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Schefter: Watson to Browns

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  • The problem with getting a good pick really isn't Baker as much as the team has no leverage.  Today I see Seattle is going to go with Drew Lock on a 1.8 mil contract.

    Teams know the Browns want to get rid of Baker. Several teams have settled their QB position. Between low demand and no team leverage, it is similar to a home owner who has to sell with just a few buyers.  It's a buyers market for Baker.  

    At this point I think we might be willing to take a 5th rounder and us pay a large portion of his money.  That or we will just sit on him and hope someone gets injured.  Maybe we keep him inactive for the season and pay him.

    @ballpeen said:

    The problem with getting a good pick really isn't Baker as much as the team has no leverage.  Today I see Seattle is going to go with Drew Lock on a 1.8 mil contract.

    Teams know the Browns want to get rid of Baker. Several teams have settled their QB position. Between low demand and no team leverage, it is similar to a home owner who has to sell with just a few buyers.  It's a buyers market for Baker.  

    The Eagles were in the same position with Carson Wentz last year, and got nice compensation for him from the Colts. 

  • I didn't mention all the things working against us.  Wentz checks a lot of the boxes Baker doesn't.  Baker had recent shoulder surgery.  Baker seems to be a high maintenance player.  He is in the option year of his rookie contract that pays 19 million.  It is going to be a tough sell.

    I hope I am wrong.

  • I didn't mention all the things working against us.  Wentz checks a lot of the boxes Baker doesn't.  Baker had recent shoulder surgery.  Baker seems to be a high maintenance player.  He is in the option year of his rookie contract that pays 19 million.  It is going to be a tough sell.

    I hope I am wrong.

    @ballpeen said:

    I didn't mention all the things working against us.  Wentz checks a lot of the boxes Baker doesn't.  Baker had recent shoulder surgery.  Baker seems to be a high maintenance player.  He is in the option year of his rookie contract that pays 19 million.  It is going to be a tough sell.

    I hope I am wrong.

    I've heard a theory that the NFL in general is super duper pissed at the Browns for the contract that they gave to Watson, and the reason no one is going after Baker is that everyone kind of wants to stick it to the Browns and make them eat Baker's contract. 

    I mean, in some ways, it seems far-fetched, but on the other hand... 

  • @ballpeen said:

    I didn't mention all the things working against us.  Wentz checks a lot of the boxes Baker doesn't.  Baker had recent shoulder surgery.  Baker seems to be a high maintenance player.  He is in the option year of his rookie contract that pays 19 million.  It is going to be a tough sell.

    I hope I am wrong.

    I've heard a theory that the NFL in general is super duper pissed at the Browns for the contract that they gave to Watson, and the reason no one is going after Baker is that everyone kind of wants to stick it to the Browns and make them eat Baker's contract. 

    I mean, in some ways, it seems far-fetched, but on the other hand... 

    @dutch-oven said:

    I've heard a theory that the NFL in general is super duper pissed at the Browns for the contract that they gave to Watson, and the reason no one is going after Baker is that everyone kind of wants to stick it to the Browns and make them eat Baker's contract. 

    I mean, in some ways, it seems far-fetched, but on the other hand... 

    Well the league owes the Browns for all of the free Ws over the last two decades.

  • @ballpeen said:

    The problem with getting a good pick really isn't Baker as much as the team has no leverage.  Today I see Seattle is going to go with Drew Lock on a 1.8 mil contract.

    Teams know the Browns want to get rid of Baker. Several teams have settled their QB position. Between low demand and no team leverage, it is similar to a home owner who has to sell with just a few buyers.  It's a buyers market for Baker.  

    The Eagles were in the same position with Carson Wentz last year, and got nice compensation for him from the Colts. 

    @dutch-oven said:

    The Eagles were in the same position with Carson Wentz last year, and got nice compensation for him from the Colts. 

    But Wentz didn't have a bum shoulder that needed off season surgery.  and he's certainly a high character guy.  

    @dutch-oven said:

    I've heard a theory that the NFL in general is super duper pissed at the Browns for the contract that they gave to Watson, and the reason no one is going after Baker is that everyone kind of wants to stick it to the Browns and make them eat Baker's contract. 

    I mean, in some ways, it seems far-fetched, but on the other hand... 

