Mary Kay Cabot discusses Cleveland Browns’ QB competition, WHO’S STOOD OUT at OTAs, Myles Garrett

Mary Kay Cabot discusses Cleveland Browns’ QB competition, WHO’S STOOD OUT at OTAs, Myles Garrett

It is time to bring in our guest for today. She is Mary Kay Kavitt, Browns beat writer of Cleveland.com, Browns analyst for our very own WKYC, the 2025 Bill Nun Jr. Award winner, Mary K. Cavitt joins the ultimate 216 show. First and foremost, before we talk about anything football, congratulations to you. This is just such a prestige honor. I read up on this award. I believe you are the second person uh in Cleveland sports media history to win this award. The second woman to win this award. How does this make you feel? What’s your thoughts? How how happy are you right now? I’m very very happy about this. Over the past couple of days, I’ve really been thinking back over my entire career and just everything I’ve been through. uh including all the way back to covering Bill Bich and that whole regime back then when I covered Nick Sabin and Bill Bellichic and I remember times when Eric Manini, he was a public relations intern for a while and you know we used to say oh hey Eric do you have those CR transcripts done yet or um we need some more uh soda in the in the refrigerator here. Uh so there are so many funny memories, so many stories, so many ups and downs, so many emotions. Um, but I must say uh that the thing that I am most proud of throughout all of these years is the fact that at least I hope I have blazed a trail for women in the business. And I’ve seen so many great women enter this business over the last how many ever years and there were almost none obviously when I first started. And now it’s tremendous to see this not just in the media but inside the buildings of NFL teams. And I think that’s just fabulous. Yes, it is. Yes, it is. Yes, it is. So, let’s talk about the Cleveland quarterbacks. Uh, of course, you were there for the only day that was open to the media for OTAAS and we read a lot about how the reps were split up. Shador Sanders did not get any of the 11 on 111 reps. Do you think that is a part of the plan to kind of keep most of his reps like team reps and things like that behind the scenes away from the media to kind of keep the spectacle uh little controlled as they can for when they can? No, I don’t think that’s it. I think right now uh they have a pecking order and at the moment he really is number four on the imaginary depth chart and the number four quarterback doesn’t necessarily uh get those choice reps, but I think they’re going to divide it up by day. So there might be days perhaps when somebody else won’t get some of those 11 on 11 reps. Again, we were only out there for one of the three days this week and so we’re not really sure what happened on the other two days. But I think on that particular day that it showed that as of right now, I think that Shadore is number four on that depth chart and that he’s going to have to work his way up and leapfrog the others if he wants that starting job. Mary Kay, when you look at the whole quarterback competition, Flaco, Picket, Shadore, and Dylan Gabriel, I think you heard, you had logged in as we were finishing what we said before we brought you in that I’m just hoping it’s an honest quarterback competition. If Picket’s the best of the four, then I hope Pickicket’s the week one starter. If it’s a rookie, Shadore or Gabriel, if he outplays Joe Flacco and Kenny Picket, he’s the week one starter. Do you see any world where a rookie could be the Browns week one starter? Do you think the built-in familiarity that Joe Flacco has with this offense or the fact they traded a pick to get Kenny Picket kind of gives them the inside track to be the week one starter even if they get outplayed throughout camp? Well, I think it’s very very hard for a rookie to step right in and to read those defenses and understand what they’re trying to do to you and to get acclimated and to play on the road and to play in noise and all that kind of stuff. So, I just have a feeling that it’s going to be a veteran starting in week one. Plus, the Browns have such a grueling beginning to the schedule. It starts out with two AFC North games and then by and then it goes into three NFC North playoff teams and by week four they embark on a stretch of five out of six on the road. I can’t even believe it when I say it. Five out of six on the road. That’s going to be so tough. They want to come out of that still relevant, still in the hunt. They have to be able to do that. So, in order to do that, I think that they’ve got to go with a player that has experience. Now, it will be a fair competition, but I just think in the end, someone who has been through uh, you know, the NFL fire before is probably going to be in the driver’s seat on opening day. So, let’s talk about Dewan Jones. He showed up in shape, looking good. Took all of the, you know, first team reps at left tackle. How much noise is he making behind the scenes as he continues to ramp himself up to compete for that starting job this season? Well, Dwand is actually one of my favorites. I really like him a lot. I got to know him a little bit when I did some stories on him uh when he was a rookie and he’s just got a really cool personality. Uh, I hope that Browns fans really get to see more of him and get to know him better over the years because he’s just a really, really great guy. So, I know he’s excited about this opportunity. He looks good. He did a great job uh with his weight during this off season. He did not blow up. He did not gain weight. He looks to me like he has lost weight. I don’t know what the weight is right now, but that’s important when you’re trying to operate on uh you know, legs that if you’ve broken a leg in there