Hour 1: Deshaun Watson Named Browns’ Starter, plus ESPN’s Marcus Spears

0:00Marcus Spears:In ESPN's wild world of college football, every Saturday begins with a ritual. And then, the migration turns to mayhem. Predators hunt, territories are defended, rivals clash. In this wild world, legends are unleashed on Saturdays. No one brings you closer to the wild than ESPN. College football on ESPN kicks off August 28th. Witness the wild on ABC, ESPN, and the ESPN app.

0:30Rich Eisen:This is the Rich Eisen Show. Hey, everybody.

0:34Marcus Spears:Can't get enough of the Rich Eisen Show? You're in luck. You can find us everywhere. Watch us weekdays on Disney Plus from noon to 3 Eastern. Miss the show? We've got a podcast so you can listen anytime. But here's the best part. Our YouTube channel. Subscribe at youtube.com slash Rich Eisen Show and you'll never miss a moment. Now, on with the show. The business we are in is a performance-based business. This is the Rich Eisen Show. And that same fan base, they cheered when I got hurt. The Rich Eisen Show. It's a disrespectful thing. Today's guests, ESPN NFL analyst Marcus Spears, senior writer for the MMQB Albert Breer, BMW championship winner Wyndham Clark, comedian Sam Murrell, and now it's Rich Eisen.

1:31Rich Eisen:What a day to be on the air here on the final Monday of the month. Actually, it's not true. Hello, August. 844-204-RICH is the number to dial right here on the program. I shouldn't be sticking my head in the calendar. Days are flying by right now. It's the National Football League season in full bloom right now. I know we're only two preseason weeks in, but it kind of feels like we're already in the middle of the season based on all the stories flying around. we'll talk about it throughout this three-hour show uh 844-204 rich number to dial on on all these fronts you just heard who our guests are it's going to be a lot of fun Wyndham Clark um on the show in hour number three he just won again uh the BMW championship uh he is a diehard fan of the Broncos so we're going to surprise him with a win-loss game there and he's also a fan of the Oregon Ducks speaking of which hello TJ Jefferson I'm coming to you first start the week that way.

2:23Rich Eisen:You're flipping it around. Baby, candles lit in the corner. Candles lit in the corner. Good to see you. Oh, it's not lit. I forgot. Good to see you, sir. How are you? Good, good, good. DJ Mikey D sitting next to Chris Brockman. We just already recorded the latest over the Action Monday. It's already out there in your RSS feed if you listen. I'll do it. Or our YouTube channel if you watch, youtube.com slash Rich Eisen show. So, Deshaun Watson is going to start week one for the Cleveland Browns. It has been reported all over the place. Todd Munkin has made his decision, and he's the guy. And, man, when this whole calendar year started and Watson was deemed healthy, all I was hearing at the combine, all I was hearing at the draft, all I was hearing between those two dates and everything I've been hearing ever since then is competition, sure.

3:18Rich Eisen:but there is a thumb on the scale for Deshaun Watson because the Browns want to see if he has anything from 2019 left in him I know that was a long time ago he had a good COVID year as well as career year of COVID year was actually almost a 5 ,000 yard season for the Houston Texans they want to see if that guy that they acquired a middle of his entire scandal that was tearing his personal life and professional life seemingly apart is that guy still in there and it doesn't really matter how much a door is being a professional and showing up and showing out in any practices or preseason games it's gonna be him and after this weekend and what happened this weekend I could not be more sure of what I heard back in the spring and throughout was the truth because I did not see Deshaun getting this gig even though he took his relationship with Browns fans and lit it on fire again now you could say the Browns fans brought it back up themselves because they booed him in his home, if you will, debut of the preseason and his first action in the stadium since he tore up his Achilles when he heard cheers from some in the crowd.

4:53Rich Eisen:You could say Browns fans play a role in it, and they do, and they do, but we want, or at least franchises want, their quarterbacks to be the professionals and adults in the room. And three things about Deshaun Watson are certain. Three, about his 2026 season. One, he's the starting quarterback. Two, he and his relationship with the Browns fans are in shambles. And three is whatever he says he has done to turn pages in his life. There is one page he has yet to turn. And that is the way he felt hearing cheers from some, not everybody in Cleveland when he was down on the turf tearing up his Achilles.

5:55Rich Eisen:And that was apparent after Saturday's preseason game against the Bills in which he came on in the second half and looked terrible to be straight up. And this is his reaction when he was asked about how he felt to hear the boos.