    The only team that should be legitimately pissed off at the Browns is dem dere Baltimore Ratbirds.  Shoulda signed Lamar Jackson to a long term deal before  the Browns reset the compensation level for QBs.  I bet Lamar's agent is creaming his pants over the extra $50 million or so he's going to get now.  🙂   

  • @dutch-oven said:

    The Eagles were in the same position with Carson Wentz last year, and got nice compensation for him from the Colts. 

    But Wentz didn't have a bum shoulder that needed off season surgery.  and he's certainly a high character guy.  

    @dutch-oven said:

    I've heard a theory that the NFL in general is super duper pissed at the Browns for the contract that they gave to Watson, and the reason no one is going after Baker is that everyone kind of wants to stick it to the Browns and make them eat Baker's contract. 

    I mean, in some ways, it seems far-fetched, but on the other hand... 

    The only team that should be legitimately pissed off at the Browns is dem dere Baltimore Ratbirds.  Shoulda signed Lamar Jackson to a long term deal before  the Browns reset the compensation level for QBs.  I bet Lamar's agent is creaming his pants over the extra $50 million or so he's going to get now.  🙂   

    @hoorta said:

    But Wentz didn't have a bum shoulder that needed off season surgery.  and he's certainly a high character guy.   

    1. That is true, but Wentz had already developed the reputation as being injury-prone and it appeared his brain was broken the last year he played in Philadelphia. I remember the game he played in Cleveland, and that Brandon Weeden-like pick six he chucked. 

    2. Touche. 

  • @dutch-oven said:

    The Eagles were in the same position with Carson Wentz last year, and got nice compensation for him from the Colts. 

    But Wentz didn't have a bum shoulder that needed off season surgery.  and he's certainly a high character guy.  

    @dutch-oven said:

    I've heard a theory that the NFL in general is super duper pissed at the Browns for the contract that they gave to Watson, and the reason no one is going after Baker is that everyone kind of wants to stick it to the Browns and make them eat Baker's contract. 

    I mean, in some ways, it seems far-fetched, but on the other hand... 

    The only team that should be legitimately pissed off at the Browns is dem dere Baltimore Ratbirds.  Shoulda signed Lamar Jackson to a long term deal before  the Browns reset the compensation level for QBs.  I bet Lamar's agent is creaming his pants over the extra $50 million or so he's going to get now.  🙂   

    @hoorta said:

     The only team that should be legitimately pissed off at the Browns is dem dere Baltimore Ratbirds.  Shoulda signed Lamar Jackson to a long term deal before  the Browns reset the compensation level for QBs.  I bet Lamar's agent is creaming his pants over the extra $50 million or so he's going to get now.  🙂   

    The last thing anyone in the NFL wanted to have happen is for fully guaranteed contracts. 

    While every pro league does this, the NFL has been able to continue to not for 40 years after MLB instituted free agency. 

    Then the Browns go and do this.

  • @hoorta said:

     The only team that should be legitimately pissed off at the Browns is dem dere Baltimore Ratbirds.  Shoulda signed Lamar Jackson to a long term deal before  the Browns reset the compensation level for QBs.  I bet Lamar's agent is creaming his pants over the extra $50 million or so he's going to get now.  🙂   

    The last thing anyone in the NFL wanted to have happen is for fully guaranteed contracts. 

    While every pro league does this, the NFL has been able to continue to not for 40 years after MLB instituted free agency. 

    Then the Browns go and do this.

    @dutch-oven said:

    The last thing anyone in the NFL wanted to have happen is for fully guaranteed contracts. 

    While every pro league does this, the NFL has been able to continue to not for 40 years after MLB instituted free agency. 

    Then the Browns go and do this.

    at one point it was un heard of when cousins got all that guaranteed money then came mahomes contract that was some crazy shit and now this Fuck it  A new normal as i said before ?  yup i think so 

  • @hoorta said:

    I'll sort of leave Mr. Watson out of the conversation. BUT... Hey there Mr. Flugels... Baker's AMAZING career performances to date are overall SO spectacular that the Colts opted for Matt Ryan and a third round pick instead. And gosh darn, the Saints would rather have Famous Jamis. And when Ryan shipped up North to Indy, the Falcons opted for MAR-E-OTTA Instead. Notice a trend there?

