As the national media rakes the Browns over the coals for their news conference on Friday, let’s remember it’s football and it’s a billion-dollar a year industry. A quick couple of comments about the presser on Friday. It was appropriately serious and somber. The Cleveland media asked the right questions, and the Browns did answer to the best of their abilities. I found Andrew Berry, Kevin Stefanski and Deshaun Watson very genuine. But I’ll let the process work its course. I still have reservations about Deshaun Watson the person, but not about Deshaun Watson the player. He’s a top five, maybe a top ten quarterback in this league. He chose Cleveland before he knew about the giant contract, he knew this was a talented roster. I consider him the best quarterback in the AFC North. But now what?
The Browns protected themselves in case of a Watson suspension by signing Jacoby Brissett. It sounds like Watson will not settle any cases against him any time soon. He wants to prove his innocence. This could take a while. His case has been brought before two grand juries for criminal charges. The first took a couple of days, the second took a couple of hours. It’s a he said, she said situation, and unfortunately the she said gets run over by the talent of the player. As for the reporting the Browns structured Watson’s contract to protect him from losing money if suspended, that’s a load of crap. Myles Garrett, Amari Cooper, Nick Chubb, Wyatt Teller, Tyreek Hill and Aaron Rogers all have the same structure. