00:00The Browns announcing Deshaun Watson will start this weekend against the Bears in Chicago,
00:06meaning Shador will start against the Bills one week later, and of course that game's at home.
00:12Can I present the simplest possible explanation for this?
00:17Sure, I'd like to hear it.
00:17It's just that. It is they don't want to start Deshaun at home a week from now,
00:24and that starting him on the road is going to be less of a distraction for him
00:27because there will be a mixed reaction if Deshaun were to start his first game in two years almost at
00:35home.
00:35It might be that. It might also just be the idea that they started Deshaun with the ones to begin
00:39with
00:39because of the veteran part of this equation, and they're just staying true to that.
00:44Neither one has separated themselves in any sort of way, and so this is the easy way to decide it.
00:48Deshaun started the practices off as the one out of the gate, and he'll just continue with the preseason games,
00:54and then we go from there.
00:55If I'm a Shador fan, I like this because Shador not only gets the start against the Bills,
01:01he also gets the joint practice against the Bills as well.
01:03That could be huge. Yeah, if that's how that goes.
01:05I will be interested to see. You say that now as if that's a...
01:08He hasn't said that.
01:09Yeah, I know. I'd be interested to see what happens if they end up making Deshaun the starter in the
01:13joint practices,
01:14and then Shador is the starter for the actual preseason game.
01:17That would just be very weak.
01:18Well, there's some people that would argue then that Shador would get way less of a chance if that's the
01:23outcome,
01:23because the joint practices, and the only joint practice they have is that Thursday against the Bills.
01:28If that's all Shador gets, or that's all that we're talking about, and Deshaun gets that instead of Shador,
01:34that's a real advantage to Deshaun.
01:36People really weigh these joint practices in a significant way.
01:39All right, so if you're just joining us, Deshaun Watson will start the preseason opener against the Bears this weekend.
01:46That means Shador will start against the Bills one week later.
01:49To talk about all of this, we welcome on 92.3 The Fans' very own Daryl Ryder,
01:53brought to you by Scheiben Jewelers, Cleveland's premier jewelry store.
01:57Daryl, welcome to the show.
01:59Hello, boys.
02:00Hello, sir.
02:02Hello.
02:02Difty little timing here.
02:04What is your takeaway on Deshaun Watson starting this weekend, and Shador getting to start a week later?
02:12Yeah, I don't think that this is surprising in the least.
02:15This is exactly how I felt it was going to go, that they would start Deshaun on the road in
02:20Chicago,
02:21give him the first look.
02:23Munkin has said in the last couple of days he's hoping to give each of these guys a start,
02:31and we'll see Shador against the Bills, and in that start, he wants them to play a half of football.
02:37And his hope is that as part of that half of football, there will be a two-minute situation involved
02:43there
02:43at the end of the half for both players, because obviously that's going to be a part of this evaluation
02:51process.
02:51But I'm not surprised it's Deshaun here.
02:55I kind of felt that it was going to be Deshaun, especially, I mean, today was a Shador day,
03:01a Shador heavy day in practice, and it really made sense.
03:05Hey, Shador's getting his work in today.
03:08On Saturday, Deshaun will get his work in, and then we get to set things up next week for Shador
03:17against the Buffalo Bills. But I am with you guys. I'm interested to see how the joint practice gets handled
03:26and how those reps get divided, and also, too, then, you know, what does that Buffalo preseason game
03:33also look like, even though, like, we do know that Shador's going to start it, but, you know,
03:37just ultimately, what does it look like?
03:39Do you feel like there's an advantage one way or another, in any way that you could set this out
03:43if you were the Browns trying to give one an advantage?
03:45No, I mean, I think you can talk your way into saying that there's an advantage, Jonathan,
03:52but no, I don't know that there's an advantage here.
03:55I don't believe that this means that Deshaun Watson has the leg up in the quarterback competition.
04:01I don't think it means that Shador Sanders has catching up to do in the quarterback competition.
04:06I feel like this thing's kind of been a dead heat all the way through, going all the way back
04:12to the spring, right?
04:14Because, remember, in the spring, Todd Munkin told us he wanted to have this thing decided
04:18before they went on summer vacation and have the starting quarterback in place,
04:24and neither one distinguished themselves or separated themselves from each other.
04:28And so you go into training camp knowing you have a competition between these two guys,
04:35and it stood the reason that the competition was not going to be decided
04:40until after the joint practice with the Bills and the second preseason game against Buffalo as well.
04:48So from my standpoint, I think that the Browns are on schedule with this whole competition thing,
04:56but I don't think that there's an advantage either way.
05:00All right, Daryl.
05:01So let's get back to that idea that you said that they're kind of in a dead heat here.
05:06If that were to continue through, I think it's August 23rd,
05:10that's kind of been a spot people have earmarked that makes sense to kind of name a starter.
05:15Who do you think the tie goes to?
05:17I would probably say the tie goes to the veteran Deshaun Watson.
05:22I've said this, and I know people have come after me for saying it,
05:27but organizationally, if you start with Deshaun, and I'm not trying to go negative here,
05:36but let's just say this plays out where it doesn't go well,
05:40then you can turn it over to Shadour and just say,
05:43hey, the rest of the season is yours.