    Too bad, so sad. Beating the Steelers in a playoff game where Ben & company were (pun intended) Baking up turnovers at a prodigious rate, doesn't mean Jack shit to the rest of the NFL. We may have to go the Osweiler route, and give up the 7th round pick we got for Keenum just to have another team take Baker and his $18 million salary  off our hands. 

    Wonderful!  Welcome to Jacoby Brissett as your new starting QB with Brock Osweiler as an alternative.  I'm not nearly as excited as you are about that.  And now you're complaining to me about the Browns beating Pittsburgh 48-37 AT Pittsburgh  in the playoffs after an 11-5 season just 3 years after 0-16 football (and 1-15 the year before that)? Don't you have to understand where we were at to understand that was fun for us as fans again?

    After seeing Indy's last choice of QB (Wentz) - I'd refrain from making them your role model for picking QB solutions today. We're beyond the point of arguing who and who doesn't want Baker.  It's over.  There was a better way to do this. Already explained it a few times in this thread..

    EDIT: Just heard a replay of Adam Shefter's report saying teams aren't refraining from Baker for a perceived lack of talent - it's the 18 million $ salary the Browns guaranteed him in his contract for this year. The ESPN show hosts agreed that as soon as the Browns eat that guaranteed salary and cut him - teams like Seattle and/or Carolina probably won't hesitate to bring him in. 

    @flugel said:

    Wonderful!  Welcome to Jacoby Brissett as your new starting QB with Brock Osweiler as an alternative.  I'm not nearly as excited as you are about that.  And now you're complaining to me about the Browns beating Pittsburgh 48-37 AT Pittsburgh  in the playoffs after an 11-5 season just 3 years after 0-16 football (and 1-15 the year before that)? Don't you have to understand where we were at to understand that was fun for us as fans again?

    After seeing Indy's last choice of QB (Wentz) - I'd refrain from making them your role model for picking QB solutions today. We're beyond the point of arguing who and who doesn't want Baker.  It's over.  There was a better way to do this. Already explained it a few times in this thread..

    EDIT: Just heard a replay of Adam Shefter's report saying teams aren't refraining from Baker for a perceived lack of talent - it's the 18 million $ salary the Browns guaranteed him in his contract for this year. The ESPN show hosts agreed that as soon as the Browns eat that guaranteed salary and cut him - teams like Seattle and/or Carolina probably won't hesitate to bring him in. 

    Baker just said something stupid about Carolina...his immaturity is costing him MILLIONS

  • @hoorta said:

    Tom, You just LOVE too bring up the HIGH HIGHS of Baker's career, and want to totally ignore the LOW LOWS. The talking heads have him pegged as wildly inconsistent. I happen to agree.  If I wanted to waste more time than I'm willing to commit to this discussion, I'm sure I could easily drag up some totally suckful performances by Mayfield that cost the Browns games.  

    And you haven't clung to just the LOWS Larry?  I've agreed a million times his 2021 season was a massive disappointment Larry.  Just to make you happy - I'll do it again.  Baker sucked last year!  All this is behind us now except for the 18 million $ guaranteed salary preventing potential teams that should be interested from taking the risk on a guy we can't throw away fast enough.  

    @flugel said:

    And you haven't clung to just the LOWS Larry?  I've agreed a million times his 2021 season was a massive disappointment Larry.  Just to make you happy - I'll do it again.  Baker sucked last year!  All this is behind us now except for the 18 million $ guaranteed salary preventing potential teams that should be interested from taking the risk on a guy we can't throw away fast enough.  

    It's also Baker's immaturity. He just said something stupid about Carolina. His mouth outweighs his talent. Who wants to deal with a guy who needs everything to be right (top 5 oline, rushing attack, defense, landry, hooper, njoku) to succeed but acts like Aaron Rodgers? He has attacked medical staff, former coaches, players about contracts, local and national reporters.....I mean remember he went to the media saying only HE makes the decision to play or not through his injury? How dafuq that makes your GM and HC feel?

    People bring up the Steelers playoff win like they didn't watch the Steelers implode with 5 turnovers?? He isn't worth it.....especially at 18 mill....he maynot be worth it for free

  • @flugel said:

    And you haven't clung to just the LOWS Larry?  I've agreed a million times his 2021 season was a massive disappointment Larry.  Just to make you happy - I'll do it again.  Baker sucked last year!  All this is behind us now except for the 18 million $ guaranteed salary preventing potential teams that should be interested from taking the risk on a guy we can't throw away fast enough.  

