00:00we head out to the wise heart right we make it right call kyle wright outline and welcome on
00:04cbs sports nfl analyst former stealer brian mcfadden with us right now brian welcome to the
00:10show yes thank you for having me how you guys doing uh we're doing all right here uh we are
00:16living through the watson wars 5.0 now which is the first four were so fun i thought we'd do
00:22it
00:23again uh your reaction to the browns announcing deshaun watson will be the week one starter
00:28against the jacksonville jaguars on the road uh i was surprised but then again i was not surprised
00:36all right the reason why i was surprised if the competition was based on production based on what
00:44i saw because i wasn't you know there i wasn't privy to any of the practice opportunities or the
00:49practice tapes or anything like that but what i saw in the preseason games i felt like shadura was the
00:56better quarterback and i felt like he outplayed deshaun watson especially if you're talking about
01:03the last image from either guy you know deshaun didn't play well in week two of the preseason
01:09so i felt like if that was solely based on production shadura should have been the guy but the reason
01:17why i
01:18wasn't surprised is because the financial contract that's tied to both guys we know about the hefty
01:25investment that cleveland browns invested in uh deshaun watson and you know i felt like that could
01:32play a major part in their final decision if especially if they felt like it was a close call
01:39so those are my sentiments um clearly i know the fans feel some type of way people within the
01:45organization feel some type of way as well but uh i do believe shadura will hear his name call at
01:52some
01:52point in this regular season heck it could be it could come as soon as week five when you look
01:56at
01:56the first four ball games and and and the teams they have to play against so just be patient shadura
02:01your time will come so what are your expectations then for deshaun and and how you envision the first
02:06four games going if you said four games that's a pretty quick leash and the reason why i say four
02:12games guys uh help me out with the schedule i don't happen to have it in front of me but
02:17i know you
02:17have jacksonville uh two road games against jacksonville and well you go to tampa bay tampa
02:23bay and then carolina yeah carolina's home week three yeah but but you got tampa you got jacksonville
02:32on the road you got carolina home and then you have the steelers let's say you get off to a
02:36bad start
02:37if you're one and three or oh and four right that week five game against the jets will be very
02:42very
02:42important either record in my opinion and and who knows so in terms of the expectations for sure
02:47uh for deshaun watson they're not fairly high in my opinion um he didn't really show anything to me
02:54in preseason play that would make me feel very optimistic about what he could do
02:59i don't know how you guys felt and what you guys saw clearly you guys have been privy to more
03:04you know action from deshaun than i saw but what i saw is nothing to really be excited about so
03:10i have
03:10no expectations honestly no we see it how you see it yeah yeah exactly how you see it maybe even
03:15harsher than you see it quite frankly probably harsher i'm gonna yeah there's a lot of callers
03:19because we have seen it because we have seen it i'm i'm pretty irritated about deshaun watson
03:24starting uh this season as a brown starting quarterback and and and that's the thing um i think
03:30it's safe to say this is a a fair statement i think coming from me who deshaun watson was in
03:38houston
03:39i don't think he will ever become that quarter get back to being that quarterback again
03:43so when i say that i feel like there is no upside or potential right and shador sanders he has
03:50more
03:51of an upside because he's younger and he hasn't even scratched the surface of being the best
03:56quarterback he could be for deshaun watson because of the injuries and so much time removed he would
04:02never get back to being that guy from houston because if that was wasn't the case we would have
04:06seen flashes so if you're cleveland why not go with the young the the young kid and let's see
04:11because with the draft capital the browns have moving forward in the years to come you need to
04:17know exactly is this quarterback position already locked and loaded for what we have moving forward
04:23or do we need to make a high investment in a young quarterback in the years to come especially in
04:292027
04:30brian i'm i'm curious to get your take on this because you're an afc north guy uh yeah i i
04:36know
04:36i mentioned the pittsburgh thing but you've watched a lot of afc north football uh what are your thoughts
04:41on todd munkin getting the browns head coaching job and how you think this could work out for him
04:46you know what i'm a fan of tom munkin uh i had opportunity guys in indy for the combine to
04:53chat
04:54with him he loves football i love his energy uh he he's a chasmatic individual he has a unique
05:01personality and he loves ball so from afar i'm rooting for him because i just think he's a good
05:07dude and he does things the right way and and i think he is the type of personality that's needed
05:14in that building there in cleveland so you know let's see how it plays out for him this season i
05:21think
