00:00Mary Kay Cabot, Browns are restructuring Sean Watson's contract today to reduce his $81 million cap charge
00:07so they have the flexibility to sign free agents, make trades, league sources tell, cleveland.com.
00:13There you go.
00:15Which I'm glad we talked about earlier this morning, Daryl, because at first blush you went,
00:19no, and then I'm like, no, Daryl, you make a lot of sense.
00:22I almost made you grumpy this morning when I brought that up.
00:24No, it was great. It was great.
00:25I wish I would have had the good common sense to think about.
00:29Explain it to everybody again. It's not a bad thing.
00:32I know it seems like, oh, we're just kicking the can down the river on this terrible deal.
00:36Tell everybody why it's not a bad thing.
00:38It's just their way of working their way out of this contract.
00:41This is the last year the Browns have to pay Deshaun Watson any money, okay, $46 million.
00:47They're going to convert most of that, likely all but the league minimum salary into a signing bonus
00:55that allows them to lower his salary cap figure should open up north of $30 million in salary cap space
01:01for them.
01:02By doing so, he has a dummy year on his contract for 2027 for the league minimum as well.
01:09That's not guaranteed.
01:10He's not going to see that money.
01:11That's only there so that they can post June 1 cut him this time next year and then split his
01:21remaining cap charges over the 2027 and 28 cap years.
01:27So, this isn't a surprise.
01:30Nobody needs to freak out over this.
01:32This is just managing the salary cap and what the Browns have to do to help them hit the eject
01:38button on that contract and get out of it.
01:40But he'll technically be on the Browns' salary cap books through 2028.
01:45But they won't have to pay him after this year.
01:50So, it's over.
01:51We're finally getting a way out here.
01:54Slowly but surely, easing our way out of this thing.
01:58I don't know that you can say it's over because he's going to be on the roster still.
02:01And it's a constant reminder of what was.
02:04A constant reminder.
02:11You're going to see him every chance they get a chance to show him.
02:14You're going to see him.
02:14Well, if he does, if this competition goes as we fear it's going to go with him looking great in
02:24the drills in the offseason here
02:25and doing the Instagram modeling during practice and he's going to be your week one starter.
02:32He won't be your week 17 starter, that's for sure.
02:35But, yeah, they just have to kind of, you know, suck it up and deal with it.
02:41216-474-0092.
02:42Okay, so, um, that's not that bad.
02:48No, they're going to, that's not that bad.
02:50This allows them.
02:52That's not that bad.
02:53We're okay.
02:53Yeah, this is all procedural.
02:55This, you know, this is so they can go out and do business Monday starting at noon.
02:59And whether it's making trades, whether it's coming to terms on contracts with free agents, like, they had to do
03:07this.
03:08This is all procedural again.
03:09This is no reason for, I remember when they put the dummy year on his contract for 27, that league
03:15minimum, everyone lost their mind.
03:18Like, they, you know, committed to a whole other year of this guy, and that's not what happened.
03:23That's the way it goes.
03:23But it goes back to what we were talking about with Nathan.
03:26Nathan, if you do end up taking a QB, uh, if you'll go out and get a veteran or you
03:32go out and get the draft, the two guys who were rookies last year, they're the odd men out.
03:35Yeah.
03:37Oh, 100%.
03:37It keeps Deshaun Watson.
03:38100%.
03:38Yeah, so, uh, he's here no matter what.
03:41And I, I'm not trying to scare anybody, but I think we need to be open to it.
03:46Like, I'm going to have some fun with Nick's going to get really mad at me.
03:49I just had some fun with him online.
03:50Go ahead.
03:50What were you going to say?
03:51Uh, he basically would be your bridge quarterback to the next guy.
03:55A $46 million bridge quarterback.
03:58The most expensive bridge quarterback of all time.
03:59We talked about that early.
04:00Daryl, you, me, Lima.
04:02We talked about that earlier last year because we look at bridge, bridge, bridge, bridge.
04:06It's like your bridge is right here.
04:07He's just a very expensive bridge that nobody really wants to drive over.
04:12So, but we have to be brutally honest about this.
04:14Now, I just had some fun at Nick's expense because two weeks ago he was kicking around
04:18considering Deshaun Watson starting the year, which they threw that audio in his face yesterday.