and you’ve had knee issues and things like that. So, uh I think it’s important for him to stay fit and in shape and he moved really well uh when we saw him Wednesday at OTAA. So, I think that’s exciting for him and he should be able to nail down this left tackle job. I know it’s just OTAA clips and we can’t look anything too much into clips and videos that the Browns are posting, but Jerry Judy was miked up and it was cool to get a little four-minute insight into how now a veteran is meshing with some of the younger guys and the coaches as the Browns try to reestablish their new offensive identity. Mary Kay, we know Jerry had a breakout season last year in his first year with Cleveland. Do you think he’s poised to add on to that again now in 2025? I think so. I think that uh he’s well suited to this scheme, to this system, to this football team. They believe in him. And when you have a football team that believes in you, it has a tendency to bring out the best in a player. Now, of course, he’s going to have to make sure uh that someone can get him the ball or the Browns are going to have to make sure that they can get him the ball early and often. And I think that that’s going to be a large determining factor in the quarterback competition. If you’re out there making Jerry Judy look great and you’re making David and Jooku look great and Cedric Tilman look great, then that’s going to go a long way towards you winning this job because that’s the name of the game. They’ve got to get in that end zone. They’ve got to move that ball. They’ve got to score the football. They need more than 15.2 points per game, which was last in the NFL. So, if you can demonstrate that you are making these guys look like pro bowlers and superstars, that is the key to the Browns heart, I think. Uh, just to stay on on that same wavelength, you know, Jerry Judy, Cedric Tilman looks like a baller. Outside of those two guys, is there anybody else in that wide receiver room that you anticipate stepping up, you know, and being a key contributor this upcoming season? Well, one player that I was very intrigued to see on Wednesday and he happened to not be there was Deontay Johnson. He plays he’s a pro bowler and he runs amazing routes and this is kind of his last chance to prove that he belongs here in the NFL because so many teams gave up on him last year. So, he needs to get there whenever he can. I don’t know why he wasn’t there on Wednesday. Maybe he had a great reason. We don’t know. Uh, but if he can be there, he should be there because he has a lot to prove to the Browns, to himself, to everybody in the NFL that he is still that Pro Bowl player uh that played for the Pittsburgh Steelers. And if he can get out there and do some of those same kinds of things, maybe he can fill that key role of being that other sort of Pro Bowl caliber receiver that the Browns really, really need. So, I’m hoping that we get a chance to see him soon. Speaking of guys who weren’t there, Mary Kay, I know it was blown up and probably made a bigger deal than it was that Miles Garrett wasn’t at OTAAS on Wednesday. He was in Tokyo with his I believe it’s his girlfriend. She was getting an award at for some anime cere or something like that, but he was not obviously at OTAA’s Mary Kay. And normally it it doesn’t bother me or shouldn’t be a big deal if a veteran skips OTAAS, but I remembered and then I went and found your article after talking to Jimmy Haz about the owners meetings about the Browns kind of challenging Miles to become a bit more of a leader. Were you surprised that he wasn’t there after Jimmy kind of asked him to take that leadership step this year? I actually thought maybe he would show up for OTAAS this year after getting the big contract and after what Jimmy Hasslam told a small group of us at the NFL annual meeting. And I put a headline on that because I thought that that was very significant when he said we are challenging him to step up as a leader for this football team. So I thought maybe he would be there. Uh but by the same token uh these are voluntary. Nobody is allowed to hold it against anybody and these are more sort of passing camporiented and you don’t have as much uh to do for the big men. You know, you don’t have the whole offense defensive line all that much. There are 11 ons, but it’s a little bit more seven on seven driven. So, I don’t even know if the Browns are too worried about him being here. I mean, he shows up ready to go and in shape. And I will say this about a player of Miles Garrett’s caliber. I don’t care what anybody says. There is a bit of a different set of rules for a superstar generational talent like him. It’s funny because that was going to be my next question, so I’ll add on to it. You know, I do believe it’s different strokes for different folks. And I was going to ask you, do you believe that we tend to overreact to guys uh and veterans not being present? David Njoku wasn’t there. Joe Batonio wasn’t there. Greg Newsome wasn’t there. But it’s funny because I did a show yesterday and I felt just like you. I thought Deontay Johnson missed that opportunity to change the narrative of the rumors that’s been behind his character, the type of person that he is, a me first player, not a team guy, and to be stepping into a new city, a new organization, a new situation. I just thought that was a that was a prime opportunity to kind of change that narrative. But just in the grand scheme of things, do you think us sometimes in the media and the fans, do we overreact a little too much to guys being absent at voluntary OTAAS? I think it sort of depends on the situation and the player. In the case of a Joel Batonio, Joel needs to preserve his body. He came back to play football this year again in a year in which he contemplated