Myles Garrett & Denzel Ward are the best two players on the Cleveland Browns but who is #3?

Myles Garrett & Denzel Ward are the best two players on the Cleveland Browns but who is #3?

jay Crawford Adam the Bull Garrett Bush Dustin Fox Jason Lloyd Tyus Powell plusa da da da you’re loving him Mikey McNuggets and so many big names it would take me hours to say all of their names the Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show starts now booyah happy Friday welcome to the Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show on WKYC i’m Jay Crawford over the next 30 minutes we’ve got a lot of topics one of them do you have a favorite dog pound memory we’re talking about this because it’s turning 40 bull uh it’s not as old as me but still old i’m Adam the Bull and do you remember this name tristan McKenzie it hasn’t been that long since he’s been a Cleveland guardian what’s been going on for him in the minor leagues we’ll get to that coming up earl I’m Earl to Pearl it’s been nine years since the Cleveland Cavaliers snapped the 52-year drought and won a championship i’ll tell you what my favorite memory was from that night yeah guys and I’m Anthony starting us off today who are the best three Browns players coming into this season who who came up with this topic this was This was a Mikey McNugget special and I’m sitting in for him today to take the heat one and two are probably pretty easy three little up to debate you know what so Anthony quickly before we get into this when I saw the topic I’m like “Okay that’s just backhanded genius.” Because it really when you when you get down to this argument you realize very quickly why we won three games last year and why we’re expected to win three games again next year before we even get into it funny moment you was in New York at the time remember making the band Dylan Dylan and Dylon there i mean what else is there besides Miles and Denzel that I I know that there’s going to be a lot of First of all there’s universal agreement Miles and Denzel mhm uh Miles but I I got I have Denzel as the easily second best player i mean the only other person you can argue with MJ Emerson right i’m not that one to me here are the two years ago baby here are the other candidates potentially for two and certainly for three okay i I’ll just throw out some names okay and you guys tell me if I’ve left anybody out okay and I I I still think Joel Batonio’s up there i do i had him in my You can make an argument for Jerry Judy and you can make an argument for David Njoku you’ve left one off on my list you can’t go with um uh J because obviously he’s hurt i think you’re leaving one notable off the punter nope who am I forgetting joe Flacco i gez that’s what we have though Bull yeah i mean we’re so thin i’m like I don’t want to put a 40-year-old guy who’s been bouncing around the last three years in my top three but he came off the couch and went 4- one and got us to the playoffs yeah but now he’s two years older he wasn’t that good with Indie last year i mean I still think he’s their best option to start the season which is sad but you know I mean I I had him on my list he’s not by the way my third best yeah but I I came up with a list of six guys which by the way like I wanted to put Injoku on there and I’m like “No no.” Now Injoku with Jameus Winston and Joe Flacco was all pro or Pro Bowl he’s he’s a great tight end yeah but with all of the other quarterbacks that we’ve had he’s looked so far below average that I think this is probably his last year in Cleveland unless he has a resurrection under Joe Flacco now is it is it the three so it’s the three best players going in it’s not so we can’t pick a rookie because they haven’t played yet well I almost put Judkins on the list right i’m thinking like if Jud projected up to the top three it wouldn’t surprise me i would project that by the end of the year we’ve got Judkins on our list but I did this exercise coming into this year so yes I do think Denzel Ward is two yes I was thinking about the other players i would have Denzel who do you have three it’s tough call but it’s really tough so sad but doesn’t that drive home why were three wins it is it Oh certainly yes um I I I think I have the Browns winning five this year but but um I’m going to go with Joel Batonio yeah uh I know he wasn’t quite as good last year but he was better as the year went along i I think you know Jerry Judy had a really nice year he did but a lot of that was inflated by a few weeks with Jameus Winston he’s you know he’s been an inconsistent player i think they’re close but I’ll give the track record to Batonio and so I’ll go third with him see I wanted to go that way but I couldn’t because of the age and the position that he plays like those guys get old overnight they come back one year and you’re like whoa what happened to Joel Antonio i’m not predicting that but I’m not going to be surprised if that happens for me it was Jerry Judy because he finally lived up to the player you know we kept hearing “He’s this guy he’s this guy.” And I never saw it and then Jameus Winston came in the lineup and I’m like “Oh my god he’s that guy.” It reminds me of what Injoku did with Joe Flacco when you have a quarterback that is a professional quarterback and he knows what he’s doing and he can spin it those guys now can separate themselves from the others that play that position and