6:11Marcus Spears:Man, I didn't have no reaction. I think the biggest thing is I think you guys know too, and I think the whole world knows, it has nothing to do about the performance. It's a little bit personal than that. So I think that's a disrespectful thing. So, yeah, I mean, I'm going to keep whatever I feel with me and my family internally on how I feel about that. And, yeah, just move on. Last time I played on this field, I tore my Achilles. And that same fan base, they cheered when I got hurt. So does that have to do with anything about performance? when a person get hurt, especially for your own city, and they cheer.

6:59Rich Eisen:First things first, he's not wrong. It's terrible. It's not right. Fans who cheer, players who get hurt, regardless of how you feel about them. So sure, he could sit there and say it is personal. The personal comes from the fact that the professional just wasn't there on the field. Hasn't been. your best ability is availability 19 I mean the numbers speak for themselves 19 starts 3365 yards 19 touchdowns 12 interceptions three rushing touchdowns for a guy who in his three stellar years in Houston um 3365 yards the aggregate of his three years in Cleveland would have been 300 yards fewer than his worst single season number of yards 2019 as a matter of fact he had 3 ,852 he topped 4 ,000 yards in the season before and after it absolutely is performance-based and that's part of the problem as well difficult for Browns fans to swallow is for him to basically say this is all personal it has nothing to do with what I'm putting out on the field which in its subtext in the underpinnings of that opinion.

8:19Rich Eisen:It sounds like he just won't be held accountable, or hold himself accountable for his actions, which is the fault line with Deshaun Watson. Because if that's something that he hasn't reconciled with, then that's another bright, shiny red light. But at the end of the day, when you're down on the ground and your Achilles is torn and you're hearing people cheer you, it's tough to get past. Clearly, he's not through it. And he knows, at the time, if he's the starter, what's the phrase he used? 17 road games? 17 away games.

9:06Marcus Spears:Quarterback job is tough enough. Can you defeat the negativity? I don't know.

9:11Rich Eisen:I don't know.

9:12Marcus Spears:It's a mental battle every day. I feel like I get more love on road games than I do home games. If it is my spot and he does make me the name, maybe it's 17 away games then.

9:25Rich Eisen:I don't know. It's not great for him to just come out and say it like that. It's just not great. It's not great. Those are things that even if he feels it,

9:39Rich Eisen:I know he's a human and he's got rights to emotions, but I would have counseled against him saying something like that into a microphone. Browns fans are incensed. They're livid. Todd Munkin basically gave Deshaun the answers to the test after he stepped to the podium and had been informed what Watson had to say.

10:01Marcus Spears:I am proud, again, like I said, of the way he's worked to get where he's at, and that's part of it, right? I know you asked him, like, hey, how does it feel to get booed? I mean, it's a pretty easy question. It sucks. I don't want to get booed. It comes with the territory. You don't want to get booed? Let's play good football. Let's play good at quarterback. Let's play good on offense. Let's play good as a team. And then you don't have to worry about all that because it can turn just like that. Win, play good football, and everybody will be fine. That's just part of it. That's why I told him, you good?

10:38Marcus Spears:We're good. Part of what we do.

10:42Rich Eisen:It's the full Hyman Roth. This is the business we've chosen. It sure is. This is the business we've chosen. Fans are out of their skulls. Not every Browns fan was cheering on the ground. But you've just painted the entire thing by the broad brush. And then another thing I would say is, did you look up in the stands in the second half? the place had about a handful of thousands in it and you're going to paint the entire Browns fan base with that brush

11:17Rich Eisen:those people who are going to come to hopefully cheer you I mean that's the answer to the test right there and Watson is fortunate that Munkin's his coach or that the management of the Browns are like, you know, we know we're going to piss off the fans, but he's still a starter. And Munkin was given that sort of heads up. You know how you do that with friends or loved ones? Hey, I'm kind of giving you this heads up that something's coming you're not going to be happy with. He seeded the ground the next day when he said this about his decision that was coming.

11:56Marcus Spears:I'm not going to let one half of football, one frustrating moment dictate what our decision is going to be that we think is in the best interest of the Browns moving forward, and especially week one.

12:14Rich Eisen:And then in terms of how he's reconciled this, this is what he had to say as well about his decision that was coming about Watson working hard and everything like that. He basically talked about the guy that he's seen has been working hard to get back to compete. And then added this.

12:41Marcus Spears:I've been really pleased with how he's worked, how he's approached every day. And listen, we didn't play well enough collectively. And I'm sure that was frustrating for him. And it was for us as well. But like I said, we control that. We control that with how we coach, how we play. And I mean, none of us like to be booed. We all like to be appreciated. I think that's just human, okay? I think he emptied his heart a little bit.

