who maybe starts to rise up or or sink a little bit and that’ll lead us into that first week of the preseason obviously to follow. Yeah, I thought he answered that question by the way like a pro. You know, I don’t really I’ll just say this. I wouldn’t ask that question. You are you talking about Shadore? Yeah, I thought I wouldn’t have asked him that question personally and I thought that, you know, if he answered that question anyway outside of how he did, you know, it could have been it could have went left really really quick. And so that’s why that’s why he asked it to to get that to get that reaction. I’m not gonna say, but to get that reaction, the fact that that he went about it that way, you know, I can respect that. You know, I I I’ll move on to this point because Andrew Barry kind of spoke very candidly in my opinion about, you know, Shador Sanders and and the speeding ticket and things like that and just his whole demeanor in that particular press conference. How did you assess that? Yeah, listen, I I I on one hand I’m like, what do you expect the GM to say? like you know he he was trying to sort of put his foot down on that they took this seriously. But on the other hand, what I thought was interesting and someone kind of I was talking about this with somebody the other day when Miles Garrett got in in his accident which I mean that we all saw the the pictures of that like he could have honestly killed like he could have died. He could have killed himself in that accident that he had a couple years ago. Um there was like Andrew Barry said nothing that like as as assertively about like they just kind of said like we’re glad everybody’s okay that type of thing. I don’t remember him and I think I went back and looked at the quote and I don’t remember it being anything where it was like yeah really stupid like like he didn’t put his foot down I think as severely and so I thought that was kind of interesting but I also do think Andrew Barry is in a place right now where he’s a little extra defensive because he’s dealing with the Quinn Sean Judkin stuff sort of behind the scenes as well and so I think everything that’s kind of come up whether it’s a minor legal thing a thing I think he kind of feels like he has to go into into defense mode a little bit I I don’t know like his his and this kind of lumps into the Quinn Sean part of this as well, but I I I just think it’s hard for people to really I don’t even know if the word sympathize, but like feel like Andrew Barry’s being genuine when he talks about some of these things like he he mentioned like being, you know, losing sleep at night over the the the Quinn Sean thing. And I think it’s just hard for people to wrap their heads around that when this is the organization that first of all, you know, traded for Deshawn, gave him the contract, like almost rewarded him after everything he was caught up in. And then there’s been other instances where they brought in guys who did have red flags. Not saying Quinn Sean did, but that other guys they brought in with red flags and they’ve tried to sort of turn them around. And like if you keep doing that repeatedly, I just don’t know that people really believe you’re really like that heartbroken or it’s really bothering you as much as he says it does. So, I thought his comments were interesting. I’ve said it a number of times, I don’t think the the speeding tickets, you know, is it is a stupid thing to do? Of course. I think many of us have probably sped maybe not as fast as Shadore, maybe faster than Shadore, maybe got gotten caught, maybe not gotten caught. It doesn’t My my biggest point has always been it doesn’t have to define him. Um, you know, and I I think he had the right response. He he sort of joked about like, you know, I’m not I I learned not to go so fast. I don’t really drive anywhere anymore. Which is honestly I think a lot of athletes, a lot of professional athletes or just famous people in general can learn from that because there’s a lot of famous athletes who hey, you’re out one night, you’re drinking a little bit, just call an Uber. Just call an Uber. Don’t drive anywhere. You’re better off. So, uh, I thought it was I thought he handled that situation the right way as well. Let me ask you this. You We all know the Junkin situation. When you look at Jerome Ford being out, how did Dylan Samson look? And I get it. There’s no pads, you know what I mean? For me, it’s hard to judge linemen and running backs without pads being on and be able to, you know, get hit, break tackles, see the holes. But how’s Dylan been looking? Yeah, it’s that last point’s so sound cuz there’s these plays