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 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.
On some of those balls it looks like he doesn't even remember how to grip it.
I mean he had two deep balls in there that looked like they just sailed out the top of his hand. A couple others where his arm just came through sideways for no reason.
Best guys I have is that his shoulder isn't sound anymore. My labrum's fucked up in my shoulder so on any given throw when I'm playing softball, I don't really know how it's going to behave in the socket. about 80% of the time it does what I expect but sometimes it'll just get 'loose' and my arm won't do what I expected it to do.
If I were an NFL quarterback and was only 80% certain my arm would behave like I expected, I'd be a mess. Every throw would be something I'm 'feeling' for as I'm releasing.
If his shoulder injury damaged the joint in his shoulder to the point that he can't trust his delivery to repeat itself, he's fucked. He's not even a backup at that point. He HAS to be able to trust his arm to do what he expects it to do. When it doesn't...well, that's how you see misses like that.
It's about the only thing that makes sense to me. [Reply]
Originally Posted by crispystl:
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.
The irony is he got thrown under the bus for having an off year while playing through a shoulder injury. Baker is not a rock star but the browns are probably competitive enough with a game manager which baker can do. [Reply]
Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501:
The irony is he got thrown under the bus for having an off year while playing through a shoulder injury. Baker is not a rock star but the browns are probably competitive enough with a game manager which baker can do.
I love that.
The Browns and their fans did Baker so dirty for having the audacity to try to play through injury. Apart from that one year, his development arc looked like a normal young QB.
And the Browns just shit all over him then dumped him while gutting their cap and picks for the privilege of doing so.
Remind me why they wanted to be rid of Baker Mayfield so bad to give up so much to get Watson?
Because Mayfield sucked ass in the playoffs.
Teams loaded up on stopping the run and dared him to beat them and he couldn't. I don't know that moving on from him was a terrible decision based on that.
I mean sure, you can tell yourself moar weapons and moar development, I guess.
Obviously going all in on Watson was a huge mistake. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Chief Pagan:
Because Mayfield sucked ass in the playoffs.
Teams loaded up on stopping the run and dared him to beat them and he couldn't. I don't know that moving on from him was a terrible decision based on that.
I mean sure, you can tell yourself moar weapons and moar development, I guess.
Obviously going all in on Watson was a huge mistake.
I dunno man, Mayfield wasn't terribad. He's not mahomes but he's kind of cemented himself as an alex smith guy. Good enough to manage games. He had a really good third year and then slipped because of injury. Like any game manager he needs a supporting cast and needs to be healthy, and like Alex Smith it of course comes with limitations. But the vast majority of qbs don't even have this kind of floor. Which right now, also includes deshaun Watson [Reply]
The Browns and their fans did Baker so dirty for having the audacity to try to play through injury. Apart from that one year, his development arc looked like a normal young QB.
And the Browns just shit all over him then dumped him while gutting their cap and picks for the privilege of doing so.
They deserve this.
If they'd kept and paid Baker (and retained their picks), they'd be pretty nasty right now. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Chief Pagan:
Because Mayfield sucked ass in the playoffs.
Teams loaded up on stopping the run and dared him to beat them and he couldn't. I don't know that moving on from him was a terrible decision based on that.
I mean sure, you can tell yourself moar weapons and moar development, I guess.
Obviously going all in on Watson was a huge mistake.
I mean, they beat Philly last season very soundly and he kept them with Detroit who was clearly a better team.
He's averaged over 8 AY/A in the post-season. He's put up a 10-3 TD/INT rate and averaged right at 290 yards/gm passing.
No, he's not a superstar. But he's been a credible QB even in the post-season. And at about $33 million/season, he's not being paid an absurd sum by NFL QB standards. I'd take him at that contract over Dak, that's for damn sure.
I mean look at the guys in front of him, many of them by a LOT. Lawrence, Love, Tua, Goff and Hurts are all making over $50 million/season. Murray, Watson and Cousins are all over $40 million. Jones and Carr are making more than Mayfield.
Mayfield is 2nd from the bottom among non-rookie deal starting QBs in the entire NFL. Only Geno and Minshew make less. And I guess Darnold who's now the starter by default.
Mayfield is a pretty substantial asset at this point, IMO. There are few guys the Bucs could've gotten instead of him that could've/would've worked out better. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Chief Pagan:
Because Mayfield sucked ass in the playoffs.
Teams loaded up on stopping the run and dared him to beat them and he couldn't. I don't know that moving on from him was a terrible decision based on that.
I mean sure, you can tell yourself moar weapons and moar development, I guess.
Obviously going all in on Watson was a huge mistake.
Originally Posted by Pitt Gorilla:
If they'd kept and paid Baker (and retained their picks), they'd be pretty nasty right now.
I mean presume they retain Mayfield - the cap benefits alone to this point would be massive.
And if they just take the consensus player at 13, they end up with Kyle Hamilton in 2022. Let's say having Mayfield instead of Watson in 2023 puts them in the same position Tampa ended up -- they could take Zay Flowers at 19 with the pick they gave up and then in 2024 lets say they draft at 25 -- they could have taken Nate Wiggins to help cover for Ward's concussion issues.
Hamilton, Flowers and Wiggins plus likely around $50 million in cap savings or at LEAST no need to engage in the sort of cap fuckery that's going to sabotage them over the next 2-3 seasons.
I mean yeah - the entire exchange was catastrophic. [Reply]
