Episode artwork for Episode 337 — The Browns QB Decision Nobody Wanted to Make

Episode 337

Episode 337 — The Browns QB Decision Nobody Wanted to Make

August 25, 2026 · 1:17:07

0:001:17:07

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Naming Deshaun Watson the Browns starter over Shedeur Sanders isn't a vote of confidence. It's Cleveland running out the only calculated move it had left, and the real story was never the quarterback competition. It's the $86.2M dead-cap monster of a contract that made this outcome inevitable, plus the $200M guarantee ticking toward vesting in March 2027.

From there: 49ers owner Jed York getting arrested at a trailer park over $140 while worth half a billion, Jon Gruden's rehabilitated return to the ESPN booth while suing the league for $150M, and why NIL was never the villain. College football just finally stopped pretending it wasn't already a business.

The takes

  • Starting Watson isn't Todd Monken's preference, it's forced. His "let's play good at quarterback" non-answer to getting booed is the tell. He doesn't want Watson out there, he just doesn't have another option up to snuff.
  • Orlovsky's boycott suggestion is an empty-calories take. There's no scenario where Browns fans skip games, because fandom is a mental illness.
  • Shedeur is an average QB at this level. Not a Pro Bowler, not a Hall of Famer. Closer to a bootleg Drew Brees than a franchise arm.
  • The plan is to ride Watson as the sacrificial lamb through his Week 10 revenge game in Houston, then hand the job to Shedeur coming out of the Week 11 bye.
  • The contract is the whole story: $230M fully guaranteed, more than Mahomes got, and a 2027 dead-cap hit that would be the largest in NFL history.
  • Jed York got popped for $140 while worth $500M, and the story broke in under 48 hours. The Kyle Shanahan car accident took two weeks to surface. Ask why.
  • Jon Gruden is doing rave reviews in the ESPN booth while pursuing a $150M lawsuit against the NFL and Roger Goodell. Active litigation and an active broadcast job, same league, same time.
  • NIL isn't the villain. College football has never been about amateurism in my lifetime. The old system exploited predominantly Black players while coaches made millions.

Jump to

Full transcript 10,530 words

El primero de mayo. For all content, audio, and visual, hit up thesamd.com. For the visual component of this podcast and my other sports and sports media thoughts and opinions, check out the At The Sam D YouTube channel. Subscribe link is in the description. For all my thoughts on all things tech, holla at the At Shill Free Tech YouTube channel. Link is also in the description. Musical production done by May 1st Music.

Support him at SoundCloud.com slash May 1st Music. What if I gave you $500 million? What if I gave your valuation $500 million? All of a sudden, you go to sleep, I'm your genie in a bottle, pause, and you wake up the next morning and I grant you the wish. You don't even have to tell me. I grant you the wish of your net worth. It's million dollars.

Well in the second segment we will talk about what an NFL owner decided to do with that 500 million dollars and how cheap he was. That's the second segment. What we're going to lead off with is the nastiest of nasty men giving back his starting job or winning the starting job from Shador Sanders because it is your man's Shador. Let's go ahead and tap in. You already know what it is. But before we get into the minutia of, oh, should he start and all that stuff? Let's peek at what the hot takers, the blue check boys and girls have been saying in regards to whether or not the Sean Watson should be the starter over Shador Sanders.

So we will tap into the screen. Let's go ahead and start that. We always start with the four letter network. Darren Orlowski after the Browns named Deshaun Watson their starting quarterback. Browns fans should not go to games. Now that sounds strong. That sounds like a good take.

That sounds like a take that should go viral. But it's an asinine take. It's an absolutely ridiculous take. It's a stupid take because there is no scene. There is no scenario I could present for Cleveland Browns fans where they actually boycott the stadium. that they boycott the games and boycott the Browns. There is no such scenario I can paint where the fans would actually do that.

So for Dan Olovsky, this is an empty comment. It's an empty take because there's no scenario. It's just I'm going to say the loudest, strongest thing because that's what's going to get me clicks and engagement. But this means absolutely nothing. This is the equivalent of empty calories. It's an empty calories take to jump out there and say, all the Browns fans should not go to games. Doesn't Dan Olavsky know that the NFL now owns 10% of the company he works for?

Is Dan Olavsky not aware of that? Of course he's aware of that, but he knows that there's no way in hell, there's not a snowball's chance in hell where Browns fans would actually not go to games. I would be impressed if Browns fans actually decided to heed the take of Dan Orlovsky and decide, you know what, he's right. Let's boycott. Let's sit that out. Let's let Jimmy Haslam and that ownership group know that we have had enough. Even though Browns fans were riding for Nasty Man when they first got him.

So much so that they had massage tables with mannequins on it celebrating the arrival of Deshaun Watson. Now because he has stunk up the joint and has been injured, battered and broken ever since he's become a Cleveland Brown. Now they're booing him off the field and he has to call them out by name after yet another disappointing preseason performance against the Bills over the weekend. So all of that was happening. All of that was right there. But there is no way in hell that this would happen. I would be pleasantly surprised by humanity if Browns fans actually followed Dan Orlovsky's take and decided to boycott games.

But fans are fans for a reason. And fan, if you know me and my content, fandom is a mental illness. fan is short for a fanatic. Fanatics is a mental illness. Fanaticism is a mental illness. Therefore, there is no way that Cleveland Browns fans will boycott Browns games. No matter what Deshaun Watson has done in the past or how bad he has played ever since coming back.

This is what you're stuck with. You're stuck with Nasty Man. So this is an empty calories take. We let him get it off. this right here is more poignant right Bill Barnwell respected NFL voice Deshaun Watson going 5 of 12 for 36 yards with a pick against the Bills backups and then criticizing the fans for booing him was apparently enough of a late push to win him the Browns QB job now that's all meant to be tongue-in-cheek, but that is the reality. And when can we have the conversation about Shador? If Shador can't beat Deshaun Watson after going 5 of 12 for 36 yards with a pick against the Bills backups, what other scenario does there need to be in place for Shador to win that job?

