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SportsTranscript
00:00Hello, Albert. How are you doing today?
00:02What's up, guys?
00:03We are still just kind of in shock a little bit at the start of the Browns 2-1 season,
00:08and a lot of that has to do with Deshaun Watson.
00:11He wasn't good for the first three quarters, but you've got to tip your cap.
00:13He was really good in the fourth quarter, and now it's two straight weeks
00:16where in the fourth quarter he's looked like Patrick Mahomes.
00:19Albert, how have you seen the play of Deshaun?
00:23I mean, I think you're seeing why he was their best option, to be honest with you.
00:26He's been through up before. He's been through ups and downs.
00:30But, you know, I think, like, the best thing for the team right now
00:36is for the young talent to keep developing and the young talent to keep getting better
00:40and be in a position where they can help you win games at the end of the year,
00:43but also, like, help to create a foundation going forward.
00:49And, you know, I think that's why the guys in that coaching staff had resolved
00:53that Deshaun was the best option all along,
00:55because I think that they thought that that gives Casey Concepcion
01:01and Denzel Boston and Harold Fannin and Spencer Fano and Quinchon Judkin
01:06and all the other young guys that they have on that side of the ball
01:10the best chance to grow as football players.
01:13And so, you know, like, when you've got a team that's young like that,
01:18there are going to be bumps.
01:21And, like, I think having a veteran quarterback helps you ride those out.
01:25And so Deshaun's riding them out himself.
01:27He's also helping the younger players ride it out.
01:30And I think, you know, any of us that were at training camp,
01:33at their training camp saw a little bit of a different vibe that Todd Monk
01:38had brought, a little bit of a different energy that Todd Monk had brought.
01:42And I think that's really starting to show up in the way that they play.
01:46Albert, I love that when we get to the fourth quarter,
01:48he basically turns into Superman.
01:50But it feels like, especially this most recent week,
01:53it was three quarters where he had 67 yards and then a really good fourth quarter.
01:57It's almost back-to-back weeks where you get a bad at least half a football
02:00out of Deshaun or an unproductive half.
02:03That just can't be sustainable for the Browns to continue to try and win football games, right?
02:08Yeah, no, it's not.
02:09I mean, I think you, you know, and you hope, again, that he'll settle in.
02:14And as he, again, he gets in those situations at the end of games
02:18and he can act on instinct a little bit more.
02:21And, you know, now, like, you hope that you can kind of start to put together
02:25something that's going to work better over the first three quarters.
02:27And that stuff can come along.
02:29You know what I mean?
02:30Like, I just, again, like, I just, I don't think I ever really understood
02:34the conversation, like, that where, like, there was some high-end ceiling
02:39with one of the other quarterbacks that you were chasing.
02:41I mean, maybe you want to find out.
02:43But, like, I always felt like Deshaun had the highest ceiling of any of the quarterbacks there
02:49despite the injuries, despite the fact that he's 30 years old.
02:53I mean, he's demonstrated that he can play at a very high level.
02:56And, again, I don't know if that player's ever coming back to one that we saw
03:00at the end in Houston, but I think most NFL people would tell you
03:05the best of Deshaun Watson is probably better than you're going to get
03:09from any other quarterback on the Browns roster.
03:13And so I've always felt this way.
03:16And I honestly, like, I'm not mad at anybody about it.
03:20Don't get me wrong.
03:21But I never understood why people thought I was crazy for saying that.
03:26So then I do got to ask, then, like, the idea that, and Ian Rappaport was on the show
03:30earlier today, or not the show, the station earlier today, and he was like,
03:33well, they weren't really that close to benching Deshaun Watson.
03:35But it did seem like a lot of reports before Game 2 felt like they were very close
03:39to benching Deshaun Watson.
03:41When you talk to NFL people, I mean, just even yourself, I'm curious to find out,
03:46did it make the Browns look any sort of way that they were, after two games,
03:51seemingly, like they were just going to be done with the whole entire ordeal then?
03:55I mean, I guess we can talk in hypotheticals if you want.
03:59And if it had been like a complete dumpster fire, right, a total mess against the
04:04Buccaneers in Tampa, you know, then, yes, I think you are having the conversation,
04:09what does this look like when we bring it into that stadium?