where you see a guy like break a big run, but you’re like, well, could he have been tackled back there? You don’t really know. You kind You kind of just have to like use your best judgment on these first couple days. So that’s why I’m really interested to see like once the pads come on what that running back group really looks like because there was a few times where Dylan, you know, broke through and had a couple nice runs, but it was hard sometimes to see like in the the craziness up on the in the trenches like if he had gotten grabbed, if he would have been tackled by somebody. Um, but I do think like these first these first few days, you’ve seen a guy who looks really athletic, looks like he can move around a little bit and he’s very spry, make some nice plays with his with whether it’s, you know, in the passing game or as a a runner. Um, and I’m excited to see more. What’s what’s interesting, too, with with the Quinn Sean stuff going on, we don’t know the timeline of when he’s going to be here. Jerome Ford has been dealing with a minor injury, so he hasn’t practiced these first four days. So, it has been a lot of Dylan Samson, has been a lot of Pierre Strong, and once these pads come on, I’m I’m really fascinated to see who kind of rises to the top in that group. Maybe does take on a heavier workload now because Quinn Sean’s not there. And maybe if Jerome Ford misses another day because he’s not there. That that is still one of the big mysteries with this team right now is like, okay, what’s that running back situation going to look like? We would assume Jerome Ford’s going to have a heavy hand in it, but until we see him out on the field, there’s always kind of that back in your mind thought like, okay, what’s going on there? So, but yeah, I think Sam Samson’s looked really good and I think that’s only going to continue once he gets the pads on and they start doing a little bit more with him in this offense. Talk to me about every single Cleveland Browns wide receiver not named Jerry Judy. Uh what have you seen from them over the first three days or the first four practices or whatnot and how you assess that situation or what should Andrew Barry do if if you think he should do anything at all? Yeah, I’ll start with um I’ll start with Cedric Tilman. Uh I you know I think Cedric he looks the part of like that stalky receiver that can make plays downfield. Um but I we didn’t we didn’t hear his name called these first couple days. He made a couple plays. Um, and I think he’s still kind of getting on the same page with guys. He did have after day three sort of a small incident where he went up, tried to catch a pass in the back of the end zone and took a harder spill and then was attended to by trainers, left the field, but then he was back out of practice on Saturday. So, it was nothing major. We think it was maybe like a cramping situation on his in his left leg. Um, but listen, I I know for a fact the Browns are extremely excited about him. They think he’s ready to take that next step. So, we’ll see what that looks like. I think Jamari Thrash continues to just be sort of like steady in this and and that’s another guy who they’re banking on taking another step after his rookie year last year. I I think he’s gotten better at catching the ball. I think he understands the playbook a little bit more. He’s gotten a little more crisp in his route running. So, they feel like he might be ready for a higher workload. And what’s been maybe one of the most interesting developments in this room is that I kind of went into camp thinking, hey, Deontay Johnson might be your your second or third on this team. He’s been sort of further down the dep chart. There’s been a lot of DeAndre Carter, who they brought in as a return specialist, running with the ones, running out of the slot. He caught a touchdown from Dylan Gabriel in in some of these red zone 11on1 drills on on Saturday. Um, so you’ve seen a lot of him getting worked in. And Deonte, I mentioned sort of the split field. He was actually over on Shador’s field, which like I said was kind of a mix of twos and threes. And so I thought that was kind of interesting. And we honestly until yesterday when he caught a touchdown from Shadore, we hadn’t called Deontay Johnson’s name too much anyway. So yeah, I I think there’s some interesting developments here. I’m really excited about uh Luke Floria. I don’t know if he’s going to make this team. He kind of strikes me more as a guy that they try to like cut and then practice squad. Um, but man, like he is certainly going to make it a tough decision if he keeps doing what he’s doing because he’s had a