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00:00Mary Kay was on Baskin and Phelps yesterday.
00:03Bombshell time from Mary Kay in it.
00:06They're making their decision based on who is going to give them the best chance to win games this season.
00:12And what they are seeing right now in practice and what I actually saw on the first day of voluntary
00:17minicamp
00:18that was open to the media was I saw what looked to me like a quality starting quarterback out there
00:24in Deshaun Watson.
00:25Someone who had done the job before, understand it, operated efficiently.
00:30He won day one.
00:31He came back on the days that were closed to us and he had ended up earning the starting reps.
00:37And he was going first based on what they had seen.
00:40What I've been hearing is that he emerged from that voluntary minicamp ahead of Shador Sanders.
00:46And at this point right now, he has the inside track to win the starting job.
00:50And I just tweeted after that, after I wrote that breaking news.
00:53After that, I just said, if that's going to be the case, then you might as well just go and
00:58declare him that sooner than later.
01:00Because they've got to get this first team offense working together.
01:03They cannot wait until the end of training camp to let those guys cook and get all their work together.
01:09It's got to start happening now if they want to look like a functional offense in 2026.
01:15That's Mary Kay on Baskin and Phelps should be on with us at 820 this morning.
01:18I don't like hearing it.
01:20Because I don't like hearing it don't mean it ain't true.
01:24It also helps that you and I predicted it.
01:26Did we not?
01:28I think a lot of people predicted it.
01:30So just hearing something that a lot of us predicted that would happen, it doesn't make it any better.
01:35But it's easier to take because he's the veteran.
01:40He's been playing in this league a long time.
01:42Damn near 10 years now.
01:43I know he's not played in this league a long time.
01:45But he's been in the league a long time.
01:47Damn near 10 years.
01:48He's the guy who's played in different offenses.
01:50And you can say that it was set up for failure for Shador.
01:54And I will listen to it all day long.
01:56Absolutely.
01:56But if that was set up for Shador last year to be a failure, then it's still going to affect
02:00him going into this year.
02:02There's a lot of catching up that he had to do.
02:04And there's a guy that's already had catch up.
02:05And there's also a guy that has also played at an all-pro level, albeit six freaking years ago.
02:11But that's what this quarterback room is right now.
02:14And so I'm not surprised at all that Deshaun Watson would be the leader in the clubhouse at all.
02:20I don't begrudge her for telling me bad news that I don't want to hear.
02:24I was a little stunned at the timing.
02:27Like, we've heard...
02:29I'm not.
02:29Well, here's why.
02:30Here's why.
02:31Because we've heard so much about Todd wants this settled by June.
02:36And I'm like, what's the rush?
02:39You've got a bad quarterback.
02:40I know what the rush is.
02:42On paper.
02:42I want to be fair to Shador.
02:44But on paper, if you just go by last year's numbers and by Deshaun Watson's numbers in Cleveland.
02:49That's fine.
02:49You've got what will be rated as one of the, out of 32 teams, 28th, 29th, 30th, 31th, 32th, quarterback
02:57room in the entire NFL.
02:58What is the rush to get that settled by June?
03:01I think that's the only thing that kind of surprises me.
03:03Well, I...
03:03Well, one, are you okay with Watson being the starter?
03:06I think we need to settle that.
03:07No, I don't love it.
03:08No, I don't...
03:08I don't love it either.
03:09But I'm okay with the reasoning if it's Todd Munkin making the call.
03:13Oh, so you just trust...
03:14You trust Todd right now even though he's never coached a football game.
03:16No, I trust...
03:17It's not that I trust him.
03:19I mean, I like Todd, but I can't sit there and trust him.
03:21He's never coached a football game.
03:22It's exactly what you said.
03:23But it goes to stand that the head coach of the football team would be the one making the decision.
03:28For all those reasons, you could see why he would probably want...
03:30He would probably want Deshaun Watson to be the starter to start off the year.
03:34He's got to win as soon as he can.
03:36And we could say whatever we want to about years past.
