00:00So what the hell is the point of Denzel Ward still being here?
00:02Tom Pellicero was with us.
00:04We asked him whether or not it was in the Browns' future to hold on to Denzel Ward.
00:12He kind of said no.
00:13You can hear more of that interview at 923thefan.com.
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00:28I know that they said hard no.
00:30You said a lot of hard no's on a lot of other things.
00:33What the hell would that have to do with anything?
00:34Could I get a second rounder for Denzel Ward?
00:39Why couldn't they get a first if a team is desperate?
00:4429, cornerback, injury history.
00:46I realize that.
00:48You just see some desperate.
00:48But you said some wild stuff today.
00:50I don't know if you get it.
00:50Maybe you do get a first rounder for Denzel Ward.
00:52I'd just be very, very, very surprised to get a first round.
00:54Have we not seen some just incredibly desperate teams over the years,
00:58ripe for the deadline, say, all right, especially if he's starting a lockdown.
01:03I feel like the Rams do that with Jalen Ramsey, right?
01:05Well, I'll tell you what.
01:06I mean, if we've already made this decision, and that's fine.
01:09And I got to look into the history.
01:10Like, you know, some people have brought up,
01:13well, you make the deal now with Miles
01:14because you never know what's going to happen in the season.
01:16Well, I mean, no offense to Denzel.
01:18He's a great player.
01:20He hits harder than his body probably wants him to hit.
01:25You can't guarantee that he's going to be.
01:27It's built for him to hit.
01:28Exactly.
01:28You cannot guarantee that he's going to be available to trade at the deadline.
01:32So I think you've got to look at everything right now.
01:35I mean, after you trade away Miles, I think it's all up for grabs.
01:38And, I mean, Denzel Ward, Denzel Ward loves the area.
01:40He's from the area.
01:41Clearly, there's an affinity to be here and to come back here
01:44probably after it's all said and done.
01:45But, I mean, to me, Miles Garrett being traded is at a mission
01:50that we ain't going anywhere this year.
01:52And Denzel Ward, I mean, if Miles Garrett deserves to play in the playoffs,
01:56does Denzel Ward not deserve to play in the playoffs?
01:59I mean, hey, we've jumped through some hoops.
02:01Miles hasn't been a bad guy, but we've jumped through some hoops for Miles.
02:04What hoops have we had to jump through for Denzel Ward?
02:07Nothing.
02:08Nothing at all.
02:10Wonderful person.
02:11On, off.
02:11He drives a speed limit.
02:13The whole thing, man.
02:13Like, I ain't got to worry about him.
02:15And you remember what last year, he didn't seem to be,
02:18was it Radio Row where he didn't seem to be too thrilled about being here
02:21if Miles Garrett wasn't going to be here?
02:23Well, I remember that, yeah.
02:24So, I can't imagine he's any more thrilled now.
02:26Now, maybe he's in a different place where not going after the playoffs
02:29isn't very important.
02:31I can't imagine it is, or it isn't.
02:33So, I don't know why the hard no comes out over Denzel Ward.
02:36Now, he also did not show up to OTAs.
02:38However, he was accessible.
02:40He was adamant, yes.
02:41He has also been talking to the coaches.
02:43Yes.
02:44Very different set of circumstances, it would seem.
02:46But it's nothing, obviously, I don't want to let go of Denzel Ward.
02:50I didn't want to let go of Miles Garrett because I didn't want to face the truth
02:52of what this season is.
02:53But now, if we're facing the truth, we might as well face the truth headlong.
02:56If I can get another second-round pick in 2027,
03:00why wouldn't I get another second-round pick in 2027?
03:02And our fans, let's be honest, as much as we want to talk about,
03:06hey, he's been in Northeast Ohio and pit-stop in Columbus,
03:11and he's been a fan favorite.
03:14Do people go to games to watch corners not named Deion Sanders?
03:19But do they really?
03:20I know you made a case for Grant Delpit in the secondary.
03:23Well, I'm a terrible example because I would go to games to see Denzel Ward.
03:26And I love seeing Denzel Ward down the stretch.
03:31When Aaron Rodgers, I thought, was going to saddle up and score one more time
03:35in nitty-gritty time, and they threw in his direction,
03:37and he knocked away both those balls.
03:39I'm like, that's – I don't know why you're throwing at 21,
03:42but that's all pro right there.
03:43You ain't messing with that guy.
03:44And I was so excited to see that.
03:46I go, man, that's – obviously, that's hard to replace.
03:48I mean, he is.
03:49He's better than Joe Hayden.
03:50No offense to Joe.
03:51He's the best cornerback that we've had since 1999.