I genuinely ask you that. I'm putting it out there to the floor because to me, I have my thoughts about Shador. I am not that high on Shador as a quarterback. I know that is blasphemous for someone that is melanated to say publicly, but I am of the belief that Shador is not that good of a starting quarterback in this league at this level at this current time. So while Todd Munkin's going to get destroyed for starting Deshaun Watson, it's actually the only move he has to play. It's the only move he has to make. Deshaun Watson went out there and destroyed the fan base after getting booed and they still named him the starter.

Deshaun Watson is making all the guaranteed money in the world. And they have not one but two quarterbacks that they could potentially use to usurp him. And they still won't do it. Deshaun Watson has gone out there and has been piss poor since he's come back off suspension. And they still can't find a way to bench him. That has less to do with the diminishing ability of Deshaun Watson. And more, the fact that Gabriel, we know, is a train wreck.

But Shador is not it either. So then if you're Todd Monken, what do you do? If you know, well, Gabriel is not even a factor, right? Gabriel is not even a factor. Shador is the name. Pedigree, the allure of Dion, all of it. We understand.

He is a average QB at this level, in my opinion. Average QB. Nothing special. He's not going to be a pro bowler. He's not going to be a Hall of Famer. He's not going to be first team all pro. He's not going to be any of that.

He can be a serviceable starter at this level from what I have seen. I could be wrong, but that's where I'm standing 10 toes as of right now. Is that better than Deshaun Watson right now? Sadly, the answer is no, that's not better than Deshaun Watson right now because Deshaun Watson at his peak, we know what that looks like. And while we can also agree Deshaun Watson is no longer at his peak, the remaining diminished assets and ability of Deshaun Watson is still somehow better than young up-and-coming Shador Sanders, and that's the cross to bear. That's the thing no one wants to actually talk about because as much as we just want to say, well, put Shador in there, and what are you expecting from Shador exactly? yes we could just go to the backup every team every fan base loves the backup when they're not high on the QB1 but what exactly are you expecting from Shadour once he goes out there because as bad as Deshaun has looked it's not like Shadour has been killing shit either he looked just like he looked in Colorado not that great of an arm accurate somewhat mobile Not as mobile as you would think with the melanin in the pedigree, but mobile enough, decent enough arm, really good accuracy.

Like what if he's a bootleg Drew Brees? What if he's a bootleg Gardner Minshew? What if he's of that level? But that's the ceiling. Are you really willing to hand the keys to that instead of nasty man? As nasty as he is, and funny enough, he's not even the nastiest man in the NFL as of right now. Because Jed York, we'll get there, Jed York was out here big wowing in Ohio.

But with Deshaun Watson right now, if you're telling me he's not the best option, go to Shador, great. You don't have Miles Garrett. That roster is not the most deep. You're not expected to win a lot of games. Now you want to add in Shador in the mix. That's what you really want to do with a first time head coach. You just gave away your franchise within the Miles Garrett trade because the owner was too cheap.

Now you're stuck with what's left an albatross of a roster. And now you want to compound that with Shador, who I feel is not ready. And even if he was ready, the ceiling is very low in terms of how high he could be at this level. So what is the expectation supposed to be for Shador, even if he was given the job? Even if he was lights out on fire throughout the entire preseason cooking up, would that actually have been enough? Once you add in the contract, once you add in the cap hit, once you add in the fact that if you're trying to actually give the appearance like you're trying to win, you have to start Deshaun Watson. The minute you throw Shador out there, there's no plan B.

Todd Munkin's not stupid. You throw Watson out there and once he continues to stink it up like we all are confident that he will do. Then it will become week three, week four. He's gone back to the bench and now it's Shador. And now you can officially wipe your hands of the Deshaun Watson experience in Cleveland. But you can't have Shador go out there week one and give him a little bit of a leash. Have him stink up the joint.

Then you go to Deshaun Watson. Deshaun Watson ain't no better. There's no move. There's no move. This is calculated. as much as Browns fans are going to be yelling and screaming from the mountaintops, as much as the blue check boys and girls are going to be screaming from the mountaintops, this was the only move for the Cleveland Browns. Because if you start Shador, and he stinks or he struggles mightily, and the enthusiasm for Shador wears off, no one's doing this anymore.

They go one in four, one in five, two in six, and he's struggling. Ain't nobody going to be doing this in the stands. So once that happens and the only thing you got left is Nasty Man, that's horrible optics. So you put Nasty Man out there as the sacrificial lamb. Let him get beat up behind a battle offensive line. Let him continue to be inept, continue to be erratic, continue to show a new alarm. Then once it's obvious to everyone.

Then you hand the keys to Shador. Then at that point, it don't matter. The season's a win because you have exercised the last remnants of Deshaun Watson. Nasty man will no longer exist. So this was not a play just off of, well, Deshaun Watson outplayed Shador Sinners. No, this is the only move Todd Munkin in that brain trust had. Andrew Barry knows he ain't stupid either.

There's a reason why he drafted not one but two rookies a year ago. We got to get this thing going. This dude ain't it. We got to figure it out. We'll see if we can roll the dice here on Gabriel. We'll spin the block and roll the dice even more so on Shador. We got to figure something out.

so here we are when we talk about this contract at SpotTrack cutting Deshaun Watson right now cripples the Browns with a 86.2 million dollar dead cap hit for 2027 the largest cap hit in NFL history was Tua just last year at 55.4 million. That's over 31 more million in dead cap money. And you thought Shador was going to start week one? On what planet with this type of money sitting in the dead cap would you expect Shador to start over nasty man Deshaun Watson? There is none. Sorry. That's the game.

The game is the game. This is the business. We'll hit the chat. I see Steph and Patrick Heavy in the chat. Stefani went 0-16 in 2017 and fans still showed up to that stadium. And yeah it could be 0-17 and when the players bend over and say ah again it could be 0-18 and they still going to be in that arena. They'll do the thing of having, you know, the paper bags over their heads and all that stuff.

