What Todd Monken revealed about the Browns QB competition

0:00Hey, everybody welcome to the Orange Brown talk podcast. It's our last day checking in with Mary Kay Cabot from the owner's meeting. We had about 20 minutes with her before she had to get to the airport to catch her flight back to Ohio. So Mary Kay jumped on the pod here with me and updated on everything Todd Monkin had to say about the quarterback situation. We talked about Chador Sanders to Sean Watson, Dylan Gabriel, who Todd Monkin hasn't hasn't met in that competition, you know, why it's important that, you know, she'd always been around and things like that. So we get into all of it over the course of 20 minutes. As I always tell you, find our socials, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, threads, go look for, oh, TikTok, I always forget TikTok, go look for Orange and Brown talk, give us a like a follow whatever it is so that you can follow along with Orange and Brown talk. And also if you want to watch on video, all of our pods go up at Cleveland Browns on cleveland.com on YouTube. Click that little podcast tab and you'll be able to watch all of our pods there. Okay, Orange and Brown talk time.

1:11Welcome to the Orange and Brown talk podcast and lobby and Mary Kay Cabot again with your final owners meetings check in. Of course, Mary Kay is in Phoenix about to leave. So we've got about 20 minutes here to talk about to get caught up on what happened today. Of course, if you missed pods from earlier this week, we reacted to Andrew Barry on Sunday night. Monday night we reacted to what the Haslums had to say. And today was Todd Monkenday, Mary Cal, tell you what, these owners meetings, this is I was thinking this today, you don't often get opportunities like this where it's, you know, you hear from the GM, then the owners, then the coach, you kind of get all three in a row just on a topic. And of course, quarterback has been the big topic so far during these meetings. But I mean, it really is a unique opportunity to hear from all three of these like parties and succession. It really is. It's a unique opportunity and we have plenty of time with each of them. We sat with Todd Monkend for a half hour this morning at the breakfast. We actually, some of us got a chance to talk to him last night at the annual Suarez here.

2:14And so that was great because, you know, that's just an off the record, off the cuff kind of situation and you really get an opportunity to get to know someone a little bit, which is great when you have a brand new head coach, when you have a chance to, you know, really just get that little bit of face time in there and get to know him a little bit. So that was a unique, unique opportunity last night. And then we again had the breakfast this morning in the hot topic of conversation, of course, was the quarterback situation. But I have to start with the fact that, you know, that we got Todd Monkend to reveal why he missed the team, coach's photo. So yeah. So I read this story. I'll let you tell everybody about this. But yeah, it was, it was good to kind of get the answer as to what happened. Yes. And the way that he told it to us last night, it was really very, very funny. But we didn't, we weren't taping it and we didn't have it on video. It was very funny the way that he told the story.

3:14The photo was supposed to happen at noon, Pacific time. So he was geared up for noon, Pacific time. It was written down. It was on the agenda, but he thought he wanted to go get a haircut first. And you know, look good in his first NFL coaches photo ever. So he runs to go get this haircut right here on Arizona, built more grounds. And he even, I think sort of skipped a coach's meeting to go get the haircut. And what ultimately happened is that the meeting let out early. And they decided to snap the photo right after the coach's meeting. And Todd wasn't there. And Sean McVey wasn't there in the photo. So they, they missed their photo. And it was, of course, the first one for, for Todd Monkend. But he did have a funny line where he said, you know, I just, I have to make sure that I don't go one and done. I've got to be able to get in the photo next year, but it was just kind of funny that here he was kind of trying to, you know, put in a little extra effort for it.