03:54But we just traded the best defensive player we've ever had since 1946.
03:59So everything's on the table.
04:00It should be on the table.
04:02They should be taking offers for him.
04:04I texted – I just want to make sure because sometimes I don't think
04:06these things through when it comes to the cap.
04:08I believe they were able to do it with the cap and take whatever hit
04:12that they have to take, whatever that might be.
04:14Again, this is the year that you do it.
04:17Again, he's 29 years old.
04:19I think you've admitted to everybody he ain't going anywhere.
04:22So why wouldn't you move him?
04:25Does anybody have any disagreement with that at all?
04:29You don't seem to have any disagreement.
04:31You just seem to be perfectly fine.
04:33I'm not calling you out for it that you don't disagree.
04:35There's – what's the backslide of that?
04:37Well, I just keep thinking, you know, now we're more in the –
04:40and you said you don't think they could get a first for him.
04:42Okay, a second.
04:43All right.
04:43I think you can get a second rounder for Denzel.
04:45For Denzel.
04:46My phone just buzzed.
04:47Maybe people think I'm nuts on that.
04:48So I just keep thinking of the Joe Thomas thing.
04:51Like, we get to say that we watched Joe Thomas in a Browns –
04:54you know, a Browns jersey the whole career.
04:57The flip side of that is we could have easily gotten a first-round pick.
05:00Well, and it's also –
05:02At the end for one year.
05:03We have to ask ourselves disturbing questions of
05:05why weren't we able to accomplish more with Joe?
05:08Why weren't we able to accomplish more with Miles?
05:10Now, we've gotten in our way several times, and that's explainable,
05:13but it doesn't make the question that we have to ask to each other any better.
05:16And I think that's why couldn't you have done it with Denzel Ward,
05:19who's been great on and off the field for you no matter what.
05:23So when they say hard no, I'm sorry.
05:25I actually hope Andrew Barry's lying to us when they say hard no.
05:28Like, he'll have his press conference in just one hour from now.
05:31He'll be asked about it.
05:32If he says hard no, I hope he's lying.
05:35Because I don't want just Denzel Ward gone, but, yeah,
05:39if we're rewarding guys who have given a lot to this organization
05:42for a long period of time, let's reward him,
05:44and maybe somebody's willing to give up a second-round pick for him.
05:47Limey, you're warmed up to it.
05:48I've warmed up to it.
05:52Let's see what Maurice in the Bay Area thinks.
05:55He's listening on the Free Odyssey app.
05:56Hello, Maurice.
05:59Maurice.
06:02That's the end of Maurice.
06:03Clay in Kentucky.
06:04Hello.
06:06Hey, fellas.
06:06A couple quick things here.
06:08I'm a fan of the trade.
06:10I understand the grief that we lost to Hall of Famer.
06:14But we had him for nine years.
06:16Some of the most memorable, enjoyable games.
06:20And would we rather be the Cowboys having traded Parsons at, what was he,
06:2426 when they traded him?
06:2727 maybe at the oldest?
06:29I mean, that seems like a Browns thing to do would be to trade him when he was
06:3326.
06:34He endured a lot of losing.
06:35He deserves the win.
06:36I'll absolutely be rooting for him.
06:37One other thing real quick.
06:39Can we just get over the Deshaun Watson trade?
06:43Our organization took a shot.
06:45It didn't work.
06:45I get it, but they didn't spend my money, and we've had a lot of first-round
06:50draft picks missed.
06:51We tried.
06:52And I get that he's still around, but are we going to get over it at some
06:56point?
06:56Well, no.
06:57I think we're restarting it again.
06:59I really do.
07:00Until they win.
07:01And until...
07:02When they win...
07:02That's fair.
07:03When they win...
07:04Well, if they win with them, some of that will go.
07:07You think they're going to win enough to cancel out everything else that
07:10happened, though?
07:11I don't think so, either.
07:12I don't think.
07:13And I don't...
07:13Honestly, I would rather just move on, but also, like, I live in Kentucky, so I'm
07:18amongst the Bengals folks down here.
07:21Would I rather be the Bengals who...
07:23They lucked into Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase, and they still, you know, they're
07:28not making the swings.
07:29They're not taking the swings.
07:30We haven't lucked into the quarterback.
07:32I get that.
07:32We had, you know, Baker, and, you know, you guys have been talking about that,
07:36but...
07:36Yeah, they went to the Super Bowl, though.
07:38They did.
07:38I know.
07:39I know.
07:39They did.
07:40I get it.
07:40But, you know, I probably could have called offense for them that year, and now they still
07:44can't get over Zach Taylor, and they're not spending the money.
