I hope Watson balls out and kicks butt. I have not confidence whatsoever that he will, he lays an egg week 1 they should just agree to end it. If he manages to play well, he can get another week.

I don't think Sanders is a world beater at this point, but also whats the point of starting Watson. I really wonder if upper management is pushing this. No one looking at the performances from outside the building see any reason Watson should start. They should just eat their s*** sandwich with Watson. Pay him to backup. You aren't going to resign him after this year anyways, unless a Festivus miracle happens, this is going to fail and you will move to Sanders anyways. Just skip the middle man and live or die with Sanders and leave no doubt one way or the other going into 2027.

I was probably in favor of Watson starting after last week. I think I am firmly with Sanders, for two reasons. First, I think he played better overall, Watson looks horrid, I get you are working with 3rd teamers etc so you should be balling out against 3rd teamers as well. It was terrible. I thought Sanders was better with the same cast last week then Watson was this week. Second, his answer to the question about the boos. First, I don't think we should be booing any players, and certainly not cheering when they get injured. That said, Watson's answer should have something like....Look I understand the situation, I can only control how I play and the only way I am going to fix that issue is to win ball games and I am doing everything I can do, to do that. Thats all he had to say. The way he handled the whole thing has been piss poor. Just ride Sanders and see if can be the guy so going into next season you know for sure one way or the other. I would just cut Watson at this point.

@ballpeen said:

I agree.  We have to remember that Myles was vocal about wanting out.

Yeah but then he signed an extension. There is stuff we dont know that we need to know.

@browns149 said:

They might be picking first next year. The tank-a-thon is in full effect now

The defense is definitely worse now. I think the effect on the defense is going to be huge. Can't rely just on front 4 getting home, more blitzing, more reliance on DBs. Verse didn't even have double digit sacks last year. Myles had more sacks 2 games than Verse had all year. And that first picks is definitely going to be towards bottom of first round, I don't see how that pick helps move he needle to move up in draft. We gotta hope for the Rams to implode.

@londonbrown said:

What a terrible trade. This trade in my opinion does little to help you acquire a QB in the next draft. I would like to know why they felt they must trade him now after just resigning him.

@dutch-oven said:

LA Rams and Philadelphia Eagles are rumored to be going after Myles.

Rams are rumored to have offered the Browns a “Ricky Williams-esque trade package”

Well the leaked details of this Rams trade hardly look Ricky Williams-esque. Its underwhelming actually.

Coming in today, I think many folks believed the Steeler had made the worst HC hire. The Browns said hold my beer.

@jax said:

I would have been happy if we hired Nate Scheelhaase instead, but this is sad.

Silver lining is maybe this gets AB out of here and one can only hope JH sells.

If this fails then yeah I dont think you can defend AB anymore. This is such an underwhelming move.

All this time searching for Monken?? I hope this works out but previous history tells me he will fail. What an underwhelming choice. I would rather either of the other 2 finalist then Monken.

@calfoxwc said:

I don't know. He's 63 years old, why not hire a younger guy with some fire to last for decades?

Young guy is a crap shoot. And we haven't exactly hired winners as HC since the return. Stefanski was the best coach we have had and he had losing record. I would take Harbaugh even for a few years to help change the culture.

I would 100% hire Harbaugh, even if he didn't win a SB here, he would bring stability which this franchise desperately needs. He should move to the top of the list. Harbaugh and keep Schwartz, you might even attract some Ravens players to come over with Harbaugh. 

@flugel said:

Not having 1 decent OTackle limits the ability to play gridiron chess against teams with MUCH BETTER talent from FOs far better than Berry.  You're in check all game until the final score confirms check mate.  Asking an OC to try to be David Copperfield for 3 hours every Sunday is why this team averaged 4 wins these last two 17 game seasons.

Berry has sucked at understanding how to build a team.  Remember a few years ago when he decided DTs weren't that important while he wanted lighter/faster LBers to cover the pass better?  Consequently, opponents running at our DTs/IDL became such a gimme they didn't even bother to waste any time trying to throw at the Browns Defense.  Why would they decline the forfeit upfront?  In the process, it felt like we lost all the projected starting LBers to IR.  That's how well that incompetent plan turned out.  It's hard to believe Berry worked under Howie Roseman in Philly; because that guy set up their OL and DL extremely well.  He always drafts OL and DL. He drafted RT Lane Johnson in rd 1 2013; LT Jordan Mailata in rd 7 2018; LG Landon Dickerson rd 2 2021; C Cam Jurgens rd 2 2022; RG Tyler Steen rd 3 2023, etc.  Those are just the starters he drafted so we see he never NEGLECTS OL.  On the DL he drafted Jordan Davis rd 1 2022; DT Jalen Carter rd 1a 2023; DE Moro Ojomo rd 7 2023; OLB Nolan Smith Jr rd 1b 2023 and these are just the starters he drafted upfront.

