THE STRANGEST BROWNS PRACTICE SO FAR

THE STRANGEST BROWNS PRACTICE SO FAR

Help support the show by joining the Patreon or becoming a YouTube member. Also, hit that like button and subscribe if you want more Browns focused content. Today was a very, very, very strange day of Browns practice. I’m glad I was here for it. And yes, I was finally able to get here for practice. No shade. No shade. Not going to throw anybody under the bus. um and able to get set up and actually have video for you today. So, I want to talk about what happened at Brown’s camp, what my perspective is of what happened today. Um the most interesting thing and the thing that made this whole thing strange was that Shador Sanders got absolutely no team reps today. Now, they did say, and I I would like to point this out, right? They said at the end of practice to somebody that Shador was held out due to shoulder short soreness. Keep in mind, this was not something that was told to people before the practice starts. And usually when a player like Kenny Picket is not going to practice in team drills, it’s it’s told to you, right, because of an injury issue. Um, I would also say that Shadore wasn’t really working with the trainer after practice. I didn’t see him with the trainer. At no point did it appear like he was ever with the trainer. Now again, it might be shoulder soreness. What they said might be 100% and it just came out weird. That does happen sometimes, but I do think there’s more to the story than than whatever they said there. Now, I think in my personal opinion, they wanted to use today to evaluate Dylan Gabriel is as as much as possible. And the way they were going to do that is by giving Dylan Gabriel a ton of reps, which he had today. We’ll talk about how those reps went. Um, but I think that was a huge part of what happened with Shadore and the shoulder swordness. Um, that’s my my my speculation. Um, I don’t think how that rolled out was normal. I talked to other people who would know better than me, they would agree that that roll out wasn’t typical. So, you know, I’m not really alone here, right? I’m not just on my own saying stuff here. That was strange. Um, and feels like there was something else there. Now, if we want to talk about the quarterbacks who did practice today in team drills, it was Dylan Gabriel and it was Joe Flacco. Um, Joe Flacco looked fine. Um he made a couple of throws that you expect Joe Flacco to make. He looked like Joe Flacco, right? This 40 year old version of Joe Flacco. Some highlights, some low lightss, um some inbetweens there. But he he looks like what we remember Joe Flacco being, if you’re remembering everything that came with Joe Flacco, not just the fun stuff, but also the interceptions, right? Like he still throws a lot of interceptable footballs. He’s still Joe Flacco. There’s no doubt about it. Um, Dylan Gabriel on the other hand, and I want to be careful with how I talk about this, right? Because no matter which young quarterback you’re rooting for, whether it’s Shador or Dylan, I do think when these guys struggle or if these guys struggle, talking about it kind of becomes a permanent stain on them instead of a temporary uh a temporary, how do I want to put this right? I want to work through this properly. Sometimes we tend to allow criticisms to be permanent when criticisms are always temporary, right? You know, it doesn’t have to be true forever, whatever criticism I have of a player. And I think that’s why people tend to be oversensitive when a player that they like gets a criticism, right? Whenever I criticize Shadore and his fan base gets sensitive is because I think in their mind they think that that’s going to be permanent for me. I’m going to think that that’s forever, right? that I think that he has these problems when in reality that criticism is only going to exist as long as it’s necessary to exist. Um, now with Dylan Gabriel, I’m going to have a few criticisms and maybe these things are temporary. Maybe this is just part of his journey or maybe this is something that becomes a massive roadblock that he can’t get over. But my man is struggling. Like there’s no doubt about it. Even the most ardent defenders of Dylan Gabriel that I’ve I’ve been able to talk to have admitted these last two practices where he’s gotten a lot of reps with the ones. He has not looked good. Right? This isn’t just coming from people who were skeptical like me of Dylan Gabriel when you drafted him. This is coming from believers of Dylan Gabriel who say, “Hey, maybe I like what he did in camp earlier, but right now it’s not good.” Now, I wasn’t here for camp earlier. I can’t speak for that. You know, I when I talk to people who have been in camp the whole time, what I have noticed is that there is what the internet thinks of the quarterback room and there is what the people there every day think of the quarterback room. Bestcase scenario, you talk to somebody who’s been there a lot, um, who who’s been embedded at these practices, OTAAS, mini camp, they don’t think it’s anything different than what the Browns have been dealing