VSiN By The Books | August 25, 2026 | Hour 2

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
This is VSiN By The Books on VSiN, the eSports betting network.

**Dave Ross** (0:13)
Top of the hour, it is VSiN By The Books. I'm Dave Ross right here at the Mid-Game Hall, Frank Lee, Kentucky. There's our closer Jensen Lewis back home in Cleveland, Ohio. Joe Bartel is going to join the program later on this hour, get some fantasy football advice. And Jensen, that's where we are now these days. We're getting oh so close to knowing who's going to be playing as we get ready for the regular season. And you know this very well in your city of Cleveland. And that's where we begin our Highlights and Headlines.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:39)
Help your bottom line with today's highlights and headlines.

**Dave Ross** (0:49)
You've got a pretty good pulse of that city. It is official that Sean Watson will be QB1, at least to start this regular season. As you know, Todd Munkin has said that the plan is not to yo-yo these guys back and forth. That it's his job, we would think, for the foreseeable future. Jensen, when they wake up this morning there in Cleveland, how are they going to feel collectively, do you believe, about Deshaun Watson being QB1?

**Jensen Lewis** (1:12)
Mixed bag, because this came out yesterday, as soon as we were signing off at the end of our show, the news being official.
And I would say throughout the day, it was half the fan base feeling one way, the other side decidedly against it. And I think Todd Monkin basically saying in his press conference, he felt from the time they entered the building, the soft season, through all the workouts, through all the film work, leading into practice, mini camp, all of that, it felt as though Deshaun Watson gave them the best chance to win in week one. Now, if that's purely football context, that's what Todd Monkin is paid to do, is to win football games. So guess what? That's the decision he made. I also think it's an indictment on Shador Sanders that he could not do enough to clearly separate himself and be like, yeah, decidedly, I am the best starting quarterback option here. So I didn't really affect the line whatsoever, Dave, plus seven and a half, that's what the Browns are. Week one down in Jacksonville, so no surprise there, but let's see what happens. Dave, you and I know this league is fickle. These fan bases can have as many delusions as they want about who is the best and what is the best. But if your team wins, that cures a lot in the short term, that's the best thing that Sean Watson can do is go out and play. You're done talking, or at least maybe, hopefully in the foreseeable future he is, and go out and try and win football games.

**Dave Ross** (2:45)
Let's hear him talk one more time, because it's been interesting when he takes the mic, whether he's going at the fans, then he's kind of apologizing to the fans. Now, let's hear to Sean talking about being officially named QB1.

**Deshaun Watson** (2:58)
It's great.
Like I mentioned before, this is what I've been working for for two years, is to be able to show that I'm capable of being a starter for one of the 32 organizations in this league. And today was a sight man. I had no idea until I walked into the building and I talked with Coach Monk. And yeah, it was, it felt good, and a lot of excitement, but it comes with a lot of work too. There's a lot of work, there's a lot of challenges that I have to continue to overcome. And I just got to continue to work on achieving those victories each and every day. So I'm ready and prepared. And there's gonna be a lot of ups and downs, but at the same time, I'm excited to be a starting quarterback in this league. And especially a starting quarterback for the Cleveland Browns.

**Dave Ross** (3:43)
And as you mentioned, the league number one number VS Jacksonville has not changed, nor their season total five and a half is still their win total. Juice to the over, ironically, right now. Again, I could only look under right now for that football team. Boy, the Niners, Jensen, you know this, whether it comes from a manager, whether in football comes from a head coach. What do they talk to their players a lot about? It's about accountability and distractions. Let's eliminate the stuff outside so we can concentrate on the stuff inside. The Niners off season has been anything but Kyle Shanahan in a car accident, a very serious car accident. That kind of went, it was mysterious in nature. Now the owner, Jed York, has pled no contest after being arrested on prostitution related charges. They were knocked down to misdemeanors officially, but that's where they stemmed from Jensen. So a couple days in jail, this happened in Ohio.