00:00I'd like to say that the season's more about evaluation.
00:06And by the way, they are starting to come out of the woodwork.
00:09We got a few weeks until the season starts,
00:11and I knew this was going to happen,
00:12and I know I'm going to have to stay steadfast.
00:14I'm at five wins now after the quarterback's performance
00:19against the Buffalo Bills, and then they go around
00:21and they make him the starter, and I go,
00:23this is a broken man, and I'm at five wins now.
00:26And I've had some people going, oh, my God,
00:28you just hate the Browns.
00:29I go, you don't know me at all.
00:31Just say you don't know me and move on.
00:33I've only underestimated them once, and that was that
00:37when I picked them to win nine games, they won 11.
00:40Every other time, I've been over.
00:42So if I'm hitting five, I don't know how it's going to go.
00:46I got to tell you.
00:48But when I hear what Nick says about the T-word,
00:52you know, I tend to agree.
00:54I'd rather it be more about evaluation than the T-word.
00:57The T-word's nasty.
00:58The T-word brings up a lot of bad memories.
01:00The T-word brings up a lot of misguided thoughts.
01:03The T-word is a lazy way to do things.
01:06The T-word, yeah, can find you something better.
01:09But there are definitely organizations that abstain from it as best they can.
01:15And I've had this fight several times, and it's where Nick and I are actually in agreement here.
01:20And very rarely we are.
01:23I always look at it and go, man, it's the same old, same old.
01:26I know that so many go, oh, the parity.
01:28We get these teams.
01:29We get these.
01:30Yeah, you know what?
01:30They got Jaden Daniels in Washington.
01:32And then what did they do in year two?
01:34Well, they started to figure him out a little bit, and he got banged up,
01:37and he realized the rest of the team ain't that great.
01:40This happens.
01:41You know, that's part of the reason I keep saying it's like, well, you can't keep saying we're just a
01:45quarterback away.
01:46You're going to fill yourself up with false hopes.
01:47That's part of the reason that Deshaun Watson is still on the roster.
01:50You need most of that $86 million.
01:52I don't know how much they'll have to take as a penalty this coming year after they cut him on
01:56June 1st,
01:57but you're going to need some of that money so I can help support whoever I take in the first
02:02round next year,
02:03whether that be Moore, Carr, Manning, whoever it may be.
02:07It's just not that simple.
02:09And I know we live in a world where we try to simplify it, but I'd like to fight it
02:12as long as I can.
02:13So if they could just keep their head above .500, like you eventually get to a point where, like, Nick
02:20has said, what, not until November?
02:21Yeah.
02:22Well, you do eventually reach a point where, yeah, if you're still above .500 in November,
02:28then there's no conversation to have about tanking.
02:31You might as well go for the gusto.
02:32You're halfway through the season.
02:34You're above .500.
02:36Yeah, the bottom can fall out, but you've probably already won enough games where you're not going to get number
02:40one.
02:40The conversation should be moot.
02:42But if you have an 0-3 start to this year, and I've already gone through two quarterbacks, how am
02:49I going to stop that?
02:51Because if you go 0-2 or 0-3, you're just in a very bad hole.
02:57And by that time, I think we'll have some injuries.
02:59And by that time, I don't think we ever are going to have the depth this year to be able
03:03to get over those injuries.
03:05So you're going to be in a not great situation here.
03:07So I'd rather call the season a season of evaluation.
03:10I don't go into the season talking tank, although it's funny because Lindsey, help me out from the ringer,
03:17she was on the afternoon show yesterday, and in her piece, she's like,
03:20it's so 100% obvious that the Browns are not looking to win this year,
03:25which would be tough for us as a radio station, partner of the Browns as well,
03:29to go into the season talking like that.
03:31And I don't think we have.
03:32Like, obviously, I don't think they're going to be good.
03:34But if they start out the season 2-0, you're not going to hear me just languish and go,
03:40why did we win these games?
03:41No.
03:42No, you will hear me.
03:43You've never done that.
03:43You will hear me say that if they go into the final month of the season
03:46and they're jockeying for position in the bottom,
03:49and then we were to, like, make moves to win games,
03:52then, yeah, you'll probably hear it from me.
03:54I will not understand that.
03:56But I'm not going to do that at the end of August and into September.
04:00Well, I don't want them to lose.
04:01I don't know if anybody, including the Browns,
04:03want them to lose games on purpose.
04:05Until the end of the year.
04:06I definitely will want them to lose at the end of the year.
04:08The players won't, obviously.
04:10We go over that all the time.
04:11Yeah, and I understand that's semantics,
04:13but that's 98% of what we do in sports.
04:14But, like, if it came down to Denzel Ward's been nursing a hamstring
04:19towards the end of the year, I'd be like, shut them down.
04:20What are we doing?
04:21Shut them down.
04:22Shut them down.
04:22Shut them down.
04:23Shut them down.
04:23This is pointless.
04:24I'm not going to put guys out there to try to win games
04:27when we have a chance to get the best college quarterback.
04:30Like, that's just silly.
04:31No good organization would operate in that realm.
04:35And people can say that they don't like that.
04:39Oh, God.
04:39But you know I'm right.
04:39You're making me out to be an idiot, and I hate it.