They'll do that, but they still going to be there. Now, will it be cut to capacity? No, it won't be the capacity, but fans will definitely still be there. It is a complete empty calorie take for Erlovsky to even suggest so. Patrick, local media has said a lot about Shador. Amen. And if you're watching him play, and I know there's a segment of our culture to where we want to see Shador win.

We want to see Shador do well because of the obvious, collusion's a strong word, but of the obvious attempt to try to limit and decrease his draft stock, right? It was obvious. League-wide, obvious. including the Browns. League-wide. Right? Obvious.

And people have an affinity for his father. And because of that, we have an affinity for Shador. But we have to be honest. If Shador can't outplay a diminishing asset like Deshaun Watson, then yeah, he can't be QB1. As long as Deshaun Watson is upright and not injured, he's still better right now, August 24, 2026 than Shador Sanders. And that's a bitter pill to swallow if you're the Cleveland Browns, but it's the only play. Stefan, the belief since February that the Sean was always going to be the starter.

He's finally healthy, whatever that means. I mean, that that's kind of the thing. Like if, if you're trying to make a case for Shador, it would have to be in light of an injury. That's the only way you could justify starting him over. over Nasty Man. It's the only way because he's not going to outplay him. He's not.

Yeah, big facts. Soft launch and Deshaun, it's a thing. Yeah, that bread man, 86.2. Dead cap hit. Andrew Barry ain't trying to take that on, bro. Andrew Barry is not to take that on bro. And if we really want to get into it, they got rid of Miles Garrett.

Or let me take away the they. Let's be direct. The owner, Jimmy Haslam, wanted nothing more to do with Miles Garrett and his salary. He wanted him gone. Arguably the best defensive player and you could even say the best player in the sport. he no longer wanted to pay him. What makes you think he's going to cut Deshaun Watson and still eat that 86.2 on the debt cap?

He don't even want to pay Miles Garrett. Crazy times will end, man. Crazy times will end. It is absolutely crazy what is going on with this Deshaun Watson thing, because as much as you want to destroy him, he's a diminished asset. He's not the guy he used to be. He's not the guy that as a young and stare down Bill Belichick as a rookie and slice him up. I think three touchdowns went toe to toe with Brady.

Like, so Deshaun Watson was supposed to be him. Deshaun Watson had the pedigree to be him. Deshaun Watson had the resume to be him. I'll never forget Dabo out here saying you got to take Deshaun Watson because he's going to be the Michael Jordan of the NFL. That's a thing Dabo said. Nasty man was going to be the Michael Jordan of the NFL. Never forget.

Hashtag never forget. If you're enjoying the stream, go ahead and hit that like button if you haven't already. If you have not subscribed to the channel already, go ahead and do so. If you want to communicate in the chat, you must be a subscriber to do so. So if you want to tap in, if you want to be in the mix, and you want to be a part of everything that we're going on, we got Patrick in the chat, we got Stefan in the chat, and we're going back and forth. If they're active in the conversation here, you want to be a part of that, you have to be a subscriber. Whether this is on YouTube shorts or on traditional YouTube and on Twitch, you can tap in as well.

So we have all the things set up for anyone who wants to be able to participate. So I'm going to go over here to this tweet from Mina Kimes because I am a big Mina Kimes fan. But this is kind of the summary of how people feel, right? Everyone is correctly pointing out he's no longer good and he hasn't been for years. But also imagine being a fan who actually opposed the choice back in 2022 for moral reasons and waking up to this for years and it isn't over. And while that is correct, it has a very Orlowski esque take because it's looking at the fans, the fans, the fans, the fans. And yes, there were some fans who were strident against them trading and then signing Deshaun Watson.

The problem is that those voices were not as loud as the ones that were in support of Deshaun Watson, that were just happy to have the perception of we've got a quarterback now. And that is the continued overvaluation of the QB position. Because a fan base that is desperate for a winner looked at a reformed pedo. Well, not a pedo. Let me not go there. Looking at a reformed sexual harasser, assaulter, whatever you want to call it. Damn near triple digits accusations.

They kept finding women. OK, they kept finding more masseuses. OK. They welcomed this guy in just because of how the allure of having a great QB or the perceived notion of having a great QB can rejuvenate your fan base. They were willing to look past all that. Guys that would call themselves girl dads were willing to look past all the transgressions nasty men has against women just so he could be a great QB for their favorite football team. And you wonder why I say fandom is a mental illness.

the most interesting part of this is that I don't think Todd Munkin wants to start Deshaun Watson. The problem is he has no choice. Like we discussed earlier, this is the only play because how do you say all of this about your quarterback? And then announce him as the starter the next day. Munkin was asked, how does it feel to get basically talking about the whole thing with Deshaun Watson, right? So, quote, how does it feel to get booed? It sucks.

I don't want to get booed, but it comes with the territory. You don't want to get booed. Now, so far, it's very generic, very simple. Let's play good football. Very generic, very simple. Let's play good at quarterback. There's the shot.

There's the shot from Todd Munkin to nasty man Deshaun Watson. The problem is Todd Munkin had no choice but to still go ahead and announce that nasty man Deshaun Watson was QB1 week one. And therein lies the rub. Todd Munkin, in his heart of hearts, does not want to start Deshaun Watson. But because Shador Sanders and others on this roster in that QB room are not up the snuff, he is stuck with starting Nasty Man. Now, Watson came out after, you know, throwing shade at the fans after getting booed. He apologized, and I wonder if that was a condition on him starting.

Hey, we don't have to name you QB1, but if you really want QB1, you can't be calling out the fans like that. So if you apologize, we'll go ahead. Even though they know in the back of their minds, hey, man, we got no leverage here. We got to start this man regardless, but we don't got to let him know that. So, hey, you dangle that carrot up. You want to be QB1? You want to be QB1?

