What’s more important to the Cleveland Browns right now: winning or draft positioning?

What’s more important to the Cleveland Browns right now: winning or draft positioning?

Uh, reminder, we have our watch party this Sunday. We’re running it back. It starts at 1 o’clock. We’ll be live at 1 o’clock. Gee, myself, Earl, and Director Steve in the studio for another full watch party for Shador taking on the 49ers. Make sure y’all tune into that. All right, guys, before we bring in Sean, we’re gonna get to in about 5 minutes. What is more important overall to the Browns right now? Our friend Xavier P texted me this question, said, X. Put it in the show at some point. Right now, what’s more important to the Browns winning a few games down the stretch here and trying to change the narrative on the losing culture that has been instilled in Burri. Changing the narrative. I don’t like that expression. How would you rather phrase it? Change the culture. Well, you’re not gonna change a culture with two wins. Well, I maybe you can. — Maybe you can
— you can’t. So there you go. — So would you rather
— I change the culture or try to talk about flip flopping or draft. This is a subject, guys, that I have flip flopped on for years. I was like, once you stink, lose as much as you can to get a higher pick. I’ve, I’ve talked you into this, I think, a little bit, but yes, I feel differently now, especially. When it’s a team like the Browns. Now, with the Bengals, like, I, I, I’m gonna root for them to win because I’m, you know, I, I, especially with Joe Burrow playing. But if the Bengals lose, I don’t care. They got Joe Burrow. They can bounce back next year if, you know, the defense was not the worst in football. The Browns have had so much losing and ultimately, If the Brown, if they think Andrew Berry’s finally gotten it, or they’re gonna hire a new GM that they believe in. The good GMs, it doesn’t matter where they draft. I understand if the Browns, depending on what happens with Shado the rest of the season, if the Browns want to take a quarterback, yeah, you might need to be up at 1 or 2. But generally, the good team, there’s a reason the same teams are picking high every year because they blow the draft. Not because, you know, like, so I think this team, which has done so much losing the last two years with so many young players, and next year you’re gonna have even more like this team next year, there’s gonna be like 30 players that are 3 years or less in the league. You gotta have some sort of winning feeling going into the, into the. Offseason, so I don’t want the Browns to lose out for a higher pick. I want them to win some games and, and start feeling better about the, the team, start feeling like we could actually win football games here. I think the, I think it will help the culture and could start turning the culture around, and that’s why I’ve changed my mind on that front. So you’re right. Um, however, If Stefansky’s not gonna be the coach, the culture cannot be changed. That’s true. You’re right. So I, I guess if the wins help Stefansky keep his job and we like Stefansky and we think that’s gonna be, you know, the guy going forward, then absolutely. But if, if he’s not the coach, all this is, is, for nothing, for nothing. It’s just hurting the whether it’s Barry or the new GM from having a better draft spot. And by the way. If there’s a new coach, a new GM, this roster, 50% of it’s gone. Next year. There’ll be a turnover if half the roster will be gone. That’s the, that’s, — that’s the
— reality. So this is, this is, I, I think this is a huge point, and I think that’s a, it’s a very good question for the rest of the season because you find out now this is, this is the most important part of the season right here, this is it, because let me tell you something, I just saw a stat that said, um, rookies accounted for basically 82% of all production. In the game against the Raiders, that’s passing, rushing, all the above, right? And if you got these guys that are major key points and major key fixtures in your offense in your team, these games are are are monumental because now the biggest thing in the world and you know when I was coming off my, my, you know, freshman year playing, the freshman year was just like you get thrown in, you started a bunch of games. And in my mind I was like, oh, OK, now I’m getting it. I understand what y’all want me to do. Now it’s time in offseason. Let me work on my individual game so I can actually add something to it. So Junkins has no offseason, right? He came in regular. Uh, you, you look at Isaiah Bond came in off the street. You