00:00Some of the takeaways, not all the takeaways, which I think we can get to here.
00:03Yeah.
00:03Some of the takeaways are that Deshaun Watson looked like 2022 Deshaun Watson.
00:10We're talking the training camp version of him, not the regular season version of him,
00:13but that he looked in fine form.
00:15Some are saying on the Browns beat, this is the best he's looked in a Browns uniform.
00:22So we got that going for us.
00:24Which I guess is nice.
00:25I still am an extremely skeptical person when it comes to the Deshaun Watson everything.
00:31I just have such a hard time believing that we all of a sudden, the light bulb went on
00:36and we have this great version of Deshaun.
00:38So until I see it with my own two eyes, I'm not buying into anything that's happening at
00:42training camp at the moment.
00:43You've been very astute to point out him being healthy now doesn't mean he can stay healthy.
00:47So that's one of the biggest concerns I have.
00:50One thought there.
00:50Here's the other.
00:51Him simply looking better than 2023 and 2024 doesn't mean he actually looks all that good.
00:58It also doesn't take away the biggest problem I have outside of the health and outside of
01:01the idea that when we saw him on the field, he stuck, but kind of in that second vein,
01:05the idea that I made this analogy before when it comes to being a golfer, right?
01:10A golfer that's on the range and just stripes ball after ball after ball.
01:14And then you get on the course and you know, there's a little bit more pressure attached to
01:17playing on the course.
01:18And all of a sudden he's shanking balls left and right and doing like Deshaun is facing
01:22no pressure in this.
01:23This is not the miles Garrett's not even in attendance.
01:26He's taking on a lot of guys that won't be playing on Sundays, but also doing so with
01:31no pressure.
01:31And like the concern I have for Deshaun is what happens when the game speeds up, what happens
01:36when he's actually in game settings, because in game settings, he's been a different guy
01:39than what we've seen historically in practices.
01:41Yeah.
01:41I mean, I still think there's a world in which the Browns are utilizing Deshaun being
01:46a veteran and having natural advantages of having been in roughly 10 camps to apply pressure
01:53to Shador, because I do think something, I know you heard it and I heard it.
01:58There weren't 53 guys in love with Shador at the end of the season.
02:02That does not mean that the locker room is against him, but not everyone in that locker
02:08room was built or was bought all the way in on Shador.
02:12What's the way that you get Shador to grab hold of the locker room?
02:18You make him earn it and then some.
02:20So I still think there's a world in which, because it's so early that that is part of
02:23the possibility.
02:24I also think that, you know, every day goes by that Deshaun gets a little bit more, a little
02:31bit more love from the media and what they're seeing.
02:34Yeah.
02:35It is mini camps.
02:37You do have to take it with a grain of salt.
02:39But if the Browns are giving him preferential one treatment, then that is saying that that
02:44is where they are right now with Deshaun.
02:46You can't ignore that.
02:47Like they're not, they're not just doing this for love of the game or for playing games.
02:51No, they're serious about it.
02:52And so, again, like I wouldn't do it, but if, if he does it, it like there can't be
02:59an in-between here with, with Deshaun.
03:01He's got to look really good.
03:02And I think, you know, I think there's this idea of, well, they've, they've kind of
03:07quarterback proof this.
03:08So Deshaun doesn't have to elevate his team.
03:11Yeah.
03:11The standard for Shador and what I think fans would accept from Shador as acceptable
03:16versus Deshaun are two different things.
03:19Doesn't mean that's fair by the way, but I do think like,
03:23I think if, if Shador was the 16th best quarterback in the NFL, it would be, you know,
03:28Oh, huge success.
03:29If Deshaun is, we go back to that price tag.
03:32We go back to the last four years and go, why are we doing this?
03:34Well, and also then it's like, well, wait, so we're not going to pay him again to be
03:37the 16th best quarterback.
03:38We don't know what the end result is there.
03:40And so I don't know.
03:41I just, I, I'm at a spot where I, first off, it's even confusing as to what's coming out
03:45of Berea.
03:45All these clips look great.
03:47Zach Jackson says he throws great passes to then throw passes that miss receivers by a
03:51country mile.
03:52It feels like these incredible highlight plays to then follow it up.
03:56And the highlights are what goes viral, obviously, but then he follows it up, just missing receivers
04:00by a lot.
04:00And so it's like, I, but then again, you counter that with the amount of touchdown passes that
04:04we do see, at least saw yesterday, looked like he had a very nice day.
04:08Coach Riz lit up my phone in his little notes section said, practice MVP Deshaun Watson.
04:13I trust coach Riz's eyes.
04:15Like he, he obviously sees something that he likes out of Deshaun.
04:18So it's just a, it's a whole mixed bag right now.
04:21And I find it incredibly interesting.
04:22Well, and I think, so I think that there's a lot of levels to this.
04:25I don't trust the Browns messaging on this in any way because they've proven, and as most
04:30teams do, that they're not going to be entirely forthcoming with this.
04:33I believe Todd Munkin, when he says that it is his goal to whoever's got given, given the
04:39best chance to win, that that's who he's going to put out there.