    It's also Baker's immaturity. He just said something stupid about Carolina. His mouth outweighs his talent. Who wants to deal with a guy who needs everything to be right (top 5 oline, rushing attack, defense, landry, hooper, njoku) to succeed but acts like Aaron Rodgers? He has attacked medical staff, former coaches, players about contracts, local and national reporters.....I mean remember he went to the media saying only HE makes the decision to play or not through his injury? How dafuq that makes your GM and HC feel?

    People bring up the Steelers playoff win like they didn't watch the Steelers implode with 5 turnovers?? He isn't worth it.....especially at 18 mill....he maynot be worth it for free

    @laiccm said:

    It's also Baker's immaturity. He just said something stupid about Carolina. His mouth outweighs his talent. Who wants to deal with a guy who needs everything to be right (top 5 oline, rushing attack, defense, landry, hopper, njoku)to succeed but acts like Aaron rodgers? He has attacked medical staff, former coaches, players about contracts, local and national reporters.....I mean remember he went to the media saying only HE makes the decision to play or not through his injury? How dafuq that makes your GM and HC feel?

    People bring up the Steelers playoff win like they didn't watch the Steelers implode with 5 turnovers?? He isn't worth it.....especially at 18 mill....he maynot be worth it for free

    You made some good points.  You don't need to sell me on the difference of talent between Watson and Baker.  I wanted us to draft Watson coming out of Clemson. If we did that - I wouldn't have to tell you I also wanted us to draft Baker 1 year later.  Watson didn't excite Jimmy and the FO until after he got himself into trouble - then rinsed and repeated it 21 more times.  

    Understanding at least some of that, it doesn't seem like you are aware of which guy has a greater chance of being suspended in 2022.  It's the guy with the character you don't have any complaints about.  22 different female victims of sexual assault and/or misconduct is what Goodell said he has to investigate.  That may not sound like anything big to some Cleveland fans; but there's going to be a lot of people swarming his office with complaints about rewarding this guy.  I'm talking about people that have had a family member or 2 assaulted.  The NFL channel's morning show on Monday already mentioned there's been some growing backlash about it.  They also mentioned that all this talk about our owner and FO saying they did a thorough investigation left out any attempts to reach any of the 22 victims and their attorneys.   

    Keep in mind, Goodell is the same guy that began a comprehensive investigation of the accusations of former and present female employees of Daniel Snyder and concluded there was only 1 bad guy in that entire investigation.  It was Jon Gruden of the Las Vegas Raiders not to be confused with the Washington Football Team.. Make sense?  It shouldn't...  Then again, Snyder was one of the wealthy owners involved in the process of approval for improving Roger Goodell's salary.  That may almost sound like Watson might have a chance...   Unfortunately for him, there's been some lingering backlash with that Washington situation ready to unite with those in this situation complaining about the NFL rewarding Watson on Roger's watch.  We shall see...

  • @laiccm said:

    It's also Baker's immaturity. He just said something stupid about Carolina. His mouth outweighs his talent. Who wants to deal with a guy who needs everything to be right (top 5 oline, rushing attack, defense, landry, hopper, njoku)to succeed but acts like Aaron rodgers? He has attacked medical staff, former coaches, players about contracts, local and national reporters.....I mean remember he went to the media saying only HE makes the decision to play or not through his injury? How dafuq that makes your GM and HC feel?

    People bring up the Steelers playoff win like they didn't watch the Steelers implode with 5 turnovers?? He isn't worth it.....especially at 18 mill....he maynot be worth it for free

    You made some good points.  You don't need to sell me on the difference of talent between Watson and Baker.  I wanted us to draft Watson coming out of Clemson. If we did that - I wouldn't have to tell you I also wanted us to draft Baker 1 year later.  Watson didn't excite Jimmy and the FO until after he got himself into trouble - then rinsed and repeated it 21 more times.  

    Understanding at least some of that, it doesn't seem like you are aware of which guy has a greater chance of being suspended in 2022.  It's the guy with the character you don't have any complaints about.  22 different female victims of sexual assault and/or misconduct is what Goodell said he has to investigate.  That may not sound like anything big to some Cleveland fans; but there's going to be a lot of people swarming his office with complaints about rewarding this guy.  I'm talking about people that have had a family member or 2 assaulted.  The NFL channel's morning show on Monday already mentioned there's been some growing backlash about it.  They also mentioned that all this talk about our owner and FO saying they did a thorough investigation left out any attempts to reach any of the 22 victims and their attorneys.   