You got to apologize to the fans. It's not a good look. We want to start you, but now after the shit you pulled, we can choose not to start you. We can let Shador get week one and then navigate it after that. But you can't be tearing down the fans. So you dangle that carrot of starting over a nasty man's head to make him apologize. Quote, I thought I was going to get a little different response, but I think my emotions got the best of me.

You don't say in somehow some way that's probably not the first time that has happened. Actually, we have evidence that that's definitely not the first time that that has happened. We almost have triple digit reasons, triple digit examples of that being the case. So Nasty Man is out here making sure that he does the thing to make himself be remorseful to the fans, that maybe he can carry some of their favor back. Maybe he can win some of their favor back if he performs well in week one. But this is going to be interesting to see how long they drag this out because we can all agree, like Stefan and Patrick have been talking about in the chat, we all know this is just a bridge situation. Now, it's going to be a shitty bridge once Shador gets it, because I'm not that high on Shador, but it's a bridge nonetheless.

Deshaun Watson, we know he's no longer the guy that he is. So that's a wrap. Now it's just a matter of, OK, how long do you let him cook? How bad does he have to be to hand the keys over? I'm going to go ahead and get rid of that. Oh yeah, that's not going to show up. We're not putting that up on the screen.

Okay. So, if we have this, right? Let's see if we can find, actually. Let's go ahead and find the schedule for the Browns. there we go clevelandbrowns.com week one Okay, let's go ahead and go here. All right. So Jacksonville, at Jacksonville on the road, would Shador be better than Deshaun Watson walking in in Jacksonville?

Probably not because you're going to have to put up points. And Todd Munkin correctly pointed that out in his justification for starting Watson. He was like, look, games on the road, we got to score points. and even in the brief flashes that Shador gave us last year, he wasn't moving that offense up and down the field a lot. Now granted, new system, new coach, new whatever, fine. I'll fall back a little bit, but Shador is not going to go out here and light teams up three, 400 yards, 400 yards passing. That's not going to happen, right?

So Jacksonville, is Jacksonville a spot you trust against Shador Sanders? To me, the answer is no. Is at Tampa a place you would allow Shador to get his feet wet? To me, that answer is a no. So that's now the first two weeks you don't want to see Shador out there. Carolina. Carolina is supposed to be a lot better this year.

Bryce Young, the whole thing, I'm not putting Shador Sanders out there against Carolina either. Then you have Pittsburgh. So you make nasty man the sacrificial lamb for the first month of the season. At Jacksonville, at Tampa, home Carolina, home Pittsburgh, but then you got the Jets. Could that be a scenario where Shador is actually ready? Could Shador Sanders be ready by October 11th at MetLife? Because if you don't start him here, you're not starting him against the Ravens.

You're not doing that. Dad is definitely leading a lamb to the slaughter. So you're not doing that. Will you do it against Tennessee? Week seven? So you're giving nasty man six weeks. Six weeks to show you something.

Because if not, there might be a little period here where the schedule softens up. This three-week window. At Tennessee, at Pittsburgh, and at North. See, this is all road games, man. That's a lot. That's asking a lot of Shador. Do you hand the keys over to Shador with three road games?

Now, these aren't the most difficult road games, but the Browns are a dumpster fire. They're a poverty franchise, so I'm not sure about it from that standpoint. But in terms of at Tennessee, at Pittsburgh, at New Orleans, I don't know if you're going to find an easier three-game stretch to let Shador get in there and find his rhythm. So if the options are, I'll put it to you here in the chat. Where are you starting, Shador? Tough first month in terms of matchups. You got the week five spot against the Jets, who we all know is not going to be a good team.

but then that gets compounded because you then face the Ravens the week after that. Now you could just say you know he's going to take you know you're going to take an L anyway so start him against the Jets let him get his feet wet you deal with the Ravens you take that L but then after that the three straight road games after two weeks of being QB1 Shador might be in a better spot to hold it down the next three weeks, all road games. But then you got the Houston Texans after that. Then you get the bye week. So out the bye week, can Nasty Man survive to week 11? Coming out the bye, you got the Raiders, Bengals, Falcons. All those games are at home.

This is probably the week. if Nasty Man is still upright and then he plays his former team, Houston Texans, oh, this is the play. This is the play. Y'all see this? This is the play. Okay. You let Nasty Man.

Okay, Todd Munkin, Andrew Berry, y'all ain't slick. Y'all ain't slick. Okay. They gonna let this man, if he can finish upright, injury withstanding, They're going to let this man be the sacrificial lamb until that bye week. They'll let him get his revenge game against the Houston Texans. After that bye week, though, you hand the keys over. You hand the keys to Shador.

Week 11. Thanksgiving, Shador's QB1. Barring injury. Because you come out the bye week and you're facing the Raiders, who we all think will stink. The Bengals, I mean, sure, fine. Falcons, you're not really that sure. Giants, you're not really that sure.

Like there's a good little stretch of three out of the four are home games. So heading into Kwanzaa Eve, there's a scenario where Shador can get the whole bye week to get his feet wet, get a rhythm, QB1, face the Raiders, a winnable game. Bengals, probably not a winnable game, but should be able to put some points up on that defense. That defense is not that improved. Falcons might be able to put up points on that defense. That's still up in the air. And then the Giants at MetLife, that could be dicey because of that defensive line.

But despite all that, you should like your chances against the Giants. So a winnable slate of games fresh out the bye week. So you let Nasty Man has his last stand. If he can survive health-wise to week 10, have his moment against the Texans. At that point, you then close the chapter and you move on and hand the keys off to Shador week 11. because at that point it kind of doesn't matter yeah you finish up you get faced the Ravens again get faced the Colts and stuff like that and then you finish off with the Bengals but these games are not going to matter anyway at least not to the Browns but I think the the softest landing spot to do a smooth, easy transition is this week 11 bye week after Nasty Man has his revenge game against the Texans. We'll hit the chat.