04:23And then he said, I don't want any part of it.
04:25No part of it whatsoever.
04:26All right.
04:27Well, two weeks can change a lot.
04:29Apparently we have to be open to it because the difference is, and damn it, I told you guys,
04:37Kevin Stefanski, everybody hates him, I know.
04:40But your best friend in this situation was going to be Kevin.
04:44Now you got a new head coach, and your new head coach isn't some 30-year-old.
04:47He's 60.
04:48This is his first head coaching job.
04:50It might be his only head coaching job.
04:52So he's going to go right to it of who helps him win.
04:54And if it starts in OTAs, and I'm not trying to scare anybody, I want Shador to start.
05:00As long as we have it as it is right now, I want Shador to start.
05:04But if Deshaun Watson goes out there with the benefit of experience, the benefit of having
05:10played at a high level, and boy, that was six years ago, guys.
05:12I understand that.
05:13Having played at a very high level in the NFL at one point, having the benefit of knowing
05:19offenses a little bit better because he's been in the league more.
05:22He is, I think he's physically, even with the injuries, he's bigger, he's faster, he's
05:28stronger.
05:29He is a guy that can be more mobile.
05:32Now I haven't, I have seen him, I haven't seen him in obviously a football setting, but
05:37I've seen him working out.
05:38I've seen him on the field doing drills in person, not just on Instagram.
05:43I think that he has those benefits.
05:46I think that he has those advantages over Shador Sanders.
05:49I want Shador Sanders to start.
05:51I think that the Browns would probably want Shador Sanders to start.
05:55But if Todd Munkin breaks it down, you're going to have to look everybody dead in the
05:58eye.
05:58And if he says it where one guy's, he thinks one guy's going to give him the opportunity
06:03to win football games, your job is to those players.
06:06Because it's going to be very, you're going to put Todd Munkin in a very difficult position.
06:09This is where a lot of pressure is on Shador this offseason.
06:12You have to come back to, you have to come back.
06:14He's been in camp, or he's been in town, by the way.
06:16That's a very good thing.
06:17Again, he has to be here gangbusters in OTA because they can't look at it.
06:23And if Shador Sanders is worse than Deshaun Watson, you can't look at it and still take
06:29Shador Sanders because you can't lie to the guys in the locker room.
06:32Yeah, 100%.
06:33He's got to get into the playbook once he's allowed to get that in April.
06:37He's got to learn it quickly.
06:38He's got to be able to show that come May and June when they get on the field that he
06:42can execute the concept.
06:43You have avoided the truth before when it comes to quarterbacks.
06:47You did that before with Brian Hoyer.
06:48I think you did that before even this last year.
06:50You have avoided the truth, and it has cost you with players in your locker room.
06:54You can go ahead and do it again.
06:55You've proved you've done it again, but you're not going to get anywhere this year.
06:58And it's going to end up costing Todd Munkin, and it's going to end up costing Todd Munkin
07:02the relationship with his players.
07:03Todd Munkin has to do what's best for the players.
07:05And you and I can sit there and say, BS, don't care, don't like him, don't play him.
07:09I ain't playing for the Browns.
07:11You ain't playing for the Browns, and he ain't to care about Kenny and Daryl and Lima
07:16and Nick and Jonathan's upsetting conversations that they've had to have over the last five
07:21years of this guy.
07:22He don't care about any of that.
07:24He's got to put the best guy on the field because he owes it to the other 52 guys that
07:28are on the field because it's a job, and their job is to go out there and try to win.
07:32So no matter what I want to say, no matter how much I might have against the idea of it,
07:36it has to be considered.
07:38Big thanks to everybody who joined us on the show today.
07:40Nathan Zaguro was excellent.
07:43I want to, sue me, I want to get some calls, and I want to get the fans in on
07:46the fan, Owen.
07:47And there you were.
07:48You know, by this time last year, we at least had a legitimate, they should take Jack's
07:52dark call.
07:53We have not gotten that for Ty Simpson.
07:56That's true.
07:57That one guy was adamant.
07:58He looks pretty good.
07:59Now, gosh, I wish I remember who that guy was.
Comments