00:00What are the Browns doing with their quarterback situation?
00:05A crowded room as yesterday the news came down that Dylan Gabriel was going to be activated.
00:11Nick Padone is in for Kenny this morning.
00:15Nick, do you have a conspiracy afoot here?
00:19I don't. I think the conspiracy was that they didn't think the Deshaun Watson thing was going to go on
00:26for this long.
00:26It has. They thought they bought themselves four weeks with the Dylan Gabriel back thing.
00:31They did then had another three weeks with the 21 day practice window.
00:35And lo and behold, Deshaun Watson is still quarterbacking the Cleveland Browns to victory.
00:40So I don't think there's any sort of grander conspiracy here.
00:43I do, however, wonder what comes of this four man quarterback room,
00:48because it's evident they didn't want to, you know, expose Talon Green to waivers where he would have been claimed.
00:55Potentially by a team here in the AFC North division, if they would have released Talon Green.
01:00We're sure he would have been claimed.
01:02I think they must feel pretty good about that if you decide that you're going to keep all four of
01:07these guys
01:08and you're going to keep Talon around, who obviously Todd really likes to, you know,
01:11Todd likes having Talon a part of this thing.
01:14I wonder if they're getting ready to make a shakeup to, you know, Deshaun Watson's backup situation.
01:19Could it be, you know, a Dylan Gabriel move, a Shadour move?
01:24Whoa, whoa, whoa.
01:25Why would they need to shake up the backup position?
01:29Dylan Gabriel was not involved in the quarterback competition before the season started.
01:33It was Shadour or Deshaun.
01:36So Deshaun wins the job.
01:37He's played well enough to keep the job.
01:41What's wrong with the status quo that Shadour would just be the backup?
01:44Well, we were talking about these rumors that are circulating that maybe already some of the second team reps
01:50have gone to Dylan in this 21-day practice window.
01:53Wait a second.
01:54When they drafted him.
01:55Hold on.
01:55You know people on the team.
01:57Text the people on the team.
01:58You went to high school with someone on the team.
02:01That just did a liner for us during the break there.
02:06It's just very fascinating to me, guys, that they are keeping all of these quarterbacks around
02:12despite being 5-2 when you've got the NFL trade deadline about two weeks away.
02:17I don't know.
02:18I wonder if something's getting ready to give.
02:21Are you just coming up with this out of thin air?
02:24Because, listen, I am very protective.
02:26I want to be protective of you because the arrows have been pointed at me anytime I say anything
02:34that it's not 1,000% congratulatory towards Shadour.
02:39And, yeah, sometimes I like to have some fun at the fan base's expense.
02:42We have a good back-and-forth going.
02:44Listen, I wanted Shadour to...
02:46But I'm trying to protect you, Padone.
02:48I wanted Shadour to start the season, guys.
02:50I did.
02:51I wanted Shadour coming out of the NFL draft,
02:53but this is now the second coaching staff that has really passed over Shadour
02:58at least last year until they absolutely had to go to him.
03:01This year, so far, you know, 10 games left, you haven't had to go to him.
03:07And I do wonder, some of these qualms that we're talking about with Deshaun,
03:11the fact that Afternoon Drive kind of didn't want to give Deshaun too much credit
03:15and they were propping up Fannin and Casey Concepcio.
03:18Didn't Dylan Gabriel show us in that preseason finale against New England
03:21that he could distribute the football and get it out on time
03:24and play complimentary, let the defense ball out just doing that?
03:26Didn't Shadour have a good preseason game too?
03:28He did.
03:29He did.
03:29I'm just wondering.
03:30So what did Shadour do then that would have you honestly putting it out
03:35over the microphone in his four-quarterback setup?
03:38Nick Padone, by the way.
03:40You guys know Nick Padone on social media.
03:42Not me for once, Sanders fans.
03:45I'm trying to extend the olive branch.
03:48I'm saying that Shadour's doing the right thing.
03:50He's getting ready to go.
03:51You're using a meat shield of Nick Padone right now?
03:53Yes.
03:53Yes.
03:54Because here's why.
03:55If they felt so confident in Shadour, if they were so over the moon
04:00and over their skis in Shadour, couldn't you have just cut Dylan Gabriel yesterday?
04:04Don't you just release Taylor Green?
04:06We don't need four.
04:07We got Shadour Sanders waiting in the wings.
04:11Owen, are you buying this?
04:14Well, I have also wondered why they haven't cut Taylor Green by now.
04:20Most teams only carry two, let alone four.
04:23If we were going to see this special package, why wouldn't we have seen it by now?
04:26And now I'd argue you don't need it.
04:28And it's mainly because I would recklessly speculate that they did not believe that Deshaun Watson would be on the
04:34roster.
04:34I can see that.
04:35I can see that too.
