Nightcap Best of NFL News Part 2: NFLPA DRAMA + Browns QB1 announcement

22:13Shannon Sharpe:How can we get out of money to this? Absolutely. Listen, it's a business. I think that's one of the things. They tell, no. It's a business for them. That's what I was trying to say. But see, but the ownership has convinced the fans that if you don't take what they give you, you selfish. You're selfish. And you're not about winning. Bro, y 'all ain't won in 100 years. Yeah. So now all of a sudden, because I won't take the peanuts that you're offering, now I don't care enough about winning. See, and the first thing they throw, because I've heard some people say, I've talked to some agents and people.

22:47Shannon Sharpe:The first name they throw up, guess who they throw up? Guess who name they throw up, Ocho? Who? Give you one guess. Tom Brady. Yeah, but you have to understand, Tom Brady was in a special situation. Everybody else in the NFL is not married or dating someone that makes more money than the actual player himself. Tom Brady took less money. He was making$33.40 million a year. Tom Brady took less money. Why you can't be like Tom Brady? Tom took less money in order to win. Well, I'll tell you what. And you know what I'll tell them? And when it came right down to it, they did Tom Brady like they did everybody else.

23:21Come on, now. Come on. It's Sunday. Go ahead and preach.

23:25Shannon Sharpe:At the end of the day, as loyal as Tom Brady was, as long as he had played up under what he should have rightfully gotten, they still showed him the door. So at the end of the day, no matter what I do. So you know what? I know at the end of the day you're looking to get rid of me, but I'm going to tax your pockets. You say, hey. Well, let me hear. I'm not the GM. My job is to play. Now, if you want me to help you construct your salary cap, that's going to cost you extra. But in the meantime, since that's not my job, my job is to tackle. My job is to catch. My job is to run, block, whatever the case may be on the football field.

24:06Shannon Sharpe:My job is not to help you manage the salary cap. That's your job. And you tell me all the time, you the billionaire. You should be able to figure that out. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. But it's funny. I don't think fans would be able to understand it from a player's perspective because they will always side with their team and their loyalty and the owner saying what they and obviously the media obviously is in most of the time the media is going to be gravitate towards the owner side as well making the players look like they are selfish in certain circumstances um it's unfortunate but but again i mean just hypothetically speaking i'm just throwing it out there just i mean in a way i'm serious in a way i'm actually joking but i would love to be one to be in that in those rooms in those rooms because you're not gonna pull the wool over my ass.

24:51Shannon Sharpe:No. And I'm one of the ones, one of the few who are going to say the things that no one else will say. Oh, I think the thing is, look, you have prosperity for another four or five years. Whomever comes in, guys, please, please start saving your money. No more homes. Tell the wife no more extravagant purchases. we got to put a war chest. So that for, because they're going to lock us out. Oh yeah. Let me tell you why they're going to lock the, because let me tell you what they did last time. Oh, Joe, they locked us out. They locked y 'all out. I was done. I was done. They locked you out. Yeah. And once they got 10 more years, they had three years left with the, with the T broadcasting.

25:43Shannon Sharpe:They went right back to the broadcasting and say, we got 10 years of labor piece. We want to redo the deal. and they did it. Now, I'm not telling you what somebody told you. I'm telling you what I know. Because I know. So what they're going to do, they're going to lock you out. Yeah. They're going to lock you out. Now, let me tell you who wants a programming. And they're playing a premium because we see what Netflix play Jake Paul every time he gets on that network. And we see what Amazon's doing. So don't be surprised. In the next round, you're watching it on Amazon. Yeah. You're watching it on Netflix.

26:16Shannon Sharpe:I'm talking about the Sunday stuff. Oh, yeah. Because they got more money than NBC. They got more money than Fox. They got more money than CBS. Now, I ain't telling you what somebody's telling you. They got more money than ESPN. Oh, they coming. So, let me tell you what they're going to do. They're going to lock you out. Because he said, when he took the job, he said in 20 years, they want to be doing$25 billion in revenue per year. I think they're in about 19, 20. That's why, you see, they done added another game, Ocho. Not only did they add, guess what? They added another playoff spot, too. You see how they did that?