Deshaun has only played 19 games for the Brown. How many do you think he'll actually play this year? I mean the O-line is not great, right? So the O-line is not great. I think for the Browns' sake, they will keep putting that man out there no matter what. I don't see a scenario where he's only banged up a little bit and they're not starting him. I think they're going to make sure he's out there playing because they don't want no excuses.

Because again, if the play is to have that man fall on his shield, right? To let him exhaust whatever is left of his ability, then you can't have him being injured. Because that still gives the thought of him life. That still allows that narrative to exist. Even though we all know it's bullshit. Even though we all know that man is washed with a capital dub. It doesn't matter.

If he's still healthy, if he's, let me scratch that. If he's still injured, that will give him hope. You want to exhaust that hope if you're the Browns. you want to put him out there and let him keep crashing and burning to show. Try to tell you, you don't got it. And a few people that are still riding for nasty man. Look at your mans.

You see him? You see him out there? Can't complete the pass. He's missing wide open guys like no, can't do it. Once he's lost all of the last few supporters that are still somehow strangely enough still there then out the door it's a wrap it's a wrap so I think even if he's not healthy I think he's still going to be out there because the Browns need him to be out there if they have to accelerate the plan which I think now is a thing if the plan is Shador QB1 week 11 at the bye week you can't have anything outside of him tearing another ACL or Achilles or whatever, you can't have that mess up the plan. Now, as football injuries are going to happen, and Deshaun Watson, as Stefan has pointed out, has been injury-prone over the last few years, especially as a Brown, you can't have that disrupt the flow if you're the Browns. You're going to try to do everything imaginable to let him keep going out there and keep stinking up the joint so it is, without a shadow of a doubt, no choice, but to hand the keys to Shador.

Chris in the chat. What's good, Chris? I'm sure week 10-ish there will be near elimination from playoffs mathematically. I mean, if they're still around by week 10, that would be amazing. That's a win for Todd Munkin. That's a win for Todd Munkin and Andrew Barry for sure. Like that's that's kind of where we're at here.

Like let's let's look at that contract one one last time. The greatest contract in all of sports outside of Bobby Bonilla. This man was able to get two hundred and thirty million dollars fully guaranteed. There's been some contracts that shake up. An industry, a sport. I don't think there's been no other contract in NFL history, not even the Mahomes 10 for half a billion. Not even that shook up the industry like the nasty man contract shook up the industry.

It was truly a remarkable moment where it was like, not only did a quarterback get fully guaranteed money, Not only did a black quarterback get fully guaranteed money, but a black quarterback who just came off of a crazy accusation filled offseason and injury riddled past is getting fully guaranteed money. That's how desperate the Browns were. When you go back and think about it, it is absolutely insane. That nasty man was able to get that contract. Absolutely insane. Fresh off of not just, we don't know if he's good anymore because he was coming off injuries. But then all those harassment cases.

And he was able to negotiate and have leverage. Leverage enough to get fully guaranteed money. Do you understand how unlikely that was? That of all the QBs, Mahomes couldn't get fully guaranteed. That contract was not 10 years, 500 million, all fully guaranteed. Even though if there was a QB to deserve fully guaranteed money at that point in time, it was Patrick Mahomes. Even he couldn't get fully guaranteed money.

Nasty man was able to get fully guaranteed money. Now, Kirk Cousins under the radar has also been getting, if not fully guaranteed money, like 99.9% fully guaranteed money. but nothing in the scope of 230 million over four years like Nasty Man. Let's go ahead and find that Nasty Man contract. So let's go here. No, we should probably be on this side. Boom.

Okay. So Watson is owed 46 million cash this season. Any way you slice it, there's also a total of 127.1 million in dead cap attached to the deal today. God. So if they were to have tried to cut him prior to today, prior to June 1st. Good Lord, that's such a. And this is the 86 we talked about earlier, the 86 mil, right?

So 127 just in dead cap. So 40 mil is on the cap. 40.9, just say 41 mil is the cap hit right now. And then you get the 86.2 next year. Meanwhile, he's getting 46 million cash, straight cash, homie. So if the Browns were to trade Deshaun Watson, which we know that's not going to happen, no one is going to be doing that, but let's just play the game out. The acquiring team would take on the fully guaranteed 1.3 million base salary for the upcoming season, right?

So that's not that bad, right? If you're the new team, hey, we get nasty man for one point three fully guaranteed. That's great. But then if you're the Browns, what advantage do you get? Because the dead cap is still there. So there's no advantage. It's not even advantage.

It's not even advantageous for the Browns to even trade nasty man. The other team gets all the leverage because you can only pay him 1.3 and then he's unrestricted after that. He's an expiring contract. Next season, it appears based off this article, it appears next season is when things turn slightly into the Browns favor. That's what I'm saying. The whole goal is to get through this season. then they can move on from nasty man and this kind of in this confirms it right the 2027 2028 contract seasons are dummy seasons in that they hold minimum base salaries without any actual void language the browns could technically keep watson on the roster at that 1.3 salary over the next two seasons uh but there's a massive catch if watson is on cleveland's roster on the third league day of 2027, March 13th, a 200 million guarantee for the 2029 season becomes fully vested.

Where's that 200 mil coming from? So he could get, ain't that 400 mil? Okay, let's not jump there. If Watts is on Cleveland's roster on the third league day of 2027, so March 13th is the day. so it's likely Deshaun Watson will never play for Cleveland after this season right now if they let him if they cut him and they void out those last two years they will carry a 36 million dollar cap hit next season which accounts to a dead cap hit of 34.6 and 51.5 the next season. An outright release prior to June 1st would result in a singular 80. So no matter what, that 86.2 is the bread.

The bread is the bread. God damn that contract. And you wonder why they colluded. And you wonder why the NFL owners colluded and tried to blackball and make sure that this type of contract does not become the norm. And my biggest problem is that the quarterbacks that followed, that could have gotten similar deals and had even more leverage than Nasty Man, did not orchestrate deals to this level. Josh Allen had a chance, he didn't do it. Lamar tried to do it.

