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00:00The Browns activated Dylan Gabriel. More on that in just a second, but finishing this conversation on Deshaun Watson and
00:11whether or not we're even having discussions about the future of Deshaun Watson with the Browns, an improbable discussion that
00:19it would have been at the start of the season.
00:22Here is Ian Rappaport of now ESPN.
00:25Again, do they have a guy or not? I think everyone went into the season knowing, OK, Deshaun Watson is
00:31going to be a bridge guy.
00:32Shador will probably play pretty quickly and the Browns will move on from there, except the team is pretty good.
00:37Tom Munkin has put himself in the conversation for coach of the year, which is unbelievable, but true.
00:42And Deshaun Watson has really solidified things in his career in a way he hasn't for several seasons.
00:47Is he the Browns long term future franchise quarterback? We simply don't know that if he leads to the playoffs
00:52or something, there's probably going to be some conversations.
00:54But at the very least, here's what Deshaun Watson has done.
00:58For the Cleveland Browns, they know they need a young franchise guy.
01:00They have two first run picks next year to do it.
01:02He has at least put himself in the conversation to be the quarterback next year if things go well, if
01:07he stays healthy and all that.
01:09And that is a significant step for him.
01:11He is a good, solid quarterback.
01:12And when things go crazy at the end, he has more often than not proven that he can deal with
01:17it and he can lead the team to a victory.
01:20Kenny, consideration, I think that's where we're at.
01:22I don't think we need to start talking extensions.
01:24I don't think we need to start putting financials behind it.
01:28You've got the whole rest of the season to let that play out.
01:31I'm not worried about losing him because you angered him because you didn't start talking contracts if his agent somehow
01:38wanted to do that.
01:39I'm not worried about any of that.
01:40I'm not going to be held hostage by this situation.
01:42He hasn't been good enough for me to even remotely think about that in terms of leverage or non-leverage.
01:50What do you make of Rappaport's comments?
01:53Well, first off, obviously I'm going to react emotionally to Nick.
01:56I look a little bit differently about Ian Rappaport, but I think he's going to be more cerebral.
02:01But I happen to agree for the most part there.
02:05Again, by the way, have we given who our social media responses are brought to you by yet?
02:11No, and we never will again.
02:13Shadman Jewelers, Cleveland's premier jewelry store.
02:15So in our argument, Mark, Cleveland Sports Perspective, great listener, been listening a long time, right?
02:20He says, Ken, about your comments on Watson, the key words are, quote, this year.
02:23Guy hasn't been good for four years.
02:25Are you confident he'll play the same way next year?
02:27And I had to admit to Mark, I said, no, not terribly.
02:30And Kenny, some don't think he's been good this year.
02:32We are getting a lot of blowback that he has not been good this year.
02:35There's a lot of truthers out there that look at the numbers.
02:38And you see, this is the thing of it, guys, is I think there are a lot of fans.
02:44And I don't even know if it's like a personal vendetta.
02:48I just don't think they want to get fooled again.
02:49I understand.
02:50It's been a long five years.
02:51It's been a hellaciously long five years.
02:55And I think that we've been put through the ringer.
02:57That's why, like, I am in no hurry to sign him to a contract right now.
03:01I don't care right now.
03:03But you have how many more games we have left?
03:06If we played seven games, we've got ten games left.
03:08You've got ten more opportunities to figure it out.
03:14You've got ten more opportunities to either, A, he ends up continues being a good quarterback
03:19or an effective quarterback, I should say, or, B, he gets exposed.
03:23Because eventually, yeah, defenses are going to bring guys to justice.
03:27So we could be sitting here in a month.
03:29I do think it's very week to week.
03:31I think we could be sitting here in a month going, man, I can't believe I yelled at Nick
03:35about the future of Deshaun Watson.
03:37This guy ain't a part of it.
03:38I think I could be doing that.
03:39It all could look very silly a month from now.
03:42Heck, even four weeks from now, right?
03:44Yes.
03:44But my issue was, like, whoa, we're bringing back Dylan Gabriel to do what?
03:48Like, what is the Dylan Gabriel conversation that Nick wanted to have?
03:51Like, I know.
03:53No, I don't think that that's a possibility.
03:56Not right now.
03:57Like, they're winning games.
03:58They're getting along with each other.