13:13Rich Eisen:And I don't think that says who he is. I see the competitor in him.

13:17Marcus Spears:I see the everyday work he puts in. and he wants to be back. He wants to get back to where he was as best he can. And that's hard. And, you know, again, I think the moment just got him after the game and it can get all of us.

13:35Rich Eisen:It can get all of us. And hopefully he has emptied his heart and can turn the page. I don't know if Browns fans are going to. that said that said there's a reason why Todd Monk and listen we have a quarterback controversies and we have quarterback competitions all the time where A, quarterback one you get one start in preseason A, quarterback two you get the other start in preseason so I'll go ahead and weigh this against that we see that all the time there's a reason why Deshaun Watson got start one and Shador got start two And it's not because the thumb was on the scale for Watson. It's because start one was on the road.

14:23Rich Eisen:Start two was at home. And the thumb maybe being on the scale for Watson was start two at home. Guess what we're going to do? We're going to put you on the second half. You're going to go against the twos and the threes. And you're going to look great. And you're not going to hear boos. And we're going to get ready for the season together. We're going to get this out of the way. We're going to turn the page. And that's what coaches want to do. They want to coach you up and you're page turning. You're page turning. Unfortunately, though, Watson looked like hot garbage. And the team did too. So the thousands of fans that were there booed him again.

14:58Rich Eisen:And all of that old stuff got dredged up. And we found out it's going to be tough to turn this page. And Todd Munkin can sit there and say as well he should. Because this is what coaches do. They control the controllables. You can control what you can control. And as he said, it's all about what we do is coaching just to get things better. Because if you play better, you don't hear booze and people make you feel welcome. And if that's something that you need as part of your professional career, then we're going to set you up for success for that, which is what they tried to do in the preseason.

15:33Rich Eisen:And guess what? Didn't work out. But it's just the preseason. and many coaches have gone into a season saying, I got this, I'm controlling it, and then they find out, as I'm sure Munkin knows, the National Football League in many ways is uncontrollable. Can't control fans, can't control circumstances, the way the ball bounces, things of that nature. All of it. I get it. But Munkin also knows the first two games of the Cleveland Browns regular season schedule are guess where? On the road. They're at Jacksonville and at Tampa. They have, if you will, a Florida primary before the general. Okay? And I don't know.

16:25Rich Eisen:Problem is, is the Jacksonville Jaguars won their division last year, and the Buccaneers are a team with a chip on their shoulder, and they would love to just tell everybody we're here too. And Baker Mayfield would love nothing more than to send Deshaun Watson and the Browns home 0-2 and stir that thing straight up and plant the flag on the Browns organization and screw them up so royally that they send Watson home off of a multiple interception, dreadful, awful quarterback rating performance. Reuben Bain looks like his short arms ain't a problem, right? And Baker would love nothing more than to serve that up and send the Browns home for Watson's first home start in the regular season since the day he can't turn the page from, which he has now fully admitted to the point where he just didn't care that everybody knows what he thinks.

17:30Rich Eisen:That's a problem. but it's there or the Browns show everybody we're young we're good we got the coach who clearly is in tune with what the problem is and is doing his best to dial things appropriately for success he gets it he knows it again he put Watson and start one on the road he put Watson in his second appearance at home in the easiest possible circumstances and it didn't look good he knows it and he knows going to Watson first and turning into Shadour is something Shadour can handle and Watson can only handle so he's doing it even though the Browns fan base is like what are we doing that's the truth that's the situation I didn't see all of this playing out between hearing Watson's the guy he'll be named the guy and the day Watson is officially the guy he's been name the guy i didn't see that in between browns fans did and are basically saying how did our front office with all the ivy league um diplomas on the wall not see it and how are they with everybody in town no doubt calling into the radio shows and if people write letters to the editor anymore how livid they are about it wow welcome to your first head coaching gig todd munkin seriously and the browns make it official as always with a social media post that's the way things work in this day and age what do you think 844-204-RICH number to dial we've got a 49ers four downs we've got four yes we are four wide today albert breer top of hour two to talk about it we've also got wyndham clark in hour three as red hot a professional player as there is on a tour any tour anywhere on earth and the reason why is because he watched me win skins money in a tournament back in may that's absolutely it i will not rest until i get him to admit it later on you inspired him and sam murrell nixon five sam murrell will be joining us the very funny comedian hour three and you throughout 844-204-rich number to dole marcus spears though is next on the rich eisen show the rich eisen show podcast

20:06Rich Eisen:rich eisen here running a small business means every hire matters a bad hire costs time and money, but the right one helps your business grow. The challenge? Finding that person without sorting through resumes. That's where LinkedIn Hiring Pro comes in. It screens candidates so you can focus on conversations with qualified talent. With Hiring Pro, you can hire with confidence and build the team you need. Join the 2.7 million small businesses using LinkedIn to hire. Get started by posting your job for free at linkedin.com slash eisen. Terms and conditions apply. Rich Eisen here with some advice.