04:42But you're not an idiot, and I don't think you'll say that.
04:44I hate you for this.
04:45No, because you said shut down Denzel Ward.
04:49Denzel Ward's a leader.
04:50Denzel Ward could have been shut down last year and didn't get shut down.
04:53Denzel Ward played with injuries at the end of the season.
04:55Yeah.
04:56Am I speaking out of turn there?
04:57Do I need to dump that?
04:58And as he gets older every year, I would strongly advise against that.
05:01Denzel Ward was really banged up and then still found a way to go out there.
05:05Like, I understand what you're saying, and I think there's so many guys who roll their
05:10eyes going, Kenny, it's not this hard.
05:12You make it way harder than it is.
05:13And I go, no.
05:14I think that you guys make it harder than it is.
05:16Like, there is culture.
05:18Yeah, I get it.
05:19And I know how you guys just farted all that.
05:21But you do have a guy that is a local guy, a leader, and not always in that, because you
05:29can have leaders from all over the place.
05:31It's not always in that order.
05:32But you know damn well, Anthony, we've had a lot of guys in the history that are fan favorites
05:39that, you know what, hamstringing and really feeling that great today.
05:43And then it didn't feel great the next week.
05:45And then all of a sudden you didn't see them.
05:46And they're fan favorites over the last 27 years.
05:50And we just, well, yeah, well, you know, we like that guy, this, that, and the other.
05:52It's like, oh, really?
05:53You run on your fingers?
05:54You run on your hands?
05:55That's what you do?
05:56We're trying to go out there, and we're trying to be together, and we're trying to win football
05:58games, and they got theirs, and they don't.
06:00Like, that's why I have a lot of respect for Denzel Ward.
06:03I've had a lot of respect for Denzel Ward, but him going out there and playing, I know,
06:06injured and seriously injured, and still going out there and making a run at it last year,
06:12that just speaks to you.
06:13I think it's an insult for me to yell at him for trying to play.
06:17Now, you could turn right around and say, yeah, but the Browns, they have doctors, and
06:20they could say it's in their best interest.
06:22I guess we can do that.
06:23But that's a conversation for a few months from now, if it gets to that level.
06:27Yeah, and that's what I'm saying.
06:28This stuff will be obvious by the end of the year.
06:30If it's not obvious, and that means the Browns are having a good year, then no.
06:34If they're vying for a playoff spot, I'm not going to say, oh, lose the last five games
06:39to get a better draft spot.
06:41You're not going to hear me say that.
06:42Well, that's it.
06:43But I do think that there's people who are going to be shaking their heads because if
06:46you're getting to that spot, then I think, well, one, there's going to be people who
06:50are mad that they're wrong, which I'm not going to be mad that I'm wrong if they win
06:52more than five games.
06:53Are you kidding me?
06:53The second thing, but you know that there's people who are that.
06:55The second thing is that you could see it as, quote-unquote, fool's gold.
06:59So I look at it as a season of evaluation, and then when you get to the T word, I
07:05think
07:05it's an ugly, ugly, ugly word.
07:07And yeah, I will reach a point in the season where if they lose enough games, I'm not going
07:11to sit there and be upset that they lose, but I'm not going to celebrate them losing
07:15either.
07:16I'll roll up my sleeves and we'll get ready for the quarterback conversation.
07:19But what I think Nick is trying to do, while sounds crazy to some, because I think whether
07:26he likes it or not, we're going to get to that conversation.
07:29Mock drafts, he said he'd be really annoyed by mock drafts.
07:31Like, the mock drafts are already out.
07:32I saw what Jordan Reed put out there yesterday.
07:34I saw what he has the Browns doing.
07:37I clicked for a reason.
07:38By the way, CJ Bailey going to Virginia with NC State Virginia Saturday coming up this weekend,
07:45week zero, your first chance to monitor the draft class.
07:48I didn't just roll my eyes when I saw Jordan Reed's mock.
07:51I clicked on it for a damn good reason, because we all know what we're looking at.
07:55And what Lizzie Jones says yesterday is true.
07:58Again, you don't make the moves you've made if you were trying to really go for it.
08:02So I can't say they're not really going for it, but you do want some sort of a hope going
08:08into a season, don't you?
08:09Yeah.
08:10And I think that's perfectly fine.
08:12I may not necessarily agree with it, but I think you're in a spot where you'd love to
08:16be wrong.
08:16I'd rather the Browns win and be wrong than be right about them losing consistently.
08:21I really would.
08:22And I think that that is what separates us from some other people.
08:25And that, by the way, Nick would be with us on that.
08:29So if he wants to put a moratorium on that word, or he just doesn't want to talk about
08:34mock drafts, hey, I can respect that.
08:35I can see where he's at.
08:37But it doesn't mean I'm not going to do my job and at least look at him and get ready
08:41to probably take a guy next year.
08:43Nick's not going to be paying attention to Arch Manning and Dante Moore all year from week
08:46one.
08:48I find that very hard to believe.
08:49Yeah, we all are.
08:50Well, Ohio State plays them week two.
08:52Right.
08:52So what are you going to do?
08:53Not watch that game?
08:54I refuse.
08:54I refuse.