I think Jerry Judy did that last year my prediction is we’re going to see two different uh Jerry Judies this year we’re going to see the one we saw last year with Jameus Winston when Joe Flacco is playing but in all likelihood we’re going to see four starting quarterbacks this year i just believe we will and that’s that’s who we are you know we see five six a year we’re going to see four this year i can’t argue that and and and I think when we see the other quarterbacks in there he’s going to blend in he’s just going to be a guy yeah but when you get a pro that’s back there that spins it and can read defenses and can find open guys and can throw receivers open that’s something that guys coming out from college learn to do in the NFL most of them don’t get here with that skill set so we don’t we don’t have guys right now that are going to if if I say who’s the quarterback that’s going to throw receivers open well that’s easy Joe Flacco so if we get Joe Flacco Jerry Judy he’s going to look really good this year yeah I got Jerry as my third best player coming into the 2025 season for the Cleveland Browns as well just coming off a strong 2024 season here’s here’s a guy who has all the attributes right he has enough speed to take the top off the white he’s a he’s a route running assassin and he’s durable we never talked about him getting hurt i know coming into Cleveland last year we had a lot of unanswered questions about who he was as a person and as a football player and he kept his mouth shut and he fit right in um I look at Jerry as right there i would probably go Joe Batonio up under him and then it’s a plethora of guys that’s right up underneath MJ Emerson so my my counter my counter for you guys die hard brother die hard my counter is that if you ask people around the league is Joel Batonio a top 20 guard they’re going to say yes and if you ask if Jerry Judy’s a top 20 wide receiver they’re going to say no i will I’ll agree with that no no I I I will agree with that however if you ask people around the league which player makes a bigger impact it’s it’s obviously wide receiver by the way Cory Bjorkz might be the third best player on the list you know when you I didn’t think of that until you said punter and I’m like you know what i couldn’t think of his name for a second but then in ter you we did an exercise last year for every game that I really liked we would do a top 10 draft with the Browns and whoever their opponent was yeah there were opponents that by the way the Browns ended up losing to that we had seven Browns players and three players from team that ended up kicking our tails yeah yeah and now we were delusional last year now you know it takes us a little while we get slapped across the face a couple times you’re like “Oh oh okay i guess that’s what color it is.” Now that we know when we do that exercise this year Oh yeah how many teams on the Browns schedule will the Browns have even five players in the top 10 not many not many i can’t wait to start that every week you know what it’s going to be i remember there was one opponent there were eight Browns guys and we ended up winning that game whichever it was and there were two guys on the other team and I’m like man that seems like it’s out of whack but you know we’re homers and but now we’re asked to pick the best three players and we’re like I don’t know we only have two good players who we open up against the Bengals oh lord yeah 8-2 8 to2 and they’re all going to be Denzel and Miles and they’re all going to be on offense for the Bengals all eight of them no they will well our two guys are on the defense unless they sign Trey Hendrickson which they will i think you Oh you think they will i think so ultimately i’ve been meaning to ask you about that cuz I got another friend who’s a Bengals fan like oh he’s gone i don’t see it all right uh let’s change topics to when the Browns were good remember that oh yeah 40 years ago i can’t believe this is going to be the 40th anniversary hanford Dixon and Frank Minfield decided that you know we got a bunch of dogs back here in the back end of this defense and they dubbed I don’t know if it was Minfield I don’t know if it was Dixon there’s different stories whoever came up with the term dog pound for the old bleachers at at Municipal Stadium it was a stroke of genius and it really did spawn a movement you saw the masks you said they you know there was one time where they you know we had to get reprimanded because we were throwing dog bones on the field we really embrace that dog pound mantra now I hate it now at the new stadium it’s not a dog pound the the the ownership refers to the whole stadium as the dog pound i know they do it’s so lame which really is kind of an insult to the longtime Browns fans intelligence there was one seating section it was bleachers it was guys that welded six days a week and then they took a break on Sunday for three hours to come watch the Browns and then they went back to their welding job they were hardcore bluecollar just absolute diehard fans and it it really worked with the city and the players that we had at that time do you guys have a favorite dog pound memory i’m not sure how much you know you didn’t follow the Browns back then but do either of you guys have a favorite dog pound moment so I I could I could spin it this way i am too young to have attended the game at the original