with at quarterback from anybody individually, right? Like that’s kind of been the vibe I’ve been getting from people when I talk to them. Um, when you talk to people on the internet, it seems like it’s different, but you know, the people who have covered this team and maybe, you know, there’s some cynicism that gets in there. I can’t speak for everybody, right? But it it’s a decisively less optimistic tone from the people who are at practice every day about this quarterback room, which I do think it’s worth noting. Um, it is not something I would ignore. So, when it comes to Dylan specifically, it’s worth noting that like look, it’s not just me who has all the little man jokes, all the short jokes, even though Dylan’s taller than me. Like, you know, I got I I’ve had my fun with Dylan Gabriel, but it’s not just me. the there are people who are defenders of Dilly Gabriel that will admit he stink. He stunk these last two days. Um I think he’s hit a wall, right? There is what you could do against the second and third team. And when Dylan went up against the second and third team, he was fine. And then there’s what you do against the first team and with the first team. And when he’s with the first team, it it’s a world of difference. Like every time he takes a first team rep, the Browns offensive line is so giant. The Browns defensive line is so giant, you literally cannot see him. Now, when he’s with the second and third team, all of a sudden, it’s a lot easier to see him. The height matters. The lack of athleticism relative to his height matters. Here’s what I mean by that, right? Because I know people are going to get offended. Dylan Gabriel is a solid athlete. Yeah, if Dylan Gabriel were a regular person or if he were playing soccer, he’d be a good athlete. But to play football in the NFL at his height, he needs to be Kyler Murray. He’s not Kyler Murray. He needs to be the kind of athlete that Bryce Young was. And Bryce Young is not a fantastic 40 yard dash athlete, but Bryce Young was one of the mo best mobile quarterbacks in college football history as far as throwing on the run. That’s not Dylan Gabriel. He has a pedestrian skill set at a pedestrian height. And it’s a awful combination to be an NFL quarterback. And when he goes up against the ones, it to me is obvious he’s not ready. That’s that’s just where I’m at. Um it started to remind me of Dorian Thompson Robinson watching, right? the the breakdown of stuff that you know this guy knows and then the panicking and then the quick decision making and then the the the the the jerky of the decision-m where it’s like, “Oh, I’m going to be really quick now. I’m going to force down field.” Just the indecisiveness. This felt like a classic Kevin Stfansky. I’m going to give you the kitchen sink and expect you to be able to do something with it and if you can’t, I’m done with you. That’s what I think today was. I could be wrong here. I’m just guessing at this point. Um, but they did get that man a lot of reps. Shador did not practice today. Uh, I can’t I don’t think that’s a coincidence, right? I don’t think this is Shamore Shador getting a demotion. I think this is one of those situations where you give Dylan Gabriel a spotlight to see what he can do with it. Um, and that helps you make your determination on what you’re going to do for the future. A awful two days of practice for Dylan Gabriel. Um, straight up, there’s no way around it. It feels like he’s hit a wall. Maybe he gets over this wall during joint practice, but he it was it was bad. There’s no way around it. There just absolutely no way around it at this point. Dylan has had a pretty bad uh last two days. It’s iffy on whether he’s looked good during camp at all. Um, there are some people I talk to like I I don’t think this is a secret, so I don’t think I’m exposing anything new, but I was talking to Daryl Ryder during practice and I’ve never met somebody who is more against the idea of Dylan Gabriel starting football games for this team. Um, he’s not a fan of it, right? But there there’s a spectrum of people and how they feel about Dylan Gabriel. Some people um understand the college presence that he has and and the amount of work that he’s done. other people see a quarterback who just physically can’t can’t hack it in the league and I can’t blame people for feeling that way. Um either way, I I can’t speak to what he’s done before I got here, but man, today if this is what it’s been for Dylan Gabriel, then it’s it’s not good. Um straight up, I don’t know what else to tell you there. Uh I saw Kenny Picket throw today. I thought he made some nice throws and some one-on-one drills. This was another weird thing about Shadore not practicing in team drills. The Browns after practice had this extra one-on-one session with some wide receivers and some quarterbacks. Um, you know, it was like back of the roster wide receivers and then, you know, I saw Kenny Picket throwing. I saw Dylan Gabriel throwing the one-on- ones. Now, Shadore hung back with the quarterbacks, did some work after practice, but during this like one-on-one