03:38It's a new offensive staff.
03:40Not just Todd Munkin.
03:42It's a new offensive staff with him.
03:43So, yeah, there's going to be people who definitely want the veteran to give them the best chance to win
03:47to start off the year.
03:48People want this thing to be earned.
03:50What has been earned?
03:52A couple of install days?
03:54Like, that's the only part of this.
03:56Like, I'm not crushing...
03:57I'm not crushing this.
03:58Her opinion is that she wants them to make this decision now.
04:03I disagree with that.
04:05But I think you do have to be in a hurry to make the decision because of what we dealt
04:09with last year in training camp
04:10where people are putting up the stupid completion percentages and things like that,
04:14which is dumb.
04:15And you know how dumb they are.
04:16And I'll continue to call them dumb.
04:18But either way, that's what they're trying to avoid.
04:21They don't want to have any of this crap going on.
04:23So, they're going to try to make their decision as soon as they can.
04:26Damn the torpedoes.
04:27I get that.
04:27But to say you have a quarterback competition and then to pronounce...
04:34And Mary Kay is reporting.
04:36I mean, I guarantee it.
04:37She talked to people in the organization and they told her flat out,
04:41here's the situation.
04:43It's just so early.
04:45It's just so early.
04:46And I would not lose sleep over this either.
04:49But it would just be common sense.
04:49And people do lose sleep over it.
04:51One.
04:52That the NFL veteran can pick up an offense faster than the rookie.
04:56Because there's so many things when it comes to the fan base.
04:58Again, I can see where he's at when it comes to the football team.
05:02But you and I are conduits to the fan base.
05:04And I can certainly see where the fan base is.
05:05We're there in a row going,
05:07I don't want this guy playing for this football team again.
05:09All he represents is bad memories for me of bad football.
05:13And the only time that I was excited was when he wasn't playing for this team.
05:17All he represents is bad trades to me.
05:19And bad memories where I'm trying to move forward.
05:21And then the other guy, who might be his backup in this scenario,
05:24has a very large fan base.
05:26Of course, they don't want to see it.
05:28So I'm not going to beat up Mary Kay for telling me bad news.
05:32Because I thought it was going to be the news we were going to get.
05:35How on earth could the guy who's been in the league nearly 10 years
05:37not be the leader?
05:39How on earth could that be possible?
05:41If he could walk and chew gum coming off the surgeries.
05:44And he can.
05:46That's what I'm saying.
05:48Deshaun Watson, the leader in the clubhouse,
05:50to be the quarterback for the Cleveland Browns.
05:52Get back to the Cavs in a halftime speech
05:54that changed this series coming up at 7.22 this morning.
05:59Also, Dave Jenkins, he is the Browns president.
06:02He is spearheading the new stadium with the Cleveland Browns.
06:07He'll join us.
06:07He's going to be on the show at 7.45 this morning.
06:10Also, Mary Kay will join us at 8.20.
06:12So Mary Kay had a report that sources telling her
06:16that Deshaun Watson is the leader to be the quarterback,
06:19starting quarterback for the Cleveland Browns.
06:21And you said you don't know the hurry.
06:24Because she says, name the starter now.
06:26I don't believe in naming the starter now.
06:28I don't.
06:29And by the way, they have not officially named this.
06:32So we want to just be clear.
06:33It's a report from Mary Kay.
06:34The report is that he's the leader to be the starter.
06:38Her opinion afterwards was that she believes
06:42they should just name him the starter now and move on.
06:45That's what she says.
06:46Watson is the leader in the clubhouse.
06:48Her opinion, though, is that they should name him the starter and move on.
06:51My opinion is that, no, there's no hurry to do so.
06:54So, and I want to keep, I don't know, okay?
07:01This part, I don't know.
07:02It seems that he would be a hard worker.
07:04I don't want to have a situation where he kind of goes south on me.
07:08I'm going to need, as of right now.
07:09You're saying Shador.
07:10Yes.
