00:00Let's go to the Wisehart Wright. We make it right. Call Kyle Wright Hotline.
00:03You can read him every morning at NFLBlueBook.com. It's his new website. He's Charles Robinson.
00:11You can sign up for his newsletter. Get it in your inbox like I do.
00:15Charles, I'm enjoying it very much. The website's outstanding. Congratulations. We hope it's going well for you.
00:21Thank you, gentlemen. How are you guys doing today?
00:24We'll spark some Shador conversation in the midst of a, you know, solid start for the Browns.
00:33Yeah.
00:34We're talking about Shador.
00:36Nice of him to throw some things out there and to have some looks on the sidelines that people are
00:41interpreting one way or the other.
00:42First of all, why does a guy who can't become a free agent for another year and a half, year,
00:47a little longer than that,
00:49who's never had an agent hire an agent?
00:54Well, let's start with a baseline here, right, and just take Shador at his word.
00:59He wants to play, right? He's told us that repeatedly.
01:03He's told us that since he arrived in Cleveland, and as late as June, he was telling us that he
01:09wanted to be one of the greatest ever, right?
01:11The goal is not just to play for an organization. The goal is to be great.
01:16I think that when you look at why you hire an agent, there's a couple of different things that I
01:22think factor in here.
01:23I don't think it's just one thing. I think a lot of people are like, oh, it means he wants
01:26to trade.
01:27I think that, number one, he's into his career now, and he's gotten a chance to look around and see,
01:38okay, this is how this works in the NFL.
01:40Like, he didn't have an agent during the draft process. I do think that hurt him.
01:44Maybe he still gets drafted where he gets drafted, but I think from a feedback and advisement and guidance standpoint,
01:51it could have helped him, right, at least knowing what was going on.
01:57Now you're into your career. He's playing in a four-year deal.
02:02He lost out in the starting competition.
02:06The team started three and two, potentially could be, you know, four and one if a ball doesn't go through
02:11your punter's hands.
02:14Deshaun is playing, you know, at least historically, based on the Cleveland experience.
02:20He's reasonably well. He looks healthy.
02:23You know, he's doing some things that show that he seems to be back on some kind of track for
02:31him, you know, remaining a starter in the NFL.
02:34And if you're Shadur, you now have 12 more games remaining plus two more seasons on your contract.
02:42The Browns have a ton of draft capital going into a draft that's going to be loaded with quarterbacks,
02:49at least five first-round quarterbacks, I think, at this point, at least.
02:54Browns have, what, two firsts, their own second, their own third, two fourths, two fifths, a sixth, and two seventh.
03:00That's a ton of capital.
03:04So, the Browns have options, right, at quarterback.
03:07They're sitting there and they're going, okay, well, you know, if Deshaun plays out the season reasonably well,
03:12he's definitely, it's because of how the contract's engineered, he's definitely going to free agency.
03:16But there might be a chance that, in terms of the market for him, we're still his best destination,
03:23and who knows what that finance would look like.
03:25So, who knows how the season plays out.
03:27So, that is a potential option.
03:29The draft is a potential option.
03:32There will be another, there's always a quarterback migration in the offseason that we don't necessarily see coming.
03:38So, there's all these different options for the Browns.
03:41Shadour has to give himself options, right?
03:43And when I say that, what I mean is, you hire an agent, what an agent is, he's an advocate
03:49for you.
03:50And that's what Marvin Harrison Jr. learned.
03:53Hey, I don't have an agent, haven't had an agent in the process.
03:55Now, I'm in this Arizona Cardinals offense, where they're having me run a bunch of go routes,
04:00clear out space for other people.
04:01I'm the fourth or fifth read in this offense.
04:05I need to get out of here.
04:06And so, what I do is, I go out and I hire a couple agents.
04:09And what these agents do is, they talk to teams.
04:13And they go, is there interest?
04:14Like, who's, like, what are, is there potential trades that are out here?
04:17And let's find out and give Marvin information that could potentially be options on the table.
04:24I think when Shadour goes and gets an agent, part of it is, hey, I'm growing up in the NFL
04:30now.
04:31You know, I'm going to go and hire an agent because this is an advocate for me.
04:36And it only adds information to my process, and that helps me.
04:40And then, B, I need to give myself options if I want to be a starting quarterback.
04:45If the Browns have all these options for the future of the quarterback position,
04:50I also have to have my own set of options moving forward.
04:54It doesn't necessarily mean I'm going to be text from a former member of the National Football League.
05:00Yes.
05:01Hi, Jeff.
05:02Here's why you need an agent to take you to market.
05:08That's from a former player.
05:10What do you think of that?