04:11It was ugly when there were 15,000 fans there and Deshaun played.
04:14How much worse is that going to have?
04:16I think it saved them from having that conversation, right?
04:19And I do think that that's a real thing, you know, like that if it's an ugly
04:23environment for one player, it's going to be an ugly environment for every player,
04:26you know?
04:27So those are real things.
04:30Like, and I wouldn't deny that those are, that there is some reality to it.
04:35But I don't know.
04:38Again, like I just kind of take it back to like the simplistic way of looking at it
04:41and saying, like, I don't know that the Browns coaches ever thought there was, like,
04:48that there was a question that he was the best option for them from a football standpoint.
04:53And again, like, that can't be just in a vacuum.
04:56All the other stuff has to be considered.
04:58But I still think, like, you know, if you talk to those coaches, you'd see, like,
05:04they still think he was their best option.
05:05And by the way, like, the coaches that were around them in a joint practice setting,
05:10the coaches against them in the preseason game, based on what they had seen and what
05:14they had heard, like, that all lined up, too, that Deshaun still was the best option
05:19for the team.
05:20Albert, what's kind of the overall league-wide feeling on the Browns as a whole?
05:24Because we're watching them kind of climb in the power rankings or watching them get a
05:27little better.
05:28They get a little recognition.
05:29But then, you know, fans are going to flip on the TVs on Sunday and maybe coming up on
05:33Thursday, and it feels like watching an entire panel of people, once again, pick against
05:37the Cleveland Browns.
05:39Well, I mean, I think it depends on how you're looking at it, right?
05:43So I think, like, within the NFL, there's a lot of respect for Todd Bunkett as a coach.
05:48And he's been very well respected for a long time.
05:52He came closer to getting the Jets job, I think it was 2019, and a lot of people realized.
05:58And the Browns liked him a lot, you know, when they brought him in on Freddie Kitchens
06:02staff that year.
06:04You know, the Buccaneers obviously had had that discussion as well.
06:09So I think there's that part of it that he's really well respected.
06:14I do think that there's respect for the job they've done the last couple of years, Andrew
06:20Berry and his staff, of being able to start to turn the roster over.
06:25And when they had really struggled with some of their drafts there for a few years, particularly
06:31when they didn't have the picks because of the Deshaun trade, the roster's starting to
06:36get younger.
06:38And, like, so you're starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel there, a situation
06:41that might be actually pretty good for a young quarterback.
06:44But, you know, overall, are they a playoff team?
06:48I don't think very many people see them that way.
06:49So, again, I think there's respect for the coach.
06:52I think there's a respect for the staff.
06:54I think there's a respect for the fact that, like, that does look like they've kind of turned
06:59the corner in drafting and developing young talent.
07:02But there's also an acknowledgement that it's going to take some time before they are, you
07:06know, where everybody wants to be.
07:08Does the defense come up at all?
07:10Or are we just getting ahead of ourselves?
07:12Because now it's been two weeks of really good defensive play.
07:14But last Sunday, Albert, I mean, the pressures they got on young was incredible.
07:19And Mason Graham was awesome.
07:21And Jared Verse was awesome.
07:22And it just felt like that's the best defensive line.
07:25We're obviously with Miles Garrett, obviously, a lot of really good defensive line plays.
07:29But single game defensive line play across the board that I can remember.
07:34Yeah, and that's the cool part, right?
07:35Like, is that now, I mean, with Miles, as great as he was, you know, he's going to have
07:42his name up in the, I guess, the new stadium, right?
07:45Someday in Cleveland.
07:47And he's an all-time great.
07:50You know, it's got to be exciting.
07:52If you're talking about a Mason Graham in year two and a Jared Verse now in year three.
07:57And so you're starting to look at the roster and, like, some of the younger pieces, Carson
08:01Schlesinger is going to be around, presumably, for a long time.
08:06And, you know, you're starting to see that coming together.
08:07And, look, they have a first-year play caller in Mike Rootberg on that side of the ball.
08:11And Rudy's really well-respected.
08:14But you don't know what you don't know, right?
08:16Like, you don't know how that's going to look until you get there.
08:18And it wasn't pretty in week one.
08:20We all know that.
08:22Like, that did not look good.