07:10As of right now, my quarterback room is four deep.
07:13I don't want to turn this into Shador goes or something like that.
07:16And I got to go with Dylan Gabriel.
07:17Like, Dylan Gabriel, to me, is the one on the way out the door.
07:20Not Shador Sanders.
07:23Talon Green brings in an interesting conversation, but that's for another day.
07:27So, this is my quarterback room until further notice.
07:31I got to leave that door open.
07:33I have to leave that door open.
07:35I totally understand why Deshaun Watson would be the leader.
07:40I think a lot of people can understand that.
07:43It's just that they don't want him to be the leader.
07:45They don't want him to be the starter.
07:47I mean, he hasn't played good, competent football.
07:50In six years.
07:53I mean, he really hasn't.
07:54Think about that, guys.
07:56Some of you folks have newborn children then, and they have never seen.
07:59My son's turning 70.
08:00He ain't never seen Deshaun Watson play good football.
08:02He doesn't remember him as a top five player?
08:05Top five quarterback?
08:05I mean, hell, you think about that time.
08:07We're talking about three presidential terms since he's played good football,
08:11for crying out loud.
08:12So, it ain't fun to talk about, and I only ask, if he's named the starter,
08:20are you okay with it?
08:22Because I think from a fan sense, I've seen nothing but people going,
08:26you got to be bleeping me.
08:28But I think from a lot of people, if they go, well, from a football sense,
08:32I guess I could kind of understand it.
08:34He has been a veteran, even though he's been pretty bad.
08:37Oh, yeah.
08:37It stands to reason he's going to pick up a playbook.
08:39He's had how many offensive coordinators?
08:41He's been around the league long enough.
08:43The practice stuff, like Deshaun, I know a couple of years ago,
08:47he looked very rough in practice.
08:48But I heard Jonathan and Coach Riz yesterday, man,
08:52they were at each other's throats over this.
08:55And, listen, as passionate as Jonathan was, and obviously he has –
08:59I love the segment.
09:00He has Shador's stock that he is holding that he thinks is very valuable.
09:05You know, Lance kept going over it.
09:07And it's like, but Todd Munkin doesn't care about last year.
09:11He doesn't care about how bad Deshaun Watson's looked in games.
09:14Maybe Andrew Barry cares.
09:15And so, do you want Andrew Barry to medal?
09:18Do you want management to step in and say, no, here's the game film?
09:21Like, Todd's seen all that.
09:22I do always reference it was just a half of football,
09:26but Todd was on the sidelines as the offensive –
09:29we're up in the booth as the offensive coordinator for the Ravens
09:33when Deshaun Watson had his best half of football.
09:36Well, there could be enough there.
09:37That's silly.
09:38I don't think that has predetermined anything.
09:39That's not the reason why you wouldn't start him.
09:41But here's what I will say.
09:43So, Shador fans that are listening that thought this would be some sort of
09:47pep rally that it's not your guy because you think everybody is out to get him.
09:52I will say this, and I'm being dead honest.
09:55And I tweeted out yesterday that I thought this was a win-win for Shador.
09:58And I know it's weird to hear that when he's –
10:01it looks like he's going to have an uphill battle
10:03to try to seize control of a starting job.
10:06And, you know, you were going into the season going,
10:08hey, we got all these weapons.
10:09We got this rebuild offensive line, this retooled.
10:11Like, all right, let's see Shador with all these guys.
10:14I'm just saying this is not the end of the world.
10:17I think this could be a win-win, and here's how.
10:19Obviously, I have said all along that, hey, maybe it's for the better
10:25that somebody who was a fifth-round pick
10:27and there were so many moving parts last year
10:30and now you got a new coach, a lot of tumult, a lot has been said
10:34that let's let things slow down a little bit here.
10:38All right, most fifth-round draft picks,
10:40regardless of whether you believe you ever should have been drafted there
10:43and had the talent to be drafted there,
10:46most fifth-round picks do not in year two get,
10:50hey, you're the starter.
10:52Boom, here's the football.
