00:00What do you think Todd would say if the Browns came to him with the same question we asked last
00:03segment? Because you'd mentioned that if it was up, you'd go to a point where if Todd went to
00:08the Browns, you would trust in Todd's decision wholeheartedly. I would imagine Todd probably
00:12also thinks it's a bit premature. No, I just don't know that the Browns are going to say Todd
00:16Munkin, like you get to make the call there. Oh, I don't know, because I think it was Todd's call.
00:21I think Todd was a massive driving force behind the decision to play Deshaun Watson. So if that's
00:28the case, I mean, they've already given him an incredible amount of power of Deshaun being
00:33here and being the starter. So we've established this previously, like my belief on that whole
00:37ordeal, and this is why people are like, well, who gets the credit for playing Deshaun Watson?
00:41I believe the Browns wanted to play Deshaun Watson. I think that starts at Jimmy Haslam,
00:44and I think it works its way down, including Andrew Barry. And so they got to a spot where
00:47they hired the guy that would go in line with their thinking. So I think from the beginning,
00:52they were all lockstep on what they wanted to do, and they were all in concert there.
00:56Now the question is, if Andrew Barry's given another crack at this, who in that front office
01:00or who in that organization is going to have more of a say when it comes to whether or not
01:04you keep someone like Deshaun Watson around? And I would argue at this point, Andrew Barry's
01:08got more sway than Todd Munkin.
01:10Ooh, I don't know. I feel like Munkin man's got the hot hand.
01:13He sits at the right hand of Haslam, and it's pretty, pretty clear that the faith and the trust
01:19in this whole entire operation has been put at the feet of Andrew Barry. So I'd be surprised
01:23if seven games into this whole thing, Todd Munkin gets card blanched.
01:26I feel like, and maybe this is unfair, but I feel like Jimmy is who was ever last in my
01:32ear,
01:33has my ear basically. So whoever basically has got to me last has my ear is what I was trying
01:38to say,
01:39now that I've said that in the dumbest possible way.
01:41And I feel like it's a, what have you done for me recently business?
01:46And I think Todd Munkin is getting, and should be getting, most of the credit internally and
01:52externally for the Browns' fast start. So whether it was Todd going to the Haslam's and saying,
01:58we're starting Deshaun, or whether it's them working their way to a candidate who would start
02:02Deshaun Watson, Todd still had the vision to make this happen.
02:06Yeah, but Todd's getting a lot of credit when it comes to the culture. Who's getting the credit
02:09when it comes to piecing this whole entire thing together?
02:12Todd. Because here's the thing, it wasn't Andrew Barry in front of the microphones every day
02:18talking about it.
02:19No, but the mastermind of putting this team together was Andrew Barry. Drafting the way
02:22they have in the previous couple years is Andrew Barry. So if you want to talk about the actual
02:26decision maker in this organization, Andrew Barry in two years has rewritten the entirety
02:31of the previous five and what people think about him. And yes, he finally had draft picks in order
02:35to do so. But make no mistake about it, if it comes to a decision on the personnel side of
02:40things,
02:40I still think it runs through Andrew Barry.
02:42Now, what I think is interesting is who do you think hired Todd Munkin? Whether you think that
02:47was an Andrew Barry decision or whether Andrew Barry went along with it. I happen to think Andrew
02:52Barry went along with it. Not as if he was some sort of a hostage or anything like that, but
02:58I think
02:59Andrew Barry probably skewed more towards the Sheil Houses, the Grant Udinskis,
03:05the Kevin Stefanski clones than Todd Munkin, who again, doesn't really even fit the analytical
03:11model. Like Todd Munkin feels like a Jimmy Haslam going rogue kind of higher. So that also gives
03:19Todd Munkin a little bit more cachet in this conversation.
03:22I don't know. He also checked off the questionnaire that they asked that Andrew Barry had orchestrated
03:27and clearly he checked it off the right way. Like, like one thing that I think matters in this is
03:31although yes, Jimmy Haslam was taking a lot of the, a lot of the flack for the worst trade in
03:36NFL
03:36history. Andrew Barry's name was right there along with it. Andrew Barry had a ton invested in watching
03:42Deshaun Watson scratch and claw his way out of erasing what was the worst contract in NFL history
03:47to at least becoming somewhat salvageable. Like they were in that boat together.
03:50I think locally you are correct. I think nationally, I just have never heard enough blame being put on
03:57Andrew for the, the, the, the, the whole thing. And I think that's, what's interesting nationally,
04:02everyone always pinged back to, it could never be Andrew Barry could never be Kevin Stefanski.
04:08This is on Jimmy Haslam internally. We knew differently because of the reporting of Jason
04:12and Mary Kay and the incredible Browns beat we have in town. But I think it's really interesting
04:17that outside of here, Andrew Barry and Kevin Stefanski were shielded from a lot of the blame.