4:17And he missed the thing, but it really wasn't entirely his fault because it was supposed to be at noon and they went about 20 minutes early. Yeah, it's just very, you know, at the combine, he was, he was late for his presser because he got held up by, by the Browns media people. And it was, it's just all very Todd Monkend here. As we're kind of getting to know him and sort of the way he does things. But yeah, poor Todd, he's got the horses head from Shadora Sanders. He's got this meeting to talk of this photo that he missed to talk about all of that stuff. But let's get into the meat of this. He kind of laid out what this quarterback competition might look like. And he indicated he didn't just come out and say it, but, you know, you tweeted it out. He, I thought he gave a very strong hint, just kind of watching all these folks coming in from Ohio. I felt like he gave a very strong hint that it would probably be Shadora Sanders kind of first man up in this quarterback competition. That's what it sure seemed like to us. Now, I did have to go back and clarify some of the things that he said because in the beginning of the breakfast, he mentioned that, you know,

5:20that he was not going to divide the reps evenly. So we were all like, Oh, okay. So somebody's going to get the bulk of the reps. And, and then we were asking him, well, how are you going to decide who it is? And he said, we're going to go on what they've done in the past and what how last year end it. And it just sounded like Shadora, but he wasn't ready to make that commitment yet. And then I came back at it later. And I said the fact that you are going to have these reps not divided evenly, meaning somebody's going to apparently get more than someone else. He said that can switch day to day. So I was glad that I was able to go back and and clarify that because at first, it seemed like he's going in with a pretty clear cut. He'll be one at the start of the offseason program. And that person's going to get the bulk of the reps and then they're going to go from there. And by the time we got done with the interview, he had pretty much backed off that. And it was going to be, it can switch up day to day.

6:20And nothing is written in stone yet. But my gut does tell me that if we had to go out there one day and watch the first practice where we actually see somebody step up to throw the ball, I still think that's going to be Shadora who goes first right now. Yeah, well, and it would make sense, right? If the standard is kind of how last year ended, Stores Sanders was the starting quarterback. And Deshan Watson wasn't even active. And of course, Dylan Gabriel was not playing either. So if we're just going on the surface level to the end of last year, then yeah, it would make sense that it would be Shadora Sanders getting that opportunity first. And then the day to day thing is interesting, I think, because it'll be frustrating for us because we don't get to see every OTA practice. We're going to be out there once a week for those first three weeks once they start OTAs in May. But I think it's the right approach just because it's going to give a guy like he's going to go out there on Tuesday.

7:21And you know, you get the bulk of the first team reps. Like we're not going to pull you off the field with the starters. You're going to be out there with Jerry Judy and the new offensive lineup. And then, you know, the next day, maybe the other guy's getting all of those reps. But at least in an individual practice, you're going to be giving one guy the bulk of the work with the starters. And I do think that matters. Right. And when I did ask him for that type of clarification, where he did then say, well, no, it can be different. You know, nothing's written in stone. It could be a situation where Shadour starts out as QB1 taking those first starting reps. And it's it might stay that way or it might go that way for a week. And then he might be like, hey, let's let's try to shine for a week because he had a great first week and he deserves to come out in the second week. So there's nothing prescribed. There's no set agenda right now. I think it's, you know, go out there, work as hard as you possibly can.

8:21And somebody sees the moment and take this job. And I think they like the fact that they have a natural competition and that it should bring out the best in in everybody in that room. Now, I did just post a story talking a little bit about the the facetime that he has had with these quarterbacks throughout the offseason. And I think there's a little bit of significance to that too. Not sure how it's all going to play out. But he's gotten to know Shadour pretty well because Shadour has been in the building, all offseason. Jimmy Haslam told us that yesterday. He's only seen Dishon Watson once. Dishon is throwing in Florida. So he saw him early on in the process. I think he's talked him on the phone at least another time. But he's only met with him one time in the building early on. And then Dylan Gabriel, he has not seen Dylan Gabriel in the building the whole entire offseason. And I think that's significant too because I would think that if you're Dylan

9:22Gabriel and you want to make sure that you are part of this competition, that you would come in at some point specifically to meet the new head coach and kind of just make sure that the first time that you meet him isn't the first day of the offseason program when you know the other guys have met him or you suspect that they have. Yeah, I found that a little strange too. Just because I mean, obviously it's pretty strict to what they can and can't do between now and when that that offseason program starts next week. But like, I mean, guys can be in the building. They're allowed to talk to Todd Monkin and get to know him. He obviously can't coach them and put them on the whiteboard or anything like that. But to be in the building and be around him and get to know him has to mean something. And then just to your point, like, even if Dylan wants to and I don't know where he is, maybe he's back in Hawaii or something, even if he wants to work out at home, it does feel to me like, you know, getting on a plane and flying out here for a couple days to get to know the new head coach and the guy who's going to ultimately be making this decision

10:23would matter unless he just feels like he's not going to be a part of this. You know, maybe the Browns have indicated to him that he's not really going to be a legitimate part of this. I don't know, but it does seem strange that that hasn't happened yet. Yeah. And the messaging over the previous couple of days and even today has been, hey, they all have a chance. They're all on the roster and they're all going to have a chance to come in here and compete. And so they've really been talking up Dylan over the last couple of days because, you know, we have been treating him sort of as the forgotten man and the competition. And it really does feel like the competition is going to be between Shadour Sanders and Dishon Watson. And I don't really think that Dylan has a shot to win the starting job. But that doesn't mean that you can act like you don't. I mean, you really have to put in the time, put in the face time, and it probably would have behoved him to come in at least one time and meet the new head coach and make sure that you weren't

11:26kind of falling too far behind in that regard. Now, you didn't necessarily have to bring him a gold horse's head, but probably stopping in at some point to say hi might not have heard the sit hurt the situation for you. Well, and even to that point, like if you just look at the competition, I think this will apply to if they draft somebody, right? Like you we can sit here and say and maybe it is, you know, Shadour versus Dishon like only and maybe Dylan is an afterthought in the building like he's been with us. But the reality is like, let's not pretend Shadour Sanders lit it up last year. I mean, he had some flashes and he had some moments that made him intriguing, but you know, there's some we don't know what he's going to be. Dishon Watson hasn't played since 2024. So like, I don't know if you're Dylan Gabriel show up and compete because I don't think there's any guarantee with either of those two quarterbacks ahead of you that they're going to just seize the job and run with it. Maybe you come back and you know, you light it up in the

12:27spring or something and all of a sudden Todd Munkin is thinking, Hey, I didn't think I would be that into Dylan Gabriel, but he's looked really good. I just think that's that's what the approach should be because this is such a wide open competition. And I think the two guys who are kind of the leaders in the clubhouse right now are pretty far from short things. Right. And we know that Dishon Watson is coming off of two surgeries to repair his ruptured Achilles and his retorn Achilles. And you never know how that's going to go, right. Anything can happen in the course of a training camp. And as happened with Shador Sanders, you can quickly find yourself going from fourth string quarterback to starting quarterback. That can happen, especially on this team when there's so much uncertainty. So Dylan's going to have to come in here and put in the time and put in the effort and make sure that that he feels like he does have that legitimate shot. And Jimmy said

13:28yesterday that he did Andrew Barry has said that he has that same opportunity and Todd Munkin is is they're all saying the same thing that anybody that's on the roster has a chance to compete to start at the position that they play. So he's going to come in here and who knows what can happen. So he'll have to stay ready and on top of things. But there is that ex-factor that, of course, as we've talked about, they can still go out there and add another presumably young quarterback. That's what Andrew has said it would be a young quarterback. They haven't decided yet if they like Ty Simpson well enough to draft him or not. They haven't decided yet whether they think one of these other young quarterbacks has more upside than potentially than Shadour does. Or maybe the young quarterback replaces Dylan. And so then you still have Dishon versus Shadour with another young face in the room. So lots of things can still happen. And as you mentioned,

