Which member of the Cleveland Browns is under the MOST PRESSURE in 2025?

Which member of the Cleveland Browns is under the MOST PRESSURE in 2025?

Guys, we’ve gone an hour and 45 minutes without talking browns. We do have to get our brown stuff again to wrap up today’s show. It’s brought to us by Monarch Money. Have you ever checked your bank account and wondered where all my money go between dining out online shopping and entertainment? It’s easy to lose track. That’s where Monarch money comes in. It’s your personal CFO giving you full visibility and control over your finances, Monarch. Money isn’t just a budgeting app. It’s a complete financial command center where you can track your accounts, investments, and spendings in one place so you stop just managing your money and start building wealth. Take control of your finances with Monarch money. Use promo code lockdown [email protected] for 50% off your first year. That is monarchmoney.com/locked on NFL for 50% off your first year. All right guys, I asked the question and I left it broad intentionally. Which member of the Browns organization is under the most pressure in 2025? We have three very different answers, and we’re gonna start with G, then go to Jason and finish with Jay. So G, which player person, personnel do you believe is under the most pressure for this upcoming season? Well, I’m gonna go with uh Young Boy because uh this is one of the guys who people love. They always talk about his body paws, um. Big body guy, we feel like we got something. Cedric Tillman, step into my office, my good man. I mean, do you wanna get a 2nd contract in this league? Do you wanna set your peoples up? Because right now it’s a perfect opportunity. Get listen, find one of the guys. I don’t care if you got, you, you, you gotta share the dorms with, with Kenny Pickett or, or, or ride in a minivan with Dylan Gabriel. Hey man, maybe you wanna get with Shadora Sanders, but John needs to drive slow, homie. They don’t be doing too much. But at the end of the day, find one of these quarterbacks and link up with them. Maybe it’s Flacco. And just get your money off, bro. I, I was looking forward to you and camp. I didn’t see you. I saw the undrafted free agent from Kent State getting his feet in bounds. Don’t listen, let me tell you something about this. Don’t let these undrafted Mack dudes fool you. They will get in here and be like, how’s this guy open all the time? How’s he getting the ball all the time? Listen, you got Deonte Johnson who started off behind the eight ball who was over there with the 4s and 5s because he didn’t show up to mini camp. Right? You, you got, you, you, you, you’re looking around it’s Jerry Judy and then it’s Jamari Thrash. I don’t know what Jamari Thrash looked like. Like if he was outside of a helmet and he was walking down the street, I wouldn’t know Jamari Thrash, right? You got a great opportunity. You’re one of the bigger receivers that we got, you fit a role. I need you to stay healthy and I need you to be out here acting like you wanna get you another contract, bro, because what is it, year 4 or 5? This 4? We ain’t seen it, dog. We ain’t seen it. You had a concussion at the end of last year and we didn’t see you the last 6. You came out the first week and was hurt in camp. I said, Well, we ain’t seen him in a year and a half now, so I need you to do something, big dog. You got a nice number, shout out to Bernie Cozar. I don’t know how that number is still floating and circulating. I was disrespectful Bernie. That’s, that’s crazy disrespect. It’s wow that you got the 19 on out there and we ain’t see you, man. Bernie played through all kinds of stuff. So, we wanna see what you got, man. Come on, man. There’s a lot of different ways you could go with this, certainly I think. You can make a case for who I can only assume Jay is gonna pick you know who I’m picking yeah, I know who you’re picking and it’s part of the reason I didn’t, although I do believe in, uh, my guy who was Deuan Jones, sort of for the same reasons that Gee was talking about, but the fact that like he’s got $70 million opportunity in front of a minimum this year and if he can stay healthy, if he can keep his weight under control, if he can prove that he can handle left tackle, he can walk into the office with a year left on his deal and say I want a new deal right now. And they would be hard pressed not to give it to him. So this is a massive, massive year for Dean Jones. Uh, it left tackle has been a huge concern for this team, and he can fill it, but he’s got to stay healthy. He’s got to stay on the field. He’s got to keep his weight under control if he can do all that, he can secure the position, it doesn’t matter who the quarterback is. It doesn’t for his purposes. It doesn’t matter what else is going on around him. If he plays at the level that we believe he’s capable of playing at. That he can make a lot of money for himself and if it goes sideways for him this year, if he gets hurt again if his weight balloons on him, I don’t know where you go from here with him. This is a huge, huge year for Dean Jones. Yeah, we’re very much aligned on our thinking because to me this wasn’t even this was one of the easiest questions Mike’s ever asked us. This wasn’t difficult at all. I came up with my answer in 0.1 seconds. And then, but then I said, OK, well I’ll challenge myself and if I, if I go a different route, who would it be? And I went to Juan Jones because this is a young man that has the ability we know to be great. We’ve seen it, um, but he hasn’t been able to do it consistently and then he, he had the weight issue. I think he’s got that under control. It’s got a lot of eyeballs on him this year, and I agree with you. If he balls out early in the season. I know what you would like to say if you’re Cleveland say, OK, now prove you could do it for longer. But you could anger him to the point where he says, oh, I’m gonna prove it, but I’m gonna prove it in a different team’s jersey. Like if you wanna let me go, if you don’t believe in me right now, then that’s fine. Then that ship has sailed and I’m gonna move when I can and I’m gonna go do this for someone else and he could be one of those guys. I said when I first saw him, he could be one of those Walter, he could be a guy