08:23It certainly looked like Jacksonville could do whatever they wanted with the Browns in week one.
08:27And so to be able to turn it around and come up with the performances they came up with the
08:32last couple weeks,
08:33really, really good.
08:34It'll be interesting to see what it looks like against Pittsburgh on Thursday night.
08:38Speaking of Pittsburgh on Thursday night, their offense looked horrible for two weeks,
08:42kind of turned a corner going into their last game and beating Cincinnati.
08:47Browns fans feel like they have a pretty positive outlook on this,
08:49that they can definitely come away winners.
08:51What is the overall league view right now as you look at the Pittsburgh Steelers?
08:56So, like, I mean, the age has definitely shown up in spots this year.
09:01They played really well against Cincinnati.
09:03And that sort of looked like the old Cincinnati the first time this year.
09:08The one that's very reliant on Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase and Tee Higgins to win the game for them.
09:14They didn't look like that the first two weeks, which is why they were 2-0.
09:19But, I mean, give Pittsburgh credit, too.
09:21And, you know, I think you saw the offensive line start to come together.
09:25With Max Heshore, you know, like, getting his first start at right tackle.
09:32You know, you saw Rodgers, I think, playing a little faster.
09:35I think the defense has been pretty good on balance.
09:37So, you know, I think with Pittsburgh, it's really kind of, it's a good, not great team.
09:42I mean, it's just, I think with the age of the roster, you sort of wonder what this is going
09:49to look like.
09:50But I think they're formidable for now.
09:52All right, Albert, I saw your tweet yesterday.
09:55From 2000 to 2009, every first-round quarterback made it through three seasons with the team that drafted him.
10:01And then from 2010 to 24, eight haven't.
10:04And so I want to play a clip for you, okay?
10:06And I'm not going to tell you what Ian Rappaport said about it when he was on the morning show.
10:09But Ken Carman came up with a theory and a thought.
10:14And I want to know if you think this is, and listen, I just love when people come up with
10:17ideas.
10:18It's hard to be original in the NFL world, okay?
10:20But I want to know if you love this idea or you think it's the dumbest thing you ever heard.
10:24And I don't know if there's going to be an in-between.
10:25Here's Ken this morning.
10:27I thought of a rule to help quarterbacks.
10:29If you take a QB in the top ten, if you draft a QB in the top ten, you cannot
10:34draft another quarterback in the top ten for another three years.
10:40Just for the virtue of patience?
10:42Just for the virtue of patience.
10:43You cannot draft another.
10:45I'm sure there are other things to it.
10:48It's a working title.
10:50It certainly is.
10:51But I'm going, you take a quarterback in the top ten, and people go, well, Kenny, then they wouldn't have
10:56been able to get Kyler Murray.
10:57Yeah, that's the point.
10:57You took Josh Rosen.
10:58You made your bet.
10:59You're going to lay in it now.
11:00You can go take a quarterback in the second round.
11:01You can trade for a quarterback, a veteran quarterback.
11:04No one's stopping you from doing that.
11:06But why do you get to sit there and make every mistake in the world?
11:09And Josh Rosen's a businessman now.
11:13He probably wasn't cut out for it.
11:14But what gives you the right to go out there and ruin people's lives just because you guys can't get
11:18your act together?
11:19All right, I don't want to lead the jury with what Ian Rappaport said.
11:22What are your thoughts when you hear that?
11:24I actually kind of love it.
11:26Oh, wow.
11:29Rappaport said don't quit your day job, and you have no right to ever think you could be a commissioner.
11:34What do you love about it?
11:37I just think quarterbacks get ruined by these teams.
11:40And I think it's like, I think sometimes, honestly, like, I don't know.
11:48I mean, owners can be so herky-jerky, right?
11:51And, like, they can fall out of love with these players so quick.
11:55And I think these quarterbacks in this draft, a lot of times, like, driving a new car off the lot,
12:02like, it loses its value the minute you drive it off the lot, right?
12:05Like, and it doesn't look as pretty to you anymore because it's got a couple scratches on it, you know?
12:11So now you'd rather have, you know, the next year you'd rather have the new model that came out.
12:17I just, I think quarterback development is broken.
12:21I think it's broken because the owners have more money than they know what to do with.
12:26So they can fire whoever they want.
