00:00we head out to the wise art right we make it right call kyle wright hotline and welcome on
00:04of the athletic jason lloyd who joins us now jason welcome to the show what's up gentlemen
00:10oh same old same old uh you get to choose do you want us to start calves or do you
00:15want to start
00:18browns i'm just leaving the browns let's start browns all right so uh since you were at joint
00:23practices today we uh we get our first uh look here how'd you think the quarterbacks looked
00:31uh same as it's been throughout all of camp i didn't think one really had a particularly
00:36better day than the other i thought it was exactly what we've seen one or two good throws from
00:41deshaun one or two what was that uh should the same with shador shador had uh one or two good
00:46throws i saw across the middle and it's just uh like just a kind of a ho-hum day uh
00:52the best
00:53quarterback on the field was wearing blue well i mean that yeah josh allen's gonna be the best
00:58quarterback yeah that's that one feels safe uh but let me ask you though when you when you
01:03would todd munkin after the practice said that this looks like a team that belongs is that your
01:07impression of this as well i thought actually i thought dylan sampson had the best day of anyone
01:13uh quinshawn was out and dylan ran it really well and uh yeah i mean you know i didn't see
01:20as much
01:21and todd didn't todd obviously was only watching the offense he was he didn't see what was going on the
01:25defense the people watching the defensive side of the field said uh josh really kind of tore him up
01:30a little bit defensively but on the browns offensive side did they hang with buffalo yeah i guess you
01:37could say they hung with buffalo they weren't embarrassed by them you know by any means deshaun
01:41had a red zone pick uh which isn't great but you know whatever um and again dylan ran it well
01:47i thought
01:47casey had a couple of really nice catches boston was active so yeah i i would go along with
01:54what todd said i mean they they didn't get bullied off the field on the offensive side of the ball
02:01i
02:01would agree with that all right jason uh assuming that deshaun watson is the starting quarterback which
02:07i guess we can ask you whether you have that assumption that we have as well uh do you think
02:12todd munkin is putting more pressure on himself by starting deshaun watson uh for at least seemingly the
02:20first month of the season why do you think you would be why does that put more pressure on todd
02:25because browns fans love a good honeymoon until deshaun watson stinks it up
02:31i mean listen i've been pretty adamant i i don't see the point in playing deshaun uh i don't see
02:37a
02:38whole lot of upside there the only way i would play deshaun is if shador was in absolute shambles i
02:44don't
02:44think that's the case i do think he's improved over last year i don't think uh you know i don't
02:50think either one of these guys for the long-term answer and i totally get why fans are probably
02:55sick of seeing him um but they're going to see him a little while longer because i do think deshaun's
03:00going to be i've felt since march or so that deshaun was going to win this thing and for whatever
03:05reason whether todd thinks he gives the best chance to win whether that's the investment they've made
03:09to them whatever the reason is i think deshaun's going to be the week one starter uh i you know
03:15i
03:15have questions if he can hold up for an entire season when's the last time he played 17 games
03:2016 games and a full season so i think the durability concerns are real especially given
03:25the injuries he's already had and probably all these guys are going to play at some point for
03:29being honest like taylor green's probably gonna be playing by december the way the way that the
03:33browns go through quarterbacks all right well okay you acknowledge his injury history which i think
03:37is very fair and what we need to do in this so let me let me put this out to
03:41you and see if you
03:42think i'm crazy for it or it makes sense uh i maintain deshaun watson shouldn't even play this
03:47upcoming preseason game like i don't understand the idea of the third quarter if you think the
03:51competition is actually over why is he going to play against the twos and the threes in a spot where
03:55he could get injured to to gain what while also on top of that having the chorus of booze that
04:01is
04:01going to come and just rain down on him from the the browns faithful that'll be there i i i
04:06got a sneaky
04:06feeling the browns won't even put him out there in the third quarter is that crazy i know i actually
04:11asked todd that i said is the plan still for deshaun in the third quarter and he said yeah he
04:16said deshaun will play the third and dylan will play the fourth i'm i'm a little surprised by that
