00:00It was Todd Munkin yesterday in his press conference when he said,
00:03nope, don't have a starting quarterback yet, at least one to announce.
00:08So, hey, welcome to Deshaun and Shadour Day right here on 92.3 The Fan.
00:15Also happens to be trade deadline day.
00:18So, get ready.
00:19Jeff Phelps here.
00:20Nick Padone in for Andy Baskin.
00:23Hey, Jeff.
00:23Hi, Nick.
00:24Happy trade deadline day.
00:25Happy trade deadline day.
00:26It will be active.
00:27Did you see the Minnesota Vikings last night?
00:29They're not good.
00:30They need a quarterback.
00:31Browns apparently have too many.
00:33Yeah, Jordan Schultz kind of getting that party started.
00:36NFL Insider putting out there this morning that the Vikings are expected to pursue a quarterback today.
00:42So, who knows if they'll land on one?
00:45Who knows which one they could be trying to land on?
00:48Obviously, the Browns have four of them.
00:51Kirk Cousins is out there.
00:53Danny Dimes is out there if they want to go back to two ex-Viking quarterbacks.
00:57But it does feel like it could be an interesting trade deadline day around the league.
01:03And I'm curious to see if the Browns get in on any of this action.
01:05I'll bet there's some kind of a Browns trade.
01:08I would bet more on the side of smaller deal than bigger deal.
01:12But you never know.
01:13And we will be sitting tight to see what happens around the NFL.
01:18And we won't hear anything from the Browns today.
01:20They are not meeting with the media.
01:23So, Todd Munkin's comment that, nope, I'm not ready to name a quarterback yet, leads us to Deshaun and Shadur.
01:30But it is trade deadline day.
01:33And, you know, here to keep everybody up to date at the fan, we just, we're going to be all
01:37over this all day long.
01:38So, anytime there's any kind of news about trade deadline day, Dan Mannigan is going to play this sounder.
01:45And so, just be ready for Dan to break in with stuff.
01:48Yeah, this is the test.
01:50There's not any news right now.
01:52What's it going to sound like, Dan?
01:54Hey, guys, I think we got a trade here.
01:55There.
01:55So, when you hear that, you know there's trade news coming up.
02:00Cool.
02:01Glad we got that worked out.
02:02That was catchy, Dan.
02:03That felt good.
02:03Yeah, that felt good.
02:04You want to try it again?
02:05Yeah, sure.
02:05We can try it again.
02:07Hey, Dan, is there something?
02:09Hey, guys, I think we got a trade here.
02:10Okay, there you go.
02:11So, if you hear that, there's going to be a trade.
02:15The latest thing I give you is the Westside Market is seeking an artist for a $20,000 mural to
02:20commission in 2027.
02:22Does Baskin and Phelps need a mural?
02:23I think we need a mural.
02:24No.
02:25Can they make a mural of former Browns quarterbacks and which guy might be on it?
02:29Well, they already got it down to a jersey.
02:31I don't know why you'd want to expand it further.
02:32Did the Browns trade one of these quarterbacks today?
02:35I think the opportunity is going to be there for them if they want to.
02:39I just don't know.
02:40Is a late-round pick swap really moving off of the guy that could be your starter on Sunday?
02:46Now that Todd Munkin left the door open for back-to-back days.
02:50Not just Jadour, though.
02:51There's Dylan Gabriel.
02:53True.
02:53True.
02:54Same thing, though.
02:56You spent a third-round pick on Dylan Gabriel and everything that the Browns say, they love him.
03:02They love his football intellect, his experience, his capability as a 10-year backup in the league.
03:07So I don't know that Andrew Barry, as a guy that's driven by value, is going to trade Dylan Gabriel
03:13for a fifth- or sixth-round draft pick when he spent a third-rounder on him just in 2025.
03:18We'll see.
03:19I do think the Browns would be open to either of those things, truly.
03:25But obviously, it takes two to tango.
03:27So I heard Todd Munkin yesterday after our show.
03:30It was a press conference at 2 o'clock, right as Nick and Jonathan were getting going in the afternoon.
03:36And he said, no, I'm not ready to name one.
03:39And I immediately thought, okay, are you just holding off because of the trade deadline?
03:46That was my immediate thought.
03:48But then I thought this.
03:50Tell me what you think of this, boys.
03:55If, and I thought Shadour did a nice job in New Orleans.