07:47So, I just...
07:48I'm a glass-half-full guy, I guess, but I just...
07:51I appreciate the swing they took with Watson, and I'm past it, and I'm also a fan of the Garrett
07:56trade.
07:57Well, you are...
07:58I'll tell you this, Clay.
08:00Eventually, you're going to be...
08:01And thank you for the call.
08:02Eventually, you'll be right.
08:03Right now, you're in the vast minority of it.
08:05As of right now, I don't think a lot of people anticipate that Deshaun Watson is going to
08:10play well.
08:11By the way, Andrew Barry coming up in like 10 minutes live on the fan.
08:14I don't think anybody's anticipating that Deshaun Watson is going to play very well at
08:18all, and I think for a lot of folks, this is just more to the storm.
08:22The clouds will lighten up once he's no longer here.
08:26Once he's no longer here, I think that there will be a fresh start for a lot of people.
08:29I mean, I was getting texts during the show from a lot of fans, and they were like,
08:32yeah, you guys are talking about what's the point of even playing Deshaun Watson.
08:34Why not just cut them?
08:35I was like, well, I don't know if they're going to do that.
08:39I don't think they're trying to pay off the money.
08:40I think they're just trying to...
08:41I think that Todd Munkin's trying to win games.
08:43I don't think that they went and they signed him to that contract just to make everybody
08:48mad, but here we are, and this is still more fallout of it.
08:51The day after a trade like that is not the day to ask whether or not the swords are down.
08:56The day they make the playoffs is maybe the day to ask whether or not we've dropped our
09:01swords on that trade.
09:02Let me go to Sam in Akron.
09:06Hello, Sam.
09:07Hey, how are you doing?
09:09Well, Sam, go ahead.
09:11All right.
09:12Well, I just feel like it's a good trade.
09:15The value we've got back and everything else, the compensation, it's a good trade.
09:19And if everybody really think about it, Jared Burse is younger.
09:22He's 25.
09:24You're getting into a guy who hasn't even hit his prime yet, who the Rams had estimated
09:28to be worth two first-round picks.
09:31So while we all think if we're downgrading, it might be actually an improvement for the
09:35defense long run.
09:38Well, I don't know if it's going to be an improvement in the long run.
09:40Well, that just depends when you think Miles' drop-off is going to occur.
09:44Because I don't know if he's dropping off for another five years.
09:46And Sam, thank you for the call.
09:48But it makes it more palatable.
09:51Because one, you don't have to pay him until the end of next year.
09:54By the end of next year, we'll probably have Deshaun Watson off the books, right?
09:57So it makes it easier to pay.
09:58I know there's dead money there and everything.
10:00But it makes it, obviously, easier to pay Jared Burse at the end of next year.
10:03So you have a year of team control to play it out, right?
10:05Then you probably are drafting your quarterback.
10:07So if you draft your quarterback, then I think a lot of people are going,
10:10OK, now we can finally start to breathe again as fans.
10:13But there's going to be a lot of pressure.
10:15And this is where Andrew Barry doesn't get let off on this.
10:17There's going to be a lot of pressure on Carson Swessinger to uphold the type of season
10:22that he had last year.
10:23There's going to be a lot of pressure on these guys, like Jared Burse, to have a type of season
10:27that we're hoping for.
10:28Not Miles Garrett, but a real great type of season.
10:31To see some improvement on the offense there.
10:34And when that happens, I understand that you're going to win a few games.
10:36Your strength of schedule isn't that great.
10:38But that's something that fans are going to have to deal with.
10:40Because I want to see guys play better.
10:42Because this is a big, big risk for Andrew Barry.
10:47You've made this trade.
10:48You've agreed to this trade.
10:49Do you believe your boss that you will be here to then select the quarterback?
10:54Because if you select the quarterback, boy, and he's the right one.
10:59You tell a great story for a long time.
11:01If you get fired at the end of this year, your Wikipedia is just the guy.
11:04Because I don't know how many guys get second chances to beat general managers.
11:08Not a ton.
11:08He might get a second chance.
11:09He's still young enough.
11:10But your Wikipedia says you traded for Deshaun Watson and traded away Miles Garrett.
11:15I mean, you've got to be praying you get a chance to draft that quarterback.
11:18It's just that the one most clearly marketable guy they got on the team who just had the
11:23sack record is going to be a first ballot.
11:25Hall of Famer.
11:26Just had one of the great defensive years in the sports history.
11:29Your owner signed off on it.
11:31He did.
11:32And I think a lot of people have assumed that that would not be the case.
11:35And that the GM was not going to be here a long time.
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