26:48Shannon Sharpe:Yeah, and everybody's like, yeah. That money got to come from somewhere now. Come on now. Got to come from somewhere. We added a playoff game. Guess what we did, Ocho? We added another game. That's 17. So we got an extra team in the playoff, and we got an extra game. Now what does Kermit keep throwing out there? 18. 18. 18. 18. He going to tease it. He going to tease it every time. But what's the one thing everybody talk about? They keep throwing flags all over the place? Player safety. play a safety Ocho I ain't listening to nothing you say because all I see is the ratings going up every game, every year the ratings keep going up so fans keep talking about oh, this is flag football y 'all keep watching I don't know if y 'all noticed did you see how many people watched the Super Bowl last year?

27:36Shannon Sharpe:did you see how many people watched the playoff games last year? so why am I listening to you? yeah you're not they will always watch, huh? no matter what anybody says now you see why Ocho we don't get invited nowhere Ocho they can't but I gotta tell the people the truth yeah I mean listen I've always been I've always been the villain I've always been the bad one I've always been the one not to follow the rules so I'm used to it now y 'all know why I've never been invited to a rookie symposium and Ocho and I we don't get the perks of being able to go certain places and do certain things but it's all good but at the end of the day I'm going to be honest with you I'm going to tell you the truth I'm going to tell you what I know because I've talked to people that was in that room that was negotiating yeah yeah so I if whomever the next head of the players association please tell these guys to start saving their money I'm going to tell them I'm going to start telling them that if we got to put a war chest together guys in order for us to get, we want guaranteed money and we want lifetime health benefits.

28:50Shannon Sharpe:We want to do away with that franchise tag. The only way, because they know how much money you got.

28:58Shannon Sharpe:They know.

29:03Shannon Sharpe:Everything that happens in Dallas, there's nothing that Jerry Jones doesn't know about. There's nothing that happens in Miami that Stephen Ross doesn't know about. there's nothing in an NFL town that those owners doesn't know about. Yeah. It's so funny. Literally know everything. Literally know everything. I'm not, I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I don't know what service the NFL uses. I'm not sure what service the owners use, but being able to tell me what I did, I know. being able to tell me I'm riding four wheelers in the off season with my homeboys down 12th Avenue how do you know that you all the way in Cincinnati how you know that how you call my grandma tell my grandma hey tell Chad to steal them four wheelers during the off season please tell him to start riding up and down wait a minute huh man I'm a witness to it they know everything They know.

30:17Shannon Sharpe:Why you not in the bed asleep? Hey, what's up? What's up? I don't know which one that is. That's Teddy Bear. Hey, Teddy Bear. You got to bring both them boys on. You got to bring both them on. And I was like, man, and the thing is, like I said, they know. They know how much you pay and how much your home loan is. They know how many kids you got, how many going to private school. If you got a divorce, they know what you paid. Yeah.

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33:48Shannon Sharpe:Brown's Kenny Pickett predicted to enter training camp as QB1. Cleveland's quarterback battle is about to begin with the start of the 2025 training camp. Rookies and vets have officially reported to Barea and to kick things off, Mary Kay Cabot predicts that Kenny Pickett will have the upper hand early in camp. Kenny Pickett still has a slight edge in terms of being number one on the depth chart heading into training camp, but that could quickly change. Mary Kay Cabot is the gospel when it comes to the Cleveland Browns. She's the gospel. Yes, she is. Yes, she is. Listen, she's the Pavarotti of opera.

34:27Shannon Sharpe:There are some reporters that when they speak about because they've covered it for so long, yes that's her Jane Slater when she starts talking about the Cowboys take it to the bank take it to the bank it used to be that way with Ed Bouchette when he was in Pittsburgh I don't know if he still does Ed still there but when he talks go on and like yeah yeah yeah go ahead Ocho you gonna say no I'm gonna say um the quarterback battle i like what they're doing i like i like what they're doing i like the fact that they put certain things out and most of the time it's all smoke and mirrors it's all smoke and mirrors i talked to the people that played on that team i i hear what's being said i slipped up a little bit a few shows ago and said something that shouldn't have said but it was okay with that individual that i did say it i know what it looks like they're they're telling me you know so i love what what she says and we said kenny pickett has a chance to be quarterback number one i know when we quoted quarterback number one week one when they step on that field i know who it's gonna be i can tell you that you know it's gonna be joe flacco that that that's neither here nor there the person that has the front running experience the front running experience based on what he's done is familiarity with the team and the offense it could be Joe Flacco.

