NFL Showdown: Watson vs. Sanders in Cleveland Camp
In the Cleveland Browns's NFL camp, quarterbacks Deshaun Watson and Shado Sanders vie, boosting Super Bowl hopes. Who will earn the QB job next season?
Video Transcript
Hey, look, one of the big battles going on in training camp for the NFL this coming season will be in Cleveland.
I wanna throw this at you here.
You ready for this?
42 different quarterbacks since they've been back as an expansion team in Cleveland have fought for the quarterbacking job in Cleveland, and now it's between Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders.
And here's the odds right now for the Cleveland Browns to win the Super Bowl, so this is quite a number here.
I mean, you've got two quarterbacks right now.
One could go down as the worst contract in the history of the National Football League and Deshaun Watson.
They gave him $230 million fully guaranteed to leave Houston and go to Cleveland.
It's basically an extortion payment because nobody wanted to go to Cleveland and play, and they ended up bringing him there, and it has been an, a absolute train wreck having that Deshaun Watson contract.
He has been injured the entire time.
He doesn't even look remotely the quarterback that played for the Houston Texans when he was throwing up 4,500 yards, and they were talking about him in the same breath as a Lamar Jackson.
Will he be able to recoup that with Todd Monken?
Yet to be seen.
It's going down as one of the worst contracts, if not the worst contract in NFL history.
And then on the other hand, you have Shedeur Sanders.
Now look, I don't know if the kid's an NFL quarterback.
I don't know if the kid's gonna be able to take the pressure of being able to play at that position there in that city, but I can tell you one thing's for sure, his background being raised with his dad, Deion Sanders obviously, is going to prep him for this opportunity.
Shedeur is gonna get a chance to play.
Shedeur is gonna get a chance and an opportunity to show whether or not he is an NFL-style quarterback.
But here, here's the one thing you have to put when you're talking about the Cleveland Browns.
The Cleveland Browns are like the New York Jets.
If you're a quarterback in the NFL, these are places you go to die because they have not developed a quarterback in New York since Namath.
They have not developed a quarterback since I said the expansion team back in Cleveland.
42 different quarterbacks, from the Johnny Manzels to the Baker Mayfields.
How about that deal too?
If you've got two things you're looking at right now in the NFL, you're looking at two franchises.
How'd you like to be the Jets and you're watching Sam Darnold now and what he's done the last two years?
This guy has won 31 football games.
31 games in two years with the Minnesota Vikings and now the Seattle Seahawks, and a Super Bowl championship.
And then you look down south, you look at Baker Mayfield with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
You're talking about a guy who's negotiating a contract right now for 55 million bucks.
Look, developing a quarterback has to be one of the most important things, if not the thing for a head coach.
Look, I've said this before, head football coaches, I don't care how talented you are as a head coach, if you don't have the quarterback, it won't matter.
If you don't have that position figured out, you could have one of the best rosters in all of football, but if you don't have that position for a head coach figured out, you're not gonna win.
Look at Bill Belichick at the end after Tom Brady left.
Everyone looked and said, "What's different with Bill Belichick?"
Nothing's different with Bill Belichick.
Nothing.
What was different was the roster.
If you're not roster-building and building around certain quarterbacks and their deficiencies, this all starts with the general manager.
Look, I've said it before to people, places like Cleveland, hey look, organizations let down quarterbacks more than quarterbacks let down organizations.
And they also let down head coaches.
In today's profession You know, back in the day when you had the Tony Dungys and you had the Bill Parcells and you had coaches like that, my coach Jimmy Johnson, they dealt with an iron fist.
They were head of personnel.
They were head of hiring of coaches.
They were involved in the selection of the players.
My coach Jimmy Johnson, nothing went through his desk or on his desk without his approval.
I don't care what that Netflix thing tells you that Jerry Jones was involved with.
Jerry Jones had no say when it came to anything but signing checks.
That's how they won in Dallas.
Those days are long gone.
You're more of a CEO-type guy today 'cause you got so many people that you have to answer to.
We had Coach Dungy on yesterday, and I asked him, "Do you think it's tougher to coach in today's NFL than it was back in your day?"
He said, "Absolutely.
You got more mouths to feed, and you got more people to answer for."
So we'll see how this quarterback battle shapes out here in Cleveland.
Will Shedeur g- Sanders get an opportunity?
I believe he will.
Will Deshaun Watson get an opportunity to turn his career around?
He will.
He'll get an opportunity.
I like Todd Monken.
I think Todd did some great things with Lamar Jackson in Baltimore.
If they could get that football team turned back around again, they got some good players there on that roster in Cleveland.
