00:00Todd Munkin was on the station today, Brown's head coach.
00:03Ken and Anthony had him in studio, 35 minutes, if you missed a second of it.
00:0892.3 The Fan's YouTube channel.
00:10Why did he say Tom Crean's name that way?
00:11Crean?
00:12Yeah.
00:12I don't know.
00:13It really threw me off.
00:15Great story.
00:16Yeah, no, great story, but you can't butcher your friend's last name like that.
00:20And the whole point of the story is that he got you the job with the Ravens.
00:24Like the whole, it was a great story.
00:26All the networking and connections that he's done in life,
00:28and ultimately it turned out to Tom Crean being married to a Harbaugh
00:32and being friends with a Georgia basketball coach, and that's what happened.
00:35His wife is the one that got him that job.
00:37But he kept saying it Crean in a way that just threw me way off.
00:40Do you think maybe he says it Crean instead of Crean?
00:44Is he just going to butcher everyone's names until the end of time?
00:46Is that what this is a setup for?
00:47He's going to fit right in if he does.
00:49Is he going to start going like, yeah.
00:50Or maybe was he pandering to Ken because Ken can't get Casey Concepcion right?
00:54Hey, that great play from Miles Garrett.
00:57Is that what we're setting up for?
01:01It threw me way off to the point where I was like,
01:04have I been saying Tom Crean's name wrong for as long as I've said Tom Crean's name?
01:08But I know that's just fundamentally not true.
01:10Yeah, short answer, no.
01:11No, that was on Munkin.
01:13That was a great story.
01:13And he owns that.
01:14That was a great story, though.
01:15I think a lot of people really enjoyed Munkin being in studio today.
01:17I know I certainly did.
01:18I will tell you.
01:20Hey, you're not Kevin Stefanski.
01:23Boy, did I see a lot of that on social media today.
01:25Yeah, there was a lot of that.
01:26By the way, I don't know that that will stay refreshing for the next like three years.
01:31I don't know.
01:32It might age incredibly poor.
01:34But for today, it did feel really nice to have him in there because we've had Stefanski
01:37on the morning show.
01:38We've had Stefanski on this show.
01:40And anytime Stefanski's on either one of those shows, it's a press conference.
01:44Unless you got him on Pearl Jam, which I've done multiple times.
01:47He loves the Pearl Jam.
01:48Trump.
01:49I'm not doing it on purpose, guys.
01:51It starts happening, and it just kind of goes there.
01:55I can't help it.
01:56Yeah, well, one would suggest you could.
01:59Once I realize I'm in it, I bail as soon as I possibly can.
02:03Now, this being said, Todd Munkin, obviously the news of the week was Mary Kay Cabot's report
02:09that Deshaun Watson is ahead of Shador in the Browns quarterback battle.
02:16So, and does this, Mac, forgive me if you don't know, does this have actually the question?
02:21Because I think the question that he's being asked does really matter.
02:25Okay, so, because I don't know if this has the question in front of it.
02:29The question was basically, do you want to have a quarterback, a number one quarterback
02:35named before training camp, this was not, is Deshaun Watson ahead of Shador Sanders in
02:42the quarterback derby?
02:43I would love to have that.
02:45I'm not there yet, so I can't say that.
02:47We still have.
02:48We've been on the field three practices, which was awesome.
02:52It's always changing based on what you see.
02:56I don't have a history with any of our players.
02:58At the point is, what I've seen after three days, okay, that gives us a little bit of a
03:0240,000-foot view of where we're at.
03:04But that can change.
03:07All right, so I think people took this a lot of different ways, including throwing this
03:13somehow at Mary Kay for her report.
03:16I think the question matters incredibly a lot.
03:20Like, this is, he's talking about wanting to have something done, you know, six weeks,
03:25seven weeks, eight weeks from now, not where they are now.
03:28And I think that's a huge distinction.
03:29The only question that wasn't asked that I really would have loved to hear an answer to
03:33today is, is Deshaun Watson ahead of Shador Sanders in the quarterback battle?
03:37Yeah, just like a direct, straight up, like, is he ahead of him?
03:39And I think what the morning show was probably just satisfied with is the idea that he didn't
03:44say definitively that it was, I guess it would have been better news if he was like, yeah,
03:49Deshaun is ahead of him.
03:50But he didn't want to put anything in cement.
03:52And my takeaway on it was simple.
03:54It was the idea that Munkin's not stupid in this.
03:58Like, one of the things I was railing on Wednesday was the idea that it had been three install
04:03practices.
04:04That's not nearly enough.
04:05And the idea that he goes right back to the idea of like, yeah, three practices aren't
04:08enough.
04:08If it's still a fight, at least he started to sell it that way.
04:12Whereas the report didn't suggest that.
04:13Well, so there's the report, which is Deshaun is ahead of Shador.