04:23Even Kevin Stefanski now, but they know everyone in that building one or two games that he wasn't
04:27supposed to win. And all of a sudden we got people talking about him as coach of the year in
04:29the
04:29NFL. You already acknowledge it though. Everyone in the building knows how that went down and
04:32everybody in the building knows exactly the storyline there. And so like, if you get anything
04:36out of Deshaun, that's going to matter a great deal to Andrew Barry. And so doesn't it go more,
04:40doesn't it hold more weight coming from Todd than Andrew? I feel like when Andrew goes and says,
04:44we should extend Deshaun Watson, Jimmy's going to be like, what now? Well, maybe this is why
04:49have we not done this dance before? Maybe this is why they have such a collaborative effort over
04:54there so that the two of them collectively can go together and say, Hey, Jimmy, this is what we
04:58came up with. So you don't have that. I just be shocked if in seven weeks, as great as this
05:02has
05:02gone and how outstanding and high, I think of Todd Munkin, it's a race, seven years of trust and
05:08really a relationship built up where clearly Andrew Barry is sitting at the right hand of Haslam and has
05:13his ear the way that you said, like whoever's got his ear matters the most. I mean, he's built that
05:16up
05:16over seven years and he's outlasted everybody. And to your credit in this conversation, I do think
05:22Andrew Barry, his ability to outlast Stefanski, Dee Podesta, and honestly, even just make it back
05:30after leaving with the Dorsey era, I do think he is incredibly adept at managing up in the same way
05:37he is at managing down. I still think though, when it comes to Todd Munkin's word, that should be law
05:43right now. That should be that that's what starting five and two. I know Jimmy was the
05:48king of take the over at five and a half. I know that there were plenty of people who thought
05:52this
05:53team was more talented than the outsiders did. None of us, nobody in that building saw five and
05:58two coming. Probably not even Todd Munkin himself. No, but here's the, here's the other part of this
06:02and the wrinkle into this. It's like, well, with the Browns believe Todd Munkin or whatever. Well,
06:05ultimately we can't forget the idea that Jimmy Haslam has wanted success for Deshaun Watson the entire
06:11time. Not only because of everything that was staked with that, but they like, he went to his
06:15wedding. He clearly likes Deshaun Watson. They have a relationship. How many times have we been in
06:19Berea where you watch family members of the Haslam still wearing Deshaun Watson jerseys before this
06:24season got underway by, by the way, in training camp, we watched members of Deshaun or excuse me,
06:28of Jimmy's family wearing Deshaun Watson jerseys. Like there, there's an investment there in the
06:33relationship and the person. And so if you're going to Jimmy saying, uh, I think we should go with the
06:37guy you already like and the guy you've already showcased. You're really like, I don't think it's
06:41going to be a twisting of the arm situation. Yeah. I think actually that's probably what is
06:45interesting. Every time we've had Deshaun conversations, no matter what prism we're
06:51talking about it through with the Browns, whether that's ownership, front office coaching, um, well,
06:57at least now, now that Kevin is gone. Uh, I do think they've always just been more of a fan
07:02of
07:02Deshaun than everyone in Cleveland has been. So if I'm just entertaining this conversation now and
07:08saying about the decision had to be made today, no talk to me in week 12 or week 13, when
07:13he's still
07:14healthy and performing at some sort of aggregate of what his first seven games have been, I guarantee
07:19you they're ahead of where I am and where you are and where the rest of Cleveland is. I mean,
07:23take
07:23everyone back to when Baker Mayfield was here, you know, like, like how you thought about Baker when
07:27people thought it was a coin toss of a, of an opportunity or a chance to extend Baker and keep
07:32them. It's like, if you were, if you were a Baker bro, quote unquote, you thought it was the easiest
07:36decision in the world, myself included. Cause I love Baker, but like, you know, it's, it's, it's coming
07:40from that lens within all of this. Now to get back to the main original point, I guess you're a
07:45trust in
07:45Todd guy. I'm a trust in Andrew Barry guy at this point. It doesn't sound as good. It doesn't,
07:49it doesn't come across as well. I think the previous couple of years he's done an outstanding job.
07:53I have fired him so many times on this radio station and I'm happy that I was not the guy
07:58making the call on that. Cause Andrew Barry, with what he's done with these young players
08:01and, and, and the, the ability that he's shown to draft when he actually has the draft capital,
08:07I, you get the carte blanche, Andrew Barry. Do we consider this a flip flop or do we consider this
08:14a, we've had enough time here for you to, and enough information to change. I think this is a new
08:19information has, has developed and changed everything here. Now, again, it can't take
08:23away from the fact that five years in gone would have been, could have been buried. And I still
08:28stand by that five years in, you know, at that point, one playoff win, you probably got to do a
08:32little bit more, but they gave him a chance. It's interesting. They gave him a chance. And now I
08:35got to trust in Andrew Barry. I didn't have previously. Obviously drafted in such an incredible
08:39way. Obviously the last two years, and certainly even last year made up for in the eyes of the
08:44Haslam's Andrew Barry's biggest of OPA, which is the failure of the Deshaun trade. And it will be
08:50continued to be that until he continues doing what he's done the first seven weeks and the Browns
08:55continue to win. And we, I I'm not assuming those things are going to happen. I'm hoping they are.