04:00They're rallying around him.
04:02Like, he's the Pied Piper.
04:03Like, he's going nowhere.
04:05Nowhere.
04:06Kenny, speaking of going somewhere, I know there's a lot of questions about what happens
04:12with some of the other quarterbacks on this roster.
04:14Well, yesterday, Browns made some news by activating Dylan Gabriel.
04:18And it got a lot of people saying a lot of different things.
04:22Some conspiracies were afoot.
04:23Here first is head coach Todd Munkin on the news.
04:26Sure, it's possible.
04:27Hell, it's possible we'll pick one more up and have five.
04:29Hell, I don't know.
04:31So, they're at four currently.
04:34How do you think this plays out?
04:36Were you putting any stock whatsoever in discussions of actually Dylan Gabriel taking over the backup
04:42spot?
04:43I was not.
04:45As far as him being the –
04:46Yeah, getting second-team reps.
04:50No, I –
04:52Well, I don't –
04:52I'm going to have to –
04:53Again, I'm going to have to check today and tomorrow
04:55and see if there's any truth to it or anything like that.
04:59If he got second-team reps –
05:01All right, what's the bad thing if he gets second-team reps, though?
05:04Well, people would feel that –
05:06Wait a second.
05:07Does that mean he's leapfrogged Shador Sanders?
05:11No, but if you have two guys –
05:14You have one guy who has more natural talent.
05:17You have one guy who has a grip on the offense better than maybe any –
05:22probably anybody within the offense in Dylan Gabriel from what we're told.
05:26What's the problem with giving him a few second-team reps?
05:28Why do we have to take everything personally there?
05:31And if we're going to take everything personally –
05:33I mean, fans take everything personally.
05:35I get that.
05:35But why do –
05:36Why does Shador need to take that personally?
05:38I don't think he needs to.
05:40I'm not trying to be difficult.
05:41I'm being serious here.
05:43Well, Kenny, he thought he was going to win the starting job.
05:45He thought there was a chance he was going to be the starter in week one.
05:49If all of a sudden he's losing reps to Dylan Gabriel this late in the process,
05:55midseason, that would then, to me –
05:57I would just assume, wait, am I not in this team's plans?
06:01No, I don't think it –
06:02Not everything needs to be a catch-all here.
06:05You know, I don't know –
06:07Other than knowing the offense and being able to line everybody up,
06:11I really don't know what Dylan Gabriel does particularly well.
06:13And those are two great things, by the way.
06:15Those are big things to do.
06:16But I don't know what he does well.
06:18Well, Shador, I think we keep hearing how the offense has come to him,
06:22and I know that I think –
06:24I feel he has better arm talent.
06:26I think that he is –
06:27I think that he's more apt to throw the ball down the field
06:30and test the defense vertically,
06:31which would hopefully open up the running game.
06:34I would feel he would be that way, and I do.
06:37I'm telling the truth of how I see it right now.
06:40But if you are in a different scenario –
06:42and maybe I'm just trying to find excuses here.
06:44You can call me out on that.
06:46But damn, Tone, like, if we're playing against –
06:50if we're playing Pittsburgh,
06:52if there's something that Pittsburgh does defensively now
06:55with a new coaching staff and everything that maybe Todd Munkin
06:58isn't comfortable with,
07:00and all of a sudden you need to go in there and have somebody in
07:03if Deshaun Watson gets hurt,
07:05is it such a bad thing to wonder whether or not that Dylan Gabriel could do it?
07:09Is it such a bad thing for a couple of second-team reps in this?
07:13It's like, hey, listen, I know there's a sect of the fan base there
07:16that I can't really say anything to.
07:18Everything, they live off perceived disrespect.
07:22But I don't think that it's such a horrible thing to sit there and go,
07:25well, I mean, if he gets a couple of second-team reps,
07:27he gets a couple of second-team reps.
07:29I don't think it's such a bad deal.
07:31My whole thing was, and I kind of want to run it past you,
07:34but I don't want to just leapfrog around here,
07:37is I do feel a little bit different than I did three weeks ago
07:40when they were first bringing him off injured reserve,
07:43opening up the practice window,
07:45and at that time I'm going, you can't keep.
07:48You know, we're just winning some football games.
07:50You can't keep four quarterbacks.
07:51I don't know.