04:18And then there, then there is Mary Kay's opinion that she thinks if Deshaun is the, in the leader
04:24spot, that Todd Munkin should just name him the starting quarterback as soon as humanly
04:28possible.
04:29I treated those as two separate things.
04:31One was a report and one was kind of her opinion on the matter.
04:35For sure.
04:35She's entitled to both, by the way.
04:37But like, I looked at this and it's, I saw a lot of people being like, you know, a lot
04:43of people being like, oh, the quarterback derby is still open.
04:46I never considered the matter closed.
04:48Whether Deshaun is ahead of Shador or not.
04:51I took, I took Mary Kay's reporting on it more than I took Munkin sitting up here and
04:54talking about it.
04:56Oh, I, I, I, I take either with a certain grain of salt because of the time of year.
05:00Well, I mean, I look at it like, I don't know who Mary Kay's sources are, where she gets
05:04her information from, but I would imagine it's not Todd Munkin.
05:07But even if it is, whatever, I, I tend to think that is coming from the person that's actually
05:10making the decision though.
05:11So whether that's Haslam, whether that's Barry, I don't know, but I, I've never believed
05:15that Todd Munkin is going to have the final say in this anyway.
05:17And so like Todd Munkin could go in here and tell you anything he wants.
05:20I think Todd Munkin is going to be under the impression that he's going to have the final
05:23say in it, but I don't think he does.
05:24And so ultimately it's nice to hear from Todd Munkin.
05:27It's nice to hear that he thinks that it's open.
05:29I don't think he's going to get the call at the end of the day.
05:31Why not?
05:31I just think it's going to be Haslam or it's going to be Andrew Barry.
05:34It's going to be somebody that has already been making these calls the entire time.
05:37I don't think it's an accident that last year before the season got underway,
05:39Jimmy Haslam was the only person saying both rookie quarterbacks are going to play.
05:43And then ultimately both rookie quarterbacks ended up playing.
05:45Like, I just, I feel like there's a setup here that kind of squeezes Munkin out of this
05:52decision.
05:52And maybe I'll end up being wrong on that.
05:54But when it comes down to my feeling on it right now, it just, I don't think it's his
05:58call.
05:58I would be very surprised if it wasn't.
06:01I think in the exit of Paul D.
06:03Podesta and the exit of Kevin Stefanski, I think in the wake of that, I think there was maybe
06:09a little tallying of where the organization got off track in the last six years, more
06:13specifically the last two years.
06:16I don't think Todd Munkin single-handedly picked players in this draft.
06:21Do I think they leaned heavily on this offensive staff to pick Denzel Boston and Concepcion?
06:26Yeah.
06:27I think if there was a different head coach, I don't know that Casey Concepcion would be
06:31here right now because I think the Zay Flowers thing carried a lot of weight with Munkin and
06:35of course the front office.
06:36I mean, he did say, whether we agree with it or not, but he did say, like they said,
06:40hey, we're five picks out, what do you think?
06:42And that was kind of like the process that they went through.
06:44Yeah.
06:44So I do think, like I think Todd Munkin, in taking ownership of this offense, I would
06:51be shocked.
06:52Now, do I think there are...
06:54I think he's got a voice.
06:54Do I...
06:55Well, I think he's got the voice.
06:56I just don't think he's the...
06:57No, I don't think he's the end result.
06:57I think they know they can't put out, no matter who's the quarterback, they can't put out a
07:02non-functional offense again.
07:04And I think there is a...
07:06I don't want to say a hint of desperation.
07:07You should be desperate.
07:08Your offense has been hot trash the last two years.
07:12I think it is Munkin's decision because I think they realized part of the...
07:17whatever committee they've had, it has value.
07:19The committee can still exist.
07:21Do you mean the thought partners?
07:22Yes, the thought partners.
07:24But the guy calling the plays, the guy leading this thing should have considerable more say
07:29in fixing the offense.
07:29If I was running the team, that's how it would be.
07:31If I was...
07:33If I had the setup that I could dream of, it would be where the head coach gets to make
07:36the decision on all these things.
07:37I just don't know that that's happening here right now.
07:39And so, listen, it's nice that Munkin comes on and says what he has to say.
07:43I just...
07:44If you're asking me who do I think, at the end of the day, makes the decision, I think
07:47it's a group.
07:48I think it's Haslam.
07:49I think Barry.
07:50And I think Munkin's got a seat at that table.
07:51But ultimately, I don't think he wins the vote.
07:54So just watching...
07:55Sorry, sorry.
07:55Just trying to parse through here.
07:57That means that if Deshaun Watson starts week one, you will believe that is not a Todd
08:02Munkin decision.
08:03That he was outruled.
08:04I don't know whether it's Deshaun or whether it's even Shador.
08:07I just don't know.
08:08I'm not giving it to Munkin to say that that's his decision unequivocally.
08:12So there's nothing that can happen that will prove by week one that Munkin made the decision?
08:17Not the way that this setup is currently.
