00:00the browns named a new starting quarterback today and we're going to talk about it on the
00:04wise heart right we make it right call kyle wright hotline he's going to join us all football season
00:09long at 5 p.m the honorable browns analyst nathan zagura joins us right now nathan welcome to the
00:17show thank you guys good to be with you yeah yeah it's it's a shame nathan that we don't have
00:22anything to talk about today or anything that people have feelings on i guess we'll start here
00:28uh what does deshaun watson have to do not just he's already earned the job but what does he have
00:34to do to still be the browns starting quarterback in october november this year win games i mean i
00:40think that's pretty simple i think whoever you know was named the starter in order to remain the
00:45starter they had to be winning football games playing good football and putting this team
00:49in a position to play meaningful games in november and december and compete you know for the a division
00:55title or a playoff spot i think that's that's really all that he can do to solidify that and
01:01obviously with deshaun is he is he's not unfortunately for him not been able to stay healthy and so he's
01:06gonna have to stay healthy but he's got to play good football whoever the starter is has got to
01:09play good football and it's got to win dot munkin has one singular focus and that is winning football
01:14games and i think that the quarterback driven offense they're gonna have a lot to do with the wins
01:18and losses so you want to keep the job you win what do you think it was specifically about
01:22deshaun's game that maybe tipped the scales in his favor to win the job to start week one
01:29he just has more experience right not that that's always fair but he's got a lot more experience i
01:33think that he was familiar or more familiar with a lot of the concepts and a lot of the things
01:38that
01:38todd munkin is going to ask him to do in this offense a lot of it is honestly very similar
01:42to what
01:43he did in houston under bill o'brien deshaun has told me that todd munkin has told me that as
01:47well
01:48um just kind of that's the way that todd munkin sees offensive football right now a lot of the
01:52three-by-one stuff very similar to a lot of things he did in houston where they would put you
01:56know
01:56deandre hopkins on the single side of that three-by-one they're doing that with denzel boston
01:59so i think that's what it was at the end of the day i think that this feels you know
02:06very big to a lot
02:08of people and i certainly understand that you have a head coach who has been waiting a very long time
02:13came back to the national football league to be the oc in baltimore where he led lamar jackson to
02:17an mvp season he came back to become a head coach in the nfl and this is his opportunity and
02:22he is
02:23doing everything he can to win so this to me this decision just says that todd munkin believes with
02:30conviction that deshaun watson gives him the best chance to win week one in jacksonville and beyond
02:35as the starting quarterback for the cleveland browns nathan uh one of the things that has me a little
02:40bullish on the browns is i think they finally have the pieces to to win not necessarily in
02:45spite of the quarterback but help the quarterback be better right so uh it'll identity why that that
02:52the big i word was always a topic with kevin stefanski in cleveland what do you what offensive
02:58identity should we really look for starting week one with deshaun watson as the brown starting quarterback
03:04oh we should be fun we should be fun to watch on offense capable of creating explosive plays in the
03:10run game and the pass game and that i think has been kind of one of the biggest differences
03:14you know for a while and it's because of the young skill talent look at the guys that are out
03:18there
03:18that are going to be touching the ball in the backfield you have the combination of quinchon
03:21judkins and dylan sampson two guys in their second year two guys who played big time college football
03:26big time colleges and big time conferences at wide receiver now you've got casey concepcion and denzel
03:32boss and both of them played at big colleges played in the college football playoff you have jerry judy who
03:36two years ago was a pro bowl receiver he's now the big veteran and he still is a young player
03:41and
03:41then there's isaiah bond who's the fastest receiver on the team led the league led the team last year
03:4518.8 yards a catch and you know played in texas played the college football playoffs you got these
03:50young skill guys who have all had these big collegiate experience on the exception that obviously
03:54is their own fan and bowling green and all he did was lead the team last year in reception receiving
03:59yards
04:00and receiving touchdowns and so you look at this young nucleus we have one of the best under 25
04:07skill rooms or skilled groups in the nfl that is not something we've been able to say for a very
04:12long
04:13time so i think with the casey and denzel and judy and fan and then judkins and sampson this is
04:21going
04:21to be an offense that absolutely can raise and should be able to raise the play of the quarterback around
04:26them be explosive casey concepcion i think can make explosive whether it's a vertical throw whether
04:31it's an intermediate throw that he's catching on the move and running or whether it's a jet sweep
04:35whether it's a screen pass to him just to get him the ball in space we've got a lot of
04:39these guys that
04:39can make those kind of plays and i think that is going to be the identity that this is a
04:43team that
04:44should have the ability to win its matchups in this when it comes to their skill position players in
04:49both the run game and the pass game what have you been seeing from the offensive line i actually thought
04:53they had a pretty day pretty nice day on saturday we've taken a lot of phone calls though it seems
04:56like the fans are really concerned about the idea that it is five new guys on the offensive line and
05:01that hasn't happened in the nfl in 50 years yeah and certainly is unique in that regard i would say
05:08that on thursday the joint practice which the media if you look at the guy people from the bill side
05:14of
05:14things or from the browns the one thing that everybody who were attending those joint practices and
05:19was that man our offensive line actually looked pretty good time for the quarterbacks to throw
05:25yes you saw that on saturday but again that's not going to be a lot of guys that were playing
05:29on sundays for either team but i was very encouraged by what that first team offensive line showed in the
05:36joint practice against the bills because it was shaky in the game against the bears and so it is a
05:41work in progress it takes time to gel it takes time to understand exactly you know what the guy next
05:46he was doing or thinking without having that communication but i was talking about joel