07:52I feel a different level of trust with Todd Munkin here because of this.
07:56And I know that they moved on from Carson Ryan,
07:58and no offense from him.
07:59Like, I wasn't broken up over that.
08:02Put him on the squad, that's no big deal.
08:04So maybe we can carry four for some odd reason.
08:07Well, I just thought, Kenny, that one of the side goals,
08:11you have your main goals, which is win as many games as you can,
08:14get to the playoffs, get everybody ready for that,
08:16make sure there's chemistry between the quarterback,
08:18the offensive line, receivers, and, you know,
08:21just evolve when it comes to coaching.
08:23I thought one of the side goals that they would have staffers working on
08:27is getting Shador Sanders ready, always having the young backup.
08:32This isn't a veteran backup.
08:34It's not a situation where you have a Chad Henney or Brian Hoyer
08:38who you know you can count on to just come in and do what's necessary.
08:42It's a young player who had seven games as a starter last year
08:45who you had kind of at least, at the very least,
08:48penciled in as somebody that might have this job down the road
08:52either this year or next year.
08:55If that's not the full focus and concentration,
08:58then that opens the door to having people think
09:01maybe they would rather do that for another guy.
09:03Maybe they'd rather do that for Dylan Gabriel.
09:06That's what I would be thinking if I were Shador
09:08or in Shador's camp or in his fan base.
09:10I think that he just needs to focus on himself.
09:12I think if we're sitting here thinking about Dylan Gabriel
09:15or anything like that, we're focused on the wrong things.
09:18You need to focus on what you've done in learning the offense.
09:21And I have no reason to believe he hasn't, by the way.
09:24But the way you're describing it to me,
09:26I think that that would be patently wrong.
09:28If you're just sitting there worried about the reps
09:30that Deshaun Watson got before,
09:32you're worried now about the reps that Dylan Gabriel's getting,
09:35you've got to worry about your reps and you picking up the offense
09:38and you doing what's necessary.
09:39So if he were to be thinking that, that's a wrong look at it.
09:42And if he were to be thinking that,
09:43then I don't think you're getting any better just focusing
09:45on everybody else's reps and what they're doing instead of your own.
09:48So if you're not getting any better, then yeah, if I'm the Browns,
09:51I'm going to see that because they're five and two.
09:54There's no conversation anymore about Todd Munkin being one and done.
09:56So Todd Munkin will be here next year.
09:58And if we've got to figure it out and we've got to go in a different direction
10:01and we've got to bring in somebody else that's young
10:03and we can sit and maybe have him learn,
10:07then I guess we'll go in that direction
10:09and we'll wish Shador the very best for his future.
10:12So I know I'm talking tough about a lot of hypotheticals here,
10:15but that's the way I'd have to see it.
10:17All right, one final bit of this is the tail and green part
10:21where he was a six-round pick, 182nd overall.
10:26And I think to me, and I don't know how you feel about this,
10:29the thought of him as a gadget, as a red zone weapon,
10:34I think that ship has sailed now that they're a legitimate team
10:39vying for the playoffs and they have their own wrinkles in the red zone.
10:43They have their own plays and formations and go-to pet plays
10:48that they probably feel pretty confident in.
10:50I don't think that's going to be a part of the 2026 season.
10:54I was thinking more if they were just some terrible team,
10:57one of the worst in football.
10:59All right, let's just have some fun with it.
11:00I no longer think that.
11:02So do you think the organization is still fixated
11:05on having him as part of the team this year
11:10that at some point he could actually play and help this team?
11:14Because I do not.
11:15I do not think that's a realistic part of the 2026 season.
11:18At quarterback, are you saying?
11:20Well, just a piece that you're conserving
11:23that you could be developing for use this year.
11:27No, but they clearly like him because, remember,
11:29they went through a dearth of –
11:31I mean, at one point you had three quarterbacks,
11:33so I know it would be down to two,
11:34but you're still holding on to him.
11:37So they clearly like him a lot and they clearly think
11:39that he has talents and maybe he's a bigger version
11:41of Taysom Hill to them.
11:43So they're in a tough situation here, Tone,
11:45and I don't mean to bog it down, but I have to.
11:48I think that they're way better than they thought
11:49they were going to be.
11:50Yeah.
11:51I really do.