35:55Now who's going to be behind him if anything goes wrong or when things start to go wrong? My guess is going to be the best person, most polished with the most success behind him. And that would be 12. And that's brother Sanders. No disrespect to Dylan Gabriel or Kenny Pickett. But if they were the answer, they've already had their time. They've already had their chances to be starting quarterbacks in the league. Mm-hmm. You understand what I mean? Is something going to miraculously change for Kenny Pickett? No, I don't think so. Okay, yeah. So I don't understand quarterback number one. I don't listen to any of that.

36:31That's all. I call that smoke and mirrors. No disrespect to Kenny Pickett. Love him. Love him. But it's opportunity with the Steelers. You had him. So you mean you come to a team like the Cleveland Browns that's in dire need of quarterback one, and all of a sudden now you have to answer if something has changed miraculously at the quarterback position with you in your play.

36:53Shannon Sharpe:No, it hasn't. I agree, Ocho. I just didn't understand if, you know, you bring in all these quarterbacks. You bring in a veteran 18 years in Joe Flacco. You bring in another veteran player in Kenny Pickett, and you take two rookies. Yeah. It was – I don't get that because I see a very similar situation with the RG3 situation in Washington. You take RG3 with the number two pick, and then you end up taking Cousins. And we see how that played out. We see how that played out. Mike didn't want RG3 because back then, Ocho, they were in salary cap hell. They had tried to put all that money in an uncapped year.

37:41Shannon Sharpe:The league punished them, and so they had a lot of debt. They really didn't have any cap space. now Mike's looking at Daniel Snyder said Daniel if we give up this to get this young man how do we build a team we can't sign free agencies and we giving up draft capital for the future

38:06Shannon Sharpe:and his style leads to injury because now if he's going to be Lamar you see Lamar gradually runs less and less. He throws more and more from the pocket. He's done a better job of getting down. He's done a better job of getting out of bounds. That wasn't RG3.

38:31Shannon Sharpe:And plus the fact RG3 wanted to be something that he couldn't be immediately. That was Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. Pocket being able to, they were that because they were not athletic. They couldn't take off a run and run away from a defense like RG3 could. He didn't understand that was his blessing, Ocho. You know this, Ocho? Quarterbacks that are not mobile never say, man, I wish I was mobile. Tom Brady never said, I wish I could do this. Peyton Manning never said, I'd do that. Because you have to understand, the defense looks at you once you start running, they see Adrian Peterson. No matter what jersey number you're wearing.

39:16Shannon Sharpe:I see a running back. That's it. And I'm trying to split his dome. Legally, I'm trying to hit you as hard as God will let me. Now, I'm not concerned about next week. But if I hit you clean legally and you don't come back into the game, I wish you the best for next week. But oh well. Because I look at it like this, Ocho. My job as a defender is not to protect the offensive player. that's his coordinator's job that's his quarterback job so if the coordinator calls a play and the quarterback takes off running you told me you don't care about him so why should I? but also you know what? the offensive coordinator he knows the player's strengths is at the quarterback position so he puts the quarterback in advantageous positions to make those plays for the team and just so happens what the quarterback does best is the exact thing the defense hope he does and that's because all i need is one one clean shot that's it that's it and i just i just hope you do against a fair chance it's hard speaking personally ocho going into a situation where you're not a high draft pick and you're behind so many guys.

40:43Shannon Sharpe:Hell, I'm like the sixth or seventh receiver. I'm only going to get one or two plays, Ocho. How do I get your attention? And then one or two, you're going to make the most of it. Make the most of it. That's it. I don't even think it's not even hard. It's not even hard. I hate going back, but this was just a lesson being taught. we already know he's a top three pick and should have been should have been now for for for for conversational purposes this is a great conversation piece I know how the outcome is going to be based on what he can do when he touches the field he's been a winner all his life everywhere he's went in that same attitude and discipline and the way of playing the game of football is going to carry over in Cleveland as well.

41:35And this is no disrespect to the other competitors on that team at that specific position. It's going to carry over. He's already been through adversity. He's already faced these same obstacles every time. This is just another one he's going to overcome. And I'm happy for the organization. Hell, I'm happy for Browns fans. Because finally, what you've always needed for so long, it's right there in your building. All they're doing is just prolonging the situation. That's all they're doing.

42:01Shannon Sharpe:They don't need to prolong it anymore. They need to find a quarterback. They need to find one bad. And, you know, if you go back and look at it, they really only had two. I mean, you got to go back to Otto Graham. Bernie Corzard. Otto Graham, I think, went to like 10 championships. But that was like before your mom and your grandma. I seen Otto Graham play. I seen the black and white footage. He was nice now. And then you got – And then you got – Yeah. And then you got Bernie. Baker could have been good but they didn't have the pieces around Baker you see Baker found a home in Tampa because look at what Baker had at Oklahoma hold on, did you forget the receivers Baker had in Cleveland?