05:50batonio and joe thomas for that matter both were very encouraged by what they saw as a joint practice
05:56and and came away feeling pretty optimistic about this line they're very excited about spencer fano in
06:01particular but came away feeling better about it that's obviously going to be key do you want the
06:06line to be elite of course you do but it's not like this kind of you know middle of the
06:10league and not a
06:11problem i think we've got skill talent and and you know and todd munkin who's been very successful
06:17with offense anywhere he's been at all levels of football i think that we'll have an opportunity to
06:22be fun on offense nathan a little bit of a loss this weekend alex right out for the season with
06:27an
06:27achilles injury they've replaced him with derrick barnett i'm just i i am a little concerned now all of a
06:33sudden about that defensive line because alex was such a big part of it where the browns losing with
06:38alex right a lot unfortunately there's no way to sugarcoat it as sending young player career year
06:43last year 12 tackles for loss career high in sacks as well really becoming a leader and a vocal leader
06:50kind of a guy who is is so well respected in that room and i do think it is a
06:57significant loss he was
06:58going to start he was going to be the guy opposite jared verse um he's got he was the biggest
07:03of our
07:03defensive linemen he played the run incredibly well he could get after the quarterback as i said
07:07um it's a big loss and i feel so badly for him he's worked so hard you know he earned
07:12that contract
07:13extension he got and i thought was really ready to have a breakout type of a year this year and
07:18he
07:18will not get that chance so isaiah mcguire slides into that number two defensive end role and he showed
07:24a lot of promise last year at a very good year as well not nearly the pass rusher who has
07:29not yet
07:29been thus far in his career that alex right has been he's a very good player against the run so
07:33he's
07:34going to need to elevate his pass rush you've got derrick barnett now who is you know a former
07:38first rounder kind of a professional pass rusher guy five sacks each of the last two seasons and
07:43attack fronts so understands what he's going to be asked to do here more opportunity obviously now
07:48for him with alex right out and then you know mike hall is somebody who is not a defensive end
07:54he's
07:54a 300 pounder but is an incredibly explosive athlete and we saw in the game on saturday
07:59played some at defensive end and looked really good doing it had a sack at another one where he
08:05broke through the line very quickly he's incredibly strong incredibly fast and agile and now todd
08:10monk has said he's not going to make a full-time transition to defensive end but he's going to be
08:14part of that defensive end rotation and the defensive tackle rotation and the browns are are expecting
08:22big things for michael and i hope that certainly he can live up that he has the talent to do
08:26so
08:26nathan if we go back to the quarterbacks for a second uh we were just talking last segment to be
08:30joe thomas you mentioned him on the broadcast he was raving about uh operationally how good
08:35shador sanders looked in that first half uh what was your takeaway that maybe he's an encouraging
08:40sign for a quarterback that has just been told today that he's going to be the backup to start the
08:43year yeah i think there's a lot encouraging about shador sanders and i think that if you think
08:49about the quarterback that was in the last preseason game a year ago against the rams and the
08:54quarterback that we saw out there in the joint practice against the starters of the bills and the
08:58quarterback we saw out there on saturday even against the backups of the bills he has come such
09:03a long way his pocket presence is poised in the pocket not drifting out of the pocket his ability to
09:09stand tall with the chaos around him keep his feet calm and then step up and make throws everybody
09:14talks about the touchdown to florian good recognition of the busted coverage got a great pocket from his line
09:19but the third and long throw that he made to luke florian was a great ball waiting for that over
09:24to kind of clear the zones fitting it in i had a damar hamlin there was an excellent throw he
09:29got
09:29hosed i thought on the scramble he had hit the head no flag there i think he got paul zack
09:34zinner for
09:34holding when he was kind of already by him um but showed his athleticism i average eight yards to carry
09:39last year when he ran the football for the browns he's just come a long long way it is it's
09:44been really
09:45fun to see his development and the result of the hard work that he has put in there's no question
09:50in my mind that he can be you know winning starting quarterback for the cleveland browns when that
09:54opportunity arises and if history is any indication with our our quarterback situation he's going to
10:00get a shot i i would imagine at some point this year and if he does get that shot i
10:05think he's gonna
10:06he's gonna come out and he's gonna play well we know we can hit those explosives you guys got so
10:11much
10:11better with his operation so much better with his cadence as well and that was you know you saw
10:15the free play that he got or the false start that he got got another free play had one on
10:19thursday
10:19so he was able to get the bills to jump off sites multiple times with his cadence so a lot
10:24of those
10:24things that he didn't really have to do at all in college he's gotten a lot better for and i
10:29think
10:29that's very encouraging for brown fans i think it's very encouraging for brown fans and encouraging for
10:33chador nathan quick turnaround this week thursday night football patriots in town this thursday
10:39uh what are we watching for on thursday i'm excited to see taylon green taylon green last year led the
10:46secs and plays of 20 or more yards including passes runs he is an explosive athlete six six runs a
10:52four
10:53three forty fifty plus inch vertical can throw the ball 80 yards has an absolute hose i'm just excited
10:59to see him play hasn't gotten a ton of reps but i'll tell you what the joint practice he gets
11:02a couple
11:02of reps and throws a beautiful ball on touchdown side of the wall and then keeps one and runs it
11:07in in the
11:08red zone so i i think he's just going to be a playmaker i think it's going to be fun
11:12to watch
11:12i can't wait to see taylon green nathan great stuff with you buddy appreciate you we'll catch up with
11:17you next week and of course then we're on to the regular season and just a couple weeks time
11:22absolutely and we can talk about things that matter and hopefully some uh browns wins but thank
11:26god thank you guys for having me on browns analyst there nathan zagura gentleman and a scholar on the
11:31wise heart right we make it right call kyle wright hotline
11:34you
11:34Okay.
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