session, he was with the quarterbacks, but he didn’t get a drill, a repping in, which again, strange, right? Like, why not just hold him out of practice entirely? Again, I’m not buying the shoulder soreness. This feels like a classic. They had a plan. He wasn’t going to practice today. We’re going to call it shoulder soreness, but there’s a bigger piece to this puzzle, right? And we’ll probably find that out as the days go on. I wouldn’t freak out about it. Like if you’re a Shador fan and you want Shador to start eventually, I wouldn’t see this as like evidence that the Browns are never going to play Shadore and they’re going to they’re trying to ruin him or whatever people are believing nowadays um about this whole situation. I really don’t think it’s that. I think it’s more about making making a final determination before they go into joint practice on what they want to do with Dylan Gabriel. um because it’s been a rough couple of days and and these first team reps aren’t going well for him. Um and I I just think it’s an impossible thing to ignore at this point that maybe you might want to consider giving Shadore um some of these opportunities you’re giving Dylan because Dylan just I think he needs to sit I think he needs to take a little bit of a step back just because this wall is whipping his ass right now. Um, but we’ll see. We’ll see. We’ll see. We’ll see. All right, let’s talk about the defense. I thought the defense was really good. Um, in today’s practice, Chris Edmonds and Miles Harden I thought were impressive guys who, you know, you’re not necessarily going to look for, but they make you look for him. Uh, Miles Harden had a couple of reps like that. I kind of want to see Miles Harden in that slot over Cam Mitchell at this point. Cam Mitchell’s continued to be up and down. Um, he got beat by Greg Larvidan in the red zone and it was a beautiful ball by Joe Flacco and it was good technique by Greg Larvidan. And no disrespect to Greg Larvidan, I mean I mean nothing nasty by saying this, but dog I cannot have my potential number two in slot corner getting beat by a UDFA pretty easily in the red zone. There’s just there have been some moments with Cam where you can get excited, but far too much of this Um, and I feel like I’m over the experiment. I want to see what Miles Harden can do. If we can’t do better there, I want a veteran. Um, the defensive line, it looks like a Jim Schwarz defense. Man, these linebackers are all over the field. Um Jason Tarver’s amazing at his job because like you think about it, the Browns lost two starters and like two pretty damn good starters and um Jordan Hicks and Jay, but I think they’re going to be fine. Mammu Diabetes is playing well. Um and I also think that uh you know Carson Swisser, it’s obvious he’s going to be pretty good. I think that’s the good news that you’re hearing about practice overall, right? For as much as I’m not hearing great stuff from the people who are there every day about the quarterbacks, what I do hear is a lot of positive stuff about this rookie class in general. Mason Graham, right? I people are excited about that internally. They’re excited about it when they’re at the practice. You can see it. The guy’s going to be a pretty good player. Um Carson Swissinger, I think he’s one of the most obvious cases of like, “Oh yeah, that guy’s good.” Right? like some guys you crack them open on the field, they play with the first team, they never leave. That guy’s good. And uh that’s that’s Mason Graham, that’s Carson Swissinger. Um Harold Feain Jr. I think it’s pretty clear that this guy has real potential in the league. And I’m going to talk about how the Browns are going to use him in just a second. Dylan Samson, I thought, had some moments in today’s camp. I’ll talk about that later. um you know, we could get so bogged down in this quarterback conversation, but I I think what that’s not allowing us to see is that man, if you look at this draft class, there’s reason to feel really strong about some of the most important picks that you made. But unfortunately, uh when one of your top three picks is currently being investigated, which I hear that situation is going to get a lot messier. Maybe not on Quinn Sean’s side, which to be fair. Um, but that that situation is going to be more messy than I think people anticipate as far as like how Quinn Sean is going to aggressively defend himself um against those accusations. We will see. A lot of stuff lot of stuff going on with that. Um and then you have the whole quarterback controversy going on, right? you know, Dylan Shador, people arguing about reps, making up conspiracy theories about who’s going to play and why they’re not going to play and all this stuff. Um, that it makes you forget, hey, your number five overall pick looks pretty good that right now. Your number 33 overall pick, he looks excellent right now. You know, like there this is there’s a lot to be excited for when you look at these young guys. Um, and it really does start on defense. I thought the defense was pretty excellent today. Um, hard-hitting, fast to the