Deshaun Watson has decided he wants to play for the Cleveland Browns in a stunning change of events, per sources. Watson has informed the Houston Texans that he now is willing to waive the no-trade clause in his contract to be dealt to Cleveland.
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
Again, they're looking at eating shit in 2027. Nothing else makes sense.
Garret, Watson and Delpit will be responsible for $80 million in cap charges ON VOID YEARS. Denzel Ward will be cut for a $20 million cap savings but still carry $9 million in dead money. And that's without getting into the smaller deals.
Za'Darius Smith, Dalvin Tomlinson, Njoku, Bitonio, Teller, Conklin, Thornhill, Wills, Okoronkwo and Pocic will all be in ther early/mid 30s (so long gone) and between those guys they'll suck up ANOTHER $40 million in dead cap on void years.
$120 million in dead cap charges on void years in 2027. Yeah - that's real.
And they have no business extending a single one of those players I named. So that money is all but locked in. Even if the cap continues to rise at a solid clip, that's likely to be 1/3 of their entire cap allocated to void seasons for guys that aren't likely to be on the roster.
So let's say the cap is $300 million by then, they're going to start at $180 million BEFORE they absorb the dead money from Denzel Ward. If they don't have substantial carry-over, they'll be looking at needing to build a roster on about $3.5 million/player at a time when the minimum NFL salary is likely to be approaching $2 million. Made all the more difficult by the fact that Jerry Jeudy and JOK will take up another $20 million between the two of them. So they'll have $160 million to pay for 51 guys on the roster.
They're ****ed in 2027. So they have to make things happen now.
Yeah, they’re fucked. And in their win now phase they have a qb with a noodle arm and a game changing rb who may not be able to even make an impact in 2024. Can’t help but feel awful for browns fans. Although I know they at this point take joy in misery [Reply]
Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501:
Yeah, they’re fucked. And in their win now phase they have a qb with a noodle arm and a game changing rb who may not be able to even make an impact in 2024. Can’t help but feel awful for browns fans. Although I know they at this point take joy in misery
Worse than the arm is the completely inexplicable decisionmaking for a veteran QB.
He's seen too much football to still be making the throws he's making. He has some positively Winston-Esque looking interceptions. Balls where he just stares into the eyes of the defender and throws it right into the guy's chest. Worse still, he barely even looks downfield anymore. He's not a risk to make a big play but he's still a threat to throw a mind-blowing interception at any time.
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
Worse than the arm is the completely inexplicable decisionmaking for a veteran QB.
He's seen too much football to still be making the throws he's making. He has some positively Winston-Esque looking interceptions. Balls where he just stares into the eyes of the defender and throws it right into the guy's chest. Worse still, he barely even looks downfield anymore. He's not a risk to make a big play but he's still a threat to throw a mind-blowing interception at any time.
He's a damn mess.
Yeah it’s a weird thing. On the one hand stefanski runs a system that doesn’t need Watson to think too much and where he can bail out by running. On the other hand it doesn’t give Watson the chance to chuck up prayer balls where an elite WR like Hopkins can bail him out. So that’s an issue. He seems like a faster version of Daunte culpepper whose entire career was built around jump balls and athleticism.. But by far the most damning is that even in stefanskis system if you watch his throws he’s throwing dead arm 5 yard outs into the dirt.
The browns defense and running game are so good that they didn’t need as much from any qb. The irony is now they’re saddled with a qb who now can’t execute even a basic offense yet still sucks up lots of cap [Reply]
Stefanski’s offense is just another derivative of the WC offense, and so requires a lot of short, quick passes, on time and in rhythm. Requires a QB to get through his progressions and throw into tight windows with great ball placement.
Guess what Watson isn’t good at? Watson is closer to being Russell Wilson than Drew Brees. Never understood why Stefanski was so high on Watson. He had to have looked at the tape. [Reply]
The only saving grace is that chubb comes back and they ask deshaun to manage games. Which he can't do. Because he's a daunte Culpeper chuck it up guy who is a dead arm and doesn't have a jump ball savior like dhop. And he's a running QB who has a fraction of his previous athleticism. Throw in a jamarcus Russel attitude of mailing it in.
The alternative would be jameis Winston. Maybe the worst idea. If the browns run game regresses, deshaun is making tons of dumbass mistakes too. At least jameis has the upside to make plays too. The defense may be good enough to support that. Unlikely because there's no way the browns can save face with deshaun given his contract.
The big thing I noticed with Watson is what I noticed last year. He is throwing a lot of dead balls. Not just inaccurate, he's throwing shit into the dirt that he used to be strong enough to throw. Not good. The best they could have hoped for was an Andrew luck like arm strength recovery but i don't think that happened. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Sassy Squatch:
Is there a worse overall transaction in sports history?
Baker looking sharp AF just makes it even worse. I told my wife and son at the time the Browns should've just kept baker and all the money and draft capital they'd be a force to be reckoned with had they done so and drafted well with the picks. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Megatron96:
Stefanski’s offense is just another derivative of the WC offense, and so requires a lot of short, quick passes, on time and in rhythm. Requires a QB to get through his progressions and throw into tight windows with great ball placement.
Guess what Watson isn’t good at? Watson is closer to being Russell Wilson than Drew Brees. Never understood why Stefanski was so high on Watson. He had to have looked at the tape.
Stupid stubbornness on Stefanksi’s part to not try to recreate the offensive scheme that Watson excelled at in Houston.
Considering that Cleveland literally mortgaged their franchise and future to get Watson and it’s almost impossible for them to get rid of him until 2026 at the earliest… might as well throw everything against the wall to make it work. [Reply]
Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501:
The only saving grace is that chubb comes back and they ask deshaun to manage games. Which he can't do. Because he's a daunte Culpeper chuck it up guy who is a dead arm and doesn't have a jump ball savior like dhop. And he's a running QB who has a fraction of his previous athleticism. Throw in a jamarcus Russel attitude of mailing it in.
The alternative would be jameis Winston. Maybe the worst idea. If the browns run game regresses, deshaun is making tons of dumbass mistakes too. At least jameis has the upside to make plays too. The defense may be good enough to support that. Unlikely because there's no way the browns can save face with deshaun given his contract.
They're fucked for a few years
Jameis can make those throws. They need to pivot to him asap and call Deshaun a sunk cost [Reply]
Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501:
The big thing I noticed with Watson is what I noticed last year. He is throwing a lot of dead balls. Not just inaccurate, he's throwing shit into the dirt that he used to be strong enough to throw. Not good. The best they could have hoped for was an Andrew luck like arm strength recovery but i don't think that happened.
Before he didn't have to jerk himself, so his arm was always loose.
Now that no female massage therapist will see him without security present & security cameras, he has been having to do all his own stroking, and it's really affecting the stiffness in his shoulder, and it's affecting his throwing motion.
The Browns need to fly him to a brothel in Vegas a couple of times a week, because as it stands now, Watson is worthless while costing the Browns a couple hundred million dollars. [Reply]