04:42I think organizational practices are going to make that maybe tougher to fulfill, but
04:48I believe Todd Munkin believes that.
04:50So Todd Munkin is maybe the only guy in Berea that I trust on this.
04:53And even then it's still Deshaun Watson, but then you get to like, I trust Mary Kay.
04:58I trust Dan Lobby.
04:59I trust Ashley Bastock.
05:00I trust Zach.
05:02I trust Lance.
05:02I trust everybody out there and everybody agrees.
05:06There are some good plays, but I do think it's interesting that Zach was a guy that was
05:09right.
05:10What was it?
05:112023.
05:122024.
05:13That's the Greenbrier one where he came off and just, it just looked, he looked miserable,
05:17but Zach was the one saying he looked miserable.
05:19And Zach took a lot of flack for that.
05:21And so I do think that's interesting that Zach saying, yeah, there are home run runs being hit
05:26here, but there's also, you know, a lot of dying quails.
05:30I think that's really interesting.
05:31But again, like I don't trust the Browns on this.
05:33I'm trying, I believe that our brethren and sister in the Browns media deserves a little
05:42bit of trust on this as well.
05:44But then there's the third part, which is I'll believe it when I see it.
05:47Like I believe what they're seeing, but, and so it's the Dylan Gabriel discussion from
05:54last year, guys.
05:54Like it doesn't take much.
05:56Daryl was obviously down on him, but before Daryl was even down on him, people were talking
06:01about how great he was, how awesome he looked, all this me and you went out to training camp
06:04and watched him absolutely suck.
06:06And that's all we needed to see.
06:07And why were we one of the only shows in the city being like, guys, this is knit with
06:10Dylan Gabriel.
06:11It's because we went out there and we saw it with our own eyes.
06:13And so until we can do that and go through that exercise, now the worry I would have,
06:17I guess, at least the concern I have is that, and I'm really trying to make sure that I
06:21give Deshaun a fair shake of it.
06:23This is not a Shador side of this.
06:25This is the fact that Deshaun for three straight years pulled the wool over my eyes.
06:28And then I said, okay, all right, I'm ready.
06:31I'm ready to see what you can do week one.
06:33And then watched him in week one, stink up the joint and then watched him basically struggle
06:37the entire way until he got injured.
06:39That part worries me when the game actually happens.
06:42We've seen it enough with him where the light bulb doesn't go on.
06:46And I'm concerned about that part with Deshaun.
06:47So I'm concerned he'll look even good in this training camp.
06:50And then I just have to wait until the game happens.
06:53And then I get disappointed.
06:53Here's what I believe are positives in the camp of whoever starts a quarterback this year,
06:58but certainly Deshaun.
07:00I think they're going to help this.
07:01One, I think they have legit NFL talent across the board on offense.
07:05I don't know if you've got any version of Myles Garrett there, but I think you've got a
07:10lot of competent NFL skills.
07:11Do you think this is the best chance that Deshaun has to showcase that he still has
07:15some Texans Deshaun left?
07:17Mary Kay was making the argument in her piece yesterday that she thought this was the best
07:21chance.
07:21I contend that 2023 there was a lot of talent on this team.
07:25That's tough because that was right in the middle of the offensive line starting to break
07:28down.
07:28So maybe I'd give the slight edge to this, but that might be recency bias.
07:33But it might be a toss-up even at best.
07:35And so I do think that part of it is even interesting to me.
07:37Like if you really believe in what this team is, I think the offense is going to be good.
07:41I think they're going to be good maybe a year or two from now more than they are this year.
07:45Like for the skilled position players, they've got too many rookies, too many young guys,
07:48and five new offensive linemen gelling is tough.
07:50I think they're going to look better a year from now, two years from now than they do this
07:54year.
07:54But if you believe that this is the best chance without Stefanski, this is the best chance he
07:58has, then okay, that's one way to look at it.
08:00I think that's the other part that I'm curious to see.
08:02And again, we don't know.
08:05But I think there's a chance that Kevin Stefanski was really bad for Deshaun Watson and nobody
08:12had the onions to say it.
08:14I agree with that.
08:14Neither Deshaun nor Kevin.
08:16And I do think the one thing I would trust Todd Monken to do is put Deshaun in the best
08:21position to succeed.
08:22Do I still know it's going to happen?
08:24Sure don't.
08:25Do I still have a lot of faith it's going to happen?
08:27Sure don't.
08:27I'm just kind of out on the Deshaun thing.
08:29But there's a lot of people who I really do trust their eyes, their peepers, and they're
08:34saying the good things about this.
08:36I would be a fool to kind of ignore that just out of hand because, well, the last four years
08:42have been what they've been.
08:42No, we can't ignore it.
08:43We've got to pay attention to it.
08:45But at some point where I settle on this is that I've just been fooled so many times by
08:49Deshaun and so many times in practices going back to that initial first little stretch
08:54that we ever saw him even in a Browns uniform and I just, you've got to show me game time.
08:58And that sucks because he doesn't have game time to show me right now.
09:01That's not going to be available to him.
09:03But he won't convince me that he's any way back until I actually see it on the field itself.
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