14:29that's in part because they don't have a sure thing right now. I thought it was interesting too because this, you know, we're just starting to kind of get to know Todd Munkin and his approach. And as, you know, again, as I was seeing in, of course, your story talking about, you know, him saying, well, you know, I haven't really seen, you know, I haven't really seen much of Dishon. I haven't seen Dylan Gabriel. Kevin's to fansky would have never told us that information. Like he would have never said that in a million years. Like who he's talked to, who he's met, who he hasn't met. That was just not his style. So that was another thing I was thinking seeing these tweets come in and seeing what you guys were, we're putting out there as you talk to Todd. Like he's, again, and there are other kids, not like this is unique. There are other coaches who do this. It's pretty normal. Kevin was just very, he did it his own way, but Todd is not going to sugarcoat things for the most part. And I think it's going to be funny because Kevin never wanted to talk about OTA attendance. He would never tell us who is not there or who was there. Maybe Todd

15:33will. Maybe Todd will just sit up there and give us the whole list on April 7th when we're, or whenever we get to talk to him for the first time. Yeah, he might because what happened in this interview is that he was saying about Shedor that he appreciates that he knows where he's at and where he wants to go. Like he knows that he has to be here. He knows that he has to put everything that he has into this competition. We heard Jimmy Hasam say yesterday that Shedor Sanders got an education last year in what it takes to be an NFL quarterback and that he's really putting in the time this off season and his body looks better and all those kinds of things. In the next sentence, he basically said, no, I haven't seen Dylan yet. So, you know, there's a little bit of a contrast there. Now, maybe Dylan does feel like, hey, it's Shedor versus Shon and I work out in Hawaii or whatever the case may be, but he didn't have any qualms about saying, I have not seen Dylan yet. If he's been in the building, when I've been on the job, I have not seen that yet.

16:37And you're right. That's something that Kevin probably never would have told us. Yeah, and I think that's the, that's the other part of this for Shedor too, is kind of it does feel like, again, hearing what these guys have said to you. And Jimmy yesterday, Todd today, it does feel like he understands. First of all, he understands maybe, you know, what he had to learn last year, right? And kind of what he, what he needs to get up to speed on. But it also feels like he understands the urgency of the moment going into this season because, you know, the Browns are rebuilding this thing. They're going to retool this offense. Andrew Barry has, has basically said, like next off season, next free agency is when we're really going to kick it back into gear. So like, if one of these quarterbacks, whether it's Dishon or Shedor, and obviously Shedor would be the guy that would benefit them the most, like, this is it. They're giving you this opportunity. And there was no guarantee you were going to get it, but they're giving it to you. They're giving it to Dishon. Dylan, they draft somebody. But if you don't

17:41seize it, if you don't have that sense of urgency, they're, they're probably just going to pick somebody new or trade for somebody or sign somebody in 2027. They're not going to mess around. So like, I do think that's a good thing to hear from these guys about this urgency. Shedor seems to have about this opportunity that's in front of him right now. Right. Absolutely. And the funny thing about the past couple of days is the fact that I've gone back and forth and back and forth over what I think is going to happen and who I think is going to start the season for the Cleveland breath. When we got done talking to Jimmy Haslam yesterday, it was so pro Dishon. And he was so effusive in his praise of Dishon that as I stated on the podcast yesterday, I really felt like the momentum was in Dishon's corner. And then now today, when we talked to Todd Munkin, the pendulum for me swung back to Dishor. Dishor. There it is.

18:44It's going to be an orange or brown talk drinking game. Dishor. Swung back to Shedor. Oh my gosh. Anyways. So, you know, I mean, that was the vibe yesterday. We walked out of there thinking, Oh, geez. Dishon better get ready to get back on that field and be a starting quarterback again. And then today, I'm like, nah, not so fast. So, you know, they probably truly don't really 100% know how it's going to play out yet. But I think, I don't know, at least today, I'm feeling like there's a pretty good chance that Shedor has an opportunity to hang on to this thing. And he's going to get first crack. And it's up to him. Do not let it go. Well, it doesn't that just kind of speak to like, you know, kind of where we are in the offseason. You know, I mean, we're we're trying to project this stuff. They're trying to talk about this stuff. But the reality is they haven't even had like a meeting yet. They haven't even had like,

