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When you look at the overall haul for the Browns last night, they started at 6, traded back to 9, ended up taking Spencer Fo, ended up taking Casey Concepcion from Texas A&M at 24. Was this a home run, touchdown night for the Browns? Was it a, a B? Obviously, the grades are incomplete because we have to see how these players perform, but could the Browns have come away from round one, just those two picks with a better wide receiver offensive line combo, or did they miss the bell on taking best player available? What say you guys?
I, I think this was a move the chains. It, it wasn't a home run or it wasn't, you know, a big shot play downfield. I think this was a move the chains. Uh, you knew you needed a tackle. Um, and you do, you need a receiver. The way the board broke, um, I, I told people last night on, on my podcast, I said, once Jeremiah Love went off the board, and then once Carnell Tate went off the board, even if you had grander thoughts of getting one of those two guys, at that point, they were gone, so, you know.
Talking to you yesterday, the Browns had already targeted Spencerfano. Um, and when you already targeted him and you already knew what the board looked like and he was gonna be available to you, I thought it was a really good move to drop back with trade with the Chiefs, go back 3 spots, you get a, a 3rd round 74 overall pick, and you look at if, if you're a, a competent organization, a competent GM in the scouting department, a 74 top 100 pick, that should be a starter. So you got a free pick, you still got the guy you wanted, and you were able to get, you know, Casey Concepcion, which, you know, I, I take a look at it. Hey, does he have some, uh, does he have some drop issues? Uh, is he a little slide of frame? Do you kind of have that guy Isaiah Bond? Is he gonna be a dude you could put outside and say beat one on one coverage, uh, you know, 90% of the time? No, but I do think he's more of along the lines of the Zay Flowers, zig zag, he'll help you. On your special teams immediately, you could run some gadget things with them and my thing is, did you, if you ask yourself, did you get two starters out of this draft? Yeah, so, all right, Brown's good. You fill two more starters, let's figure out if you can get something else. You got 2 and you got them at the two most important positions for right now, but you like them for the future. They're both 21 years old. Um, Concepcion is better than Isaiah Bond right now. Yes, he is, and he doesn't have to be on day one, but he better be by day 3. He's that much better. You, you drafted him, and so what, what would people's quibble? We didn't take Jordan Tyson, right? The injury history, they just weren't going there that high, honestly. If they'd have moved down, Jordan Tyson would have been there, but the injury history, if they take Jordan Tyson. They're taking a left tackle who may or may not be ready. So now you're worried more about your quarterback and you don't know if he's going to be there. They thought the safer play was to get Spencer Ferne and then get Concepcion, who's a totally different style of wide receiver. So that goes into the decision making too, but they felt much more confident for a long time -- about tackle -- first receiver.
Would you, Jason says something you say. And I kind of agree. There are some people that are gonna say, uh, Makai Lemmon was available, and -- that was my -- only quibble. My only quibble with last night would have been I loved what Philly did getting ahead of Pittsburgh to get Makai Lemon. I would have preferred, I thought there was a big drop between Lemon and then everybody else available on the board, although Mike, did you see, I'm meant to text you this, did you see? Steve Smith's breakdown on Concepcion. I did, but he used certain footage that we are not allowed to use. So, but go find it. Like, if you haven't seen it, we retweeted it from the UCSS account on Twitter. So if you want to find it, yeah, we retweeted it. We just can't show it. Yeah, and that actually like calmed some of my because I just didn't love the drops and, and the way that Steve described it, you know, it made me feel a little bit better. My only thing like for me to call. A home run had they, because Philly didn't give up a ton. Had they been able to move up and get Makai Lemmon, that to me that would have been a home run.
Yeah, well, I think in the room they probably decided that Concepcion was more explosive. I think Makai Lemon's probably a better wide receiver right now and probably you see exactly what he might be, but I think they think Concepcion has a higher upside. And so look, there's, there's worry here. Like you might have been so mad at Jerry Judy for his drops that you took the next Jerry Judy. Don't scare him like that. Don't do it to him. Don't do it to him. But your, your thought is this guy is really explosive. He's a really good route runner. He's the drops aren't dealing with like if it comes together, -- you've got a better version of -- Jerry Judy.
