Deshaun Watson Named Starter, Boutte Traded, Jeanty Update and More Camp Buzz

0:00Jourdan Rodrigue:This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human. How do you turn 16 games, injury reports, team notes, betting lines, and matchup trends into one clear weekend preview? Chat GPT work can help. Give it the goal, plus real inputs like notes, files, data, and project plans. It can help turn them into an analysis, tracker, deck outline, or workflow you can keep shaping. You stay in control, reviewing the work, and choosing the final result. Put ChatGPT to work on your most ambitious ideas and projects. Get started at ChatGPT.com by selecting Work Mode, available on Plus and Pro Plans. Scams don't always look like scams anymore.

0:41AI can make a fake ticket offer look legit or a sportsbook text sound official. And once an identity thief gets your personal information, they can start using your name like it belongs to them. And then what? LifeLock helps detect potential identity threats and suspicious activity. And if identity theft happens, LifeLock's restoration specialist can help restore your identity, guaranteed, because only LifeLock truly protects your name and identity. Get LifeLock at LifeLock.com and use promo code FOOTBALL for up to 30 % off your first year. That's LifeLock.com, code FOOTBALL. Lowe's knows Sundays are for football.

1:19So tackle your home improvement projects by Saturday and earn your Sunday with great deals on LG and Bosch appliances. Select Ego, DeWalt, Filtrete products, and more. Then once your to-do list is done, get ready to kick back, relax, and enjoy the game. Shop in-store or online now and earn your Sunday with help from Lowe's, official partner of the NFL. The entire draft room groans because you just took the guy they wanted. There's no better feeling than crushing your fantasy football league. I'm JJ Zachary Eason, host of the award-winning Late Round Podcast. Before your draft, our players to target and players to avoid episodes

1:59Jourdan Rodrigue:tell you exactly who to circle and who to cross off. Listen to the Late Round Fantasy Football Podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

2:16Welcome to NFL Daily, where we're really getting tired of the Browns letting us down. I am Greg Rosenthal. I'm in my garage with Jordan Rodrigue. This is a last-minute Camp Buzz episode going live because we have to talk about some follow-ups to our long show Sunday night. Deshaun Watson has been named the starting quarterback of the Browns. Jordan, we're going to get to you in a sec, but let's just start with the sound. The press conferences on Monday morning after we learned Deshaun Watson was going to be the Browns quarterback, Todd Munkin and Deshaun Watson both spoke. We will get to Ashen Gentry news.

2:54We will get to a lot of interesting injury news. Players returning from injuries as well around training camp. But we have to start in Cleveland and we'll get you out of here in about 30 minutes or so. Let's hear first from Todd Munkin and how he made the decision.

3:08Jourdan Rodrigue:Deshaun is going to start against Jacksonville, took in the full body of work over the course of offseason to training camp, to the games, the joint practice, and ultimately felt like to start the season on the road. Deshaun gave us the best chance to move the ball and score points. I mean, that's really what it's about. And felt that way going in the last game, but wasn't sure. and after we talked as a staff and after we re-looked at everything, we're going to go that direction. Spoke on Sunday night that I thought I didn't have any trust in the Browns to do the right thing, which I think for their football team in this case would have been to start Shador Sanders and to just end the Deshaun Watson era in Cleveland.

3:55I was curious how Munkin and Watson would both respond to the fans' reaction. Let's hear from Munkin in terms of whether that was a factor in his decision, the big boos that they gave to Deshaun Watson after his rough performance over the weekend.

4:11Jourdan Rodrigue:I don't like being booed either. I don't like we jump off sides three times at the end of the game. OK, but we earned that. Right. We earn our respect by how we play. We earn our fans. Right. In terms of appreciation of the product we put on the field. and that's our job. So on one side, I 100 % understand where Deshaun is coming from, but ultimately we're pros. I mean, we got to put on a good product and we got to play. You got to pull your big boy pants up and let's go play. I was actually surprised by the media reaction after everything that they just couldn't play Deshaun Watson again, that they just thought it's going to be Shadur Sanders.

4:52It made me hope that the fans could actually have a say here. Ultimately, they didn't. I thought it was telling Jordan that Mankin mentioned in his first bit there that starting the season on the road mattered to him. Just curious for your thoughts of like what they are thinking here and what you are thinking.

5:13Jourdan Rodrigue:Yeah, well, I, Greg, you know, I love football so much and it brings me a lot of joy. And this entire years long saga at this point, it makes you feel really cynical. as just a person who loves what the sport can do and what it can do for fans. And, you know, there's a lot of layers to it. Obviously, we've covered all of this at length, but you have no choice but to really feel cynical watching not only all of this unfold, but expecting this as I did, expecting this to happen this way the entire time. I think that one thing that certain NFL teams will remind us again and again and again is that they truly believe that they can make you forget everything that they previously had done, good, bad, or indifferent, as long as at some point they're winning football games.