stadium to be in the dog pile but rest in peace to my grandfather I bleed brown and orange because of that sure so I remember uh my friend high school friend my co on the Ultimate 216 show Cecil Schwarz he gets drafted by Jacksonville and he comes home a lot of us that went to Colinwood uh we’re at the game a lot of people from Mount Union is at the game and this is the same game Josh Gordon had like 230 yards so I’m conflicted joe Hayden is my favorite player josh Gordon is a baller and I’m watching my homeboy ball in his hometown his city against the team he grew up watching and the game is going crazy josh Gordon has a big game and Cecil catches the game-winning touchdown over Joe Hayden oh my god the very next day the headline of the playing dealer in the sports section it reads “Hometown villain.” Wow i had never been so conflicted in my life i didn’t know whether to cheer shut up run out of stadium that’s a tough one i was confused because you all know me i’m Cleveland i lose a tough one the Browns and I’m sitting here Josh going crazy we about to win this game and then Cecil hit Joe with a double move and he catch it and I go “Oh my one one half of your body’s cheering and the other half like it’s like oh my oh Cecil you did it.” That’s always one of those tough things yeah like what what if your son gets drafted by a team that you hate that’s got to be so awkward i also went So me Cecil another one of my friends from back in the day is Thaddius Gibson played at Ohio State oh yeah I remember that that got drafted by Pittsburgh oh I’ve known that since I was in fourth grade at O Perry relationship changed a little bit after yeah just a touch just a little bit say I don’t look at you the same and normally you say it’s not you it’s me how you say it’s not you it was used to always be Thad he got drafted it was Thaddius bull do you have a moment that stands out i to me the dog pound is only in the old stadium i wasn’t around for the old stadium so I’m not going to be disingenuous and say that I had them i agree with that 100% so I will turn it back over to you okay i like that you said that because the way I was going to start was I’ve got so many dog pile memories i was going to say they’re all at the old stadium we got to go i’ve got 40 seconds here okay um first of all the reason I never tried marijuana in my life ever to this day i’m 59 i’ve never tried marijuana i attribute that to the dog pound i was 9 years old my dad took me to my first Browns game we sit down the game’s not even started and I’m like “Dad what’s that smell smells like skunks.” He’s like “Yeah a lot of people around here are smoking marijuana we’re in the dog pound a lot of people around us are smoking marijuana.” I’m like “What’s marijuana?” He’s like “Oh it’s a plant it’s like a cigarette but kind of makes you feel drunk.” And I’m like why are they smoking it it smells like skunks they’re putting that in their lungs and and and that stuck with me and I’m like you know I’ve been million parties guys passing around like oh no the skunk weed ain’t for me all because of the dog pound the other one was the last game ever when the Browns players went to the dog pound when they were the team was moving to Baltimore and I was covering the game i was working in Columbus at the time was one of the most emotional scenes I’ve ever seen at a sporting event which is saying something because there’s some crazy highs and crazy lows that was um one that is burned in my mind forever i’ll never forget it uh there are a lot of them i could go on forever but we got to go all right tristan McKenzie tristan McKenzie he went from being really a Sai Young hopeful to a guy who’s pretty much on his last breath in in professional baseball how did this happen what happens next we discuss it when we come back to this sport [Music] welcome back to the Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show i one of the saddest human dramas for the Guardians over the last couple years is Tristan McKenzie Bullby he was a guy who they had bettable odds that he was going to win the Sai Young two years ago he was on the verge of signing a long-term extension like days from it and then came the elbow discomfort yeah and then the decision to shut it down and not have surgery he missed time he came back he was erratic he was wild he couldn’t command the baseball he went through a stretch where his velocity went down to this day he hasn’t had the full Tommy John which I wish he would have done oh yeah two years ago i’m sure he wishes yeah but he just finished his stint in the Arizona Complex League which is basically a bunch of guys that are either rehabbing or prospects that are there and not assigned to minorities young prospects and these numbers bull for him a player of his caliber playing in that league it this is what it should look like nine innings pitched two hits no earned runs erra of zero or one uh 14ks three walks uh it doesn’t look anything like that no this is really sick is this it i still think he’s young enough where I don’t want to totally write him off in his career he made it it appears to be a huge mistake as you said not having Tommy John surgery a couple of years ago i you know I don’t know what’s going on for him physically i don’t know what’s going on for him mentally like maybe he can’t get over the hurdle that he cost himself all this money and maybe that’s