    Keep in mind, Goodell is the same guy that began a comprehensive investigation of the accusations of former and present female employees of Daniel Snyder and concluded there was only 1 bad guy in that entire investigation.  It was Jon Gruden of the Las Vegas Raiders not to be confused with the Washington Football Team.. Make sense?  It shouldn't...  Then again, Snyder was one of the wealthy owners involved in the process of approval for improving Roger Goodell's salary.  That may almost sound like Watson might have a chance...   Unfortunately for him, there's been some lingering backlash with that Washington situation ready to unite with those in this situation complaining about the NFL rewarding Watson on Roger's watch.  We shall see...

    @flugel said:

    You made some good points.  You don't need to sell me on the difference of talent between Watson and Baker.  I wanted us to draft Watson coming out of Clemson. If we did that - I wouldn't have to tell you I also wanted us to draft Baker 1 year later.  Watson didn't excite Jimmy and the FO until after he got himself into trouble - then rinsed and repeated it 21 more times.  

    Understanding at least some of that, it doesn't seem like you are aware of which guy has a greater chance of being suspended in 2022.  It's the guy with the character you don't have any complaints about.  22 different female victims of sexual assault and/or misconduct is what Goodell said he has to investigate.  That may not sound like anything big to some Cleveland fans; but there's going to be a lot of people swarming his office with complaints about rewarding this guy.  I'm talking about people that have had a family member or 2 assaulted.  The NFL channel's morning show on Monday already mentioned there's been some growing backlash about it.  They also mentioned that all this talk about our owner and FO saying they did a thorough investigation left out any attempts to reach any of the 22 victims and their attorneys.   

    Keep in mind, Goodell is the same guy that began a comprehensive investigation of the accusations of former and present female employees of Daniel Snyder and concluded there was only 1 bad guy in that entire investigation.  It was Jon Gruden of the Las Vegas Raiders not to be confused with the Washington Football Team.. Make sense?  It shouldn't...  Then again, Snyder was one of the wealthy owners involved in the process of approval for improving Roger Goodell's salary.  That may almost sound like Watson might have a chance...   Unfortunately for him, there's been some lingering backlash with that Washington situation ready to unite with those in this situation complaining about the NFL rewarding Watson on Roger's watch.  We shall see...

    I wanted him too...I always thought it was strange that a guy who tore up a Bama defense twice, packed full of future NFL players, we wouldn't get. makes me think Hue was right.....lol

    It's not that I don't have any complaints about Watson....it's just 2 things.. Its all about if your talent outweighs your issue (Baker's don't)and 2nd  -NFL had had way too many issues like this and those actually convicted  and kept moving for me to have any real concern...vehicular homicides, rape, assaults, murder (Ray Lewis, Henandez), Indy owner, Pats owner, racial discrimination (they just started paying black CTE victims as much as whites because their analysis was blacks were dumber than whites thus it's harder to prove CTE). How can I make Watson 22 allegations that all were thrown out by a Grand jury that usually can indict a ham sandwich my line with all of those things aforementioned? He has elite talent, court cleared him....lets go

    I think Watson will get 10 games....there's no telling. Not to be political but they are all conservative wealthy men who all voted to give the nuclear football to someone with 25 allegations (other side ignored ignored Bill's as well). Will they make a example out of Watson or say he served a year already? So inconsistent that it's totally up in the air

  • @ballpeen said:

    I didn't mention all the things working against us.  Wentz checks a lot of the boxes Baker doesn't.  Baker had recent shoulder surgery.  Baker seems to be a high maintenance player.  He is in the option year of his rookie contract that pays 19 million.  It is going to be a tough sell.

    I hope I am wrong.

    I've heard a theory that the NFL in general is super duper pissed at the Browns for the contract that they gave to Watson, and the reason no one is going after Baker is that everyone kind of wants to stick it to the Browns and make them eat Baker's contract. 

    I mean, in some ways, it seems far-fetched, but on the other hand... 

    @dutch-oven said:

    I've heard a theory that the NFL in general is super duper pissed at the Browns for the contract that they gave to Watson, and the reason no one is going after Baker is that everyone kind of wants to stick it to the Browns and make them eat Baker's contract. 