11:52I think that this is a much better start
11:54than they thought they were going to be off to.
11:56I mean, if they thought that they were going to approach
11:58500 or something like that, that's one thing.
12:00I mean, five and two now,
12:01you're expected to be a nine-plus win team.
12:05And maybe there's some doubters there
12:07and maybe because it's the Browns
12:08and all the metrics and stuff,
12:09maybe I'm talking a little bit tough there.
12:11But now they're in a position where I think,
12:14A, they thought maybe naturally
12:16we might get to Taysom Hill.
12:17Like there might be some possibility
12:19and that maybe by week 18,
12:22you would give a look at Taysom Hill
12:23on something like that.
12:24Or Taysom Hill, I'm sorry, Talon Green.
12:26You would give him a look on Talon Green
12:28or something like that.
12:29I think now it's like, well, this just becomes one.
12:32And it probably was leaning more towards this way.
12:35Regardless, you're looking at this
12:36as one giant redshirt year.
12:38And then next year you go into it and you go,
12:41and this is where the Taysom Hill conversation
12:44gets brought in.
12:45How do I categorize him?
12:47Because he's 6'6".
12:49He can play quarterback.
12:51He's played quarterback before.
12:52He played quarterback at a high level in college.
12:54He came in as a QB.
12:56What do I do to make him a weapon
12:59for my football team and get him on the field?
13:01Because I can't just keep taking up roster spots here
13:04on the possibilities of what he can do.
13:06I want to get him on the field
13:07and actually help out my football team.
13:09So I'd have to kind of go back
13:11and look at what New Orleans had done
13:14and to see kind of exactly how that was handled.
13:18Because I don't think there's a Browns fan
13:21that wants to give up on Taysom Hill
13:22or Talon Green.
13:23No, I said Taysom Hill and I can't stop saying it.
13:25I don't think there's a Browns fan
13:27that wants to let Talon Green go.
13:29And I don't think the organization
13:30wants to let Talon Green go.
13:31So I think that they kind of see like,
13:33hey, can we work him during the offseason
13:35on some tight end stuff?
13:37Can we work him during the offseason
13:38on some other things and see what we can do?
13:41What?
13:41What's the matter?
13:42Ken's going to get aggregated.
13:44No, I'm not.
13:45I'm not.
13:45I'm just saying.
13:46Here we go.
13:47You are the foot.
13:47No, hold on.
13:48The middle-aged white sportscaster
13:50wants to change positions.
13:51Oh, kiss my ass.
13:52No, you're the fourth quarterback
13:54on the football team.
13:55All right, you have three guys
13:56that are clearly ahead of him here.
13:58You get to the offseason,
13:59say he has no playing time.
14:00All right, well, I don't think the Browns think,
14:03I think the Browns do think very highly of you.
14:05I don't know how highly the rest of the league feels.
14:07Would you rather have a job,
14:09still work at quarterback,
14:09but also work at some other things?
14:11Or would you rather be a free agent?
14:13I'd rather have a job
14:14in an organization that I know likes me,
14:16in an organization that I know
14:18wants to unlock my talents.
14:20That's what I would want.
14:22So, yeah, you can put Talon Green
14:25still as a QB,
14:26but I can only have 46 guys
14:29that are eligible every single week.
14:31And at some point,
14:32you can't just keep four guys as a quarterback
14:35unless you're trying,
14:36if you're trying to win football games.
14:38You can't do that.
14:39Because I thought for sure
14:40when we had a couple of defensive linemen go down,
14:42and then you have Malik Collins
14:43who was hurt
14:44and playing through an injury right now.
14:45Like, you have a lot of guys
14:47banged up on this football team.
14:48I'm going to continue to keep four QBs,
14:50and I'm trying to win games?
14:51Like, yes, it does matter.
14:52Special teams,
14:53the extra guy on special teams does matter.
14:56Sam Kamara being able to come up
14:58and play defensive line for my football team
15:00does matter, Anthony.
15:01All right, Kenny,
15:03is the magic back for the whining gold
15:06as the Cavaliers,
15:07a dazzling comeback win in overtime
15:10against one of the league's best?
15:12And do they have a new star?
15:15One of their players thinks so.
15:17We'll get to that
15:17when we come back here on Sports Radio,
15:1992.3 The Fan.