They blackballed and colluded against him. Calamari could have done it. He didn't do it. Tua could have done it. He didn't do it. Dak has been killing him. He's been killing Jerry.

Every time he's banging Jerry in the head, he won't do it because he's got a good system going where every time it's time to get his bread, he's getting top table money. But all these young NQBs that were able to cash out and get those extensions, they all could have done what Nasty Man did. But none of them did. They all followed Mahomes. They all followed Josh Allen. They all followed Burrow and Herbert and all the rest of them. So now this contract becomes even more of an anomaly because the league has outright made it be known, Whether indirectly or subconsciously, behind the scenes directly, if you believe the T that we got unearthed a couple of seasons ago, they have let it be known.

This contract will be a one off. So, again, despite the injuries, poor play and very little success, Watson will walk away from this contract a very rich man. Top five cash earners over the length of this contract for Deshaun Watson. You're looking at Dak at 226. Nasty man in Lamar. Well, Lamar still has to sign his extension. He has not signed that yet.

So this is all potential. And then you got Mahomes and Josh Allen. And again, Mahomes signed for 500 mil. Does that number look like 500 mil? If it was 10 years, 500 mil. Let me not go there. If you know, you know.

I've talked about it here a lot on this on this YouTube channel. The Patrick Mahomes contract is full of funny money. They've been making some tweaks to it as the years have gone along to make the contract better. But when the contract was originally announced and everyone kept focusing on that 500 million dollar number, the guaranteed money was nowhere near that. Josh Allen, same thing. Let's see the Pat Mahomes one. Let's just go to the contract.

Like see, even right here, eight years, 504 million. This is the latest extension that averages out to 63 million. That's assuming all the money is guaranteed. How much of this 504 million is actually guaranteed? Just under 400 million. Now, is Mahomes good enough to hit all those incentives and cash out to get the maximum value of 522? Sure.

But no matter what, he's only getting 397 million dollars. And when you look at it, this contract is a steal. assuming he comes back and looks like him. Obviously had the injury last year. Assuming he comes back looking like him, you had the best quarterback in the sport at 60 mil. That's a bargain. In the NFL economy today, that's a bargain.

All right, let's see. what else we got here so that's that story right nasty man is the QB1 he is the starter there is a lot going on with that I think the Browns had no choice but to do it I think their hand is forced because Shador is not good enough Gabriel is a train wreck we know about that and the fact is looking at this Brown schedule there's a couple of spots where you can make the transition to Shador but the one that makes the most sense to me, and we'll pull it back up here, is week after week 10 against Houston. You get that bye week, week 11. Then you get the Raiders, you get the Bengals, and the Falcons. You get a three-game homestand to kind of get your bearings if you're Shador. So you have the bye week to get ready, go out there and play the Raiders, who we all know won't be very good. Then you got the Bengals and the Falcons, not the most formidable defenses.

And then you got the Giants on the road. Then you just rock out. At that point, you're just letting them cook. Letting them cook or letting them sink or swim. But that's where we're at. If you guys are good with that story, I would like to transition and pivot to the second nasty man. There's no beating this nasty man, Deshaun Watson.

But you know what? This guy, for other reasons, might be even more nasty than Deshaun Watson. Remember I asked you in the beginning, what if I gave you and you woke up today with $500 million? And you were back home. So imagine you're an NFL owner. You're worth $500 million. The team that you and your family own is worth almost $9 billion.

but what if you're back at the crib back in Ohio you're moving around you're doing some shady things you're maybe hitting the old spots used to hit back in the day maybe you're getting mixed up in the same crowd you used to back before all the bread back before becoming an NFL owner and all that stuff before owners meetings with Godel and chilling with Jerry Jones before all that maybe you're just a dude that like to move a little dirty. Maybe you would do like to move in not the safest of circles. What if I told you you're worth $500 million running an entity that's worth almost $9 billion and you take it back to the crib in your hometown and you allegedly go get a lady of the night for a buck 40 and get caught? You heard me correctly. Jed York, owner of the San Francisco 49ers, was arrested because he was caught in a sting operation to where he was arrested and charged for solicitation off of a website. So he's ordering checks off Backpage, if you know, you know. did some back page type maneuvers and the services he was going for was $140 worth.

This happened at a trailer park. Again, you're worth $500 million. You run a almost $9 billion entity and you're getting it in at a trailer park for $1.40? None of that rang hollow to you? None of that rang a little sus to you? Come on, Jed. Come on, Jed.

I know Bob Kraft. I know you thought, well, if Bob could get away with it, you ain't Bob Kraft, though. You ain't Bob Kraft. Adam Schefter had no problems putting this story right out, which goes right into the Cal Shanahan thing yet again. It took weeks to report a car accident of the head coach. The owner is caught out here at a trailer park trying to get it all for a buck 40 instantaneous tweets and reports. Stephon in the chat.

this is one of my favorite taglines insufficient daddying it's a real thing insufficient daddying and the problem is his daddy wasn't the Bartolos do we want to get into the Bartolos we don't need to get into that today but if you know you know there is some lineage there where yes the daddying was insufficient but that apple does not fall that far from the tree if you know you know type of deal but You are worth $500 million and you're trying to get it off for a buck 40. Come on, man. It can't be that. Jed, it cannot be that. But yet it was. 49ers owner Jed York was arrested by the East Palestine. How the hell did they get that name, by the way?

East Palestine Police Department in Ohio over the weekend and pleaded no contest to two charges. So this is Monday. This happened over the weekend. I will repeat. Kyle Shanahan was in a car accident, a head on collision where he almost lost an eye, suffered multiple broken ribs. And we didn't hear about it for almost two weeks. Yet the owner of the team that pays Kyle Shanahan, he gets busted for trying to get it all for $1.40 even though he's worth $500 million.

And we hear about it in under 48 hours. Make it make sense. York was initially charged with suspicion of engaging in prostitution, but Ohio amended that to a disorderly conduct charge. York was also charged with possession criminal tools. York pleaded no contest to both charges. Five hundred million dollars. And you're trying to get it off at a trailer park.