04:36And then you look at this thing, though, guys, for next year, we're talking about conversations about a potential Deshaun
04:42Watson return next year.
04:44So if that's the case, and if you drafted Dylan to be your 10-year backup, well, we'll be three
04:50years into the 10 next year for Dylan.
04:53Is that not somebody that would be ready to be QB2 at that juncture?
04:56We're just going to keep him the third quarterback forever.
04:58I guess I just don't see anything that Dylan Gabriel would have been able to do to leapfrog Shadour.
05:04I remember when we had Todd Munkin in here earlier in the year.
05:08You know, we asked him, why was this a quarterback competition between Shadour and Deshaun?
05:13Why wasn't Dylan Gabriel involved in this?
05:15Not because I thought Dylan Gabriel was some future star quarterback or even somebody that was going to be the
05:22starter.
05:22I thought he had major limitations.
05:24I think we'd seen some of the major limitations.
05:26We've also been a little unfair.
05:28Like, it's kind of been a crazy situation all the way up for all these guys.
05:32The other guy is way more exciting.
05:34Like, if we are being honest, I get, you know, the Browns will repeat ad nauseum.
05:38They think Dylan is a 10-year backup in the league.
05:41They think he's a smart kid that could execute their offense.
05:44Great.
05:44We also saw the fun that you could have for Shadour Sanders with his raw talent and arm, you know,
05:51throw in the football abilities that Dylan just does not have in his makeup.
05:55Lima, I heard you guys, though, talking about Cam Ward yesterday.
05:58So maybe it does play to the argument of keeping all of these quarterbacks.
06:02If we don't know who the long-term option is anyway, keep Shadour, keep Talon, keep Dylan, add Cam Ward
06:09this summer if you really have to.
06:10Because we don't have a long-term solve.
06:12And until you do, you're going to be looking for one.
06:14So you might as well keep the four guys that you've got and see if you've got an answer there.
06:17I don't know.
06:19It's weird.
06:20Guilty.
06:20I thought Cam Ward did play well in that game against our defense.
06:24216-474-0092.
06:26Dave and Ashley, go ahead.
06:27Next up on The Fan.
06:29Yeah, guys.
06:30You know, if the last three to four years have told us anything, the Browns, somebody's going to get hurt.
06:35And, you know, more than one person will probably get hurt.
06:38And then we're going to be stuck like we always are at the end of the season, playing people that
06:41we don't even know.
06:43I mean, you almost, you know, as a Browns, you almost have to have five guys lined up there.
06:49Yeah, but Dave, we only have ten games left, though, is the interesting thing about this.
06:54Like, this year, you've actually gotten through a big, meaty piece of the schedule.
07:00Like, you only got ten games left.
07:01You think we're really going to need all four and potentially even a fifth to get through the last ten
07:05games of the year?
07:07Man, it wouldn't surprise me.
07:09Thank you, Dave.
07:11Well, fortunately, that is the reality of, like, this league.
07:14Now you see these teams and, what are we, in the 60s every year for starting quarterbacks in the NFL.
07:22So, obviously, we're sitting here wondering who's going to be the quarterback, not just at the end of this year,
07:28who's going to be the quarterback next year?
07:29Adam the Bull, the old voice that joined the afternoon show, as he does each and every week on Mondays,
07:36had this to say about any of the conversation regarding a contracts extension?
07:41That's crazy to be talking about a Deshaun extension, because he's only played one excellent game.
07:48He's had excellent moments in most of the others, but he's only played one excellent game.
07:52I wouldn't even consider resigning him until after the season.
07:56And even then, he's going to have to play like he did yesterday consistently.
08:00If that happens, I would be open to the conversation if I were the Browns.
08:03Listen, we've seen other quarterbacks have one good year and then not sustain it.
08:07There's no way I'm getting involved in a long-term deal with Deshaun.
08:10And I saw Darryl tweet earlier that, like, somebody's going to pay him $50 million.
08:14I love you, Darryl.
08:15You're my guy, but you're out of your mind if you think somebody's going to pay him $50 million.
08:18That's crazy.
08:19So, the playoff talk is not unreasonable at all, because they're 5-2.
08:23But an extension to me is, at this juncture, is insane.
08:27Maybe that's where the Browns are at.
08:29Maybe that's why they decided to keep all four of these guys, because for as much talk as everybody's had
08:34about Deshaun Watson and next year,
08:36let's not forget, the owner did call it a swing and a miss at one point.
08:40And there were a lot of people that thought the only reason why Watson was playing this year
08:44was so that the Haslam Sports Group could get some semblance of a return on investment
08:48for the money that they spent.
08:50They were going to make him go work for that cash that they were going to pay him for the
08:53final year of the contract.
08:54Maybe they agree with Adam the Bull in that audio and just say, look, the guy is not going to
08:59be our QB next year.
09:01We don't have our long-term answer.