really really solid start to camp. He seems to have some really good chemistry with Dylan Gabriel. He had he had a couple plays he caught from from Dylan Sam or sorry, not from Dylan Samson, from um from Kenny Picket. I I mixed up my Dillons for a second. Um, and then he has that I I know you showed the clip, but he had a nice touchdown catch from from Shidor the other day as well. So yeah, I I I think he’s showing he’s flashing some things. And if there’s a room where somebody like that or one of these undrafted rookies or something can make the roster, it’s probably the wide receiver room. There’s just so much inexperience there. And you know, I it’ll be interesting to see how that kind of shakes out and how they kind of handle that and if they feel like they maybe need to add somebody later on in training camp or or before the season starts. All right, I’ll get you out of here on this one. Um, you know, Gan kind of alluded to to him it stood out how Kevin Stfansky and Andrew Barry kind of went over there and paid attention to to Shadur. I know you said that you feel like the peck and order is still the same. Do you believe at any point Shador Sanders will jump Dylan Gabriel in the pecking order during training camp? It’s hard to see right now. I think I’ll tell you this Earl. I think the thing that would maybe allow that to happen would be if he goes out. We we always know there’s preseason darlings, right? There’s people who ball out in the preseason. And listen, to be fair, like the Browns, they they use the preseason, especially for guys like on the roster bubble who are trying to earn a roster spot, but they really want those joint those joint practices are kind of like the the real bread and butter of what they use for evaluating guys once they get those situations. So, we know there’s one coming up, not this week, but the following week with the Panthers. they got one two weeks or a week after that against the Eagles. Um, and those will sort of be your sessions where I think you really see how this quarterback competition shaking out anyway. But if Shadore looks really good in the preseason and like forces the issue and forces their hand, if Shadore gets some reps in those joint practices, maybe even with the twos and he looks like he’s he’s starting to pick things up even more and they feel like he’s had another he’s he’s taken that next step, that’s the thing that I think then earns him some more reps with the ones and then or his first reps with the ones and then allows him to to maybe supplant Dylan Gabriel. But right now, I think the way that they’ve structured this thing, they are really trying to slow play it with him and just let him develop. So, I do think it’s an uphill climb just based on how the Browns are handling this thing for him to to do something like that because they love Dylan and I think they’ve made that pretty clear. Spence, the first two picks of the Browns draft, if I’m not mistaken, were DTackle and linebacker. Yeah. um on the defensive side of the football and we get so caught up in the offensive side, right? Because it’s a huge storyline and I want to know everything about Shador and everything about everybody else, right? But so far, how’s Mason and Carson looked? Are they with the ones? Are they getting a lot of reps? Um I want to hear just your thoughts on there. And again, those are two positions once the pads come on, we’ll know more, right? But also want to hear about Harold Fannon Jr. Like I haven’t heard his name too much. Is he out there? How does he looking? So I’ll I’ll kind of work in rever reverse order here. I’ll start with Harold Fannon. He actually had I think one of his best days on Saturday where you heard his name call a little bit a couple passes from Kenny Picket was more involved in the offense. I think there was one play I he Yeah, there was a play I forget who the quarterback was. It might have been Flacco, but he threw a ball up sort of down the sideline into the end zone and Fannon had just kind of cleared his D his his uh the guy in coverage and he tried to make a really cool one-handed catch and he just couldn’t bring it in. So, I think I think Fannon’s starting to get a little bit more usage. Again, I’m excited to see how when the pads come on, where he’s kind of moved around, where they have him, what they have him doing, how does he how does he handle, you know, when the real bullets are flying and you got guys ready to hit you. Um, so I’m excited to see more from him. Uh, Mason has been with the ones from start to finish through camp. I think obviously when you’re the number five overall pick, they’re expecting to be a