00:00can i present the simplest possible explanation for this sure i'd like to hear it's just that
00:05it is they don't want to start deshaun at home a week from now and that starting on the road
00:12is going to be less of a distraction for him because there will be a mixed reaction
00:17if deshaun were to start his first game in two years almost at home it might be that it might
00:23also just be the idea that they started deshaun with the ones to begin with because the veteran
00:27part of this equation and they're just staying true to that neither one has separated themselves
00:32in any sort of way and so this is the easy way to decide it deshaun started the practices off
00:37as the
00:38one out of the gate and he'll just continue with the preseason games and then we go from there if
00:42i'm a shador fan i like this because shador doesn't only and not only gets the start against the bills
00:47he also gets the joint practice against the bills as well that could be huge yeah that's how that goes
00:52i will be interested to see you and you say that now as if that's uh he hasn't said that
00:56yeah i know
00:57i i'd be interested to see on what happens if they end up making deshaun the starter in the
01:00joint practices and then shador is the starter for the actual preseason game just be very weak
01:05well there's some people that would argue then that shador would get way less of a chance if
01:09that's the outcome uh because you the joint practices and the only joint practice they have
01:14is that thursday against the bills if that's all shador gets or that's all you know that we're
01:18talking about and deshaun gets that instead of shador that's a real advantage to deshaun people
01:23people really weigh these joint practices in a significant way all right so if you're just
01:27joining us deshaun watson will start the preseason opener against the bears this weekend that means
01:33shador will start against the bills one week later to talk about all of this we welcome on 92 the
01:38fans
01:39very own daryl writer brought to you by shivin jewelers cleveland's premier jewelry store
01:43daryl welcome to the show hello boys well hello sir and nice nifty little timing here
01:50uh what is your takeaway on deshaun watson starting this weekend and and shador getting to start a
01:57week later yeah i i don't think that this is surprising in the least this is exactly how i
02:03felt it was going to go that they would start deshaun on the road in chicago give him uh the
02:09first
02:10look munkin has said in the last couple of days he's hoping to give each of these guys a start
02:17and
02:18you know we'll see shador against the bills and in that start he wants them to play a half of
02:23football
02:23and his hope is that as part of that half of football there will be a two minute situation
02:29involved there uh at the end of the half uh for both uh players because obviously that's going to be
02:35a
02:36part of this uh evaluation process but i'm not surprised it's it's deshaun here um i i kind of
02:43felt that it was going to be deshaun especially i mean today was a shador day uh shador heavy day
02:49uh in practice and it really made sense hey shador's getting his work in today on saturday deshaun will
02:56get his uh you know get his work in uh and then we uh you know get to set things
03:02up uh next week for
03:04shador against the buffalo bills but i i am with you guys i'm interested to see how the joint practice
03:11gets handled and how those reps get divided and also too then you know what does that buffalo
03:18uh preseason game also look like even though it like as we do know that shador is going to start
03:23it but you know just ultimately what does it look like do you feel like there's an advantage one way
03:27or another in any way that you could set this out if you were the browns trying to give one
03:31an
03:32advantage no i mean i'm i i think you can talk your way into saying that there's an advantage
03:38jonathan but no i don't know that there's an advantage here um i don't believe that this
03:43means that deshaun watson has the leg up in the quarterback competition i don't uh think it means
03:49that shador sanders has catching up to do in the quarterback competition i i feel like this thing's
03:54kind of been a a dead heat uh all the way through going all the way back to the spring
04:00right because
04:01remember in the spring todd munkin told us he wanted to have this thing decided uh before they went on
04:07summer vacation and have the starting quarterback in place and neither one distinguished themselves
04:13or separated themselves from each other and so um you go into training camp knowing you have a
04:20competition between these two guys and it stood the reason that the competition was not going to be
04:26decided until after the joint practice with the bills and the second preseason game against buffalo as
04:35well so from my standpoint i i think that the browns uh are on schedule with with this whole
04:42competition thing but i don't think that there's an advantage either way all right daryl so let's let's
04:48get back to that idea that you said that they're kind of in a dead heat here uh if that
04:53were to to
04:54continue through i think it's august 23rd that's kind of been a spot people have earmarked uh that makes
05:00sense to kind of name a starter who do you think the tie goes to i would probably say the
05:05tie goes to
05:06the veteran deshaun watson um i've said this and uh you know i know that people have come after me
05:13for
05:14saying it but organizationally um if you start with deshaun and i'm not trying to go negative here but
05:23let's just say this plays out where it doesn't go uh well then you can turn it over to shador
05:29and
05:29just say hey the rest of the season is yours take us home and and then he plays as long
05:34as he stays
05:35healthy and you really get a a larger evaluation of him than just the the seven games that you had