6:09Jourdan Rodrigue:And so this mileage of misery that has been happening, that's been played out so long here in Cleveland over the last several years, the Browns are clearly setting themselves up or trying to get a top quarterback next or this offseason. They're clearly operating with the belief and expectation that they have a plan and silly you for thinking that you could be disgruntled along the way. They're going to do what they want anyway and what they believe they are smarter than everyone else in doing. And they're also going to really, really hope and depend on what they believe clearly to be a truth. And that is that people will forget everything and forgive everything.

6:56Jourdan Rodrigue:If eventually they're winning football games. I don't know that this organization will, but that's clearly what they're telling you right now. And Todd Munkin's even saying that he says it in his press conference, we earn our respect with how we play. Okay. Well, that says a lot of things to me right there. It does. And yet I agree when, when Deshaun Watson was booed and he said, you know, it was personal. On some level, yes, because of all the misery that he's brought in them and the embarrassment. I mean, the contract was an embarrassment when it happened and they knew that they were in the crosshairs immediately.

7:33And I think the front office totally misunderstood the human element throughout. Number one of how Deshaun Watson would handle being so vilified of how long the NFL would suspend him after he was credibly accused of sexual assault by 27 women and settled with the vast majority of them. And yet I actually think the up out, you know, pouring of Deshaun Watson news and hatred over the weekend was more about a, his performance. He was truly awful in that game. And he has not looked like a remotely good quarterback for years. And he's coming off too torn Achilles. Like he's just slow to process, slow to everything.

8:14If he was playing well, I think they would forget about it. But number two, I think people were just mad about how he handled the press conference. That was it, that he had the temerity to still be so clueless and tone deaf about getting mad at the fans. And that if he could play football, they would cheer. And you know what? They're probably right. And I know he was saying starting on the road was a factor in this, and it wasn't the biggest factor. And I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt. I don't think he meant that he's afraid of the fans just booing him. He says they didn't talk about that at all.

8:51He thinks it's because he can run an operation better than Shadur Sanders. Getting the plays out, pre-snap penalties, all that is more difficult on the road. And that's the biggest difference between Watson and Shadur. And I believe him in that evaluation. But it's not going to be easy at home either when they're booing the crap out of them. And I hate to think that they're so cynical, Jordan, that they think, well, we'll give them two games on the road. They aren't easy, Jacksonville and Tampa. And if he's bad in those two games, I have to think that they're already thinking in the back of my mind.

9:24It's Shadur Sanders by week three. Like my over under for Shadur Sanders playing football for this team is halftime of week three. Like, I don't even know if he gets the halftime. It could be it could be before that.

9:34Jourdan Rodrigue:I just fail to see. First of all, how are you running your, I don't know the answer to this question, by the way, this is a, I would like to know the answer to this. How are you running your approach to the, to the development, the quarterback development to where you're not confident enough in a player who did start home and road games for you last season to operate on the road, um, that you still need to see more from one of those players and that you might, I think that honestly them doing this now because I feel so cynical about this. And I, again, I expected them to do this the entire time.

10:11Jourdan Rodrigue:The second they guaranteed Deshaun Watson, all of that money, you, this was, this was their fate that they sealed themselves. And so I expected this to happen. The second he was actually like physically capable to play like some version of football again, this is what I expected. Because you obviously can't cut them with the dud. I mean, you could do anything you want. Honestly, truly, you could do anything you want. But in terms of realistically operating a football team, the dead money incurred would just be too exorbitant to even like feel the roster. Right. So I always believed that this was going to be the case.

10:51Jourdan Rodrigue:And to me, it's like, what would even be the point of even doing this if you're not going to roll with him the full year? You heard the fans. You heard the fans. You know that that's not changing. The play is probably not getting any better. And you want an early pick next year. And you don't want to have to spend all of these resources you just acquired to go get it. So you're you're going in with this to me that they are. This is all of this. It's almost like the easiest, simplest answer. And the obvious truth is it just is what it is. And yet, if he plays at the level in regular season football and the the mental firing doesn't get faster than it's been in the preseason or even when he last played before the Achilles.

11:36I think they'll have no choice but to make a change. It is really crazy that this front office got so much love this offseason for a good offseason, and yet they are willing to put their fans through this. Deshaun Watson did not apologize for his press conference the other day. I have watched headlines that say Deshaun Watson apologized. at no point in the press conference, just like when he talked about the allegations against him, did he actually apologize? What he said was, I'm human and the emotions got the best of me. Let's listen to a little more of what Watson said.