plug-andplay guy. What’s so funny about Mason though is and and you mentioned like not hearing his name call much. Part of that is of course pads aren’t on. you’re not tackling anybody, you know, but he also he talked to us this week and somebody asked him the question basically like you don’t really move like a a number five overall pick like in the way you handle yourself like you just kind of show up and work and and he was like yeah it’s just kind of the way I am like he’s not flashy. There’s other like if like for example if Travis Hunter had been the guy they took right like at number two you know Travis Hunter like he shows up he’s got this big personality he’s so it’s it’s just kind of funny that uh he’s he’s a little bit more reserved and he just kind of keeps to himself he’s just trying to work and you can tell out there that he’s you know just trying to kind of be about football and and get acclimated and and have an impact on that defensive line and I think we’ll start to see some more of that with the pads on as well. Uh, and then the most interesting one of those three that you bring up is I think Carson Swessinger at this point because the Jordan Hicks retirement piece of this is is that changes the math on some things. And um, you know, I think a guy that was going to be looked at as probably topline guy like was probably going to start for you anyway. Now he takes on even more responsibility on his helmet the last couple days. So he’s been calling the defense, calling a lot of the plays. Um, it’s going to be a lot for a rookie to handle and there will be some growing pains there, I’m sure. But I actually think in some respects like it’s a good thing in the sense of you took this guy first pick of the second round and there’s there’s going to be no like hiding, right? Like he’s going to have to learn things quickly. You’re going to find out pretty quick if this guy can cut it at the NFL level, if he can’t cut it at the at the NFL level. And for a team that’s in sort of this transitional phase, right? They’re trying to win while rebuilt a little bit. I think that’s actually a good place to be with a guy that you took that early is like, hey, let’s just find out. Let’s find out right now. Rip off the band-aid and we’ll see if he is going to be able to be a a consistent and and you know, core player for us moving forward. So, I’m I’m really excited to see how much more he’s involved and and how much more he’s ready to bring. And we’ll see what that linebacker kind of that linebacker group kind of looks like around him. But they threw wrench in their plans. But I think it can almost be a positive thing if if especially if he thrives in it. Spence, bro. We appreciate your time this afternoon, man. Go enjoy the rest of your Sunday with your family, bro. Appreciate you guys. I I I’m always grateful to come on. You know that, man. Always. And I’m always grateful to chop it up with you, too. So, peace. All righty. That’s Spencer German, man, host of the Locked on Browns podcast. Uh, very insightful, man. Any thoughts before we move on? Yeah, the pad’s going to tell us a lot. Um, it’s interesting again, you can’t have a four, there’s no such thing as a fourman competition. Like, it’s not doable, right? So, it’s interesting to me. He said he thinks things will change uh when the pass come on tomorrow. So, I’m interested to see what’s that going to look like the reps. Is Flacco going to get more? Is Shador going to get more? He said that they were going to take their time with Shador. So, I’m interested. What do they feel like he has to still develop, right? What do they feel like he has to still catch up to? Is it the playbook? Is it the speed of the game? Whatever. Whatever it is. Um, they obviously feel like Dylan is more on top of things or more more pro ready than Shor is right now, which is very interesting to me. Which is very interesting to me. So, yeah, I’m gonna be honest with you before we move on. So, ju just me keeping it real. I I think like Dylick can spin it. I think he got a really really strong arm. But to me, I think it’s going to always be a struggle. He can’t see anything. And those Browns offensive linemen are huge. Those are big dudes. And Kevin wants you to operate under the center. He has to get used to, you know, pre- snap stuff like being in a huddle and getting out the break strong and getting to the line and understanding all that stuff is cool. And so I understand a lot of people want to talk about his processing, but processing is not going to make you go out there and be able to see over the offensive lineman. processing is not going to make you go out there