00:00I want to play this clip from Jeremy Fowler.
00:02Again, he was on ESPN today, and he was talking about the Browns quarterback spot
00:06and what the expectations should be when it comes to who wins this job.
00:10Here we go.
00:11Watson has had the leg up, but as was told to me by somebody with the team,
00:14that Shador Sanders made enough strides where he's closed the gap at least somewhat.
00:18It's going to be interesting starting camp, and they're nowhere near naming a starter yet.
00:21They want to see not only training camp action, but some preseason game action, too,
00:26to see what these two guys can do.
00:27Most around the league, similar to Murray, do expect Watson, the veteran, to get this job.
00:31Yeah, it's interesting.
00:33Jeremy has been on this crusade.
00:35I call it a crusade as if it's something serious and something that is intense,
00:38but it feels that way to us that do this every day.
00:41It sounds like he has gotten himself convinced that Watson is in the front of this race,
00:47and I don't know if something's going to move off of that for Jeremy,
00:51but it is interesting that he has not wavered in any sort of way,
00:53the same way Albert Breer, who joins us at 520, has not wavered in any sort of way.
00:57Yeah, and listen, I think there's a fair percentage that Deshaun does win the job.
01:05It goes back to some things that we've talked about before,
01:08like the idea that maybe it's just easier to start the season with Deshaun Watson
01:13and then pivot to Shador.
01:14I think you actually said this yesterday.
01:16If you start Shador and then he struggles, where are you going?
01:20You know, like, yeah, you go to Deshaun.
01:22What's the end of Shador in your Browns uniform?
01:24Nobody's happy about that.
01:26If you start with Deshaun and he struggles, then it's easier to set up like the guy
01:31that represents hope for your organization and be able to then sell that to people.
01:35And by the way, I only point that out.
01:37It's not something I endorse in any sort of way.
01:39I think it's the dumbest thing in the world, the people that are like,
01:41it's better for Shador to come out of the gate second.
01:44No, it's not.
01:45It's better for him to start the whole season is what it's better for him to do.
01:48Start week one and don't lose the job and play 17 games.
01:50It's been since Baker Mayfield, it's been a long time since we've had a quarterback
01:54play 17 games in a Browns uniform.
01:56In a perfect world, I'm 100% in the same camp as you, where it's like,
01:58just start Shador and have him play all season and whatever happens, happens.
02:02You know what I mean?
02:03Like, just live with the results.
02:04We all kind of, maybe not, I think most people understand what the season's really about
02:08and that it's kind of about setting the stage for 2027 to find whatever quarterback,
02:11if you don't have one, that you need.
02:14So I'd rather see that than waste any time with Deshaun.
02:16But I also can understand the logic behind it's easier to go to maybe the young guy
02:20rather than go back to the veteran that nobody really wants to see anyway.
02:25The thing that I really go back to, though, and it's two things.
02:28There are two things that I think give Deshaun a slight edge going into training camp
02:32that I think Todd Munkin is going to sort of lean into when it comes time to make a decision.
02:36And the first thing is the football IQ part of this.
02:39Like, he is somebody who has continued to be renowned, even when he was out last year.
02:44His, the court, Shador, Dylan Gabriel, all these guys that were in that quarterback room with him
02:51watching tape, watching film, going through the game plan.
02:53He was constantly in their ear telling them, like, here's what I see.
02:56Showing them, like, what they have to sort of pick up on.
02:59And he can just do that at a higher level than I think these two young guys can
03:02because he's been in the NFL a lot longer.
03:04That makes total sense.
03:05I think that's something that Todd Munkin is going to lean into.
03:08We don't get to see as much of that on the field.
03:10But, like, the school part of this, the classroom part of this does matter
03:13because that does equate to tangibly on the field, like, going through your progression,
03:17seeing what you're seeing, diagnosing coverages.
03:19I think Deshaun is still good at that.
03:22And then the second part of this is just, in theory, he's supposed to be the better athlete here.
03:26Now, I don't know what the rupturing his Achilles twice has done
03:30if it's just zapped his ability to run the football.
03:32But we did see this spring they were doing a lot of stuff that involved running the quarterback.
03:37Similar to what we saw Todd Munkin do with Lamar Jackson,
03:40I would never venture to say that Deshaun Watson is Lamar Jackson.
03:42That would be asinine.
03:43But I do think that's an element to his offense that he wants.