05:11Do you think the Browns said to him, hey, you know, trade deadline's coming up.
05:15Maybe if you want to explore other options with other teams, maybe we should be doing this right now.
05:19I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if that happened.
05:21Yeah, I wouldn't be either.
05:22And that's, I was just, it's Charles back.
05:23And if the Browns in that situation wanted to do that, they could do that.
05:28Charles is back with us.
05:29Charles, you okay?
05:30Charles, I asked you, like, the best question I've ever asked you.
05:32When did I lose you?
05:33I don't know.
05:34It was right after your answer.
05:35It was perfect.
05:36You had a complete answer.
05:36I asked you a question, and then all of a sudden it was like, well, was that question that bad?
05:40And it was, but that's okay.
05:41It wasn't that bad.
05:42Good to have you back.
05:43My question for you then, do you think, is there any way the Browns said to him,
05:47hey, you know, trade deadline's coming up.
05:49We know you want to play.
05:50Right now it doesn't look like it's going to happen here.
05:53If you want, you can explore other options with other teams.
05:56Is that in the world?
05:58Is that how it works?
06:00I haven't gotten, I'm telling you, I've not heard a peep that the Browns have any plan to deal him.
06:07I think he is the number two there.
06:09I think he is the, and look, Deshaun, like, it's fine.
06:16Like, Deshaun's played, you know, reasonably well, especially late in games.
06:20You know, he's led them on, you know, game-winning drives.
06:22And again, I, you know, reiterate, like, if it's not raining and a ball doesn't go through the punter's hands,
06:27like, we don't know, like, it easily could be four and one.
06:31But they're not scoring a ton of points, right?
06:34Like, they're not, it's not like, it's not like Deshaun, you look at him and go, well, yeah, that's, that's,
06:43we're locked down for the rest of the season.
06:45Like, this can still go wrong and there can still be a quarterback change at some point during the course
06:52of the season now.
06:53So, to me, I'm like, he's still in the mix here.
06:57He's still a potential starter for the Browns at some point if Deshaun either gets injured or there's, you know,
07:03really a downturn in play and they feel like they need to make a change.
07:07So, no, I don't think, I don't, I certainly do not feel like the Browns are out there saying,
07:14okay, you know, you got, we just got to sever this for whatever reason because we feel like, you know,
07:20you want to play and this is becoming, you know, disruptive or whatever.
07:23I don't, I don't think it's been disruptive.
07:25I know people are, like, reading into, like, how does he look, how is he acting in the locker room,
07:31those kind of things, I don't, I wouldn't put anything into that other than I'm sure he wants to play
07:37because he's told us he wants to play.
07:39He's said that repeatedly.
07:41He's said he's confident repeatedly that he could be a starter in the NFL and play well.
07:47So, and I don't think, personally, I don't think that's a bad thing.
07:50Like, I wouldn't want a backup, frankly, particularly a young backup who's like, yeah, I'm good.
07:55Like, I'm not going to push that.
07:56I'm not concerned about being a starter.
07:58No, that's not how you become a good quarterback in the NFL is by just going, going ahead and saying,
08:05yeah, I'll be the, you know, passenger on this journey.
08:07He doesn't want to be that.
08:09I get that.
08:09But I don't know that we're at some kind of a crossroads right now where something absolutely has to happen.
08:15I do, again, I'll reiterate, I do think this upcoming offseason is where the rubber meets the road
08:22because we're going to find out, like, what are the Browns going to do?
08:27They're going to make a move.
08:29They're going to make some decision in this coming offseason at the quarterback spot that is going to be definitive.
08:35Either they're going to draft a guy who's going to be their cornerstone moving forward.
08:39They're going to acquire a guy who's going to be their cornerstone moving forward.
08:42Or, and I still think this is distant, but I would no longer just say, well, there's just no way
08:49it will ever work out again with Deshaun.
08:51Because Deshaun could put together the kind of season where it's like, all right, reasonably, we can, you know,
08:58figure out something financially and keep this guy around, you know, as maybe a bridge starter for us in the
09:04future.
09:04And I told you guys before, when I talked to Todd Munkin, one of the things he said to me,
09:11and he was very adamant about this,
09:12he's like, I'm not worried about the future, I'm worried about now.
09:14Like, I want to win now.
09:16Like, I'm not trying, I'm not, I'm not going to have another head coaching job after this.
09:20This is my job.
09:21And so I need to win games right now.
09:23And I think Deshaun is a player that fits into that scenario.
09:29The Browns also have a decision to make in the next 14 days or so, when Dylan Gabriel is eligible
09:36to come off, you know,
09:37after his 21-day window closes.