affected him mentally it is s like it’s to the point where every team in the league had a chance to claim him on waiverss for whatever he’s getting paid like less than $2 million and nobody took him and not a single team took him which shocked me i thought that every team felt like well now you know they would have had to keep him on the major league roster yep you know you couldn’t the Guardians were able to send him to the minors once he cleared that but no team even these terrible teams like the Rockies and the White Socks and the A’s who were terrible they could have taken him why couldn’t they have left it why if you’re the Rockies if you thought there was any hope if you’re the White Socks you throw him on your major league roster so he sucks who cares you stink anyway but nobody thought enough of him again minimal money we’re talking a million and a half which is nothing so it’s sad i don’t want to 100% ride him off because he’s because he’s still young enough that maybe he does now have the surgery i don’t know you know and it would that’s what has to happen yeah probably he’s um not going to be able to stick on the Guardians major league roster no he’s off it he’s Yeah he’s he’s out of options essentially what you have to do is you have to say “Okay I’m going to fix the elbow and and try again.” He’s 27 years old he would be 28 after the surgery yep still plenty of time on the back end to make not get one big contract but two it’s possible at this point cut your losses you You asked an interesting question cuz it’s the question i don’t know if it’s mental or physical the answer is it’s both oh 100% it’s physical and that there’s a nerve that connects this to this and I’m I’m I’m speaking rhetorically obviously but when when you lose this you don’t have the confidence in your fast ball which by the way was one of the best in the game his curveball was amazing he had two plus pitches what happened to him is an absolute tragedy he should have gone under the knife if he would have done that he’d already been a year back yeah from Tommy John and he put it off they tried a procedure that would maybe be a bridge it didn’t work he clearly and now it’s he got the velocity back but it’s now it’s here he’s walking guys he can’t throw strikes get this fixed and start over hit the reboot button and you know what who’s to say that four years from now whether it’s with us or not maybe he’s with the Texas Rangers yeah and he’s pitching a World Series game i can hear the story now oh yeah from the from the junk heap to the World Series once one of the greatest pitchers in the young pitchers in the game out of the sport rehabbed and here he is again on the big stage we’ve seen it before he can do it first of all A+ quality human being one of the one of the most friendly well uh adjusted young ball players I can remember talking to in the last decade i hope he gets this fixed and I hope he comes back real quick i think what you just said hit it you said once you lose this you lose you know you lose confidence in your fast ball i think he lost confidence in his decision-m because when he made that decision not to have Tommy John surgery it seems like everything with his career has been downhill from there even the decisions that him and his team made how to go about the rehab etc yeah and so it’s not just you know you losing confidence in your fast ball he’s a young man that has probably lost confidence in his ability to make sound decisions that can shape his career i think that’s right uh we want to end it this way we all wish him nothing but the best i hope the Guardians keep him in the organization and give him the chance that that he deserves i think it may pay dividends on the backside my biggest fear when I first saw this kid I looked at his stuff and I’m like “This is A+ stuff electric.” His body will never last he’s 66 160 that’s not built to take the kind of power and pressure that you put on an arm as a big league pitcher but Tristan we’re all behind you and we wish you uh all the success in the world taking a break when we come back can you believe it’s been nine years in a day since that fateful night in Sacramento or no s uh San Francisco that was actually when they were playing in Oakland golden State game seven it’s been nine years we talk about that moment when we come back [Music] yep welcome back to the Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show 9 years ago last night the Cavs did the unthinkable they came back from that 3-1 hole and they beat the best team the NBA has ever seen in the regular season at least statistically 73 wins mhm how do you guys remember the nine years since the Cavs title first the most iconic moment to me was the block by by LeBron of course cuz I don’t know that there’s another player that could have made that play right i mean it was just it when you see the the replay of the block it’s like how did he get there to make that play but uh I mean since it’s it it we were just saying during the two breaks ago like it’s hard to believe it’s been nine years doesn’t feel that long ago i I I just will always remember uh the day of the parade i went up to the top of the county office building which is East 9th in Prospect and standing on top of that building seeing a mass of humanity on East 9th from 90 all the way to the lake that we’ve never seen in Cleveland i was like “This is