19:47you know, real film sessions yet. They can't even get on the field until I know they get the extra mini camp, which might be maybe that'll be draft week or something like that. That's the first time they can even, you know, get on the field. And I mean, there's rules early in the offseason program where like the coaches isn't even allowed to watch these guys if they're out on the field. So like, I think that speaks a lot to kind of just where we are in this program. And these guys aren't even going to be aren't even going to be allowed to start throwing, you know, in seven on sevens or 11 on 11s until, you know, may really again, there's this extra mini camp. So that adds three days to it. But I think it just speaks to where we are and they're kind of trying to figure this stuff out. But until we actually see these guys playing some semblance of football, which isn't going to happen for a little while, it's hard to say who's going to be the guy. Right. And in the first two weeks of the offseason program, they can't be out there. Those

20:48guys can I think be throwing on their own, but they can't be being coached by them in the first couple weeks. So it's more just they're on their own. And it's almost sort of in a more conditioning type way now with the coaches. And then after that, they can start getting coached up on the field by them to a degree. It's very complicated. But in addition to that and the important part about for them is the fact that they can start coaching the playbook to them. When the offseason program starts, so they can start meeting with them and installing and going over the offense. And I asked Todd Monkin today, how steep do you think the learning curve is going to be? And he said it's going to be significant. He believes it's going to be a significant change for these guys on offense. They've got to learn a whole new scheme and all new terminology. And that's going to be the whole key is who picks that up the fastest, the best,

21:48implements it and puts it out on the grass better than the other guys. Yeah. And again, maybe that's where being in that building maybe stores picked up on some stuff. And you know that he's had some face-to-face with Todd Monkin and stuff like that's where kind of being there. Again, you don't have to be there every day. I understand it. Guys go off and they train on their own. Maybe Dylan has guys he likes to throw with and Hawaii or whatever. Like that's all fine. But again, you know, go say hello. So even get your hands on the playbooks, even get your hands on, you know, something. I mean, I'm sure he has it. But like, I don't know, that face-to-face interaction, even if it would have been for just a couple days, it just feels like that would have been helpful. Well, what strikes me about the situation is that I'm sure Todd Monkin is coming into this quarterback competition with some preconceived notions. Now, oddly enough, he has not watched a bunch of previous film of Dishon Watson. I'm not really exactly sure why. I asked him about that

22:49today. And he said he hasn't done that. So they're kind of forgetting about or at least setting aside for now the Dishon Watson of Houston days when he went to the Pro Bowl three different times. They're more focused, I think, on what he can do for them right now. But I think Todd's coming into this with some preconceived notions about what these guys mindset is, where they're at, what they're thinking, what they're all about. And the truth is, he doesn't know any of that yet. He really doesn't know what their motivation level is, what their desire is, what their hunger is. He will soon find all of that out. How hard are you really willing to work? To what lengths are you willing to go? To win this job? How important is it to you? What does it mean to you? And he doesn't really know their personalities. Like he said, he talked to Dishon one time. And he said, I didn't ask my wife

23:50to marry me until after five years. So he said, you know, two weeks is not enough. Two months is not enough. So he's really going to be in fact finding mission. Now, Shadour has a head start. He's been in the building. These guys have already developed a little bit of rapport. And I think that will be very helpful and beneficial for Shadour. Now the other guys are going to have to catch up in making sure Todd Munkin knows what they're all about. Okay. We are going to let you go and catch a flight back to Ohio here. Mary Kay is the owner's meetings wrap up in Arizona. Get subscribed on our YouTube channel Cleveland Browns on Cleveland.com. Find us on all your socials. Just look for orange or brown talking. Of course, if you missed any of Mary Kay's other check ins from Phoenix, go find our feed on Spotify and Apple podcasts. Make sure to subscribe over there as well. Mary Kay safe travels back. I'll talk to you later. Sounds great.