09:39If you're the Browns, is this going to force your hand in any way, shape, or form?
09:44Or might that decision factor into the fact that Chador went out and hired an agent this week?
09:53Well, it factors because if you don't, if, you know, the practice one is open and, and there's a decision
09:58that's got to be made there.
09:59Like, if you're, if, if you're going to keep him, then you're like, okay, we've got a glut of quarterbacks.
10:05And what are we going to, we're going to carry all these guys.
10:07You know, they're going to have basically four active quarterbacks on our 53-man roster.
10:12Can't imagine them, right?
10:13Moving forward, are we going to shut them down for the season?
10:18I don't think that decision has, has been made at this point.
10:21But yeah, I mean, it, it certainly puts the Browns at some kind of a decision where, where it concerns
10:26the quarterback room.
10:28Cause I don't, it's just hard for me to believe that Gabriel gets activated and then you carry four quarterbacks
10:36through the trade deadline.
10:39Like I, it just, and reasonably who probably is out in that four, right?
10:46Like, I don't, if Deshaun just continues in terms of the start and how he's playing, I think he's locked
10:52in.
10:53I think it has to be one of the two.
10:55It's either Dylan or Shadour.
10:57If you're really going to entertain making a decision with four quarterbacks, you know, one of those two guys, you
11:06look a field and say, okay.
11:09You know, is there, is there any interest?
11:11Is there a destination for one of these guys?
11:14But I don't think at least right now, I don't, I have not gotten any indication that the Browns are
11:20like actively, Hey, we gotta, we gotta move Shadour.
11:22I think their mindset is, you know, he's a play away from, from potentially being our starter.
11:30Charles, what are the Browns?
11:31Can I be, let me just be really honest about, I mean, are they a middle of the pack NFL
11:35team that maybe has a shot at making the playoffs?
11:37Do you, like, what do you think they are?
11:45Um, that's a good question.
11:46I, I, I, I think they're figuring it out.
11:52Look, I think defensively, they are a team that by the end of the season, health permitting, you're going to
12:00look at them and say, okay, there's, they're very well set defensively.
12:05There's, there's not a ton, you know, to, to work on.
12:07We don't have to, there's not like a lot of additions we, we necessarily have to make, um, to this
12:13defense.
12:13I think Jared versus got to, there's, there's, you know, certainly got to pick up, um, finishing plays and rounding
12:21into the player that they went out and acquired.
12:23I think, you know, offensively, I think they're going to have to figure out.
12:30From a wide receiver standpoint, like is, is Denzel Boston?
12:35I mean, is that your one now?
12:36Like, has he rounded in form?
12:37Do we know that, Hey, okay, he's, he's locked in.
12:39We got our one.
12:40We've got, you know, Casey, who's going to be a multitude of different things for us.
12:46And so now we have to add, you know, between, you know, certainly we've got Fannin, but we, we've got
12:51to add another pass catching piece.
12:53If, if Jerry Judy is not going to have a long-term future here, um, I think they've got to
12:59sort out the backfield.
13:00I don't, you know, it's certainly Quinchon.
13:03There's something to be desired in terms of how they're running the football.
13:06And I, I would think that they'll stare hard at that if, if Quinchon is not healthy, you know, toward
13:13the end of the season and they're not getting productivity.
13:16To me, I was told, and I think I talked to you guys about this before, you know, I spoke
13:21to somebody high ranking in the organization in the summer.
13:24And they told me, Hey, you know, we're, we feel good.
13:27We feel like we're one more off season of, of additions to being like, we're set, like we're good.
13:34We're, we're exactly where we want to be.
13:37And the, and the, it's the quarterback that plays into that.
13:40So I always think you can have talented rosters, but if you don't have the quarterback, you're always in a
13:47state of some element of rebuild.
13:49You're always, you're not there.
13:51You're never there if you don't have the quarterback.
13:52And I think most people would agree with that in the, in the NFL.
13:56So I think they're ahead of, I like what the team is.
14:01I like how Todd Munkin has led them.
14:03I think he has an authenticity to him that has connected with the team.
14:08I, frankly, I believe he did end up making the right decision with the quarterback call,
14:13because Deshaun has been a better version of himself than I expected, but that is not resolved and long-term.
14:21And until that's resolved long-term, it's a team that's going to be in a state of flux.
14:26Charles, always a pleasure.
14:28Thanks, man.
14:28We thank you, sir.
14:29And some good insight into what might be going on with Shadr Sanders, NFLbluebook.com.
14:34Go to Charles' website, sign up for the newsletter and get informed.
14:38Thanks, Charles.
14:39Thanks, man.