12:14Jourdan Rodrigue:Moving forward, I just want to focus on football, making sure that I'm putting the best product out there, having the best ability, because I thrive off the energy. I thrive off the energy of the fans. I thrive off the energy of the community. I thrive off all that stuff. You know, I think looking back in my history at Clemson and, you know, previous at the Houston organization, you know, I was a big community guy, big city guy, big fan guy, you know, during the game. So, you know, again, my emotions got the best of me. I'm human. I take full responsibility of that. I picked that particular part of his two and a half minute long intro, because I think it speaks to something we talked about a little bit on Sunday night.

12:56You forget that Deshaun Watson was not just like a beloved figure in college and with Houston, that actually being a good guy was central to his entire identity and his entire reputation in the NFL. And that's where I think the Browns also miscalculated things. He does not play with confidence. He does not speak with confidence. He does not speak honestly. Even in this press conference, he said, the reason I came to Cleveland was to, you know, put them on the map and win a lot of games. And I wanted the fans to be proud of me. And it's like, no, the reason you came to Cleveland is because they guaranteed all your money.

13:36You wanted to go to Atlanta. You chose to go to Cleveland at the very last second after they were literally the one team out of the four that wanted you, that you eliminated in the process because you didn't want to play in Cleveland. Like the whole thing has been a lie throughout. But one thing I think that he is hinting at there, which I do think is true, is that his fall from grace and the fans' hatred of him is all interconnected into why I have no hope that this is going to work and why it hasn't worked. Like, I do think it affects the product on the field.

14:11Jourdan Rodrigue:Yeah, I do. You mentioned it in the show you did with Nick Shook. Great show, by the way. Um, it was like, you said you don't want to be like an armchair psychologist about it, but it's almost like, it's like on a billboard at this point, you know, of like, it can't, it can't be anything other than that. He even sounded nervous talking there at the, at the lectern to me, um, and seemed sort of fidgety. Like he just wasn't quite sure of himself there, even at the, at the lectern. And, you know, you you asked the question, did he even sound like he wanted this job? He didn't. That was not a couple.

14:51Jourdan Rodrigue:Yeah. He lost like the football players. That's where he lost the Dan Orlovsky's and everything. When he started to sound like this is too much for me, I don't even want to do this anymore. Yeah. And and so I just think and again, just to be a little bit clearer, because I sort of stumbled over my my point earlier, if you don't have a development program him where you feel confident that a player with truly more upside than Deshaun Watson in Shadur Sanders right now has more, in my opinion, more upside. If you don't believe that you're getting him prepared enough to run a road operation, like that this is the alternative here.

15:30Yeah.

15:30Jourdan Rodrigue:What are we doing? Yeah, it's a bummer. And I think this team is more talented than many of the Browns teams over certainly like like a decade ago when they were really among the worst in the league. But even in terms of young talent, then the last few years, and they've mismanaged the quarterback situation so bad because ultimately, Shadur, when you watch that tape, wasn't that good this weekend. He takes a long time to process. He is a mid-round pick level second-year quarterback to me, where I think if he has a good career, it'll be as a backup and a sometimes starter, and you shouldn't see what you have in him.

16:04They drafted a quarterback they preferred over him two rounds before Dylan Gabriel, who wasn't even in the mix here. So as an organization, Andrew Barry has to wear all the decisions that they've made even since Deshaun Watson. Let's move on and let's get to the rest of the league. We had a nice update here, Jordan. When we talked to Ashton Gentry on our Sunday night show, the Raiders are praying and everything looks terrible. And it's part of the reason why I wanted to do just a quick news show today is because we have a positive Ashton Gentry update and that it's an ankle injury. The timeline right now is uncertain, but the team, according to Ian Rappaport, does not believe it is a long-term injury.

16:44Jourdan Rodrigue:What a relief too, because all the reports that were coming out in the moment were dire, right? Like I'm genuinely, legitimately worried about Ashton Janty's wellbeing at that point when these things happen. And I mean, it's a relief. And I think too, I'm really excited. I hope that he plays, gets back out there sooner rather than later. These can be fickle injuries. But especially from what I saw when I was doing part of my training camp tour, when I saw the Raiders join practices against the Texans, getting him involved in the passing game and getting him much more involved in the passing game and the screen game and all of these things, getting him to space, catching and running.

17:27Jourdan Rodrigue:Like, I'm so excited to see it. So I'm happy for him that he avoided what sounds like something way that could have been or looked at least like it was way more serious. Right. There's all sorts of different types of ankle injuries. Jeremiah Love is coming off a high ankle sprain that could keep him out for the beginning of the season. We don't have all the details yet, but I did some poking around. I don't think it's crossed off yet that Gentry misses week one, but we don't know. It's these types of injuries, and I think the timeline will be spelled out more. The bigger thing is they need to figure out how to run the ball consistently.