10:53I understand that.
10:53Here, act like a starting quarterback.
10:55So this is a rarity to begin with.
10:57The set of circumstances for that to begin with.
10:59But if you were dropping in, I'm sorry,
11:02but if you were dropping in as a non-Browns fan,
11:04say you are one of the Shador fans, the Shadorians,
11:08that are just here for him, I think it would be,
11:13as an outsider, I think it would be pretty ridiculous
11:15that you took Dylan Gabriel.
11:16Now, as a football person or a football fan,
11:18I'm like, why did you take Dylan Gabriel in the third round?
11:20Bad pick.
11:21Didn't make any sense.
11:22I don't care that so-and-so was, another team was willing to take him in the fourth round.
11:25That didn't wash compared to what we saw.
11:28But that you took him behind him, fine.
11:30But that you had a guy who's clearly more capable in Shador Sanders,
11:37physically capable, than Dylan Gabriel behind him.
11:40And then you have more of this.
11:41I think it would suffice to say that you would be pretty frustrated over that scenario
11:45and think that this is just the blind leading the blind,
11:48which I would say to all of them,
11:49hey, welcome to Cleveland Browns football over the last 26 years.
11:52Like, this is not exactly how things work out with the best possibilities here.
11:57When it comes to Deshaun Watson,
11:59hey, man, like, I'm not happy saying it, the bad news.
12:03I think a lot of people just want him to go away.
12:05A lot of people just want to be done with this era of Deshaun Watson being with the Cleveland Browns,
12:09and they want to move forward with it.
12:11I mean, there's a lot of people looking at him as possibly gumming up the works.
12:14There's people who don't think that any of the quarterbacks are any good for this team,
12:18and that all he could do is gum up the works for the real quarterback to come here in 2027.
12:22I think it's way premature to say that.
12:24If you got your heart set on one of them guys,
12:27you got to let the season play out first,
12:29because I still think you're probably too talented with too much of a roster that's better for you
12:32to be in that number one spot to get the pick of the litter.
12:35So there's things that got to play out before we go to that.
12:37But it's just, you know, man,
12:39you know it's a downer.
12:40You know it's a downer.
12:41Some of the stuff about Shador ain't so much fun when people start getting in your mentions,
12:44but the whole Watson era has been nothing but a downer.
12:47But what I'm getting at is,
12:49I actually think this can turn out to be a really good thing for Shador.
12:53How?
12:53Three different reasons.
12:54One is,
12:57knowing that,
12:58knowing that,
13:00like,
13:00you always want Shador to act like a starting quarterback,
13:04to act,
13:04you want all the backups to act,
13:05because at any moment,
13:07you're going to get the chance, right?
13:08So for him to be able to,
13:12you know,
13:12have a little bit of clarity,
13:14if that is the case,
13:15Mary Kay's reporting,
13:16but to have that clarity,
13:18have a goal in mind,
13:20and have a chip on your shoulder,
13:22and also have time,
13:24because last year,
13:25the game was a little too fast for him.
13:26He made some amazing plays,
13:28but let's be honest,
13:29like,
13:29the game was just some of the back-breaking,
13:32all-time bad interceptions that he was throwing,
13:34not seeing the field,
13:35not processing,
13:36which is common with rookie quarterbacks.
13:38That's not,
13:39that's not some slight against Shador and his work ethic,
13:41or anything like that.
13:42He's a rookie quarterback,
13:44who is not going to be able to read defenses.
13:46Like,
13:46100% of rookie quarterbacks.
13:48Even the ones that have success are like,
13:50well,
13:50some of that was luck.
13:51Like,
13:51year two,
13:52when people get tape on you,
13:53and all that stuff.
13:54So,
13:55the ability to kind of sit back,
13:58learn a new coach,
14:00a new offense,
14:01new terminology,
14:03this is what Coach Riz was talking about yesterday.
14:05I said that to you yesterday,
14:06or last week,
14:06you didn't agree with me.
14:07I said that to you last week.