I would have fired Andrew Berry 1st.

I remember when they were high on players based on certain metrics/awards versus actual tape and scheme etc. We drafted a bunch of players who were never great, some were good, a lot weren't. I hope that the thinking based on the last draft has changed. I also agree that they need to draft OL. Now, they have in the past drafted OL, they all never really panned out. Two areas we haven't drafted well are OL and WR. Both of those position groups are very bad right now. I remember when we had Dorsey, that dude wasn't perfect, but he knows NFL talent.

@tiamat63 said:

For a team that's about to draft a WR as their 1st overall, is it really that much of a stretch?   Also worth pointing out, WR's "getting open" also ties directly in to pass pro and time for the routes to properly develop.    No small secret that this OL hasn't given any QB behind it much time. 

Building the line should be the top priority.

@sdbacker80 said:

So when AB sputters this coming draft or makes another disastrous trade or free agent move and he’s out door - we have an AB led HC search and selection up in the air once again with a new GM.

I would preferred to clean house completely 

When we clean house it doesn't go well. That said, I would have given Kevin 1 more year and then if the draft was bad and the team sucked, clean house. You do make a valid point if AB sucks next season and he is let go then you stuck with his coach.

@lodilobo said:

He will suck again....just like every year. He got lucky in last year's draft. He should have been fired before Stefanski.

I hope you are wrong on the sucking again, but this next draft should let us know if he got his act together or not.

@canton-dawg said:

I’m watching the presser with Hillbilly Haslam.

He spent a great deal of time swinging on AB’s nutsack, particularly how his most recent draft went.

Somehow he glossed over his previous lackluster performance in the draft.

Not to mention not drafting a single offensive lineman, and drafting two rookie QB’s to lead us to the playoffs ??

I think both Berry and Kevin should have had one more year. AB did some very good things this year, but he has had some bad misses over his tenure too. Hopefully, with this last draft he is turning the corner. I think the 2nd QB wasn't in the plan but when Sanders was sitting there at 5 they couldn't resist the value. The problem came I think when they tried to figure out how to navigate the QB situation and evaluating them. I believe Kevin probably set Dillon higher due to maybe liking him pre-draft and being a higher draft pick and that being part of their original plan. But we may never know since they never talk about any of this stuff so we are left to speculate. 

Well they fired Stefanski. I do not think this is the proper move. I would have given him 1 more year. The o-line was trash all year and the QB situation was in flux all year. Jeudy isn't the guy Cooper was, not eve close, so the offense sputtered. I would be interested in knowing how they evaluated the QBs in camp etc. Maybe this is where Stefanski got in trouble this year. While Sanders didn't knock it out of the park, he was way better then Gabriel. You should play the better player regardless of where they are drafted. All of that said, I think he should have been given another year. I am not sure what the expectation for this year was but a lot had to break right for the Browns this year and that didn't happen. Also, lets not forget that firing Stefanski might also mean Schwartz is gone. I hope that doesn't happen but its a strong possibility.

@orion said:

I can imagine it for you:

They traded for and signed their starting & backup QB's before the draft.  Flacco & Pickett   

The plan was to draft their developmental QB in the 'Developmental QB Talent Level' draft.....knowing that you probably wouldn't want him seeing the field  

And so here we are.  All set.  We've got all three.  Starter, Backup & Developmental.  It's just that the Developmental guy brought a friend.  And they're both doing well enough that you're not letting either of them go.

I suspect Pickett will be unloaded. Him not playing in any preseason game(they said today he wont play Saturday) should really mean we get rid of him. He isn't doing anything at this point.

@dutch-oven said:

I'm sure the Browns had no thought that they'd take another QB but when he was still sitting there felt like they had to pull the trigger.

The Gabriel pick is the only one I don't like. I would have been ok I suppose with him in the 5th or 6th round, but I agree, there were other guys I would've taken in a second over him there. 

Yeah thats probably the worst pick of the ones they made. I am sure if they really thought Sanders would be there later they would have not picked him. That said getting him in the 5th is almost a no brainer. If he becomes some locker room issue it cost nothing to cut him. If he excels the only negative would be you dont have the 5th year option.