05:21it's going to be a rocky year in year one for todd munkin but i can tell you this much
05:26in terms of
05:27the last two drafts the cleveland browns have done a great job adding young talent they have really done
05:33a great job adding young talent in the building and you look at last year's draft and some of the
05:38young up-and-coming studs harold fanning looks to be a baller uh shressender looks to be a baller you
05:44know uh juckins before he got injured looks to be a baller casey concepcion is already turning heads
05:50in camp you know denzel boston has turned head so you got some nice young pieces to build around
05:56but you just got to get the quarterback situation right yeah what do you make of their approach there
06:01where it does feel like and taking two wide receivers that way in the first uh first couple
06:06rounds of concepcion in boston and trying to basically make sure they have everything right
06:09they still have the quarterback yet potentially but they they're making sure everything else around
06:14it is at least young and having a chance to to kind of to build up around yeah i love
06:20that
06:20mindset because you know it's all about when you have uncertainties at the quarterback position
06:26you want to be able to add talent that can actually help the quarterback out and also too you want
06:34to
06:34make it any future endeavors at the quarterback position you want to make it feel appealing
06:40and casey's a baller he's he's an offensive weapon that plays the wide receiver position
06:47i really love denzel boston he he reminded me he has some similarities of mike evans coming out of
06:53a and m and you guys have seen him flash you know since stepping foot there on campus there uh
06:59for
07:00for cleveland so you got some young pieces but it's just about the quarterback situation but because of
07:05the draft capital that the browns have moving forward let's say hypothetically speaking if they don't get the
07:10quarterback position right this year they will get it right you know because of what's coming down
07:15the tunnel when it comes to quarterback options this season but like i said i think that's more of a
07:21reason to go with the younger guy in intradore sanders than what they did with deshaun watson
07:26bryant we're accustomed to the afc north being the the toast of of the nfl right two three i think
07:34at
07:34one point we had four teams in the playoffs in one season uh last year they had one team it
07:40was the steelers i'm not going to insult you because you're right here and you're a former
07:43steeler it didn't go well for them in the postseason nobody else was above 500 though
07:48do you think this is a bounce back year for the afc north though i could see honestly two teams
07:55getting
07:55into the playoffs from the afc north clearly you guys know how i feel about pittsburgh i think
08:01they will always be a legit contender in the afc north regardless of what the naysayers say
08:08because once again the top two teams in the afc north that have been picked by the consensus is
08:15baltimore and cincinnati but that was the same case a year ago so for me i think two teams could
08:22get in um if i had to give my pick or predictions i would say baltimore and pittsburgh because when
08:29lamar jackson is healthy they win ball games you know the only knock on them and not winning ball
08:35games has been when lamar jackson has not been in the lineup and with cincinnati you know have they
08:41exercised their demons on the defensive side you know what i mean they've made drastic improvements
08:47personnel wise but are they really a stouter unit defensively we don't know right but one thing we
08:54do know in the division lamar jackson is a winner and pittsburgh always find ways to be relevant in
08:59divisional play that's that those are the two things we know for sure all right if it does go
09:04down that way then uh that'd be four straight years of no playoffs for joe burrow and the bangles uh
09:10do
09:10they head for divorce does does joe just say to himself like i i tried with you guys i i'm
09:15too
09:15talented for the lack of talent you guys put around me defensively you know what i had this discussion
09:22a few weeks ago on cbs uh sports hq about potential nfl coaches on the hot seat and my pick
09:30was zach taylor because of what you just laid out for us if they miss the playoffs again this season
09:35regardless of why four straight years of not making the playoffs right and i think he's been there
09:43two seven seasons and only made the playoffs twice in seven years right coming into this season now
09:51granted one of those playoff appearances led to the super bowl but it feels feels like it was 20
09:56years ago it's about what are you doing for me right now and when you talk about not finding a
10:03way to get into the playoffs with one of the more talented quarterbacks and wide receiver duos in the
10:09nfl along with a very very versatile running back in chase brown that's unacceptable so what the excuses
10:15we've made for cincinnati over the last few years well joe got hurt or this person got hurt or the
10:21defense the defense the defense no longer will be hurt in my opinion if they don't make the playoffs
10:26this year do you think the afc at large bounces back like meaning like the elites like the chiefs and
10:33such i'm a bit concerned with the chiefs and the reason why is because i feel like the afc west
10:39is a