14:08I said all that stuff was vital.
14:09What do you mean?
14:10I said it.
14:11When I said it.
14:11I said I think it might be advantageous for him to come off the bench.
14:14Was I hosting with somebody else?
14:16We have clips that were produced.
14:17Was I hosting with somebody else?
14:18Because I said,
14:18could it possibly be a good thing for Shador?
14:20I do think.
14:21That he is the number two quarterback.
14:24That it could be a possibly good thing for him.
14:26And I thought he disagreed with me.
14:28I thought you disagreed with me.
14:30I think this could actually turn out to be a better situation.
14:33Because also,
14:34if you don't believe in Deshaun Watson,
14:36which I think 98% of Browns fans don't believe in Deshaun.
14:40Maybe it's 100.
14:41I don't know.
14:42Most people don't really believe in him.
14:43Then Shador is going to get a crack at this.
14:46And he will have had time to learn as a second year player in this league.
14:51And get some more seasoning under his belt.
14:54And have a real training camp, by the way.
14:56Might have been a guest.
14:57Where he's not the...
14:58Trying to think about it.
14:58Where he's not the four-stringer.
15:00And look, last year, let's be honest with how everything played out.
15:04You might not have loved the fact that he was the four-string quarterback.
15:07But he also did not ascend on his own.
15:10Things were kind of gifted to him last year.
15:12Dylan Gabriel didn't get hurt.
15:14Yeah, Dylan Gabriel got hurt.
15:15Joe Flacco got traded.
15:17And Kenny Pickett got traded.
15:18That's true.
15:19So, it's not like Shador ever earned the starting job last year.
15:23It was kind of given to him.
15:24Which is fine.
15:25That happens sometimes.
15:26Gardner Minshew.
15:27I bring him up all the time.
15:28I would have rather have Shador than any of the other slops that he ended up having.
15:31He earned the retention of the job.
15:33They brought him in and he wasn't...
15:34By the numbers, he technically didn't.
15:36I mean, numbers would state that he's a guy that gets back.
15:38I don't know.
15:38When people sit there and they throw the numbers in my face...
15:40Well, they would have just brought Dylan Gabriel back in then.
15:42Because Dylan Gabriel was not...
15:43He wasn't out the whole season.
15:45But that's what I mean.
15:46But his numbers were far better, Anthony.
15:47His numbers were supposedly far better.
15:49They weren't far better.
15:50So, that's why I tell people...
15:51What numbers do you have that say that he was far better?
15:53When I get thrown in my face by people who hate Shador...
15:55By the analytics, they were not far better.
15:56When I get thrown in my face by people who hate Shador, how can you make an argument for
16:00a guy who had 10 interceptions opposed to, I think, 7 touchdowns?
16:03When another guy threw 7 touchdowns and only 2 picks and I go, I don't know what game
16:07you're watching.
16:07I think you should go watch one quarter of each quarterback and tell me which quarterback you think
16:11is good.
16:12You could say neither of them are Hall of Famers, but one is better and that's Shador Sanders
16:15for crying out loud.
16:16I am with you.
16:16Yeah, Shador brought some big play potential that was there.
16:20He did a great job of scrambling, getting out of harm's way.
16:24But the football stuff, this sitting in the pocket, diagnosing defenses like most rookies,
16:30he failed.
16:31He was really bad.
16:32He was one of the worst quarterbacks in the last five years by almost every metric in that.
16:36And I'm not even begrudging that.
16:37The people around him, the prep early in the season, the four-string stuff, none of that
16:44adequately prepared Shador to have the job.
16:48And I'm saying this offseason and now training camp and all that stuff as we get closer to
16:54football and into July and early August, he's going to have that.
16:58He's going to have fair opportunity to be treated like a normal quarterback in the NFL or maybe
17:04a normal backup quarterback in the NFL and everything we know about this league and Deshaun
17:09Watson of the last six years tells us he's going to get a shot.
17:12This isn't curtains for Shador Sanders.
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