17:58It's an offensive line where they're still figuring out who the starters are going to be. Jackson Powers Johnson, like still not, you know, sharing reps and everything. It's a new system. But I like Mike Washington and I like the fact that Gentile be back early enough. If you're like me and you're drafting your fantasy league tonight. Well, just, you know, I would just avoid the whole thing or take Mike Washington at some point. We have breaking news on this show that I don't know if you even know if you've checked your text there. And our our producer, Eric Roberts, is so on top of things. I don't know if he's going to have a graphic.

18:30If you're watching us on YouTube, look at that sound. Breaking news. The Houston Texans are making the trade that everyone, including myself, but I was hardly the only one, was saying they should make. Keyshawn Booty going from New England to the Patriots. Tom Pelissero is the first insider that we see with the news. It is for safety Jalen Reed, not believed to be a big factor for the Patriots this year, and a draft pick, sources tell, Tom Pelissero now of The Ringer, and Netflix. I love it when teams make a trade that just makes sense, Jordan. This makes the Texans better. and the fact that it says and a draft pick, I guess it depends where he's getting the information from.

19:27So I won't speculate too much, but that tends to make me think it's a day three draft pick. Either way, what do you think about the fit and the trade, Kayshawn Booty to the Texans?

19:37Jourdan Rodrigue:Well, perhaps, or maybe there's some conditions to it. The fact that there's a player attached to it too makes me kind of think you're on the right track there. I love this. I mean, it's just, it was the obvious thing we had heard since training camp began, not only that Kayshawn Booty was playing really, really well, but that also he might be tradable, especially with A.J. Brown's arrival in New England. And so the two front offices know each other really, really well. There's a lot of crossover on that Texan staff from former eras of the Patriots. And it just I love this for C.J. Stroud. I think this makes so much sense in this offense, which is sort of like an amalgamation of New England's previous iterations of its schemes and what the Rams did at one point.

20:24Jourdan Rodrigue:So it makes so much sense. This is a you are going to come in and start for us right away. Good for Kayshaun Booty, too, because he'll get to he'll get more. He'll get a lot of looks and he'll get more money potentially in free agency if he's productive. And he would have been in good spots with the Patriots. But to Mario Douglas was their clear three, you know, by the money, it's obvious that AJ Brown and Romeo Dobbs are one and two. And so you're the fourth receiver and you're going to be worked in. Whereas in Houston, for fans who aren't on top of this news every day, Jaden Higgins is it was a second year player, is a second year player that is out for the entire season with a torn ACL, has some similarity size wise.

21:04I think they're different players in terms of Keishon Booty is just more of like a downfield ball winner, contested catch guy, vertical threat, despite not being like the biggest burner. That's just how he wins. But on some level, they're both physical receivers and he can replace part of what Jaden Higgins was going to do in this offense. And Tankdale still hasn't practiced fully. Jalen Noel was a guy they took in the middle rounds last year that was up and down as a rookie. He hasn't been practicing all camp, although he did recently return. So that's a good sign for him. And after that, it's like it's role player types that have been kicking around their roster for a while.

21:40Guys that make a lot more sense as wide receiver four or wide receiver five. Like I think Kayshawn Booty is not going to get a long-term extension from Houston, but he's going to have a really good chance to have an excellent season and make a lot of money in free agency or who knows, maybe, maybe the Texans decide like he is a fit with us long-term. Nico Collins is relatively affordable for a wide receiver one. Maybe we can get a relatively affordable, like wide receiver two slash three in Booty ends up signing their long-term, but I don't think that's going to happen right away.

22:10Jourdan Rodrigue:Updated terms. it's nice to see these guys working sort of together again but I know there are different companies now but Ian Rappaport is saying it's a 2028 seventh rounder so definitely a later pick but like I mentioned a player being involved in that too does make a difference there also I do want to point out I love seeing this for Tom they've already got him the breaking news graphics at the ringer they're slick looking I have to say so good for everybody you know getting that news done thank you and frankly good for us that we timed this show for the news to happen right away which is why I'm literally tweeting it back out just to let people know we're hitting the booty trade right now as Eric Roberts our producer says everything is coming up Greg you gotta love that news he's a newsman booty is massive for their team.

23:10Jourdan Rodrigue:I like how you can hear me cracking up in the background of that drop. That's so funny. Oh my God. I know I'm a homer, but we did our, our all underrated team last year, me and Ollie Connelly on one of our Saturday shows. And we both had Keishon Booty last year. I thought it was a really good, like, yeah, if you just look at the stats, it's not that crazy, but man, he had a ton of big plays. Like he was like maybe the most reliable overall receiver for them and really valuable. And it just goes to show teams are always, almost always full of it when they said, well, we're not trying to trade him.