and not airmail throws and things like that. Daryl Ryder said he had a horrible day yesterday. Like I believe in Dylan as far as a guy that can be a quality quarterback in the NFL, but I’m not buying it. I’m just I’m just not buying the the propaganda there that because he’s a good processor that he’s ahead of the game as far as him and Shadur. I just think that that’s Well, you evaluate quarterbacks and if that’s what you want to go off of, then why wasn’t he a first round pick? Why wasn’t he one of the first quarterbacks taken? If his processes and processing is that unique, it seems like it doesn’t make him overcome certain deficiencies that’s in his game. And that’s cool. That’s why you young. That’s why you sit back. That’s why you learn. I think the Cleveland Browns honestly like can’t sustain what they’re doing. I think it’s dysfunctional a little bit. And I think that you’re not giving us a clear-cut indication of who’s outperforming who, whether that be between Shadur and Dylan or between Kenny Picket and Joe Flacco. The fact that Joe Flacco is not getting many reps at all and people talking up too well. He knows the offense and things like that, I still call BS on that. You play wide receiver NFL timing and chemistry with the quarterback who’s going to be throwing you the ball on a consistent basis matters. the Cleveland Browns are in the part of the season to where these things matter and you can’t waste these reps. So, I think that they gonna have to evaluate things as we get a long cap probably after the first preseason game and make some decisions, man, to kind of like get this thing tightened up. We used the word tightened up a lot. So, if they can get things tightened up, we’ll see how things is going. Shout out to y’all, man. We got over a thousand people watching us live. We’ve never had a thousand people watching the Ultimate 216 show live at once. Make sure you smash that like button again. Drop where you’re watching from in the comments. We about to get to our last segment of the show where me and Cecil give you our top five players from 1999 to to 2006. And also, if you got any more funny jokes about Cecil’s hat, drop those in the comments as well, man. Y’all been uh y’all been showing out in those comments, man. Don’t forget, subscribe to the Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show. Uh uh sub make sure you stay tuned in to all of the spin-off shows. This show, the Ultimate Guardians, the Ultimate Cast, the Ultimate Browns with G Bush. So, let’s get into it. Man, we debuted this um couple weeks ago, Top Five in the Land. I don’t know if that name gonna stick. I ain’t gonna lie to you. I don’t like it. I don’t like the name. So, we gonna have to figure that out. But, we’re going to do our top five Browns players from 1999 to 2006. 99 being the year that they returned and 2006 being the year that we left Hollywood. And I felt like this time frame made sense because man, we teenagers turning into young adults, young men or whatever the case may be. And this is when we had the most time to really pay attention. Well, me at least, you this is this this was a this became a everyday thing. So, let’s get to yours first, man. I want to talk I want to see your list first. We’re not Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. This is top five favorite Browns players. Top five favorite Browns players. Let’s be clear. Not the best. Hey, see here you go. You already know about to tear your ass up when you see this. Look, they already know. Look, hey, the chat about to tear your ass up when they see this list, man. Listen, listen, listen. It’s the people that that stuck out to me for whatever the reason. It’s different reasons, right? Number five. No, hold on, hold on. I’m I’mma pull a list up and then I’m gonna let you go through it. We got some super chats, too, that we got to uh read at the end of the show. Shout out to They They gonna hate me for my list. Oh, they gonna hate. All right, here they go see some list, y’all. They gonna hate me. All right, here you ready? I’m Yeah, go for it. Let’s do it. Oh man, Charlie Fry number five. God, y’all gonna be like, “Why Charlie Fry?” It’s a story behind it though. Around that time, right? Um Charlie Fry was he’s from he’s an Ohio guy first of all right from like Willow or somewhere like that in Ohio. He played ball at Akran third round draft pick from Akran. Around this time I was being recruited by Akran. So we were like always going to Akan camps akan 707s. So all I would hear from the Akan coaches about Charlie Fry, Charlie Fry, Charlie Fry, Charlie Fry. So I became a fan of his. Like that’s just kind of