03:59And as I said yesterday, my hope is that they at some point decide that Shadour or Dylan or Taylor
04:05Green is a better option than Deshaun so they can get a really good look at him and figure out,
04:11could this be your guy?
04:12I'd much rather play one of the young guys, but they're playing to win, and so far they've decided that
04:17Deshaun gives them a better chance to win.
04:19But I thought this.
04:21Are you left in limbo because Shadour played a solid game?
04:28Okay, he was great late.
04:30But Deshaun's been great late a lot this year.
04:34Are you left in limbo because of one game against a bad defense by Shadour Sanders?
04:41And if you are, man, you must not have been very impressed with Deshaun Watson coming back in five games
04:47and with what he did in his entire body of work.
04:51Yeah, they can't be impressed with what they've seen out of Deshaun Watson.
04:54And I get that he's won five games.
04:57One game against a bad defense.
05:01Where my socks weren't blown off at least for three quarters, it was a good thing that he had the
05:05fourth quarter in overtime to save that game.
05:08It was fun to watch.
05:09It was thrillingly fun to watch, but it really did cover for what was a rocky three quarters for him.
05:17So there's no way that they can be impressed with what they've seen from Deshaun, even with the five game
05:21-winning drives, just because the Browns are...
05:24No way they can be impressed?
05:25I don't think so.
05:26They came back and won five games, and the dude led five fourth-quarter scoring drives to win games.
05:33But Jeff, they're a data-driven organization.
05:34That's money time in the NFL, man.
05:35They're a data-driven organization, though.
05:37You know Andrew Barry and those guys are sitting in the big fancy glass offices out there in Berea, and
05:42they're looking at everything.
05:43More so than just the last drive of the game.
05:45And everything shows that Deshaun Watson is the 28th-ranked quarterback in football right now.
05:51Shador is not much different.
05:53No, and that's the thing.
05:54Like, Shador's QBR was actually, I think, a tick under what Deshaun's season average was.
05:59So it does make, like what you're saying, it does put them in kind of a pickle where I wonder
06:04if they went to Shador hoping that there would be some sort of spark.
06:08And there was late in the game, but that's what the other guy's capable of doing, too.
06:11Would you guys agree with this?
06:15Deshaun's cleared.
06:17Doesn't play.
06:18Okay, didn't practice.
06:19I get all that.
06:20And Shador comes out, doesn't play well early, does play well late.
06:24I enjoyed watching him.
06:26I thought it was great fun, and I thought he did a nice job.
06:29But then you don't name a quarterback.
06:32This whole thing kind of feels funny, doesn't it?
06:35Well, immediately after the game, I thought it was a little...
06:37It doesn't feel like there's something going on here.
06:39Immediately after the game, I thought it was a little bit fishy because I thought he left the door open.
06:43If he didn't want it to be a conversation or a talking point, you easily after the game could have
06:49just said,
06:49Yeah, we're going to go back to Deshaun.
06:50And then when you guys, when you and Typhus come back on the postgame show, there's no conversation.
06:56He named Watson the starter.
06:57Nothing to talk about here.
06:59And then he did it a second time.
07:01When he met with reporters yesterday at 2 o'clock on Zoom, went,
07:05Guys, they get in the building so early in the morning to start watching the tape.
07:10And I know his excuse was that he didn't have an opportunity to huddle with the entire offensive staff.
07:15And that's why he didn't name a quarterback yesterday.
07:18It's just now you've skipped over it twice.
07:20When you've had an opportunity to shut down all of this speculation, why not?
07:25Why leave the door open for a potential change?
07:30That's why I assume there's got to be...
07:34At least they're leaving the opportunity there with the trade deadline.
07:39Because they've been looking at these guys for months and months and months.
07:43And now you have a body of work for each guy.
07:46I can't imagine, though, that the coaching staff doesn't prefer one over the other.
07:53Dan, wouldn't you think?
07:55I mean, they should know, shouldn't they?
07:57It feels like we're back in training camp again.
08:00Yeah, but we shouldn't be, should we?
08:02No, we should not.
08:02We're 10 weeks into the season.
08:04But here's what I mean when I say that.
08:05Remember when we...
08:06I think the three of us have looked at each other at one point or another and have all had
08:09the similar thought.
08:10Which is that, hey, if you're going to hold this quarterback competition and it's going to be close,
08:14put your thumb on the scale and the kids should get the nod.
08:17Yes.
08:17The younger guys should get the nod.
08:19That's what you and I have said all along.