football. This looks like a Jim Schwarz defense. Um, that being said, let’s talk about the offense a little bit. The passing game I think struggled. The run game I thought did well today and they had a tackle to the ground portion and the run game really did flash. Now, when I talk about the run game, I want to be very clear to you. I don’t count screens, extended handoffs, stuff like that is really part of the passing game. I view that as an extension of the run game more than anything, right? And the Browns did a lot of like screens in their passing drill. To me, that’s run game stuff. That stuff was successful, right? If Dylan Gabriel tosses a screen to to Harold Fain and it goes 84 yards, that’s a Harold Feain instead. It’s not really a Daryl uh I mean not a Dylan Gabriel uh stat. Anyways, all that being said, I thought that that element of the run game was pretty good. And it’s just telling you exactly where this Browns offense is going and what the plan is for this Browns offense. They’re going to rely on a ton of yak, right? Like it’s going to be all about how much yak can they get? screens, extended handoffs, running the ball. Um, all this stuff is going to matter. And I’m starting to see how they’re going to make up for some questions about who’s going to get the ball, how many running backs do they have? They’re going to use David and Joku basically. I don’t want to say like a running back, but like an Hback almost, right? He’s going to take a lot of screens. He’s gonna go underneath on mesh a lot, right? He’s gonna get the ball in his hands while he’s moving. Um, basically be using his extension run game with the ball in his hands and also as a blocker. Like David and Jojoku was exhausted after practice today. I don’t think that’s a that’s a mistake. That’s because a lot of this is going to revolve around what David and Jooko can do as a catcher, sure, but also as a pass blocker. Um, so there is that, right? Like they’re going to not pass blocker, run blocker. So there is that, right? A lot of screens, a lot of extended handoffs. I thought they did well. Harold Fainan looks excellent with the ball in his hands even against the first team. Dylan Samson, I thought he had a really strong day of practice today. Um, broke off a couple of big runs. Really good day for Dylan Samson. Um, and again, like you need that with Quinn Sean being out. um uncertainty about what his situation is going to be, how aggressively he’s going to pursue his legal situation um and how aggressively he he will defend himself will make it could make it so that you know this might last longer than we think with with Quinn Sean. Uh Jerome Ford, I thought he broke out. Well, no, I didn’t think he I saw him break off a couple of big runs. Um thought he played really well today. And don’t get me wrong, I don’t think the Browns were like running all over this first team defense, but you know, there were moments where the run game got its blows in and there were certainly moments where this Browns defensive line just shut everything down. Um, but those those two elements of this team went back and forth and I think that’s a good thing. Um, and you can just see that this offense is truly going back to a lot of heavy West Coast principles that we know Kevin Stfansky is very, very fond of. Um, so all in all, in summary, what I saw at practice today is kind of the football team I expected, right? a really good defense, a lot of questions at the quarterback position, um, and a offense that’s going to be heavily reliant on moving the ball through short yardage designs, whether it be run plays, whether it be short yardage focused pass plays. That’s really where the Browns are going to be focused at. I’m excited to see what they look like on Monday to close camp. But that’s what they look like today, Saturday’s practice. Um, you guys let me know what you think in the comment section down below. Um, what do you think about Shador missing practice today because of arm soreness. Um, again, I don’t think there was anything physically wrong with him or maybe there was, but they just kind of overplayed it in order to get something else done. That’s my speculation as far as I know that they said that. Look, I’m just going to give you the facts around that situation. You can you can make your own determination. Right. Shador came out, did individual drills, did not participate in team drills, was still there around it, but did not take a rep in team drills. Um, and then also did not throw the ball in the post-practice one-on-one period with wide receivers and DBs. So, that’s what we know about it, right? And also, they didn’t say anything before practice. the shoulder soreness only came out after practice. Um, and like I don’t even think Kevin did a press conference, which I don’t think he was scheduled for. So, all of that is strange, but you do with it what you will. That’s my thoughts. Let me know your thoughts in the comments section down below. Y’all have a great day. Have an even better night. Peace. [Music] Hey, hey,

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