10:39more competitive division than what we've seen in years past right i'm also concerned with the chiefs
10:45because the inability to protect pat mahomes was well documented last year it was felt and he's
10:53coming off a season ending injury to his knee where protection will be at a premium for them this season
11:00so i'm concerned that i'm concerned can they protect him then i'm concerned about the wide receiver
11:04position or the the depth there the lack thereof and when you look at the afc west i mean let's
11:11keep
11:11real and i ask you guys this question if you had to rank the top three teams because i'm not
11:15going
11:15to throw in the raiders because they're years away from being in that playoff conversation but if you
11:20had to rank the top three teams in the afc west based on what we know right now how would
11:26you rank
11:26them all right this might not be a popular take i would put the broncos third then the chiefs then
11:32the chargers i think mcdaniel and herbert are going to be a lot of fun this year
11:38i for me it's it's chargers chargers chiefs broncos raiders okay so to your point with the
11:45chargers i had an opportunity to visit them during training camp and that offense is going to be fun
11:50you know last year they made the playoffs but both tackles missed a substantial amount of time
11:57heck rashawn slater didn't play one down one game and they still made the playoffs but adding mike mcdaniel
12:02is one of the best signings no one is really talking about in terms of his offensive philosophy
12:07and the creativity in terms of denver i don't know why people are kind of overlooking bo nicks and
12:13sean pegan sean pegan can coach football offensive football and that defense is still one of the best
12:18defenses not just in their division but in the entire nfc so that's why i have concerns about
12:26the chiefs and if i had to rank them my ranking would be chiefs third charges to denver one and
12:33the
12:33reason why is because they were the champs right and they added jalen waddle which actually will help
12:38their offense become more explosive and they still have the best defense in the division so when you
12:43look at those three teams and i understand the best thing the chiefs have over those two teams is pat
12:51mahomes and andy reid but outside of that name me something that you would pick the chiefs over when you
12:57look at both all three teams outside of pat mahomes and andy reid what other aspect team wise you would
13:04say kansas city is better than the chiefs or the broncos it's my problem with the broncos is pretty
13:09simple they were nine and two and one score games and they had one of the healthiest defenses in the
13:13nfl and i don't think the one score game record is going to maintain and i don't i i can't
13:17really
13:17bank on the health side of it either that that's where i think the bugaboo is going to come in
13:20with
13:20them but but you didn't answer my question name me something you would take the chiefs over outside
13:27of andy reid and pat mahomes over the chargers yeah andy reid andy reid pat mahomes is that that's
13:33the head coach of the quarterback that's the two most important parts to whether or not i pick a team
13:35having success yeah but but also you got to have some other other attributes team wise that could
13:42warrant you being a championship caliber team i like their defensive line exactly but you got to give
13:49the knock to andy reid and of course pat mahomes is coming off a season in the injury right bam
13:53but i give you that but outside of that defense you're not taking the chiefs defensively over
13:57any one of those right i wouldn't no and it's not that i don't think anyone thinks the broncos are
14:03going to be bad i just think the bra i think the broncos are gonna be like a 9 10
14:06win team and then
14:07if that's what the chiefs end up being as well and i don't know my hopes is gonna have to
14:10do a lot
14:10of work oh by the way there's an acknowledgement there they have failed him as far as receivers are
14:14concerned they failed him as far as a run game is concerned like there's a lot of letdown
14:18that has happened around mahomes i can tell you this much what we're talking about and i'm enjoying
14:23this conversation by the way i hope the listeners are enjoying it as well we're gonna find this out
14:27monday night week one when they go to denver we're gonna find this out monday night number one can
14:33they protect pat mahomes number two is pat mahomes back to being the the the playmaker pat mahomes that
14:39he's been throughout his entire career and number three how improved will their defense be
14:45missing some key contributors from the secondary from a year ago you're gonna see this week one
14:49out the gate monday night primetime so i want to make sure we we get back to this conversation
14:54y'all gotta have me on getting ready for week two all right we're gonna talk about this because i
14:58actually believe and i'll say this this could be a hot take could not be a hot take i don't
15:04expect
15:04to see the chiefs make the playoffs i i think it's a warm take i don't know if it's a
15:09hot take but i like
15:10that a lot bmack uh we really did enjoy this we'll have you back on sometime in week two and
15:16uh thanks
15:17for killing it my guy oh thank you for having me brian mcfadden there in the wiseheart right we make
15:23it right call kyle right hotline
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