CLEVELAND, OHIO (TheOBR.com) - Good morning, Cleveland Browns fans!
This is going to be a long hiatus.
We're on - what? - Day Seven of the team's break from football, as the players get about six weeks off between Mandatory Minicamp and Training Camp. Generally, the only Browns headlines this time of year are the ones that are generated by bad behavior, and I think we can agree that we're not hoping for any of those.
It's a problem. And what do you do with a problem? You face it down; that's what you do. Out of problems come opportunities and challenges, and so it's fun and productive to face a problem.
So, this is going to be the most fun and productive bloviation I've written in a while. Yep. Let's dig into what I found in the credentialed media and the crap-reggators today.
JOEL BITONIO AND JOE THOMAS: May Kay Cabot put together a nice article on the influence that Joe Thomas had on Joel Bitonio and how their relationship developed. Thanks in part to Thomas, Bitonio adopted the Midwest and our ways and found himself comfortable here. It's a nice story about Bitonio's candidacy for the Pro Football Hall of Fame and how challenging it will be because his team never sniffed a Super Bowl. The article is probably paywalled; I can't tell, but if you've purchased a Cleveland.com subscription in addition to your OBR subscription, it's a good read.
In addition, and at a lower cost, Camryn Justice of WEWS recently filmed a bit with Bitonio, in which he talked about his immediate plans, which might include some media work.
I, myself, have adopted our Midwestern ways, which was easy because I've lived in Ohio nearly my entire life. While I don't hunt, fish, or devour perogies, I've loved living in Cleveland for most of my life, to the extent that I've adopted Michael Symon's Cleveland Barbeque Sauce as my staple. It's built around Ballpark Mustard and spices and is overall awesome. I also cut my yard with a push mower, wear a baseball cap most of the time, and know my way around a Sheetz. The Westside Market is a place I adore. My Midwestern bona fides are beyond dispute, even though I leave wiping out the native wildlife mostly to Fred, who is remarkably good at it.
Joel Bitonio and Joe Thomas
Joel Bitonio and Joe Thomas (Photo: USA TODAY Sports)
THERE'S A QUARTERBACK BATTLE, HAVE YOU HEARD? The Cleveland Browns' intense, yet somehow-kind-of-depressing, quarterback battle between Shedeur Sanders and Deshaun Watson (guest starring Dillon Gabriel as the Beaver!) continues apace, despite the team's hiatus. Or at least, people keep talking about it even though nothing is happening at the moment. ESPN's Jeremy Fowler appeared on ESPN, of all places, and talked about how Sanders is making up ground against Watson. This spurred the Aggregation Industrial Complex into operation, so it's already been written about in more nefarious places than here.
All this ties to what we've seen in camp ourselves and sets up what will be an intensely studied training camp, complete with useless passing statistics which some people actually take seriously, and daily reports from camp. My public stance is that I feel that Sanders should emerge if the battle is anywhere to near close, simply because Deshaun Watson likely doesn't have a future here beyond this season. Plus, Sanders should be thoroughly evaluated prior to the 2027 off-season, when the Browns desperately need to put the quarterback cherry on top of the talented youthful roster sundae, and when I desperately grasp at metaphors involving food.
BRENDAN SORSBY EXISTS: The risk-taking quarterback is still headed to the Supplemental Draft, and people are still tying him to Cleveland despite the fact that we have four quarterbacks already. This is all I will say on the matter.
NICK IN THE NEWS: Nick Chubb appeared recently at a local conference and spoke about his career, saying, "you never know" about a possible reunion with the Browns. Given that the team is set at running back with the young trio of Quinshon Judkins, Dylan Sampson, and Raheim Sanders, such a reunion seems unlikely, aside from serving as a precursor to retiring as a Brown, which I would fully support. Chubb's fate is just another reminder of the rough nature of the NFL, where an injury can derail a potential Hall of Fame career in a split second. Chubb will always be beloved here, where we like our football players to be focused, hard-working and humble.
DENZEL WARD TRADE???!?!: The infamous Bleacher Report, whose NFL content distribution approach seems to circle around reckless trade speculation being picked up by aggregators, offers its latest list of possible trade targets, which leads off with Denzel Ward to the Packers sometime before the 11/3 trade deadline. The problem with that is that the Browns are thin at the position, with not obvious candidate for the Packers to trade back to the Browns. The team hopes to be competitive this season, but I could see them considering a Ward trade at the right price should that not happen.
Have a good one!
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THE LIFT
Positive news from the world of sports and beyond...
A camera in Sumatra caught a critically endangered Sumatran orangutan using a specially built canopy bridge to cross a busy road, according to GoodGoodGood, which is one of those small, practical bits of human decency that make the morning slightly less dumb.
I like stories like this because nobody has to solve every problem in the world. Somebody just looked at one dangerous road, one threatened animal, and said: Fine, let's build a better way across. Around here, that qualifies as a lift — and perhaps a team-building metaphor, but I promised to stop bloviating once I hit the "relaying B/R trade speculation" nadir of this column
Read: Watch an orangutan swing over a busy road via canopy bridge: 'We have watched and waited for this moment'
WRAPPING UP
When not wondering how one designs a safe orangutan bridge, 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.
Have a good one! GO BROWNS!
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