03:47And I just think that Deshaun, assuming he can still be somewhat athletic,
03:51is better equipped to run some of those things than Shadorch can.
03:54He's just not the athlete that Deshaun is supposed to be.
03:56And so for those two reasons, I think it probably does give him a slight advantage
04:00going into training camp that he probably comes out winning the job.
04:02I just think the, I guess what I would call the unfair part of this,
04:05if we're talking about fair or unfair,
04:06I think the unfair part of this is that it felt like Deshaun Watson
04:09was going to have the front part of this job
04:12and the advantage of this job based off of things he did six years ago.
04:15And so if we did this competition next year,
04:17if he was still on that contract,
04:19instead of five years for $230 million,
04:22it was six years for $290 million,
04:25it seems like next year we could do this same race
04:27and he would still have the same advantage over Shadorch Sanders as well.
04:31And I just, at some point that has to,
04:34the statute of limitations runs out.
04:36Like at some point that expires,
04:37you can't just live off of what happened six years ago.
04:40And I, for myself, this is why it makes it so easy for me.
04:43And this is where the hangup I think happens for a lot of people.
04:45For myself, I'm looking at what he's done in a Browns uniform.
04:492020 didn't happen in a Browns uniform.
04:51It's so long ago.
04:52It doesn't matter to me.
04:54But I feel like a lot of people can't separate themselves from that.
04:57So at what time, at what point do you all of a sudden say,
05:00okay, what he did six years ago doesn't matter.
05:02Because that's the only reason why you'd give him the advantage right now.
05:04And that is one of the sillier things, by the way,
05:06that I think Tom Munkin has said this offseason
05:08was at the owner's meetings when he was asked about
05:10how he'll make the decision or, you know,
05:13how he'll kind of set the initial depth chart.
05:15And he mentioned it being based off of, you know,
05:18the most recent games they've played,
05:19the most recent tape that we have.
05:21Remember, he also stepped on it as well.
05:22Because then he went back and said something to the effect
05:25of how he wasn't going to look at as much Browns tape.
05:27He was going to look at the Texans tape.
05:28And he was going to go back to the old part.
05:30Right.
05:30Is that what you're getting to?
05:31Yeah, that's what I was going to get to.
05:32So it's incredibly dumb.
05:33It's like, I get where you want to look at the most recent performances.
05:36And it's like, well, Shador, you have seven starts,
05:39eight games last year that you can look to.
05:41With Deshaun, you're going back to the most recent tape being 2023.
05:44And that tape wasn't very good up until he got hurt.
05:47So it's like, but then he kind of gave this idea that like,
05:50hey, we're going to throw that out the window
05:51and go look at the Texans tape.
05:52He wanted the Texans tape.
05:53And it just makes no sense.
05:54I'm with you.
05:55You're a different human at that point.
05:56The fact that Deshaun has even basically admitted
05:58he's not coming into this thing trying to be anybody
06:00but Deshaun Watson in 2026 tells you all you need to know.
06:03He knows that that version of him is gone.
06:05He's just trying to be the best quarterback he can be right now.
06:07I don't know what that's going to look like fully,
06:09but I think we have an idea because we've seen
06:11what that looked like the last three years,
06:12which is, again, why I don't have any,
06:14I don't need to waste my time seeing Deshaun Watson,
06:16but it does kind of feel like that's maybe the direction
06:19that that top monkey and the Browns are going to go
06:21to start the season because he's just the veteran of the group
06:24and he has this ability that that should
06:26or maybe doesn't have in his game,
06:27this element to his game that should or doesn't have
06:29and being able to run the football
06:30that he wants to implement into his.
06:32I just don't want it to seem like you're winning it
06:33by default though.
06:34And the things we're describing right now
06:36is winning it by default.
06:37It's not winning it because Deshaun came out here
06:39and looked night and day difference
06:41than what we've ever seen him look before.
06:42And I guess that's the problem I have with this.
06:43We're going towards his past accomplishments,
06:45but they're so far in the rear view mirror for me
06:48that I hate that being the reasoning.
06:50If that does end up being the reasoning,
06:51right now for people like Jeremy Fowler,
06:53it's all they're hanging on to.
06:55Football talk coverage, by the way,
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07:00one price, five years guaranteed.
07:02Xfinity, imagine that.
07:04Joe Thomas was on earlier today.