that has 15 year career as slam dunk Hall of Famer. I think he’s got that size and that ability. Can he control his weight? Can he stay healthy? So yes, he’s my #2, but my #1. It was very easy. That’s why I was so glad you and I know that’s why you phrased the question the way you did. It could be anybody. It’s Andrew Barry, and for me, in that case, man, I would, I should have read the fine print. Yeah, I read the fine print. I read it and I said, OK, he is specifically opening the door for everybody. Here’s a guy if, if, if, if he, if it doesn’t work this year and I know that we’ve had assurances that he’s safe, I, I do not believe that for one second we have combed over his draft record. We have combed over his free agent record. We have combed over his trade record. He’s made, he’s, he was at the ship’s wheel when the worst transaction in the history of the National Football League happened. He’s not only, uh, uh, his job is not only on the line in Cleveland. I’ll go so far and I want your input, guys. I’d say his career is on the line. Because if fired here, which of the other 31 are clamoring to hire him as a GM? I think he’ll work in the league. As, as, — as in some
— capacity he’s he’s he’s connected. I think he’ll be assist. He could be in the front office. No, no, I, I agree with that, but I’m talking about you don’t want to go from a when you’re a GM, you want to be a GM forever. I don’t know who hires him and says, you know what, I love what you did in Cleveland. I love that they were ranked 13th when you got there and they. And you were 32 when you I mean, he wouldn’t walk in another GM job. No, — he’d have to prove it somewhere else you
— do when you get fired, you don’t typically jump from one GM job right to — another unless
— you’ve got a body of like if you’re, I’m using Andy Reid as as a different example. that’s obviously if you’ve got a body of work to fall back on, yes, but his resume as an NFL general manager right now is. about as bad as it can get. I, I think, I think what actually he thought he was doing himself a service, but I think the fact that the Cleveland Browns do have another extra first round pick next year actually puts more pressure on him because the first thing people are gonna say is if you come out here and you tank and you have a bad year, they’re gonna say, look, man. — You
— had
— #2. You had #2. Now you got another high pick. Do we wanna keep giving you high picks? Now, mind you, you had a top 10 pick. It’s not in the league right now. Jed Wills. He’s not, listen, Greg Newsom is a number first round pick. I mean he’s, he’s, he’s, he’s hanging on, but, but my thing is, are the people are gonna ask, is he the guy that is going to choose your said franchise quarterback, Jason? Because guess what, he already, if he, if they take, that means he swung and missed on two quarterbacks this year. Yes, so why would I, unless one of them shows promise, — and unless
— one of them shows some some sort of, — and then they
— take the take the man, but I just think, I think eyes are on him. If it goes sideways this year, I don’t care what assurances have been given to who. Mason Graham got played at some point. The natives will burn this thing down and the problem is Stafasky, whatever we say is Safasky in a little bit of different boat, he can always look and say I got two trophies. Now I do believe they give out front office executive the heat is on him too. I do too, but what I’m saying is. I think there’s there’s, there’s a gap between them now because Saansky has put a little distance. He’s had some success. My distance is like this. I got, I got, I got two of them things. I, I think the front office give executive the year and you, you’re not, you haven’t been on a short list. Usually when they hand you the uh NFL Coach of the Year trophy, most people don’t know this. There’s an envelope taped to the bottom of it. And most guys don’t even see it. They go home and they put it on their mantel, and then they find it like years later. But, but what’s in that envelope is you open it up and it says, congratulations, you have 3 years left in your current job. That was one of your best schemes. Like you, you had said you set that up. It wasn’t long. It was concise. That scheme was set up like it was like written a little bit. I like that was good. That was that’s it’s pretty much true. Am I wrong, Jay? You win it and years later, just a couple of years later, you’re on the unemployment line. If it’s basketball, you got 6 months left in the job. Yeah, not even. Jerry Glanville famously told an official once the NFL stands for Not For Long making calls like that. And really the NFL does stand for not for long. I don’t care what success you have as a coach. It’s what have you done for me lately? And if, if, if Major League Baseball was the NFL. I don’t know if I want to go this far. I, I, I, I, I’m gonna go this far. Stephen Volt would be on the hot seat. Yeah. Stephen Volt would be on the hot seat if this was, if this was the NFL. I mean, you wouldn’t, you wouldn’t fire him, but you’d be, you’d be looking at him like, oh, he’s not the guy.

One name that jumps out heading into 2025 is Alex Wright. After flashing potential in 2023 with five sacks, Wright missed most of the 2024 season due to a torn triceps. Now healthy and stepping into a bigger role on the Browns’ defensive front, he faces the challenge of proving he can stay on the field and deliver consistent production. With opposing offenses game-planning for Myles Garrett, Wright will be expected to win his matchups and provide a reliable pass-rushing complement—something Cleveland desperately needs from its young core.

But he’s not alone. Deshaun Watson may not be the starting quarterback anymore, but the pressure surrounding him hasn’t disappeared. With a fully guaranteed $230 million contract and limited availability due to injuries, Watson’s presence still looms large over the organization. Questions about his future in Cleveland—and whether that investment will ever yield on-field results—continue to follow him. Whether it’s Wright fighting to emerge or Watson battling the narrative, both represent two very different pressure points on a team trying to reset and compete.

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