retiring because he’s got a lot of aches and pains. Once again, this is not a big man camp, these OTAAS. So, I have no problem whatsoever with Joel Batonio not being here. He doesn’t need those reps. He needs actually probably more rest at this time of year and more recovery at this time of year, which is what former Browns center JC Treader is all about. He tells these guys, don’t show up at all for these OTAAS. I don’t necessarily agree with that because uh the teams that win generally have good attendance at OTAAS. Uh but I do think that in the case of a Joel Batonio and some of these other guys even a Jack Conklin uh that they need to take that wear and tear off their body and Miles probably is in that category to a certain extent. Now Deontay Johnson once again we have to give him the benefit of the doubt until we know exactly why he’s not here. if he just doesn’t feel like being here, then he’s probably not helping himself, per se. Um, but maybe he has some reason, and I know because I saw photos of him, that he was here earlier in the offseason program, and maybe he showed up the next day. We just don’t know the whole story when we are just dropping in once a week. I wanted to ask about that, Mary Kay. How different has rookie mini camp and OTAA? I know it’s just been one OTAA that you guys were at, but how different does it feel now that we have a four quarterback competition? There’s so many rookies that’s just a constant change compared to any of the other OTAAS, rookie mini camps you’ve covered in the past. Well, I’ll tell you what, I have not covered a quarterback competition like this in a long, long time. I can’t I really have to rack my brains and try to think of of when I covered a quarterback competition like this. I mean, this is really on a whole another level. It’s really something else. Uh, with four guys competing for this starting job, and I really think that they need to whittle that down as fast as possible and get their starters ready to play the season. That training camp goes really, really fast. And a lot of times there are guys injured and you can’t get everybody out there and before you know it, you’re at the opener. So, I don’t think they can mess around with this too long. I think by the time they come out of mandatory mini camp, they should have a pretty good idea of maybe the who the two main challenges are, challengers are and focus on those guys because you’ve got to get your timing down. You got to get your chemistry down. And I just don’t think that you can be going four ways too long. I’ll wrap it up with this. You know, just bringing it back to you winning this award over 30 years of Cleveland Browns coverage. You’ve seen so much. You’ve covered so much, you know, a lot of good days, some bad days. Just just jogging your memory back, what’s the one moment in your career that for whatever reason stands out more than most to you? Well, I would have to say uh it was the last game in Cleveland Browns Stadium uh just before they were about to to move to Baltimore. Uh that really stands out because it was such an emotional day. My beat was going away. Uh the Cleveland Browns were going away. We had no idea when or if they were coming back. And it was just heartbreaking to stand in that stadium to watch the fans sobbing and crying and to watch players like Steve Everett like not wanting to leave and embracing fans and people ripping seats out. And it just really showed the love affair, the absolute love affair that Browns fans have with this team. And it was really a surreal moment to watch all of that going on and then of course the gratitude of them coming back. Mary Kay, real quick, I didn’t even think of this. What did you cover for those four years when when the Browns weren’t in Cleveland? Well, I’ll tell you what. I always like to say I wasn’t necessarily productive during those years, but I was reproductive during those years. I had uh my three children during those years, and I was able to take a lot of time off. Uh, so I did that. Um, you know, I took a whole year off with my son. I think I took probably another whole year off with my second child, a daughter, and then I took a lot of time off with my third daughter. So, I got to bond with the kids, and they still like me to this day, which is kind of surprising because then I had to jump back in uh to the beat and somehow they forgave me for all of that. But um but yeah, I uh I always laugh about that. But I uh I I did, you know, I covered some of the whole business of the Browns coming back and I did some other things, too. Um but I mostly spent time being a mom. Well, congrats to you, man. Once again, I just Mary K. Like I said, I’ve been reading your work my whole life. You know, growing up in in Northeast Ohio, city of Cleveland, loving the Cleveland Browns. I didn’t have cable TV, so I always had what was in the newspaper and I had what was on local TV. And it was just like your work always stood out to me. And I remember the first time I got to meet you when G. Bush was doing the pilot of the Barberhop podcast. And that was just a moment early on in my career that stood out. And you’ve been nothing but helpful to me, uh, to Mike, to everybody at the Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show. So, we just wanted to give you your flowers while we could and tell you again, seriously, congratulations because I know this means a lot to you. Well, thank you guys so much and I’ve really enjoyed uh watching your career blossom, Earl. So, I’ve been happy to be a part of that from the inception. Really excited about that. And you guys have been terrific. So, thank you so much for your kind words. Thank you. Thank you. That’s Mary Kay Cabbitt. Mary Kay, we appreciate your time. Take care, guys. Thanks a lot.