42:50You don't remember huh? Who we have? Odell if I'm not mistaken Jarvis Landry if I'm not mistaken and was it Donovan Peel and Jones or am I tripping? Am I off? Chat, chat, remind me. But that ain't, that's something to work

43:12Shannon Sharpe:with now. But think about it Ocho. Odell came off a broken leg. Odell had a torn ACL. We know Odell was not the same player that he was in New York. No, he hadn't got hurt yet. He had broke his leg in the Giants. He did. Okay. Okay. Okay. Thank you for getting me right. Okay. Jarvis was a slot receiver, had great hands, durable, but that's not, that's not Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. Yo, yeah, yeah, yeah. Mike Evans is in his own world. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now, Godwin has gotten hurt a lot over the last several years, but the one thing you can, hey, you can set your clock by, Mike Evans is going to get a thousand yards receiving.

43:56Shannon Sharpe:Mike Evans is going to get a thousand yards receiving. He went somewhere, Carolina was not a good fit for him. The Rams, we know he wasn't going to stick there. Stafford had gotten hurt. Stafford was their guy. He was never going to beat Stafford out. But he goes to Tampa, plays on a one-year deal, and boom. The rest is, as they say, is history. And he's found a home because in Oklahoma, look at the receivers they had. C.D. Lamb. Who else was the other receiver? I think Joe Mixon was his running back. so he's used to being around talent talent talent talent now they give him back so now he can shine he can flourish um yeah we're gonna find out they're in a very very tough division the Steelers got better the Ravens got better uh the Bengals believe they've gotten better they've re-signed their two offensive weapons Joe Burrow has another year uh uh in that system um the question is can they hold up defensively.

44:54Shannon Sharpe:Because when Ocho, it puts a lot of pressure on your offense to have to be perfect. I mean, they have to be perfect. Joe Burrow can turn the ball over one time and sometimes that's enough to cause them to lose. One turnover. It's hard to play perfect. But that's what the Bengals have to be because their defense, they score 38, they give up 41. They score 35, they give up 38. They scored 31, they give up 34. Yeah. And Joe just has to like, damn, whew, can't turn it over today because our defense ain't stopping no one. It's hard to play like that. It really is. All right, Ocho, this is the subject that you, uh, uh, oh.

45:42Shannon Sharpe:Also, there's something mainstream media hasn't reported much on in the wake of June 23rd gas explosion that sparked the fire had ravaged several units in the Rainbow Terrace section of Garden Valley Apartments, Shadour gave back to the community. Over the course of four hours last Wednesday evening, nearly 1 ,000 residents of the Garden Valley Apartments gathered for a family-friendly charitable event sponsored by Shadour. The festivities featured an 11-year-old DJ, line dancing, free haircuts, food truck, grill food, and complimentary T-shirts. In addition to never turning down a selfie request, Shadour joined residents in cornhole and makes you a football game and even blowing bubble with children.

46:23Shannon Sharpe:Props to Shadour for hitting the ground running when it comes to ingratiating himself into the Cleveland community. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. What's the one thing you get? You get... Remember the movie Gladiator? Remember what he told Maximus? win the crowd you win your what freedom win the crowd and the rest will take care of itself he's doing exactly listen he's doing exactly what you're supposed to do embed embed yourself in the community let them see as a quarterback I'm here. I'm here. I don't think I don't think things went the way they should have gone, but I'm here. That's going to take him far with those on the outside of the stadium.

47:25Far. That means a lot. When's the last time you seen a Cleveland Brown quarterback do something like that? All of them done stuff in the community, I'm sure. They all do. Every team. Every team has players. I mean, to that magnitude.

47:41Shannon Sharpe:Normally, that's the first round pick. High draft choice, not seventh round pick. Yeah. It's definitely not this time of the year. Now, maybe once the season starts, I've made the team. I do things in the community. A blood drive, a food bank, clothes to the – whatever the case may be. Christmas gift, turkeys for Thanksgiving, hams, whatever the case may be, Ocho. Yeah, I get that. I've seen it. But not like this. But this is who he is. It's different. Yeah. This is who he is. So kudos to Shadour for getting out of the community and ingratiating himself. And hey, good things.

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