20:39Rich Eisen:If high interest credit card debt is grinding you down, it might be time to call an audible with a SoFi personal loan. It consolidates your debt into one low monthly payment with no fees required. And with as soon as the same day funding, you can make the right play fast. Call an audible on your debt today at SoFi.com slash debt play. Loans originated by SoFi Bank N.A. Member FDIC. Terms and conditions apply. N.M. L.S. 696891. Fast funds. Terms apply at SoFi.com slash debt play. Rich Eisen here. We talk a lot about battles in sports. Teams battling through adversity. athletes fighting for every yard.

21:13Rich Eisen:The toughest warriors I've ever seen, though, aren't on the field. They're kids fighting cancer. They're families standing beside them. Doctors, nurses, caregivers. That's why I'm proud to support Hyundai Hope on Wheels. For over 28 years, they've helped fund pediatric cancer research, raising more than$303 million and supporting over 40 ,000 children. Learn more and donate at HyundaiUSA.com backslash hope on wheels. here on the rich ozen show overreaction monday is already in the books uh chris brockman and i recorded it before uh everything uh has been going down right here on our program uh 844-204-rich being that number to dial right here on the program sam morel is going to come here in our number three of our program and we'll you know we'll chop up what's going down with i don't know if he's a Jet or a Giant fan.

22:03Rich Eisen:Hey, by the way, hey, Jet fans, let's hit this before Marcus Spears joins us. Hey. Got a quarterback. All right. Hey, for one preseason set of snaps in Pittsburgh, PA. Geno Smith back in the Jet Green. The football DeLorean. By the way, maybe write that down for a fantasy team name. Jet DeLorean? No, the football DeLorean. Oh, football DeLorean. You know, the football DeLorean. There he goes, setting the time back to whenever he had good times for the Jets, whenever the hell that was. When people were writing him off, and then he began to not write back. Right up until the time he got punched in the face.

22:45Rich Eisen:Hey, man, don't bring up IK NMPOLY to me when I'm feeling good about Geno Smith. I hate this team. Don't say, hey, Dodger fan, leaving the Yankees behind. You're not allowed to start ripping on the Jets when I'm feeling good about them. I've always ripped. Don't bring me down. Don't bring me down. I'm a child. I don't know. All right. I'll go there. Geno shows up like the Seattle Geno. Okay. Right. Brees Hall shows up like first, second year Brees Hall before he blew out his name. Right. Braylon Allen shows up like the guy from preseason week one who just finds a crease and he takes it to the house.

23:28Rich Eisen:Garrett Wilson shows up like offensive rookie of the year, Garrett Wilson. A.D. Mitchell shows up like A.D. Mitchell does in every game that he didn't fumble purposely or accidentally right before the goal line.

23:44Rich Eisen:Omar Cooper shows up like the kid at the end of the Penn State game when Fernando Mendoza, Mendoza mania. Running wild. You know, first really hit Indiana, right? I ain't like that game. All right. Hold on. I'm not done yet. Mason Taylor shows up like, you know,

24:00Rich Eisen:Brian Kelly going for it, right? On fourth down. Oh, there you go. Right? Went in a big-time football game. Way back when he was promising recruits numbers, he took away from them once they showed up. Is this thing on? Kenyon Sadiq shows up like the kid, the freak, the freak. Hey, the defense for the Jets shows up like they did in preseason week number two in Pittsburgh. They had not one, but two. I said two interceptions. Actual interceptions. As in, one team throws the ball at the Jets defense and the Jets defense catches it and takes it away. We talking play-offs or what? I don't know, man.

24:48Rich Eisen:But here we go. I'm giving you roadmaps. make a Fitzpatrick, right? Demario Davis, real solid, long-standing veterans, at least in Davis' case. Let's protect them. Let's stay healthy. Jets are a high-registered team. Nothing bad. Just throwing it all out there. Marcus Spears back here on the Rich Eisen Show. How are you, Marcus? Good to see you. What's up? What's up, Rich? Good to see you, man. What's going on in the Browns locker room right now? Give me your best guess. What's happening right now?