Earl Da Pearl and Mikey McNuggets are joined by Cleveland Browns beat reporter and 2025 Bill Nunn Jr. award winner Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com to go in-depth on the team’s OTAs.

Cabot detailed her thoughts on the quarterback room, a number of standouts and the need to step up the offense in general.

Kenny Pickett realizes that almost all the offseason attention devoted to the Cleveland Browns is on the quarterback competition.

Pickett wants to make one thing abundantly clear, though — even though it is a competition, things haven’t gotten heated inside the quarterback room.

“I think the outside world makes it a lot bigger than it is. Of course, we’re all competing, but you become friends with everybody,” Pickett said on Wednesday after the Browns completed their second day of organized team activities.

“I think it’s a great media headline, but when you get in the building in a quarterback room and at least all the ones I’ve been in, you really become friends with these guys, and we’re just pushing each other.”

Pickett and Joe Flacco got the majority of the snaps with the veterans. Third-round pick Dillon Gabriel got one series of 11-on-11 drills on the main field, while fifth-round selection Shedeur Sanders had none.

Gabriel and Sanders got most of their work with the other rookies on the adjacent field.

Even though he is 40 years old, Flacco is the slight favorite to be under center when the Browns host the Cincinnati Bengals on Sept. 7 in the season opener.

Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!

Epicor
From small businesses with big dreams to growing enterprises with global vision, we’ll equip you with the right tools to move forward, think ahead, and lead the way. Discover your success at www.easierwithepicor.com.

Living For We
New episodes drop every other Tuesday, starting February 11th. Listen to Living For We wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the video version on Ideastream’s YouTube channel. Learn more at ideastream.com/podcast/living-for-we.

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4k
Did you know your Fire TV is also an Xbox? Turn any TV into your gaming and entertainment hub with Fire TV Stick 4K devices — no console required. Head to Amazon.com/firetvlockedon to get started. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription and compatible controller required.

Monarch Money
Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNFL at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year.

Buckeye State Credit Union is a LOCAL brand that offers a wide range of products from checking accounts to home equity lines of credit & auto loans. Head to Buckeyecu.org for more information.

Menu RX: “Whether you’re chasing peak performance, building your dream body, or seeking optimal longevity, Menu-Rx will help you reach your goals. Go to Menu-RX dot com to get your consultation today.”

Buckeye State Credit Union
Experience the difference with Buckeye State Credit Union. We make banking effortless and convenient for you. Visit us online at buckeyecu.org and discover how Buckeye State Credit Union simplifies your financial journey. Buckeye State Credit Union – Your Money, Simplified.

FanDuel
Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new FanDuel customers can get TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY dollars in Bonus Bets if your first FIVE DOLLAR bet wins! Visit FanDuel.com/UCSS to get started.

FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)

Subscribe and ring the bell for the latest talk about the Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Guardians, Cleveland Cavaliers and Ohio State Buckeyes: https://bit.ly/ucss_subscribe

Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ultclesports

Watch live on YouTube 11 a.m.-1 p.m. weekdays on YouTube and WKYC+ on your Roku and Fire TV apps!

The Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show is your daily source of the best conversation about the Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Guardians, Cleveland Cavaliers and Ohio State Buckeyes, as well as sports throughout Northeast Ohio. Produced by Mike Lucas, Anthony Antonelli, and Earl Mauldin. Hosted by Jay Crawford, Adam the Bull, G Bush, Jason Lloyd, and Tyvis Powell.