12:27They can eat contract money.
12:30And, like, I look at, like, so Trevor Lawrence is a good example, right?
12:36So Liam Cohen got there.
12:38And when Liam Cohen got there, he was going to be Trevor Lawrence's third head coach and fourth, like, and
12:44I'm sorry, I said I used the word I should have used it.
12:47You're okay.
12:49But all kinds of crap cluttered in his head, right?
12:52And how do we untangle that?
12:54And how do we get him playing faster again?
12:56And the answer was, like, all right, we're not even going to worry about him game number four in his
13:02progression.
13:03One, two, and then you run.
13:04We're going to call more design runs for you.
13:06And then we're going to build you back up, right?
13:08Because you've got so much stuff floating around in your head.
13:11And everything's so tangled up up there.
13:13Like, we need to find a way to get you on tank.
13:16And it reminded me so much of the story of Alex Smith and when Jim Harbaugh and Greg Roman got
13:21to San Francisco in 2011.
13:24And Alex Smith at that point had had, I think it was, six coordinators in six years.
13:31It's insane.
13:32Like, it's just, it's malpractice.
13:37And I'm not saying, like, that none of it's in the quarterbacks.
13:41But listen to this, guys.
13:42All right, so Josh Allen was drafted by a team that made the playoffs the year before traded up to
13:49get him.
13:51Patrick Mahomes, drafted by a team that made the playoffs four of the five years before he got there, traded
13:56up to get him, right?
13:58And then Lamar Jackson flipped to 32 and was drafted by a playoff team.
14:04Those are three of the four quarterbacks, right?
14:08Three of the four quarterbacks that I think you'd say were the best of this generation, of this current generation.
14:14With, I think, the one other one being Joe Burrow, who went to Cincinnati, and Cincinnati never fires anyone, right?
14:22Doesn't that tell you something?
14:25Like, Josh Allen went to Sean McDermott, maybe a little less established, but a really good head coach.
14:31And then Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes went to John Harbaugh and Andy Reid.
14:39You think they had an advantage?
14:41Yeah, I'd say so.
14:43I know there's a chicken and egg thing here.
14:46Maybe those guys would have made it regardless, right?
14:49But it helped.
14:50It certainly helped.
14:52It had to have, yeah.
14:53And, like, that doesn't seem coincidental to me.
14:56That, like, you know, two of the quarterbacks that made it, like, list all the top ten picks, right?
15:04And two of the quarterbacks that made it were quarterbacks that were on the other end of the only two
15:14trades of playoff teams trading out of the top ten to get quarterbacks over the last decade.
15:19Isn't that crazy?
15:20That is crazy.
15:21That's Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes.
15:23Yeah, no, that's crazy.
15:24Now it's a confident front office.
15:25They evaluate well.
15:27But, like, don't you think part of it is, like, those guys didn't have five coordinators in their first five
15:32years.
15:32Those guys didn't have a bunch of different voices in their head.
15:36I just, I think it's like, it's crazy if you don't think that.
15:40You know what I mean?
15:40I think that's why locally a lot of people end up giving Baker Mayfield the benefit of the doubt because
15:44he went through nine coordinators in nine years.
15:47Right, Sam Darnold.
15:48Like, did Sam Darnold have any chance?
15:50And now people still want to, like, dog him because of what happened early in his career.
15:55Did Sam Darnold have any chance?
15:57He's now made the playoffs two years in a row with two different teams and won a Super Bowl and,
16:03like, came back and, like, played really well against Washington last week.
16:06Like, I know you had to pick six, but he's a really good quarterback.
16:10Yeah.
16:10You don't think that would have happened if he had gone?
16:12You don't think that would have happened earlier if he had gone to a better situation?
16:14I don't know.
16:15He would have.
16:15No, he would have.
16:16There's no other way to look at it because if he was good then, if he's good now, he would
16:20have been good then, I would imagine.
16:22Albert, fantastic insight.
16:23You made Ken Carman incredibly happy, I have to imagine.
16:26Thank you so much.
16:27We'll talk to you next week.
16:29All right.
16:29Thanks, guys.
16:30All right.
16:30Good stuff right there with Albert Breer on the Wiseheart.
16:32All right, we make it right.
16:32Call Kyle Wright Hotline.
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