Has any of y'all watched the show Ray Donovan back in the day? It was on Showtime for a long time and got kind of trashed towards the end. Came out with a movie that was even worse. But there was a run there where Ray Donovan was high level television. Ray Donovan was a fixer. Ray Donovan was a guy that high level people, celebrities, hedge fund guys, people of affluence would use when they were in a jam. When you were in a jam, you were, Jed York needed a Ray Donovan.

I don't know how someone worth $500 million that's running a almost $9 billion entity doesn't have a Ray Donovan. I am absolutely sure that the 49ers have a Ray Donovan because the Kyle Shanahan thing happened where the car accident took weeks to report. So clearly they have a cleaner, a fixer within the organization. where was that fixer for the owner of the damn team we're going to make sure Shanahan's good we're going to cover all that up we're going to blame it on the young woman he got into an accident with and then Shanahan had to clean that up we're going to make sure we get all the stuff we're still waiting on a police report by the way still waiting on a police report for that Shanahan stuff but again they made sure to put the word out that we're not going to report this story we're going to clean everything up that we need to clean up and then we're going to sneak it out there in a story dump on the eve of training camp but yet the owner doesn't have a fixer the owner doesn't have a cleaner the owner doesn't know that there's a certain class of women that are available for people of his affluence he's not aware of that he has not been the owner for that long right but it doesn't take too long to learn the perks of being an NFL owner he's a Nepo baby he's very familiar with what it is to be high and mighty maybe that's why he was in the trailer park he wouldn't have that feeling of what it is to get it out the mud but needless to say there's no way that someone that is worth 500 million dollars doesn't know how to make a call and have an escort pull up. Why were you at a trailer park? Why were you at a trailer park trying to get it off for $1.40? It just doesn't make a lot of sense.

Here's the story. Notice no Schefter on this one. Again, Shanahan is not involved. But if you want a synopsis of Jed York, here it is. And I'll come off the screen so y'all can all read that. Jed York has an estimated personal net worth of 500 million, while his family's combined fortune is valued at approximately eight and a half billion. The family purchased the 49ers in 1977 for 17 million.

The franchise is now valued at over $8 billion. York became the principal owner of the 49ers in March 2024 after acquiring equity from his mother. Again, Nepo baby. This is what we're looking at. How? Why? I think the biggest answer is the why.

Why are you at a trailer park? Why? I mean, because what level of escort are you getting at a trailer park? Is Jed York trying to put us on game? Trailer park bunnies got that fire? Is that what he's trying to get off? To be worth half a billion dollars and taking it to the trailer park to get it in?

I mean, Steph, I wish you were able to jump on cam for you to say it, but that's nasty work, bro. That's nasty work. To be worth half a billion and be out here trying to get it in for $1.40. I just don't understand it. I will never understand it. But you have Nasty Man who was getting it in with masseuses. And let's not forget Justin Tucker.

Justin Tucker was out here running at the same type of motion. Nasty Man's on his way out. He found one last sucker to pay him on the way out. Justin Tucker, who wants and thinks he can still be a competent kicker. No way, he's getting another job. As we move on to another person who should not have a job, but somehow strangely enough does. John Gruden was working this past weekend.

Not only was John Gruden working, but John Gruden was being spotlighted. John Gruden was in the broadcast booth probably the last time he was of any sufficient worth was in a broadcast booth. So he went back to what is considered to be home for him. He might say it's coaching, but I think now at this point in his career, it's the broadcast booth. Rams was in rare form. Rave reviews. Now, I didn't watch this game.

I don't want to watch any highlights of it because John Gruden is a racist, a homophobe, and a sexist. But somehow he was welcomed back into the broadcast booth to do a game. Brenda Song is going viral for doing play-by-play during a Rams game. We've seen Mina Kimes be in the booth doing Seahawks games. That's progressing everything forward. yet somehow we're able to erase all of that with having John Gruden who was caught not in 4K but he was caught on email caught in PDF, SRT, TXT being racist, homophobic and sexist all while being employed by a league partner in the four letter network and now he's able to run it back. He ran over to the barstool and got it popping again.

He ingratiated himself to that side of the content world and that acceptance has allowed him to pivot back damn near right until like he never left. Do you know how maddening that is? And if you have forgotten all the stuff with John Gruden, John Gruden is pursuing a $150 million civil lawsuit against the NFL and Roger Goodell, alleging the league orchestrated a malicious leak of his private emails to destroy his career and force his resignation. That's right. He was still coaching then. Sorry about that. I thought he was in a booth by then.

Leaked with his private emails to destroy his career and force his resignation from the Raiders. And he had one of those Mahomes type contracts too. There's a 10 year deal for like 200 M's. Like he has pending litigation against the league and he's commentating games for the league. What part of the game is that? What part of the game is where John Gruden can have an active lawsuit against the league and still broadcast games in the league? How sway.

This man's going to have a jury trial starting next year. This is active. There's no settlement. There's no settlement. GTBW. If you know what that means, let me know in the chat. GTBW.

Because look at this, rave reviews. Rave reviews and look at your man's Rondé. John Gruden still has his fastball. Should the powers that be ever determine he's employable again? They're trying to talk their way into having him be back in the booth on a more permanent basis. Maybe even coaching again. Just because he ran the barstool and rehabbed his image, he did some telestration breakdowns on TikTok, now he's back in the booth?

Nothing changed. He was making fun of D. Morris Smith's lips and intelligence. He was openly racist, homophobic, and sexist. All right, man. GTBW. Good to be?

All right. What else we got? So we could get into the grifting of Enos Cantor. I almost don't even want to platform it. Just because I don't think that helps. Like it's easy to dunk on Enos Cantor. The problem is that once you start doing content around Enos Cantor, that's exactly what Enos Cantor wants.

Enos Cantor is a nobody. He is a nothing. He is starving for attention. He is a professional grifter. He was a grifter as a basketball player. And he's a grifter now that he is missing the fame of being known as a basketball player. So I'm not going to give the Enos Cantor thing any light because that's exactly what he wants.

