CLEVELAND, OHIO (TheOBR.com) - Good morning, Cleveland Browns fans!
I'm old enough to know that there are few more dangerous phrases in June football than "we'll know more when the pads come on". That's because it is both absolutely true and also a convenient way to tell all of us keyboard-banging nerds to stop pretending we can solve the right guard spot from a shaky OTA clip taken from the sidelines.
Naturally, I will now spend several paragraphs bloviating about it. That's the contract you and I have signed, and I apologize to your family.
Scott Petrak has the useful stuff this morning from Browns OTAs, where Browns coach Todd Monken said the offensive line is not quite settled and likely will not be until training camp gets real. Monken told reporters he has "a pretty good idea of four of the five" spots up front, then added the obvious-but-important part: "And then we got to figure out who's that fifth."
That makes sense. Shorts-and-helmets football can tell you who knows where to line up, who moves well, and who looks like they spent the offseason doing something other than stress-eating Quarter-Pounders.
What the Browns are doing right now cannot tell you who will displace a grown defensive tackle when the temperature is 88 degrees and everyone is tired of each other. It can suggest it, not prove it.
Browns offensive line
Browns offensive line in OTAs (Photo: USA TODAY Sports)
Monken also tied the line question to the quarterback question, which is where Browns fans get to enjoy their morning coffee with a light dusting of dread.
"In a perfect world, you'd love to have your starting quarterback, right? And you'd love to have your O-line set," Monken said. "I think both quarterbacks have played well enough where we haven't really been in pads. We haven't played any games yet. Haven't really got to that point yet."
That "both quarterbacks" phrasing matters. Pro Football Rumors, working off reporting from Mary Kay Cabot and ESPN's Jeremy Fowler, frames the current competition as Deshaun Watson versus Shedeur Sanders, with Watson still viewed by some as having the inside track and Sanders doing enough to keep this from turning into a ceremonial handoff. Monken's public line remains that he is fired up by both of them, which is exactly what a coach says in June and exactly what a coach should say in June.
The Brendan Sorsby note from PFR is also worth handling carefully, because this is how offseason rumor soup turns into a food fight. PFR reports that Monken is not interested in adding Sorsby to the quarterback room right now. That is not the same thing as a grand organizational referendum on the kid's future. It is more like the Browns saying, "We already have a two-man maze in here; please do not drop another hamster into it."
At least we're not Pittsburgh, where the loathsome Ben Roethlisberger (now complete with podcast) is spending his time blasting Drew Allar for not knowing how to do a three-step drop.
The Browns' immediate problem is simpler and more Cleveland-y: find five offensive linemen, pick a quarterback, and do it without turning June optimism into July panic. Easy peasy. Well, then. Good luck with that.
Have a good one! GO BROWNS!
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THE LIFT
Positive news from the world of sports and beyond...
I am a napper. When I get tired during a long day, I refuse to sit there yawning every 20 seconds. I go to sleep for a brief while and then wake up again, hopefully refreshed and ready.
A Good News Network item points to a University of Arizona study on sleep and brain aging, and I know what you are thinking: "Barry, how is sleep research uplifting?" Fair question. The happy part is that this is the sort of stuff we can actually do something about, unlike, say, asking the football gods to leave our tackles alone for 17 weeks.
The study used brain scans and questionnaire responses from more than 23,000 middle-aged and older adults and found three sleep habits tied to signs of brain aging: sleeping outside the recommended seven-to-nine-hour range, frequent daytime napping, and sleeplessness. It did not indicate that brief naps led to this outcome.
So maybe tonight we all put the phone down, stop reading AFC North quarterback panic threads at 12:47 a.m., and give the ol' brain a fighting chance. I say this as a man who will absolutely violate this advice by Wednesday.
WRAPPING UP
When not waiting for training-camp pads to settle arguments that June clips cannot, Barry McBride is the Publisher and Founder of the OBR and bloviates this nonsense every morning. You can follow him on Twitter @barrymcbride or write him at barry@theobr.com if you are so compelled.
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