what happened. So, I started following his career, rooting for him for the Browns, just paying attention to who Charlie Fry was. So, for me, when I hear Charlie Fry, I always perk up like, “Oh, I’m cool.” Not that I’m cool with him, but I was just following him and it was something to me. So, he was one of my favorite guys. Didn’t start a long time, right? Played two two years with the Browns, maybe three, and then kind of bounced around some other places, but Charlie Fry is my number five. Number four, Kell Winslow. Woo! That boy was a dog. One of my favorite guys in this time period. Um, really was able to see him develop. His first year didn’t do much. Year two and three, he took off. I think his in 2007 he was a pro bowler over a thousand yards. But he was special to see. He was fun to watch. Fun to watch play. And I loved his passion. His passion for the game was was un unprecedented with anybody else. Like he was a special special talent. Um, so yeah, Kell Winsow’s on my list. Number three, Corey Fuller. He was to me to me Corey Fuller was like the lockdown guy we had. We had him a cussion for a few two three two three years. And when you hear Corey Fuller, former Florida State guy, I’m like, “Okay, it was fun watching him kind of just come into his own.” I think he was drafted Minnesota then came over later in the free agency. But Cory Fosting guys um two and one. I know. I know. Earl hate my number two. I know Errol hate my number two. I love Dennis Northcut. I just I literally love Dennis Northcut. Smaller guy, shifty, decent punt returner. Had a couple to the house and we shared the same birthday. That’s what we shared the same birthday. So I don’t care what happened. I don’t care what he did in no game. He couldn’t do no wrong to me. I always rooted for Dennis North. So he wore 86, you wore 84. Just to kind of like mirror it. That’s what it was. No, Jackson, let me pick my numbers. I had no joy. I had no joy. But it was just, man, I just rock with him. He was just, he just seemed like a cool dude. And then Brilen Edwards, I I even though he went to the school up north, which will remain uh unnamed out of respect for Dustin Fox. Um, and uh and uh Oh, man. Who else is our house state alone? Uh, Tyus. Wow. Ty. I’m tripping. Ty. My bad, pal. My bad, pal. Tyus brain fart real quick. But um he was he was special in the land. He was somebody that did tons in the community. Um he was somebody that him and Winslow played together. I believe he was a pro bowler in ‘ 07 or ‘ 08 somewhere in there. We had a um in 07 we made the playoffs in ‘ 07. That was with Derek Anderson, our quarterback, I believe. Um so even though 06 05 during that time it was later in the in our in our junior senior year high school 05 06 he kind of came along and uh he brought a spark to the city. He brought a spark to uh that receiver position which what was needed. I loved his aura, his confidence, his swagger out there. I was a huge fan of Brayley Edwards and again he was a lot of good things in the community as well his time here. So those are my top five favorite Browns players during that time period. Don’t judge me. It’s my list. I don’t care what y’all say. All right, man. Y’all let us know if y’all like Cecil’s listing. Then we gonna have y’all compare them, man. Once we done. So, one final time. This a C top five in the land. Favorite Browns players between 1999 and 2006. I think you lost your mind with some of it, but hey, I’mma let you cook. So, my list looks a little bit different from yours. Uh, you know, I kind of went back more towards that era when the Browns first kind of returned, that that Alarner ownership era. This is my list, man. I go through it. Number one for me is Josh Cribs, man. Excuse me for typo on that when we was rushing, but Josh Cribs is number one on that list for me. Phil Dawson number two. Why? Because Phil Dawson just always was the person that kept the Browns in games, man. It just always was that case. Daener, man, you you talked about Corey Filler. He was the other corner here that really uh did his thing. And I think he was here until like maybe 2005. He was here for a little minute. Jir Miller, man. Jir Miller, bro, was was a Pro Bowler in 2001. Was the only Browns Pro Bowler until uh I believe 2000, you know, of course, like he had that injury in the preseason game, the year after the Pro Bowl year to cut things short, but Jamir Miller was a beast. He was one of the more quality players that was on the Browns roster when we first returned. And then Kevin Johnson, second round pick by the Browns, man, that expansion year. Uh Kevin Johnson was a baller. You know, I know