08:18And not the way that the GM and the owner have had their hands in the pot for as long
08:22as they
08:22have.
08:22I don't know how anyone listening could just fall in love with the idea that Munkin even
08:26gets any of these says or any of these decisions.
08:28I'd love to think something's changed.
08:29Until I have evidence and proof that it has, how do I believe in it?
08:32I guess my thing is I don't believe Kevin Stefanski was a bystander in all that.
08:37I always thought that was a very pro-Stefanski way of looking at things.
08:41I think Kevin Stefanski had way more say in who was here and who wasn't.
08:46And he has way more to do with the offensive failure of the last two years than anyone.
08:51Listen, I don't think he fired Alex Van Pelt.
08:53That doesn't mean he wasn't the guy to hire Ken Dorsey.
08:56I don't think he was a guy that fired AVP, right?
09:00Or no, sorry.
09:00I don't think he was a guy that came up with the idea to trade for Deshaun Watson.
09:03He also didn't stand in front of the tracks and say, over my dead body.
09:07So I think, quite frankly, I think Kevin had way more power in this thing than anyone might realize.
09:17I think the national media did him a lot of favors with how things were framed.
09:21And I think Todd Munkin has a lot of say in this as well.
09:24And by the way, I think he might have more than Kevin.
09:27I think they realized that the too many cooks in the kitchen thing.
09:31That'd be really sad for Stefanski if after six years and playoff appearances, etc.,
09:36that Todd Munkin at 59 years old, who never had the job, would have more power than he did.
09:40I mean, that would be a...
09:42If I was Stefanski, I'd probably be pissed about it.
09:44But it would show growth on their end.
09:45It'd show something like, all right, we messed this up with Stefanski.
09:48Our collaborative nature, our thought partners, we need to do this right and different.
09:52I just have no proof that that's true as of right now.
09:55So I just got to hang out for a little bit and see if it ultimately ends up being that
09:57way.
09:58Ultimately, I've listened to all the press conferences.
10:01You've listened to all the press conferences.
10:03There's a part of me that doesn't believe Todd Munkin would be here if he was just a patsy along
10:09for the ride.
10:10Or if he didn't have say.
10:11Like, I have no doubt that in their conversations when they were trying to hire him
10:16or trying to figure out who was going to be the head coach,
10:17I have no doubt that they went over his thoughts on Deshaun, on Shador, on Dylan, on this quarterback class.
10:24We know they did.
10:24They had a whole questionnaire attached to all of this.
10:26But I think they weren't just pumping him for information.
10:30He was also trying to prod for what his role is going to be.
10:35I don't think he would have taken this job if he was going to be that.
10:37Yeah, we disagree on that.
10:38We have for a while.
10:39And that's fine.
10:40The way I look at it, he's 59 years old.
10:42He's never been offered a head coaching job.
10:43And I feel like this is, in order to get the head coaching job, this is what he had to
10:47do.
10:48I agree with you that there were sacrifices.
10:52There were compromises that he would probably have to make to get this job.
10:56I think anyone who comes into this circumstance has to.
11:00But I don't think he's Oliver Twist asking for more.
11:03I think he had more power in this.
11:07Because I do think there's a part of Todd Munkin that if he didn't like what he would have heard,
11:10he would just be the OC in New York right now.
11:12The way I see it, I think there's a reason why Sheilhaus and Udinski pulled out the way that they
11:15did.
11:16I think there's a reason why Mike McDaniel pulled out the way that he did.
11:18I think there's something that comes with the Browns in this job.
11:21That is, there's a lot of cooks in that kitchen.
11:23There's a lot of people that have power that are going to have the final say.
11:27And they're going to have the ability to voice that opinion.
11:28And you have to, you have to get along with that.
11:31And there's, that's what makes the Browns job so not appetizing to a lot of people relative to other spots
11:37across the league.
11:37I'm not saying that there aren't, there's not different, there's not a different setup here than, say, Green Bay.
11:43I think the most over-reported thing in the world, or the most over-harped on thing in this entire
11:50scenario is,
11:51do I think there are too many cooks in the kitchen?
11:53Yes.
11:54But I think that's half of the NFL.
11:56I think this idea that Cleveland is the only place where there's a lot of input,
12:00where you've got this huge front office, where there's a lot of ownership input.
12:04Jimmy's not alone, but we know the teams that are that way.
12:06I think the Browns get hammered for that more than any other organization.
12:10I'll tell you right now.
12:11Jerry Jones and the Cowboys get hammered all the time for that.
12:13Dave Tepper.
12:13I know the Pagoulas have their hands in different things.
12:17Like, Amy Adams-Trunk.
12:19Even Bishotti.
12:20Like, we don't talk nearly enough about that, how crazy involved he is.
12:23Like, there's a lot of owners that have that.
12:25And that is a part of what they come with.
12:27But there's, we know the teams that are that and ones that aren't.
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