    I mean, in some ways, it seems far-fetched, but on the other hand... 

    I guess it could be a possibility.  We may have opened Pandora's Box.  It was bound to be opened soon enough, but we did it first.

  • @dutch-oven said:

    I've heard a theory that the NFL in general is super duper pissed at the Browns for the contract that they gave to Watson, and the reason no one is going after Baker is that everyone kind of wants to stick it to the Browns and make them eat Baker's contract. 

    I mean, in some ways, it seems far-fetched, but on the other hand... 

    I guess it could be a possibility.  We may have opened Pandora's Box.  It was bound to be opened soon enough, but we did it first.

    @ballpeen said:

    I guess it could be a possibility.  We may have opened Pandora's Box.  It was bound to be opened soon enough, but we did it first.

    Yeah...waa they made at Mahomes near half a billion? Rodgers 50 mill a year.....?

    They should be more upset at alot of other things than that...F THEM

    GO BROWNS!!

  • I honestly can't blame Jimmy Haslam on this one... balls'zzzy why hell yeah ! but...

    1.) he's had the inside track/knowledge from Watson's attorney, because of a past relationship with Watson's attorney.. what did they think he would do?.. we did our background work 

    2.) The media said "The Browns are 'OUT' of the Watson deal" only Atlanta & tSaints were in..

    3.) Did he quit?  F no... offered Watson what 31 other teams could have offered... 1 team said they would have matched the offer ? (uhh sure)

    This deal has Haslam's ownership all over it... I want to see what he knows ?... the players talent is not what I question ...

    fk' what the other teams think

    what's said is said... just took some days to hit... submit reply

  • And I don't blame him either.  How many Cleveland owners in any sport just sat on the sidelines and did nothing?  Mostly all?

  • Watson is the best Browns QB since Otto Graham.  Build around him.

  • I'll admit, the timing of the lawsuit always struck me as interesting. 

    Watson demands to be traded from Houston, and before you know it, the Texans owner's lawyer neighbor has almost two dozen clients lined up against Watson. 

    On the other hand, let's be real about the "exhaustive background check" the Browns did on Watson. They don't give two shits if he did this, they just wanted to make sure none of it was going to stick to Watson before trading the world for him. I mean, this is the Haslams we are talking about.

  • I'll admit, the timing of the lawsuit always struck me as interesting. 

    Watson demands to be traded from Houston, and before you know it, the Texans owner's lawyer neighbor has almost two dozen clients lined up against Watson. 

    On the other hand, let's be real about the "exhaustive background check" the Browns did on Watson. They don't give two shits if he did this, they just wanted to make sure none of it was going to stick to Watson before trading the world for him. I mean, this is the Haslams we are talking about.

    @dutch-oven said:

    I'll admit, the timing of the lawsuit always struck me as interesting. 

    Watson demands to be traded from Houston, and before you know it, the Texans owner's lawyer neighbor has almost two dozen clients lined up against Watson. 

    On the other hand, let's be real about the "exhaustive background check" the Browns did on Watson. They don't give two shits if he did this, they just wanted to make sure none of it was going to stick to Watson before trading the world for him. I mean, this is the Haslams we are talking about.

    And like there was ALMOST no escalation whatsoever...like..BOOM 22. And as they say the grand jury can indict a ham sandwich...they didn't indict him on a singe 1? They could've indicted him on 2 and sent the other 20 packing away for example....but not even 1?

    Exactly....don't stick ...they don't give a F

  • @hoorta said:

    Couple of things Tom...

    1) tia posted some stuff showing Bakers flaws were evident even before he was injured. The Browns saw what I like to call Andy Dalton syndrome in Baker. An average QB who can get you to the playoffs if everything around him is optimally perfect.  I'm forced to see the goings on in Bungle Land... Throw in a couple WRs, and a top 5 QB = Super Bowl. And FYI look out for the Queen City Kitties in 2022... They've totally rebuilt their glaring weakness- their O-line.  🙁 

    2) Yes, $230 million guaranteed sets a new bar Flugs.  But need I remind you it was just four short years ago Cousins' $80 million guaranteed was considered totally nuts?  Let me opine on something that may make it not quite as nuts as it sounds...  DirecTv isn't going to be able to re-up with the NFL after 2022 on the Sunday ticket package of $1 billion a year. Reports are Disney already has an offer of $2.5 BILLION on the table for the package, and some are speculating it could go a lot higher than that. If it goes as high as $5 billion+ my handy dandy calculator tells me (after the owners take their cut) that alone could add $100 million a year to each team's cap space.