you mentioned uh Dennis Norcut. This cat, man, he actually caught the ball when it mattered. That’s all I’m saying. He actually caught the ball when it mattered and he had a big game in a playoff game against Pittsburgh that awesomely we came up short because your boy Dennis Northcut dropped the ball in a crucial situation. And that was the end of that, man. We gonna read some of these super chats. Drop a one in the chat if you like my list. Drop a two in the chat if you like Cecil list. And y’all let us know what y’all think. Shout out to y’all, man, who came in here to uh, you know, just support this show and especially who sent those super chats. Let’s start off with Kirk Davis. Kirk says, “I watch Quincy Carrier.” Shout out to Quincy. I think it’s I think it’s his name. That’s Quincy. And he made good points about the QB competition. Sanders still needs to to not hold on to the ball too long. DG has a quick release, but the pass might be an issue. I don’t know if my eyes was deceiving me. I kind of thought Shadura release was a little bit quicker than uh than Dylan Gabriel’s, but they both can spin it. They both got a pretty quick release. Listen, like I think when the pass come on, we’re going to learn a lot about the quarterbacks. We gonna learn a lot about this team. And I think that when we get to those joint practices in particular, right? You know, against those other teams. That’s when it’s going to get for real. Morning Coffee says, “So basically Dylan is Dan Orowski. He’s a processor.” Got it. beautifully blessed. Shout out, man. I just wanted to see you aunties, man. They be here for Shadore. They’re very supportive. I believe that she follows me on uh on Twitter, man. Very supportive. Shout out to you. I’m okay with Shador sitting back and learning, but this was always with this always with the threes BS ain’t it. I think like people who are big fans of Shador Sanders want to see Shadur Sanders get a fair opportunity to prove what he can do on the football field and be given a fair shot. I don’t think that they’re trying to crown Shadur as some guy has who has already done it. I think that they are smart enough football fans to know that you still got to get out there on the NFL level, adapt to the speed of the game and prove what you can do. And they have a lot of faith that he’ll be able to do it. They just want to see him get his opportunities. I know once this relationship first started because that’s what it is. His fan base integrated with the Cleveland Browns fan base. Me and a lot of them people got off to a rocky start. They was just coming in here, man. You know, trying to take a crap on the city and I’m from the 216, man. I wasn’t having that. So, but all is well, man. So, shout out to shout out to his fan base, man, who are who’s been very very supportive to me. Uh, any final thoughts before we get out of here? see that church at all. That’s where I came from. Um, Deacon Shorts, uh, I, uh, I would say be patient is my final thought when it comes to thinking about the Browns today. Um, the next few weeks will tell us a lot. The next few weeks will tell us a lot. I’m very interested, and I’ll say this, too. Um, normally when guys don’t get reps, they get cut. Like there’s no if and of buts, right? Normally when guys don’t get reps, whether you’re a veteran or a rookie, you get let go. Now, there is an opportunity where you get put on practice squad. But it’s so interesting to me that Flaco is not getting a lot of reps and then Shura is not getting a lot of reps in in the whatever case may be 111 77 compared to picking and Gabriel, right? So in my eyes, you don’t keep Flaco on a practice squad. Like you just don’t you release him and let him go. He’s not trying to be in no practice squad. 17th year. Either he’s starting or he’s number two or he’s gone. Like there’s no if, ends, or buts, right? With Shador is the possibility of him being on practice squad. So, it’s just interesting how we’re going to really figure out how this is going to go. So, just be patient everybody. Um, and then hopefully the cards will play out rise to the top. This comment right here, they roasted. That’s how you know they really from Cleveland. Yo. Hey, we talk in Cleveland, man. Like, like I promise you, like interactions between people who know each other in Cleveland, they’ll be these old pleasant, you know, good to see you, nice to see you. Like, boy, man, get your get your rich boy looking ass up out of here with them locks, man. Like, my friends think I got weave in my hair. They swear up and down my hair grew too fast, man. But haters gonna hate. Haters gonna hate. You just let people