05:45Take us home.
05:46And then he plays as long as he stays healthy and you really get a larger evaluation of him
05:54than just the seven games that you had last year where he wasn't exactly set up for success.
06:00He was thrown into the fire and did the best he could.
06:04Now, the good thing for him, he has had an entire offseason and training camp of getting first team reps
06:11and working with the wide receivers and developing some chemistry with the skill players.
06:17You can feel comfortable with that.
06:19I just think it'd be kind of weird if you started the season with Shadour, right?
06:24And again, let's keep the standard the same.
06:27Six weeks into the thing, things aren't going well, and then you turn it over to Deshaun Watson.
06:32Then what did you really accomplish organizationally?
06:35Because, I mean, for me, I think that aside from trying to win as many games as you possibly can
06:42in Todd Munkin's first year here, you know, I think one of the boxes they need to check this season
06:50is whether or not Shadour Sanders can do this thing.
06:54And that then informs their decision-making process come next offseason.
06:59Obviously, we're all assuming they are drafting a quarterback as high as they possibly can
07:05in the first round of next year's draft.
07:08But first things first, you've got to see if this kid can do it.
07:11And I'll say this, the improvement from Shadour Sanders has been very noticeable,
07:19even like throughout training camp.
07:22The operation, you know, some things that Shadour was struggling with
07:25during the offseason program and early in camp, starting to calm down a little bit.
07:31And so you're seeing the progress and the growth from him.
07:35So I do think that there is ultimately a benefit organizationally for the Browns
07:40to starting with Deshaun, see if there's anything there.
07:44If not, you turn it over to Shadour, and you ultimately gave Shadour
07:48maybe an extra month and a half or so to continue to grow, develop, refine his game
07:54so that when he does take over, he's able to really hit the ground running
07:58in a fashion that he wants, as well as the organization.
08:01Which one do you think matters the most to the Browns?
08:03The preseason games or the practices?
08:07Ooh.
08:09I would probably say the practices, just because there's a larger body of work there
08:21with the practices.
08:22There's more film there.
08:25And then also, too, because in the practices you can control the situations
08:29that you put these guys in, whereas the preseason game, right?
08:33I mentioned Todd Munkin wants a two-minute offensive series for both of these
08:37quarterbacks.
08:38Well, we have no idea if that's even going to materialize in the preseason game.
08:42That's completely out of the coach's control there.
08:44So I'll lean towards the practices, Jonathan, but I certainly don't want to diminish the importance
08:52of the preseason starts either.
08:55So it's interesting.
08:57I see your point about it's maybe easier to go to Deshaun first and then to Shadour second.
09:03I just, if I'm talking about what gives Shadour the best chance to succeed, I would imagine
09:09it's starting week one when the team is its most invested, most buy-in, most ready to
09:14go.
09:15Right.
09:15I mean, if Deshaun goes one in five and then, you know, Shadour again will be, for the second
09:20straight season, taking over in a position that feels like a deficit.
09:24And I just think that's harder for him.
09:27Yeah, I don't disagree, Nick.
09:29I just, I'm just spelling out how I think this is going to play out and trying to think
09:34of how the organization would be thinking with that situation.
09:42I have been saying for months, my preference is that they start Shadour Sanders week one
09:50and see if this kid can do it.
09:52And if he can't, then he can't.
09:55But he's certainly been given the opportunity here in 2026 to demonstrate his abilities.
10:05So I do agree with you, but I've been fairly consistent in saying that I don't have much
10:14invested interest in Deshaun Watson.
10:16I just, I don't see any organizational upside starting the season with him.
10:23And to your point, if it doesn't go well, then your season potentially has sunk before
10:28you pull the plug and turn it over to Shadour.
10:31And now you're putting a second year player in a position where he's got a mop and bucket
10:39and having to clean up a mess and just try and get you to the finish line, while also
10:44at the same time prove his value or his worthiness or his ability or however you want to phrase
10:50it for the duration of that schedule.
10:54So I've been very consistent.
10:56I would prefer to start Shadour Sanders week one.
11:00Also, he has to earn it.
11:02And from what I've seen, I think he has been earning it.
11:08He's not a finished product by any stretch of the imagination.
11:12But I am very, very impressed with how much better of a quarterback he is today than he
11:20was six months ago.
11:22Darrell, it does feel like we are just not spending enough time talking about the amount
11:26of injuries during this training camp and really the recent week or so stretch.
11:31Has it hit you that we've just had a lot of them?
11:35Or are you comfortable with where this team is at in that regard?
11:40Well, I mean, Carson Schlesinger's banged up, but it doesn't look all that serious to me
11:45because I see him working out every day and doing his rehab work or whatever.
11:51And he doesn't really seem to be limited by that.
11:56I'm not going to get all that concerned right now about these injuries, Jonathan.
12:02If we get to the end of August and they got 16 to 18 guys missing practice, yes, then I'm
12:09going to get a little nervous.
12:11But they don't play a game for another month.
12:16The season doesn't start for another month, so there's plenty of time for the bumps and
12:22the bruises that they're dealing with to get taken care of and guys to get healthy.
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