the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen in my life.” Yeah you know and I That’s how thirsty we were it was just bones didn’t work but it was fun yeah nobody was getting sell service on that day how do you remember it uh few things i think from the game itself I know the block is big it was the shot really it was the shot for me i mean Steph is Steph you know Kyrie has always had ice in his veins that was like one of the biggest shots ever but I remember I’m a dieh hard i’m from here me and Jay can relate to things like this even at that age I thought it’s a strong chance I’m going to die before I ever see B City win a championship i just remember crying after Kevin Love get the lock down i stay out in Uclid i run in my truck i drive a Chevy Avalanche at the time and I jump on the freeway and horns is honking people riding downtown the closer I get to downtown the traffic is wild it’s crazy coming in gridlock somewhere as you getting off that exit route I kind of jumped out of my truck i left my friends there they’re like “Well you can’t leave your truck here y’all figure it out.” So I start running up Lakeside i worked at the justice center at the time so I’m trying to get to like West Third West Six running up Lakeside people’s having a good time high-fiving high-fiving and all this crazy stuff about an hour and a half two hours later I’m somewhere on West Six and I run into my dad and my uncle just out partying randomly they were there too while partying just randomly now at this time I serve as supervisor in Earl Turner Clerk Court’s office the next day I called my boy uh my boss Joyce we miss you i said she before I said anything she laughed she says “I knew you wouldn’t come.” I was waiting for this call i said “Yeah it wasn’t happening.” So it was the shock for me but then just being out and then running to my dad and being able to experience that moment together uh man I’ll never forget it i was here espn said “Do you want to be in California do you want to be in Cleveland?” I said “Put me in Cleveland because they’re going to win and I want to be in my city when they win it i’ve got to be there.” Earlier in the day I’d flew my son in who was in at Rutgers just outside New York City training for the Olympic trials mhm i said “This is completely up to you i know that this is the most important week of your life.” Because the trials were one week away he’d just come off the NCAA championship i said “It’s up to you if you want I’ll have a ticket waiting for you at LaGuardia you can fly in take in a Indians game because they played that afternoon we’ll watch the Cavs game from the queue and then we’ll celebrate until you have to leave the next morning on your flight.” He’s like “I’m coming Dad.” My dad had told me when he passed I said “My biggest regret was we never got to enjoy a championship together i was born the year before the the year after the Browns won their championship.” He said “Jay you’ll get one it won’t be with your dad it will be with your son and I want you to make a promise whatever you’re doing in your life it’s not as important as spending that time with Corey whatever Corey’s doing in his life it’s not as important as spending that time with you because you might only get one so be together.” So in in that moment when the clock hit zero Cory and I were in the plaza jumping up and down hugging and uh I just looked at video of this because as soon as the game was over they took the wide shot of the pavilion of the plaza and we didn’t know who it was there were three of us jumping it was me Corey and some guy that neither one of us knew it was black guy and we look at the video now and we’re like “Oh my god we we still don’t know who that guy.” somewhere there’s a fan out there that when you were celebrating with me and my son as the dust was clearing later that night and I felt my dad’s presence with us i said “Who was that guy?” I don’t know and now I think whoever it was my dad was inside his body i don’t know who it was it was just some random guy that just saw us celebrating and we’re all jumping up and down that night I saw black guys hugging white cops on on 9th m I saw people walking on other people’s car hoods and the people were beeping and waving and laughing at them things I never thought I’d see sports can bring people together and it’s funny because Jay has always reported on the news there was no murders that night there was no murders day there was no murders in the city of Cleveland the day after that the violence was really really low and I know you’ve got a memory real quick my biggest regret was not going to the parade because I didn’t want to get fired from my job at GNC only to get let off and laid off when I went back to college two months later i should have gone that’s the what I remember the most about it was missing the parade for that but hey it’s been a great show guys have a great weekend peace peace [Music]

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The Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show is your daily source of the best conversation about the Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Guardians, Cleveland Cavaliers and Ohio State Buckeyes, as well as sports throughout Northeast Ohio. Produced by Mike Lucas, Anthony Antonelli, and Earl Mauldin. Hosted by Jay Crawford, Adam the Bull, G Bush, Jason Lloyd, and Tyvis Powell.