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Are the Browns making the right QB calls? Diving deep into the latest quarterback speculation, we dissect the potential moves for Cleveland. Should Anthony Richardson be the next target, or are there better options on the table?

This discussion unpacks the logic behind pursuing a developmental quarterback like Richardson, weighing the cost against potential upside and comparing it to other intriguing prospects. We explore the idea of bringing in a player to compete for the starting job and the long-term implications for the team's strategy.

Discover why some argue against investing valuable draft capital in a quarterback who hasn't yet proven himself, especially when other positions or more established options could be prioritized. The conversation highlights the importance of player development and strategic roster building.

Could a different, perhaps more experienced, but still overdrafted quarterback like Trey Lance be a wiser investment? We analyze the pros and cons of such a move, considering their limited NFL experience and the potential for a career resurgence.

#Browns QB #NFLDraft #QuarterbackBattle
Transcript
00:00The only thing I can tell you that I am vehemently against,
00:02I am in on Malik Willis to some degree.
00:05To some degree.
00:06Yeah, I'm in on Kyler Murray to some degree.
00:09I'm in on every quarterback possible except Anthony Richardson.
00:13Like when Zach Jackson was on with the Morning Boys today,
00:18Daryl, he kind of talked about the fallout from the combine
00:22and what's like, okay, Titus Howard trade, what's the next move?
00:26And I think he went pretty hard in the paint here
00:28for this idea of Anthony Richardson to Cleveland.
00:30I feel like the next trade has to be for Anthony Richardson.
00:33You know, I feel pretty strongly about that.
00:34That makes perfect sense with the open competition thing.
00:37He signed for one year.
00:38He's caught upside.
00:39He could compete with Shador Sanders for the starting job.
00:42And the hope would be, obviously, that one of them hits.
00:44And if it doesn't, you're still on track for next year.
00:46So maybe he will want to go somewhere else.
00:48I don't really buy into the thought of him going and sitting somewhere
00:52because he's only signed for one year.
00:53So it makes just a lot of sense for the Browns to go that route.
00:57It's cheap.
00:57It would probably be one of the other two fifth-round picks to acquire it.
01:01And he would get in and have a chance to resurrect his career
01:03and compete for the starting job.
01:04He was always drafted too young and drafted too early.
01:08And like I said, it would be the low-cost thing that would allow the Browns
01:11to continue to upgrade other areas to support, you know,
01:14whoever is going to be that QB or the multiple players
01:17who are going to take snaps in 2026 for the Browns.
01:20A fifth-rounder for a starting offensive lineman that can start
01:24for the next two to three years, that outweighs a developmental piece
01:28on the offensive line to me.
01:29I understand that value.
01:31A fifth-rounder for an absolute overdraft of a quarterback three years ago
01:36who hasn't done anything in the NFL to dispel what the knocks were coming out,
01:42including is he mature enough and does he love football,
01:45just so you can say you have another name in the quarterback room,
01:48does not, to me, make more sense than a developmental fifth-round pick
01:52that you'll have under contract for anywhere from three to five years.
01:55It just doesn't.
01:56No, the hard part I have is I get some teams going to have to invest time
02:00and they're going to try to put some resources towards Anthony Richardson.
02:02I just don't want it to be us.
02:04And I don't understand why it has to be us.
02:05We're not in the spot where it has to be.
02:07And so, yes, we need a quarterback, but between Shador and then obviously
02:12I know some people, you want to create a buffer between, you know,
02:15Shador and Deshaun Watson, but I just, I'm fine.
02:18If it's Shador and Deshaun, just let them battle it out and go for it.
02:20Also, I do think we're missing a step in the Anthony Richardson chronology here
02:24that matters.
02:25What's that?
02:26Sam Darnold needed to sit for a year before he got another chance,
02:29before he got his last chance, which ended up being Minnesota,
02:32which he extended.
02:32It's all about Richardson being too, basically, early to the party
02:35and still being too young.
02:36He's probably going to need to just hang out in NFL limbo for a few years,
02:39kind of like what's going through Trey Lance right now.
02:41Yes.
02:41It won't surprise me if two years from now Trey Lance all of a sudden
02:44gets another chance and an opportunity and he looks way different
02:47than what he has so far in his NFL career, but he needs this time
02:49where he's hanging out with Jim Harbaugh and he's under Justin Herbert
02:52and they're kind of teaching him how to do the NFL at a pace that
02:55he just didn't have before.
02:58I would rather Trey Lance than Anthony Richardson.
03:01This is where the conversation is.
03:03Trey Lance, who is a free agent this offseason, I would rather give him
03:07a one-year, $3 million deal to come in and compete
03:11with Shador.
03:12And again, they're different players, but they are guys that were overdrafted
03:16who had a limited amount of experience in college football.
03:20And even him, I think, and he's put in some work,
03:22but I think he's even a year or two away from legitimately saying,
03:25all right, the bird's cooked.
03:26Let's go see what we can do now.
03:27But he spent a year on the bench behind Dak in Dallas with Mike McCarthy.
03:31He spent a year on the bench behind Justin Herbert in L.A.