04:21i thought that that may reverse course here and and they may just let dylan play the entire second
04:25half or give taylor green the fourth quarter for what you said about the line i think is real
04:32you know i don't think that there's a lot of depth up front i'm still not sure that the starting
04:36offensive line is uh as good as some other people seem to think that it is certainly when you get
04:42into the backups there's a lot of questions there and you've got a quarterback for long injury history
04:46i actually i don't think the boos are going to be as bad as people it's a preseason game like
04:51i don't
04:51think he's going to get booed coming out of the tunnel now you know if he misses two or three
04:54throws
04:54early yeah i think he's on a short leash with fans but i i think i don't think he's going
05:00to be
05:00booed coming out of the tunnel uh maybe maybe i'm way off on that and people have been waiting for
05:05this moment for two years but i just don't think that people are gonna have a lot of patience with
05:09them so uh you mentioned the two ways on why deshaun could be the starter here uh one and jp
05:17and i
05:17happen to be on the opposite side of this so you kind of get to be the referee jp thinks
05:22that this is
05:22uh you know haslam and barry just you know kind of forcing this in i think i've seen too much
05:29excitement from todd munkin that that especially after the game on saturday about deshaun's uh you
05:36know pretty middle of the road start where todd was smiling ear to ear uh where do you lean on
05:42why
05:42deshaun will start week one if that's the case is this more about todd munkin or is it more about
05:46the leadership above him i think it's i think the coach has 100 call on this so i think this
05:54is
05:54todd's call for this and i do think deshaun has outplayed shador uh throughout the way that they
06:00see it the way that they are seeing it is deshaun has been better deshaun had the league coming in
06:06because of his experience and he's done he has i mean he hasn't run away with it by any means
06:12but i think in their minds that he has performed better throughout camp and it's it's his job at least
06:18to start the year i don't think that there's interference from above i have wondered that at
06:24times over the years with this team and i no longer believe that i believe the head coach has final
06:30say
06:31on the depth chart on the quarterbacks oh why do you no longer believe that and by the way there's
06:36also an understanding here that when they hired todd munkin and they had that questionnaire maybe that
06:40was one of the questions is finding out if you're cool with deshaun watson and then we proceed
06:43there's an acknowledgement there that i have to uh why do i i just more information over time
06:50more things that you learn um you know i'll go back to like well now i'll just leave it at
06:57that i just
06:57more information that you learn over time that i i think that i do believe that the uh the head
07:03coach has final say on the depth chart of quarterback all right uh let me ask you jason uh i'm
07:09gonna
07:09steal this one here uh between uh you mentioned samson earlier but i think everyone wants to talk
07:16about concepcion in boston because it feels like they're just trading off days where one gets to
07:20be the star and the other gets to be the star when you're watching these guys uh how do you
07:24feel like
07:25the browns have this wide receiver situation and whether or not it's all figured out you got to
07:30account for the idea that jerry judy is dropping balls like crazy as well yeah i really i i thought
07:35both
07:36had a good day today i mentioned earlier concepcion and boston i thought both made plays
07:40they both stood out let's put it that way on offense those were the you know the three names
07:45that i kept kind of taking note of were concepcion boston and dylan samson uh but i don't concepcion in
07:52particular i i think could really help this quarterback room uh because again i i don't have a lot of
07:59faith in
08:00any of these guys i think this offense is really gonna be hamstrung by the quarterbacks
08:04but concepcion at least gives you a chance and whether it's jet sweeps whether it's quick game
08:11quick screens you know get it to him quickly in space and let him make something happen uh you know
08:17the things that this offense has longed for for a number of years he gives them uh that's not even
08:24talk about the punt return ability and the ability to flip the field so i i am i'm high on
08:31both of those
08:32guys i really like boston and from the otas that i saw and concepcion here i've probably only been to
08:39camp four or five days in total and uh concepcion has flashed to me pretty much almost every day i've
08:47been here and i really like him in the bears too all right jason we can get to the cavaliers