09:02And we got to see if it could maybe be Shador.
09:05Maybe it's Dylan.
09:06Maybe it's Talon.
09:07Maybe it's your boy, Kent Warren.
09:09I don't know.
09:09I agree with Adam the Bull that it's crazy to legitimately start the conversation as if,
09:17I worked for the Browns and now I'm calling, you know, David Muligeta and starting to hammer out some numbers.
09:25I'm starting to write it down on a napkin.
09:27No, there's no reason to do any of that.
09:28And I don't think you have to do that until you get to the end of the season.
09:32And I'm talking about like even a playoff game.
09:34Like I was going through this when we'll talk to Ken when he joins the show in 30 minutes
09:39if he's able to complete successfully his compliance training.
09:42But let's say they end up going 10 and 7.
09:45So that's 5 and 5 the rest of the way.
09:47That's check 1 for Deshaun Watson.
09:50Gets him to the playoff.
09:51Check 2.
09:52Gets through the whole season healthy.
09:55But then in the playoff game, the home playoff game, let's say they win the division,
10:00we experience the bliss of something we never thought was going to be possible.
10:05An actual home game in this stadium before they take the wrecking ball to it.
10:11But then he doesn't play well in the playoff game.
10:14Like is that a damn Sam Darnold situation with Minnesota where they're like, great year, Sam.
10:19You got the culture back within the organization and the team.
10:23You know, even though they end up getting rid of the former Browns assistant GM anyway afterwards.
10:28But we're still going to go in another direction.
10:30Does he actually have to not only finish the season healthy, get to the playoffs, but actually have a good
10:36playoff game and generate some real momentum?
10:39I wonder how the Browns view it.
10:41And we honestly probably won't know until the end of the season.
10:45And when they have those exit discussions with the players and the players go back to their agents and that's
10:51when things begin to leak.
10:52I don't know if we'll know until then.
10:55Are the Browns viewing this right now as a magic carpet ride and nothing more that Deshaun has had five
11:01really strong game winning drives?
11:03But other than that, they're kind of still waiting for the other shoe to drop as well.
11:08Or are they viewing it as yes, finally, this is a guy that's been hurt.
11:13This is a guy that's been injured.
11:14This is a guy that's been counted out.
11:15We gave him that one last final chance and he's making the most of it.
11:19He's winning games for us, setting a culture with our new head coach.
11:22I don't know which way they're looking at it right now.
11:25My guess is, though, by keeping all of these quarterbacks, maybe they're not as in love with any of these
11:32guys as they lead on.
11:33Because it certainly feels like they're keeping their options open.
11:35Yeah, but I know when people start talking about, all right, if it wouldn't be Watson at the end of
11:40the year,
11:41who is your bridge guy if you're not going to go into the draft?
11:44Or even if you did go into the draft, is that guy really going to start week one as the
11:48league continues to evolve
11:50and now guys are kind of sitting again?
11:51You know, like it was when I was young.
11:54Yeah.
11:55So I don't really have an answer until I actually see him complete the season
12:01and continue to get better in the offense.
12:03Like, if it's just him bailing them out in the fourth quarters every week,
12:07as much as I'm loving it in the moment,
12:10when you have to take a wider look, a macro level look at all of that stuff,
12:14that's not good enough.
12:15That's, in fact, if anything, you would just assume the next year you'd lose all those games.
12:19And then what do you have?
12:20Then you certainly don't have anything permanent at the QB position.
12:25Yeah, definitely not.
12:26There are plenty of people in life that you could run around with and have a lot of fun with,
12:31but you don't want to do it forever.
12:33You know what I mean?
12:34Can you give me an example?
12:35I think right now we're running around with Deshaun Watson.
12:39We're having a lot of fun with them.
12:41We're staying out until 2 in the morning.
12:42We're 5-2.
12:44We're on top of the AFC North Division.
12:47I don't know that I want to marry it, though.
12:49Yeah.
12:50Paul and Tremont, quickly, go ahead.
12:51How about 25 seconds?
12:53You know, it was good to hear Adam the Bulls' voice.
12:55I'm glad he does that show with the guys.
12:57It made me wonder, have you ever thought about doing something similar with Kylie and Booms,
13:01just a regular hit with them?
13:03Every day.
13:04Every day.
13:05I'd love to be on their digital show.
13:07We missed the boomer.
13:10Sweet team music.
13:11It is a boomer.
13:13Is that caller ahead of the times or behind the times on that reference?
13:17All right.
13:17When we come back, we will have the neutral zone.
13:21A lot of stuff percolating right now around the NFL, including is it fraud city alert in the Twin Cities?
13:28We will get to that.
13:29That Cavs ticket giveaway in 24 minutes from now, and then Ken Carman will be on the show.
13:37It's Lima and Nick Padone here on Sports Radio 92.3.
13:40The...
13:41The...