Did you see, I think it was Ian Rapoport said that the Steelers were on the phone. They were Mackai Lemon happens all the time. That was wild. I didn't hear you. I didn't hear that. -- So -- the Steelers at 21 were on the phone telling Mackay they were gonna take him. I knew they was going. We, we were sitting there talking. We right? -- I said they're taking -- him and Philly, who, who traded out of Dallas, right? Dallas traded out. So Pittsburgh thought Dallas was going defense, so they thought they were free to call Mackay and tell him they were taking him. Dallas trades the pick to Philly. Philly moves up ahead of the Steelers. Philly's trying to get a hold of Makai Lemon, and they can't reach him because he's on the phone with the Steelers, as Pittsburgh's telling them that is wild. That's crazy. You, that's like being on the phone with your girl like, Yeah man, I got my prom tuxs all ready to go. She's like, uh, uh, uh, uh, Caden, Caden from the baseball team, doesn't, he said he, he, he said he could go to the prom. now. His mom's like, What? Can't, I can't get mad. He throw 94. I mean, what, what do you, what do you do if you're Pittsburgh in that moment? I mean, he obviously got pivot and take another player. I mean, they took a dime. They took the tackle that, that I, I actually like. -- I like -- Arizona, yeah, but I mean what a pivot. -- He's a -- Steeler. That, that's a stealer. But I think Makai Lemon was too, yeah, he, I, he, he had Hines Ward written all over him like, and I just was like, please don't go to Pittsburgh. -- I'm glad Philly did what they -- did. Gee and I were talking like what, what you do in these situations a lot of times is you have a cluster of 3 players that you like, and this will apply to the Browns. We'll talk about this later going forward to tonight. So you say, OK, we really like these 3. This is who we wanna get. And in some cases when you're 56 picks away, you're resigned to the fact, hey, one of them's gonna be gone. So if that second one goes now we gotta. Start to operate whereas Dallas was like Lawrence, the defensive end was one of theirs. They had made their selection earlier. They got the guy they really wanted all along. They look, they look OK. They're not going defensive end. They're not only one team is. We can make this trade. We'll pick up a little bit. And so it changes like that all the time. And now sometimes with a guy like that who thinks he's getting picked, sometimes it results in him dropping a lot, a lot further because the next teams have their priorities. But that it's something that happens all the time and then he gets out and makes the Steelers look bad, but. You know, I still think they got a good player and now they're back in the receiver business.
I asked Jason this question. When you're making a trade, uh, do you know if, say for instance, we, we got the Chiefs and the Browns, when they're going about that, do the Chiefs, um, divulge who they're looking to get? Um, so that the Browns can kind of know, hey, I wanna make this trade because they got to do the, the, the, the mental math to see whether or not the guy they want to get is still gonna be available after they make the move. Yeah, almost certainly they do, because I think if you try to pull a fast one on somebody it's gonna come back to you. Yeah, yeah, it's gonna hurt you in future negotiations. And so then, yeah, so that's why you have multiple phones and multiple people because in that case the Browns are saying, OK, we know they're coming for corner. Washington's probably going here. Somebody else in the room for the Browns is. Looking is who might trade up and get our guy, so they have to look and say we have to be comfortable with more than one player to make that trade. And they were, they had Fo. They had Proctor, and they, they had Jordan Tyson in the background. So then the second, then the trade is made, the Browns come back on the clock at 9. Teams are calling again because people are after downs. They look, OK, we're comfortable. We're comfortable. Are we're most comfortable with Fo? Thanks, but no thanks. -- Turn of the -- pick.
I wonder, I wonder, McNuggets, if you are in that room. I is it an unwritten rule that hey, if you do trade back, you have to have multiple people that you're interested in because I, I would figure that you don't want to trade with somebody and then have to go back and take assets on this side and trade back up again -- to take somebody that may be gone -- because I think that's probably the case or you just don't love someone at the position you're currently in and you can get extra assets. If you don't love someone, you can move back. If you're gonna take someone you don't love anyway. You'd rather have the extra assets. In this instance, and Zach, you said it last night, it seemed like Fano was their guy from the get-go. Their first top 30 visit was with Spencer Fono. It was gone hidden, unreported. And Zach, you reported last night that right after the combine, Fano drove to Indy, uh, drove from Indy to Cleveland to meet with the Browns. This was kind of their guy they were locked in on from the get-go and they ended up getting him while also picking up an extra round 2 pick and an extra round 5 pick in the process. Yeah, it just made sense for them to do that. So like I said, if people really wanted Tyson or wanted a different tackle, I get it. But I, I think when you look at how they worked, how they stacked their options, how they made major organizational philosophical decisions to go line over tackle, and then how they worked it out, I don't think you have any quibbles. So tonight they have more options, they have more ammo. Somewhere along the way they can take a risk and history says they will take a character risk. Somewhere along the way they can shift and take defense and right now a lot of the top guys probably are defensive players. So we'll see, but I think that's what's most important. They're like, hey, tomorrow might get crazy. So let's, let's stop the trade talk. Let's stop the Caleb Downs talk. We've talked for months about tackle. -- Let's get our tackle and -- go from there.