08:51pulling
08:51off the deal for the uh for for big wing uh peyton watts in there from denver they offload max
08:58truce they offload dennis schruder and of course re-sign james harden uh have the calves gotten
09:04better this off season or have they gotten different
09:09uh i think i do think that they have i think they've gotten better um if they're making a big
09:15bet on watson like it's it's a big bet and they gave up a lot to to make this happen
09:21when you because
09:21they have extremely limited trade assets and to give up the 31 first to move off of struce not so
09:29much schruder i was never a big schruder fan to begin with but um you know that it's a lot
09:35and
09:35you know max served a role and he served it well while he was here if you go back when
09:40they first
09:41signed him i thought it was a really significant signing for where they were at the time the calves
09:46have always had trouble getting free agents to come here that was a big time move when they got
09:50him and he brought some veteran leadership to the locker room he was a guy coming off a finals
09:55appearance who wasn't afraid at the moment i think he i think he gave them what they needed at the
10:02time
10:02and now they need something a little bit different and you know watson's really long he can guard all
10:09five spots and they're making a bet that they can develop him into something more than just sort of a
10:15spot up three point shooter catch and shoot guy and we'll see if they're right because they're making a
10:20big bet on this and if they're right then you know if they can develop some of the other parts
10:25of his
10:25game they've they've really got something here and if this is what he is then it's probably a little
10:31bit of an overpay but uh like they need to get young he's young and athletic that's what they need
10:38he's long that's what they need like you know when you lose dean wade and you lose some of these
10:44pieces that and you can people can laugh at dean wade but he was uh excellent defensively and and
10:51really kind of gave them something that they didn't have otherwise so watson um i'm curious to see how
10:58this goes because they very much obviously strongly believe in their player development when you see
11:02what they've done with jaylen tyson uh proctor i think proctor would have a role this year so uh we'll
11:10see we'll see if they got the bet right or not but they're definitely making a big bet on watson
11:14and on
11:14their player development i mean it is part of that bet whether or not he can really be a 41
11:18percent
11:19three-point shooter like he was last year whether that part of it is real is that is that the
11:23big
11:23impetus on this or is it more focused on what he can do defensively in your eyes no defensively he
11:29is
11:29what he like he's excellent defensively him uh evan and jared defensively are really really good
11:36i think the bet is more on the offensive side the the just the amount just look at the numbers
11:42the
11:42amount of three-point shots hasn't really been there so you know i think you want to increase that
11:48um and and just see if you can get more out of them on the offensive side so what is
11:53the bar for the
11:55calves in 2026 and 27 i mean that's that's it's tough to answer because it should be conference finals at
12:06least right like at least because they're again they're making a big bet other than watson they're
12:13bringing this thing back with all their significant pieces in place so anything short of a conference
12:20finals appearance feels like failure and when you see what the rest of the east has done you know
12:25obviously we know the moves and we'll wait and see what happens with kawai in toronto but with philly
12:30and the knicks winning it and everything else you know the east is going to be a lot better i
12:34believe
12:34the east is going to be a lot that last year sort of felt like it was wide open and
12:38it was there for
12:38the taking and it feels like teams are getting a lot better now um so it's it's i i don't
12:46think that
12:46like i'm not going to put a ton of stock in the regular season i don't think you know if
12:51they're a
12:5150 win 55 win team you know top four seed i think it's realistic expectations but yeah i mean how
13:02how can
13:02you have anything short of a conference finals expectation yet at the same time realize the east
13:09is really really good and it's going to be really tough for them to get back even to that point
13:13jason you're a gentleman we appreciate you joining us fresh out of camp there and we'll catch up with
13:18you down the line all right guys see you jason lloyd of the athletic and 92 the fan on the
13:23wise heart
13:23right we make it right call kyle wright hotline
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