    3) We can say Baker is gonzo, but I'm not going to speculate what his damaged goods worth is to other teams in the NFL.

    4) Yes, as I told Pat Mahomo in another thread "Image is Everything". And Watson's massage parlor antics don't project a good image for the league. But LOL Robert Kraft getting charged with soliciting prostitution didn't?  Seems old Roger was scared shitless to discipline a guy who helps write his checks.  😁

    All that is fine and dandy; but I saw this team win 11 games and rathouse Pittsburgh 48-37 in the playoffs to see what is possible.  That already separates him from Andy Dalton.   One of our losses was a 47-42 loss on Thursday Night Football only because Baltimore got the ball last. Anyone call out the defense that night while the offense put 6 TDs (no FGs) on the board?  One of the best games of that year according to the announcers of it.  Anyone show film of Baker that night?  Of course not.  Whether you want to admit this or not, in the KC playoff game (at KC) - Baker hit Higgins with a pass that should have been the GW score late in the 4th qtr.  Guess who fumbled 3 inches in front of the goal line for a touchback?  Higgins.    We can pretend that never happened but a more talented WR secures that football or gets to the goal line quicker.  That TD would have put the Browns in the AFC Championship with the QB I keep reading just can't win.  You've seen him do it.  

    Shifting gears to now.  I was thinking that giving Baker his final year of the contract, keeping our next 3 1st round picks and having an opportunity to draft one of these QBs (Pickett, Corral, Strong, Willis) at #13 overall wouldn't have us worrying about the length of a suspension.  Roger won't be afraid to make an example of Watson; because it sure looks like he's excited about doing his own investigation.  The last time he investigated what a dirt bag Daniel Snyder - the only person that got punished was Jon Gruden (from another organization).  Stay tuned?  We have no choice.

    @flugel said:

    All that is fine and dandy; but I saw this team win 11 games and rathouse Pittsburgh 48-37 in the playoffs to see what is possible.  That already separates him from Andy Dalton.   One of our losses was a 47-42 loss on Thursday Night Football only because Baltimore got the ball last. Anyone call out the defense that night while the offense put 6 TDs (no FGs) on the board?  One of the best games of that year according to the announcers of it.  Anyone show film of Baker that night?  Of course not.  Whether you want to admit this or not, in the KC playoff game (at KC) - Baker hit Higgins with a pass that should have been the GW score late in the 4th qtr.  Guess who fumbled 3 inches in front of the goal line for a touchback?  Higgins.    We can pretend that never happened but a more talented WR secures that football or gets to the goal line quicker.  That TD would have put the Browns in the AFC Championship with the QB I keep reading just can't win.  You've seen him do it.  

    Shifting gears to now.  I was thinking that giving Baker his final year of the contract, keeping our next 3 1st round picks and having an opportunity to draft one of these QBs (Pickett, Corral, Strong, Willis) at #13 overall wouldn't have us worrying about the length of a suspension.  Roger won't be afraid to make an example of Watson; because it sure looks like he's excited about doing his own investigation.  The last time he investigated what a dirt bag Daniel Snyder - the only person that got punished was Jon Gruden (from another organization).  Stay tuned?  We have no choice.

    Yep....exactly right. The media, with the help of Browns have made Mayfield look like a draft bust. I didn't care for his attitude, but I've seen worse. These people point out the OBJ fiasco...how Baker couldn't get the ball to him. That's a load of crap. The guy wanted out before he ever got here. He couldn't run a correct route to save his life. He was a free lancer that did not fit this offense. Why don't they have a video of all the balls that were in his hands, that he dropped? Baker brought excitement back...expectations of winning in any game. I can't believe how easily they turn on a qb who was the best we've had since '99. I'm with you...I'm out. I know this whole Deshaun Watson thing is going to blow up in Haslam's face. Berry will be the scapegoat...the Browns and Cleveland will be the joke of the NFL...as usual. The only good that can come from this, is if Haslam is somehow decides to sell the team after all the humiliation. I can't even begin to imagine a worse owner.