03:35I can at least tell you he sat on the bench for two years.
03:38And by the way...
03:39The game he got in, he looked awful.
03:41Well, yeah.
03:41That doesn't matter.
03:43If we're talking about less than 14 starts for either guy in the NFL,
03:47am I really going to say, well, Anthony Richardson's got like 12 starts.
03:51Trey Lance only has six.
03:53They both look better.
03:53Oh, no, no, no.
03:54I just meant the more recent one he got in this last season where you're like,
03:57well, how much did he learn with Jim Harbaugh?
03:59He looked horrendous.
04:00No, he did.
04:01And there's really no defense of what he's done on the field so far.
04:06But that continues to point how just ridiculous even the Malik Willis thing is.
04:10I mean, two good games.
04:12It's like, guys.
04:13Like, we're talking about such finite amount of information.
04:16And so, like, I don't...
04:19I would just not give anything up for Anthony Richardson.
04:22If he gets cut in Indy and you sign him as a free agent, I get it.
04:26But I do think that we're just starting...
04:29Well, it's just a fifth-round pick.
04:31No.
04:32Like, the flaw with the Browns and how their roster building is gone.
04:35And it's funny.
04:36I made the point this weekend on social media about, ultimately,
04:40Andrew Barry's inability to build a roster is, like, the most damning thing about him.
04:44And I think it was Xavier P said, well, but what about the defense?
04:47It's like, yeah, I understand he built a good defense.
04:51The problem is he has not consistently built things like depth
04:54and everything on the offensive side of the ball.
04:57And it's really easy just to say, hmm, Kevin Stefanski can't evaluate or help develop talent.
05:03Like, the Browns drafted, I think, four offensive linemen in six drafts for Andrew Barry.
05:09That's not enough.
05:11You need...
05:12Like, the reason why Green Bay, amongst other teams, can just habitually kick out guys like Rasheed Walker...
05:17Yeah, and like, in that, Whipler was a, what, seventh-round pick?
05:20A sixth-rounder.
05:21Six-rounder.
05:22And you get...
05:22And look at the value they've gotten out of that.
05:24But like, Rasheed Walker, seventh-round pick.
05:26Zach Tom was, I think, a seventh-round pick.
05:28Like, Sean Ryan was a third-round pick.
05:30Like, they just...
05:31You continue to take one to two offensive linemen a year, and that's where you need to be.
05:37I'm not willing to give up one of those potential guys for a year of Anthony Richardson to say,
05:43a year from now, hey, we tried it.
05:46Like, I still think Kenny Pickett for a fifth-round pick was a waste of a pick.
05:50Yeah.
05:51Because he didn't play a single damn down for you.
05:53Don't care that you then turned it into another fifth-round pick.
05:55You got it back, yeah.
05:56And then you turned it into...
05:57You got a little lucky there.
05:58Well, so that's kind of the weird thing, is it almost feels like sometimes with these guys...
06:01And maybe the Browns would be thinking about this, too.
06:03It's like, well, we turned...
06:04Anthony Richardson costs a fifth-round pick now, but after a year of him sitting,
06:08then another team is going to say, oh, wow, he really grew in Cleveland, didn't he?
06:11And we need a quarterback, and they're going to flip him for a spot like, I don't know,
06:1425 spots better and act as if they just won this big deal.
06:17They do a lot of that nonsense.
06:19They do.
06:19They do a lot of, like, hanging out with guys for a year just to try to win, like,
06:23a 20-spot increase in the draft.
06:25But, like, it's weird that we're in a spot where I don't really like Kyler Murray that much.
06:30And I feel like the safest...
06:32The outcome that's going to fill me with the least amount of what the hell are you doing
06:35is if Kyler Murray gives you a Russell Wilson kind of deal.
06:38At which point, by the way, the probability of him coming to Cleveland
06:41and you suddenly being a different organization or him being a different quarterback might be 25%.
06:46Yeah, I mean, he still doesn't have a playoff win.
06:48There's still...
06:48There's a lot to dislike as much as I like Kyler, but there's a lot to dislike about Kyler.
06:52But if he chooses you for $1 million, what's the harm there?
06:56And so, to draw it to the Russell Wilson conclusion, Russell Wilson versus Justin Fields.
07:03Now, Russ won, and then Russ went out there, and they had an okay season, whatever.
07:07But, like, because you were only paying Russell Wilson $1 million, you could then turn around
07:11and have him compete for the job, which I think for you makes sense because then you can see
07:16Kyler versus Shador and see where they go from there.
07:18Yeah, I just think...
07:19Well, I think Kyler...
07:20I think he's got enough options where, whether it's a team like the Jets or somebody else,
07:24I think he'd have, like, almost...
07:25Like, does Kyler get assurances he'd start week one if he signs there?
07:28I think he would.
07:29Where?
07:30Anywhere he chooses, yeah.
07:31I don't know.
07:33Here's the thing.
07:34He's been so under-talked about in all of this.
07:37I don't think anyone really knows what the market for Kyler is.
07:41People assume it's Minnesota.
07:43Minnesota's got multiple options because of Cousins and other guys like that.
07:47It would be funny if he ended up in Pittsburgh on a Russ deal just because...
07:51...at some point they would really start to...
07:54I mean, going from Russell Wilson to Aaron Rodgers to Kyler Murray would be a little fun.
07:57If Rodgers decides that he doesn't want to play, their plan right now is Will Howard.
08:01That's not a plan, friend.
08:03You've got to trade up and draft.
08:04As much as they want to tell you about Will Howard, that's not a plan.
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