07:05He was on with the morning show
07:06and here's what he had to say about
07:07Shador Sanders and Deshaun Watson.
07:09If you're putting the gun to the head
07:10and I've got to say somebody as of right now,
07:13it looks like it's going to be Deshaun Watson,
07:15but I mean, we've still got a lot of training camp to go.
07:18Obviously, we need to put the pads on,
07:20get the underwear,
07:21and throw them to the side
07:23because football season is a problem.
07:25We're going to get real practice.
07:26It's going to give us some real information
07:28about the connection that these quarterbacks have
07:31with Todd Munkin's new offense
07:33and these new receivers.
07:35All right, so there you have it.
07:36I mean, it seems like,
07:38I mean, Joe says Watson's QB1 right now.
07:40I would think most people that come on the station
07:42would probably say something similar to that.
07:45All I would say,
07:45I think door is wide open for Shador.
07:47I don't think this is settled in any sort of way.
07:49And to the initial question of whether it's fair
07:51to expect that Deshaun will win the job,
07:55I don't think fair is even a thing
07:56we can do in this conversation right now.
07:57Did you put any stock in Jerry Judy's,
08:00Jerry Judy hanging out with Shannon Sharp
08:02and then Shannon Sharp, or was it Cal?
08:04Was it, was it, no, he was saying,
08:06oh, Chad Ochoacinco, I'm sorry.
08:07And then Chad Ochoacinco basically saying,
08:09yeah, it's going to be Deshaun Watson
08:11like days after they hung out together.
08:12Because that does feel sort of interesting to me
08:15that the Browns' top wide receiver
08:17was hanging out with him.
08:18And then that was kind of the conclusion
08:20that he came away with
08:21that he wanted to share on the show was,
08:23yeah, we think it's going to be Deshaun.
08:24Because that sort of suggests
08:25that maybe inside the building,
08:27players feel that Deshaun is just a step ahead.
08:29I think there's been a couple of things
08:30that tell us that Deshaun at least feels like
08:32he's got the leg up in this.
08:33I think him reporting today to Berea
08:35and him working out in Berea right now
08:37when this is this big stretch of time off
08:38and he's not even supposed to be
08:40anywhere close to the facility
08:41if he doesn't want to be,
08:42I think that's one sign that LeBron,
08:44LeBron, excuse me,
08:45that Deshaun thinks that he's got a leg up on this.
08:46I think the other thing is something
08:47that happened last week.
08:48I think his wife on Instagram
08:50having that quote messaging
08:53something to the effect of how
08:56basically they don't see all the work
08:57that you do in the shadows and all that,
08:59but your time is coming,
09:00something to that effect
09:01when she's starting to be vocal about this
09:02and starting to puff her chest out
09:04a little bit about it.
09:04I feel like there's a lot of belief
09:06from people around Deshaun Watson
09:08that he has this job
09:10and that's the scary part about this
09:11is like,
09:12and Jeremy's well connected
09:13to the Browns,
09:13has been for years,
09:14so I'm not saying this with Jeremy,
09:15but there's enough national people
09:16that'll talk to Deshaun's camp
09:18and then that'll be the only,
09:20the one-sided part of this conversation
09:22and then it's like,
09:23all right,
09:23well,
09:24I guess he's got the leg up.
09:25I guess he's got it.
09:26Yeah,
09:27because Deshaun thinks he does.
09:29Deshaun thinks he does.
09:31There's no inclination
09:32that Deshaun thinks anything
09:33other than he's going to have this job
09:35wrapped up in the bag
09:36and basically handed to him.
09:38That's why he's going
09:39and doing all the things
09:40that I just described,
09:40and so,
09:41yeah,
09:42but you bring Jerry Judy into it,
09:44that's a different part of this.
09:45and then Shador obviously said
09:46he doesn't really think
09:47it's a competition,
09:48which was his way
09:49of kind of trying to downplay
09:50all the media narratives out there.
09:51I get it,
09:52but it was kind of funny
09:53that he was like,
09:53no,
09:53it's not really a competition,
09:54and then everyone else
09:55is just sitting there saying like,
09:56yeah,
09:57Deshaun's going to probably start.
09:58It's just,
09:59it's interesting.
10:00There's enough time
10:00that you can make up the ground
10:02either way.
10:02Deshaun's going to be able to do it.
10:02Deshaun's going to be able to do it.
10:02Deshaun's going to be able to do it.
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