05:43last year where he he wasn't exactly set up for success he was thrown into the fire uh and and
05:50did the
05:50best he could now uh the good thing for him he has had an entire offseason and training camp of
05:56getting first team reps and working with the wide receivers and developing some chemistry with the
06:03skill players you can feel comfortable with that i just think it'd be kind of weird if you like if
06:09you started the season with shador right and again let's keep the standard the same six six weeks into
06:15the thing things aren't going well and then you turn it over to deshaun watson then like what did you
06:19really accomplish organizationally because i mean for me i think that aside from trying to win as many
06:27games as you possibly can and todd munkin's first year here you know i think one of the boxes they
06:34need to check this uh this season is whether or not shador sanders can do this thing and uh that
06:42then
06:42informs their decision making process come next offseason obviously we're all assuming they are drafting a
06:49quarterback uh as high as they possibly can in the first round of next year's draft but first things
06:55first you got to see if this kid can do it i'll and i'll say this the improvement from shador
07:02sanders
07:03has been very noticeable even like throughout training camp uh the operation you know some things that
07:11shador was struggling with during the offseason program and early in camp starting to calm down a little
07:17bit and and so you're seeing the progress and the growth from him so i i do think that there
07:24is
07:24ultimately a benefit organizationally for the browns to starting with deshaun see if there's anything
07:30there if not you turn it over to shador and you ultimately gave shador maybe an extra month and a
07:36half or so to uh continue to grow develop refine his game so that when he does take over he's
07:43able to
07:43really hit the ground running in a fashion that he wants as well as the organization which one do you
07:48think matters the most to the browns the preseason games or the practices oh um i would probably say
07:58the price say the practices just because there's a larger body of work there uh with the practices
08:09there's more film there um and then also too because in the practices you can control
08:14the situations that you put these guys in whereas the preseason game right and i mentioned todd munkin
08:21wants a two-minute offensive series for both of these quarterbacks well we have no idea if that's even
08:27going to materialize in the preseason game that's completely out of uh the coach's control there so
08:32i'll lean towards um the the practices jonathan but i certainly don't want to diminish the
08:39importance of uh the preseason starts either so it's interesting i i see your point about
08:45it's maybe easier to go to deshaun first and then to shador second i just if if i'm talking about
08:52what
08:52gives shador the best chance to succeed right i would imagine it's starting week one when the team
08:58is it's most invested most buy-in most ready to go right if deshaun goes one in five and then
09:05you
09:06know shador again will be for the second straight season taking over in a position that feels like
09:11a deficit and i just think that's harder for him yeah i i don't disagree nick i just i'm just
09:17spelling
09:17out how i think this is going to play out and trying to think of how the organization would be
09:25thinking
09:25uh with that situation um i have been saying for months my preference is that they start shador
09:35sanders week one and see if this kid can do it and um if he can't then he can't but
09:43um he's he's
09:44certainly been given the opportunity here in 2026 to demonstrate uh his abilities so i i do agree with
09:54you um but i've been fairly consistent in saying that i don't have much invested interest in deshaun
10:03watson i i just i don't see any organizational upside starting the season with him and to your
10:10point if it doesn't go well then your season potentially is sunk before you pull the plug
10:16and turn it over to shador and now you you're putting a a second year player in a position where
10:25he's got a mop and bucket and having to clean up a mess and just try and get you to
10:29the the finish
10:30line while also at the same time prove his uh value or his worthiness or his ability or however you
10:36want
10:36to phrase it uh for uh the the duration of that schedule so uh i i've been very consistent i
10:44would
10:44prefer to start shador sanders week one also he has to earn it and from what i've seen uh i
10:52think he
10:53has been earning it he's not a finished product by any stretch of the imagination but i am very very
11:00impressed with uh how much better of a quarterback he is today than he was uh six months ago daryl
11:10it
11:10does feel like we are just not spending enough time talking about the amount of injuries during
11:14these uh this training camp and really the recent week or so stretch is it does it hit you that
11:20we've
11:21just had a lot of them or are you comfortable with uh with where this team is at in that
11:25regard
11:26uh well i mean it it's i mean carson swestinger's banged up but it doesn't look all that serious to
11:32me because i see him working out every day and uh you know doing his rehab work or whatever and
11:39he doesn't really seem to be limited by that um i'm not going to get all that concerned right now
11:45about these injuries jonathan um if we get to the end of august and they got 16 to 18 guys
11:54missing
11:54practice yes then i'm i'm gonna get a little nervous but um they don't play a game for another
12:01month it i mean you know you know the season doesn't start for another month so there's uh plenty
12:07of time for uh the bumps and the bruises that they're dealing with uh to get uh taken care of
12:13and guys to get healthy
12:14you
Comments