Even at the notion of slam dunking on him because it's relatively easy to get a positive takeoff by dunking on Enos Cantor. If you want to run the views up and get some easy clicks and likes and all that, go ahead and do that. But I know what that means. Enos Cantor is on that there's no such thing as bad press wave. Like the man was walking into the arena and fans were pressing him, getting at him. And he loved that shit. Because who the hell even thinks about Enos Cantor?

But again, I don't want to go there because that just puts a spotlight on something that I think. We're not, I would, I want this to be a spot where we could call out the obvious grift. and not promote it. So we're not going to do that. I've decided to not talk about it. All right, so let me close those tabs because I have some tabs ready to get into that, to break that down, but I'm not out here promoting grifts. It's enough that grifts are giving easy spotlights on television every day and on podcasts every day and on live streams every day.

We don't have to contribute to that grift. alright one last thing before we take it to the chat and then wrap up so a lot of people are big mad at Daquan Wright and they're mad at Daquan Wright because he got waived by the Cleveland Browns so a busy day for the Browns they announced a starter nasty man apologizes to the fans and now they have them releasing a tight end and that tight end is going to go spin the block and go back to college and play for LSU. A lot of people are big mad because they feel this bastardizes the sanctity that is college football and college sports overall. The amateur-ness of college football. When was the last time that amateur sports was even a thing in college football. I'll tell you very directly. College football has never been about amateurism in my lifetime.

I am an 80s baby. That is of the time of SMU and Eric Dickerson and the Pony Express. If you know, you know. This sport has never been about amateurism. This sport has never been about tradition and student athletes and all of that stuff. It has always been about, are my guys better than your guys? And I will do all things at all costs to make sure that my guys are better than your guys.

That's what it has always been. And for people to use this moment to say that this proves all the things wrong. No one ever said NIL was a perfect solution. And if they did, they were wrong then. And they certainly have been proven wrong now. What NIL has done, it is that it has allowed the people that were benefiting the least to benefit a little bit more. Because even though players are making money and the media and the coaches are always highlighting the more high profile salaries and contracts and negotiations, it still pales in comparison to what the money these universities and the conferences individually make.

People are getting mad because a player could get five million a year when these conferences are raking in half a billion. Do you understand the hypocrisy there? It's gotten to the point where universities are constantly upgrading their facilities because they have to spend the money. There's so much money coming in that they have to continuously keep spending it because they can't hoard all of it. If they could, they would. You think those fancy ass locker rooms look like that just because they want to? It's because they have to.

Yes, one, from a competition standpoint. But two, because they got to spend that money. So they can claim it as a loss and write it off because they're making so much of it. If they hoarded that money and took it as profit, the tax bill would be insane. So they have to continuously spend. They have to keep upgrading the facilities. That's to keep the economics of the business going.

So while you can shit on NIL, and it is a flawed system, but it's not as flawed as the system that existed before it. The system that existed before it was exploitative of the players. Players, predominantly black players at that, were consistently getting exploited. Coaches making $10 million a year. These players are getting brown paper bag money where it might be a little $50K, might be $100K. Who's more important, that five-star or that coach? Only in a handful of scenarios is the coach more valuable than that five-star.

How has Dabo looked without five-stars? doesn't look as good when he doesn't have Trevor Lawrence and Nasty Man right doesn't look as good doesn't hit the same hardball went back to Michigan got it off ran up the numbers crazy was cheating and I yell doing all the things and then when the when they were starting to turn the heat up he ran back to the NFL ran first thing smoking Out of there. Hey, Sherrod Moore, you're going to take all the males for me, right? Crazy times we're in, yo. NIL is not a great system. There are certainly, do I think college players should be able to go to the NFL and if it doesn't work out in the NFL, go back to college, I'm pro-player, right? More times than not, I am pro-player because I'm always pro-employee as opposed to pro-employer.

I think that's a little much. To go to the NFL, play in the NFL, get cut in the NFL, and then be able to go run back to college. Because at that point, let's just call college what it is, especially college football and basketball. Let's just call it what it is. It's the minor leagues. If that's the case, then yeah, it's the minor leagues. Let's throw out the G League.

Let's throw out the UFL, XFL nonsense. Let's just make it what it is. Your farm system is the SEC. He's not good enough at the NFL level. Okay, send them back down to the SEC. see. If that's the case, I'm more willing to accept it.

But to go to the NFL and get less money, by the way, get less money than he would have gotten who just stayed in college. To go take a short, but play at the highest level. And then it turns out you're allegedly not good enough to play at that level. Yes, you should be able to go back if there's someone willing to offer you a job? Because again, it comes back to these are jobs. The notion of student athlete has never been a thing in my lifetime. So this has always been a job.

If you go and you try to go get another job, so you leave one job for another job. And in that probationary period, that new job says you're not good enough for this job. Why can't you go back to another job? Why can't you go get another job? Why can't you go back to your old job? Why? Why not?

Oh, because you think he's supposed to be a student athlete? Was he ever a student athlete? Some are. Some could go out there and go get a 3.9, a 3.9, a 4.0 and do all the things, cum laude and all that and be able to go out there and be an All-American. That's dope. That's not the norm. That's not the average.

You know what it is. This has been the V-Sandy podcast, a podcast that is talking about sports and sports media in addition to other things. Soon we will be talking those other things. The brand is growing. The brand is evolving. Walk with me. Stay with me.

This podcast is available on all major podcasts and platforms. Don't forget to subscribe and rate. Five stars with a less. Tell a friend. If you're into the visual component, holler at the The Sam D YouTube channel at The Sam D, that's T-H-E-E-S-A-M-D. For all my thoughts on tech, that channel is now up and running and is strong. At shill free tech on YouTube.

Thank you again for listening to this episode. I will catch you again on the next one. I go by the name of The Sam D. This has been The Sam D Podcast. I'm out.

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