do them, man. You know, they mad because they can’t do it, bro. That’s all that is. One more super chat before we get out of here, man. Shout out to Santel. She said, “Earl, so if they’re trying to tank for 2026, how do they explain this to those veterans in the locker room? This is not about talent. This is about favoritism.” You can’t explain that. You cannot explain to a veteran, this is a guy that played in the NFL six or seven years. Veteran players ain’t trying to hear that Excuse my language, but that’s just the truth. NFL stands for not for long. Your time in the NFL is short. And correct me if I’m wrong, bro, but you trying to make as much money as you can and accomplish as much success as you can during that small window. So signing up for quote unquote tanking ain’t it. I know I seen in the comments earlier, somebody said the Browns are tanking for Arch Manning in 2026. I think that’s a pipe dream that a lot of people need to let go of and then we gonna actually close this show. I say that because this Arch Manning has two career stars in his collegiate career. Arch Manning has 95 career pass attempts. The one thing about the Manning camp, the Manning family, they believe in being prepared. They believe in preparation. They believe in putting in the work before you take that next step because they don’t want to make a a goofy, for lack of a better term of their last name. So, what does that mean? His grandfather, his father, his uncles, they are going to assess Arch Manning this season and they’re going to make a determination if they believe this dude has what it takes to come out after this season. But there’s a strong possibility that Arch Manning will go back to school for another year after this season to get another season under his belt before he enter the NFL draft. And I just don’t see him coming out that early. What Eli played five years in college, Peyton played four. I just don’t see two career starts, 95 pass attempts, and this season he comes out after this year. Unless he goes out there and he wins the Heisman Trophy or it’s a situation to where, you know, he falls into the perfect space, I just don’t see it. I think that in a year or so, we’re going to be talking about a very exciting 2027 NFL draft with Jeremiah Smith and Arch Manny head live in that. Yeah, I I can’t I couldn’t echo that even more. I I think it’s probably 95% chance he does not come out this year. Doesn’t need to. Like there’s no need for him. He’s part of the Manning family. Like he’s set for life, right? He doesn’t need to do anything but continue to be the best he can be. And they’re going to be very strategic. It’s like the daddy Arch was about where his kids go. They’re going to be very strategic about, okay, who’s number one? What we going to do? No, we’ll sit. He continues to develop. He’ll be fully prepared and then go about his business. So tanking is out of it. You need to be trying to win. Now what’s that look like? We’ll see. Facts, man. Go Browns, man. We love y’all. We thank y’all for tuning in. Y’all know the vibes, man. Be great. Spread love. Remember, being great come with a price. Spread love is priceless. We’ll see y’all Wednesday. Peace. Yo.

The Cleveland Browns are four days into training camp, and the quarterback competition just took an unexpected turn. Shedeur Sanders jumped ahead of Dillon Gabriel in team drills for the first time this offseason, responding with a standout Day 4 that included three red-zone touchdowns and improved timing with his receivers. Meanwhile, Gabriel had one of his toughest practices yet, struggling with accuracy and rhythm under pressure. Kenny Pickett remains the steady front-runner, while Joe Flacco continues to be the reliable veteran presence despite limited 11-on-11 reps.

We’re breaking it all down on Ultimate 216 with Cecil Shorts III and special guest Spencer German of Locked On Browns. Spencer joins us live from Berea to share inside observations on which quarterbacks are separating themselves, the significance of Shedeur’s Day 4 jump, and whether Gabriel’s struggles are a temporary blip or cause for concern. The battle for QB2—and potentially QB1—feels more intense than ever.

Beyond the QB headlines, we’ll dive into the other key camp storylines shaping the Browns’ 2025 season. With Quinshon Judkins sidelined, can rookie Dylan Sampson carve out a bigger role in the running game? How is the wide receiver room stacking up behind Jerry Jeudy, and is Cedric Tillman ready to take another step? Plus, we’ll discuss the early dominance of Mason Graham and the defensive front. We have everything you need to know from the first week of camp.