look at some of these other guys that Carson Schlesinger played the entire year. That experience is invaluable. And then too, let me just tell you something, and I was sitting there thinking about this, even this game. This is a good San Francisco team. This ain’t no bum team. If the Cleveland Browns are able to win this game or, or some of these games, it’s gonna change your outlook on everything because look, look at it. You get this win, you start to look at the schedule, and then even if you, when you got, you got Buffalo and Pittsburgh, right. If you play them hard or you play them solid and you lose by a a couple of points but it was a it was a high scoring affair or you played really well, you’re gonna come away feeling good about it because you’re like bro, we out here playing with a bunch of rookies and the reality of the situation is just like Andrew Barry can possibly save his job. I’m gonna tell you something right now if they go out there. And they upset a couple of these squads and you beat uh, you beat uh uh Pittsburgh and you get to win against Tennessee and you look good. There’s gonna be conversations about who’s going. Kevin Stavansky, — Kevin
— Sky, isn’t it ironic that’s that Shaddo Sanders could help save Kevin Stavansky’s job, especially if he looks there’s some people don’t want to hear it, but that could happen. — People think that he
— hates Shador, — which I
— don’t believe. If it’s wild work, as Garrett would say. It’s like if he, like, you gotta think about it because if he plays, especially if he plays well. Because technically, to be truthful, I always said the only thing Kevin Steffansky really controlled now is the timeout. In fact, the challenge flag, and the timeouts. Like he is not the coordinator. He’s not calling the plays. Tommy Reese is calling the plays. I’ve always said, but he’s obviously still involved in the office. I mean, yes, but you, you, you gotta. If you think about it, if Tommy Reese plays well or they play well and Shador looks good, that’s the more influence Tommy Reese got because they’re gonna say, I’m a first year coordinator. He’s gonna have opportunities to go to other places. He’s gonna be well thought of. So you know, uh, listen, with Jay Crawford, a rising tide, you know. They raise all boats and that just happens to be the general manager and the coach. If you find a quarterback, a lot of things look real rosy after a while, especially if you can put wings together — because people start drinking
— Kool-Aid. If I, I, I think if the Browns beat San Francisco, now, I don’t think they’re going to, but if they do. I think there’s a good, I think that alone. It leads to a good chance that both Stefanski and Barry will be back. And here’s why, because they’ll beat the Titans the following week if they beat San Francisco. I’ll be stunned if they don’t win it. And now you got 4, you got 5 wins if you beat Tennessee going into Chicago, right? And then, you know, you probably win 1 more. Maybe it’s Chicago, maybe it’s Cincinnati, who knows if they end up 6 and 11. They’re not getting fired as much as we may want the fans to get fired. They’re not getting fired if they finish 6 and 11 because most of us thought they were gonna win 4 or 5 games this year. I think you, I, I picked 5. I think you picked 3 or 4. 4. — I
— remember if they win 6. Remember this. There was a year, I forget what year it was, Dustin. Um, Eric Mangini was a coach and the Cleveland Browns, right? They won 4 games, and Eric Mangini kept kept his job. — They got
— fired the next year, right? Yeah, they, they ended up winning that Jets game at the end. They gave him 4 games in a row and they kept him, and they start, they started terribly the next season.

The Cleveland Browns got a win over the Raiders last Sunday after rookie QB Shdedeur Sanders made his first career NFL start, and became the first Browns QB to win in their first start since 1995. The win sparked a level of excitement and hope that Cleveland Browns fans have been yearning for for some time. UCSS discusses whether riding the wave with Shedeur or securing a prime draft position in this upcoming NFL Draft matters more.

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The Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show is your daily source of the best conversation about the Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Guardians, Cleveland Cavaliers and Ohio State Buckeyes, as well as sports throughout Northeast Ohio. Produced by Mike Lucas, Anthony Antonelli, and Earl Mauldin. Hosted by Jay Crawford, Adam the Bull, G Bush, Jason Lloyd, and Tyvis Powell.