09:01I'm trusting in Todd as much as I possibly can that they are, but we'll see. There is an element
09:06of
09:07this that we could change in a dime in another three weeks. And I think everybody is allowed that
09:12one. I also agree with you, by the way, it is the benefit of new information. I think what's
09:16interesting though, is, um, how quickly the Browns changed on Andrew Barry. I'm still not there.
09:23Like, okay, you've got you, you've Deshaun is playing his best football as the Browns quarterback.
09:29Okay. I really liked this last draft class and the one before it. You still got to stick the landing.
09:35Like there's an element to Andrew Barry where you've come a long way in my eyes. I'm not where you
09:39are
09:40yet in terms of trusting him. Cause you still have to, you still have to land the plane long
09:44term on the quarterback position, which is something that's going to have to be dealt
09:48with with this contract. If there is one for, for Deshaun, what do you do in the 2027 draft?
09:54And, and, you know, how do you approach this long-term as well? I mean, it's going to be
09:57one of the biggest decisions they'll have within this whole big grand vision and plan that he's
10:01concocted here that way. And we've started to see the fruits of the labor. We started to see
10:05some of this come together. You can see he was building this whole entire thing up and waiting to
10:09just plop a quarterback right in there and what he does within that next quarterback spot. That's
10:14going to, I mean, really it's going to be either nail in the coffin for Andrew Barry and somebody
10:17else is going to eventually take the credit and the benefits of him putting an entire team around
10:21the quarterback, or he's going to hit, and we're going to be having a lot of fun. And Andrew Barry
10:25is going to get a lot of praise in the process. 216-474-0092. If the decision had to be
10:31made
10:31today, would you extend Deshaun Watson? Matt, we'll go with you. If the decision had to be made
10:37today, would you extend Deshaun Watson? Hey guys, this whole station has lost their
10:43freaking minds. And so is that a yes or a no? Is that a no? I can't believe we're having
10:50this discussion. If the Browns were two and five, what would we be talking about? But
10:55they're not. With the same numbers, the same Deshaun, the same offense, the same 19 points
11:05a game. What would we be talking about? We'd be talking about how screwed we are with the
11:10draft, but the problem is they're not. They're five and two. And Deshaun is a big reason why
11:14they're five and two. He's got five game-winning drives. I mean, it's incredible. I get the
11:19game winners, but maybe if Shador was in there, we wouldn't need to come from behind in the
11:22fourth quarter. I would not have seen Matt being a shahank, but here we are. Why is that?
11:28I'm really not. Listen, I took the Browns over eight and a half wins this year. I didn't
11:33know how we were going to do it, but I knew we were going to do it, and I knew
11:35it was
11:36going to be something crazy, but I'm looking pretty good right now. I can't believe we're
11:41talking about giving them a new contract.
11:43Well, I mean, I said I wouldn't do it today. JP said he wouldn't do it today. We're just
11:48opening up the conversation. So is there a scenario where Deshaun does X, Y, and Z that
11:55you become open to a Deshaun extension, or will you cling to the no extension for Deshaun
12:01until he's gone?
12:03Ooh. Ooh. Ooh. Ooh.
12:07I guess if he played the way he did on Sunday consistently for the rest of the year, all
12:15four quarters, I guess I would have to consider it, especially because the draft's looking
12:19so bad.
12:20All right. So just 300 yards a game passing for the next 12 games. That's it. That's all
12:24you've got to do. That's all you've got to do.
12:25To redeem the last four years of misery. That's all you've got to do.
12:28Well, the good news is that the bar doesn't sound too high there, Matt. We
12:31appreciate you just to consider it too. He didn't say he would do it. Yeah. Could I
12:36get you to settle for 250 yards a game with that? Would that maybe do it? It's
12:42listen. I understand if people think we're a little early on this conversation, this
12:45is the conversation right now and it matters. It matters a great deal because
12:48it's, it's a real in play thing. The Browns have to be operating not only this
12:53season with, but then also this off season with, and it's going to shape the
12:56entirety of, I just said it like three minutes ago, whether or not Andrew Barry lands
13:00the plane lands, the plane on this massive, big grandiose plan that he's put
13:06together is shaped in large part, whether or not he gets his quarterback
13:10situation, right? Nick. Yeah. And, and here's the thing. I think there's more ways
13:14to mess it up from here, man. And that's, I'm not trying to say that about Andrew
13:19Barry. I'm just saying it's not an easy thing to mess this up. It's not an easy
13:23thing to land the plane on this. And when I say it by that, like, do you extend to Sean?
13:27Yes or no. When do you go to Shador or Dylan? If that becomes available, if you
13:33don't, if you don't, do you go in the, do you go in the drafting of the guy or do
13:35you wait for free agency and get a different quarterback there? Do you make a
13:38trade with another team? Like the, the world's your oyster in that regard, but
13:42it also, it can be a cruel, cruel place. If you're trying to replace what right now
13:46is about the 24th best quarterback in the NFL. It's like, it's, it's just, it's just
13:50hard enough to get that done.