Now, I wonder, you know, you, you talked to, um, specifically you talked to Todd Monken. He, he talked about how he feels like he's gonna be a great player. He kind of slightly adjusted, uh, addressed the situation with him playing center or other positions, and he said, don't worry. Everybody, he's gonna play somewhere. Um, what do you think their, their opening day role is he the opening day penciled in left tackle, and from there we'll figure out where you go from there? Yeah, he is Plan A and Plan B at left tackle, so you always have to be prepared, and I think going forward if it doesn't work, they feel like he can play anywhere, and they feel like for the most part the line is in flux everywhere, but the plan is to make him the left tackle when they're out there on May 20th and we're out there. He will be the left tackle. We're going to give him all the support. They gave Zion Johnson a bunch of money to play left guard and help the guy next to him, and they're going to bring him along there. So Dewan Jones is still going to be on the team for now, for this year. They're going to look at other tackle options for the future. Titus Howard, Elton Jenkins, those guys have played left tackle in the past in a pinch, but the Browns want Spencer Fo and probably need Spencer Fero to be the left tackle. So that's going to be the plan. That's why I I, that's what I like about him, I guess, and, and Bull said like last night, he's got to play left tackle. Like if he's a guard or center, you don't take a guard or center, not overall, and I get that. I, I, I understand what he's saying. I think you give it a shot with him at left tackle if for whatever reason, if he's not big enough or not strong enough or whatever, if it just doesn't work. They got holes up. Like, I, I, I don't care that they made a couple trades and signed a couple of free agents. I don't see a lot of long term solutions across the offensive line. So if he fits at center or if he fits at right guard, I don't think Kevin Jenkins is the right guard 3 years from now. He might not be 3 months from now. Well, that's exactly right. So that's why I'm like there are still holes on this offensive line and whether they're addressed. Tonight, whether they're addressed with with maybe that 74 pick that they got as sort of like Zach Ziner, I know, but he was supposed to be a guy who develops into a starter if it's Kevin Jenkins for one year and then a new right guard, whatever. There's a lot more spots that need filled there. So if Fano doesn't work at left tackle. I, I think he will be on this Browns offensive line 567 years from now. If it's not at left tackle, it's gonna be somewhere else. And if they got another Joel Batonio, hey, I'll take Joel Batonio 9 overall. Yeah, that's fine with me. Yeah, I mean, I think, I think the, the thing is nowadays you just don't want to get to the end of the season where you're looking at practice squad players trying to find guys off waivers. You, you, you know, -- that is -- not saying you don't want to have 7 left -- tackles in the last 3 years because that's -- what they've had. No, no. Absolutely not. That, that's not what it is. And look, it's, it's, it's not sexy, it's not a thing where we're gonna look up and be like, oh my goodness, they, we got Cardinnell Tate and and Tyson. Like in your mind you, you get kind of crazy because you're like, what if the draft is a bunch of what ifs and you've heard all kinds of scenarios, so you think, uh, you come away thinking that we're gonna blow the roof off this draft and then they go get a tackle and you're like, I don't know, man. I, it's a tackle, you're like, but that's what they needed.
What's real quick. You wanna go, Mike? You want a break? Well, no, if you, no, no, I got a question on Fno real quick before we do it. Go ahead. Let's once and for all as, as a team. Come to a conclusion on the correct, the correct pronunciation of his last name as the, as the king of pronunciation. I'm looking at the Browns draft card they turned in, and the phonetic pronunciation is F A W N dash O. Fano, Fano, which I called them both during that segment. I'm guilty. So as, as a collective, and once again, where's the, where's the emphasis. -- Capital on -- the -- fawn -- on the fawn on the fawn. So it's not, it's fano. And you guys know I'm the king of pronunciation. It drives me nuts when people pronounce things wrong. I have never in my life is your best friend. Nope, never said a word wrong in my life. I have, I've nailed it, so I just want everyone to get on my level. It is fano, not fano.