08:22Nick, are you about there, too?
08:23Was that your thought?
08:24I'm there.
08:24If it was close, put your thumb on the scale.
08:26Yeah.
08:27I wonder if we're having that same conversation in the building right now.
08:29Just because it's close?
08:30Because it's close.
08:31Because Shador gave you exactly what Deshaun gave you and you want to see...
08:35Well, can he continue to give you that through the next nine games?
08:38Similar game.
08:39You know, from what Deshaun has played.
08:40I wonder if we're back in training camp.
08:42Where we're all looking at each other and going,
08:44if the kid gave you something similar and it's close, put your thumb on the scale.
08:50And I wonder if they're having that conversation.
08:51You buy it?
08:52I do.
08:53And guys, to be honest, I would do it.
08:55When I was driving in, I know Ken and Lima were debating what you do.
08:59And Ken wants to win so bad.
09:01And he was saying that he'd go back to Watson because after you get concussed,
09:05how could you lose your job?
09:07I just look at it like exactly what Dan laid out.
09:10And if it's going to be close and you're going to get similar results from either guy,
09:15I'm going to go with the 24-year-old and just hope,
09:18even though Andrew Barry has set on his own accord that hope is no strategy,
09:21just hope that he can eventually become something better than what he currently is right now
09:26if you develop him on the field in real game settings.
09:29Because we know what Deshaun is at this point.
09:32We know that he's also probably not part of this thing's future.
09:35Even if you do go to the playoffs, Jeff, I still don't think that he's part of the future.
09:40I can't imagine a scenario where he is.
09:47I've tried to, and I've tried to wrap my head around the idea of, okay,
09:52and we're going to get into the quarterbacks that are coming out.
09:55We do this little bit.
09:56You'll enjoy.
09:58That's coming up later.
09:59Franchise quarterback at noon, as Dan put it on the rundown.
10:03Franchise quarterback whatever.
10:04We actually named it, but we don't remember what the name of it is.
10:07I can't remember the name.
10:08Yeah, we don't remember what the name is.
10:09But that's coming up at noon.
10:13But I can't imagine bringing Deshaun back based on what we've seen.
10:20Now, and, you know, I just said five fourth quarter comebacks.
10:23I also saw the first three quarters of most of those games.
10:26So I'm with you on that.
10:27I'm playing a little devil's advocate on you there.
10:29For sure.
10:30The full body of work just has not been there.
10:32It's not been.
10:33No, I agree completely.
10:35But if it's hard to argue with the, hey, you're five and four now.
10:40You were five and two.
10:41And in the playoff hunt, and he's been the guy.
10:45But if you get to the end of the season, and it's going to cost you 50 million bucks
10:49or something like that, that's not worth the investment to me.
10:53I'm going to stick with Shadour or Dylan or somebody else I get who's not going to cost
10:59me 50 million for okay, at best, quarterback play.
11:04And let's be real about this.
11:05The rest of your young roster right now is kind of figuring it out on the fly, aren't they?
11:10Yeah.
11:10I think we've seen some really good out of Spencer Feneau.
11:13I think the last couple of weeks, we've seen a little bit of bad out of Spencer Feneau.
11:17So maybe they are at a point, as Dan alluded to, where if this thing is close, you maybe
11:22just lean to this is a young roster anyway.
11:25Let's see if we let this team be a young team and see if they can figure it out.
11:30216-474-0092 is the number to join us.
11:33Cam Mana will take your phone calls.
11:35He'll be doing 2020s later when Jeff Thomas goes out for breakfast.
11:38First, Mennegan's behind the glass.
11:40Panone's in for basket.
11:41I'm Jeff Phelps.
11:42What did you think of Todd Munkin's kind of ambiguous approach to this yesterday in his
11:50press conference?
11:51And what should they do, folks?
11:53It's trade deadline day and the NFL will be all over it right here on The Fan.
11:56A little bit of news, gentlemen, coming down.
11:58Aaron Wilson of KRS3 Sports down in Houston, who's been on top of a lot of this stuff.
12:03He's all over stuff.
12:04Exactly.
12:04Saying the Browns are signing veteran tight end Zaire Mitchell-Payton to a practice squad
12:10today.
12:11Undrafted free agent.
12:12Played with the Browns initially.
12:14He's been in eight games total, two catches, 17 yards.
12:17So Browns adding a tight end to the practice squad.
12:20Zaire Mitchell-Payton.
12:22All right.
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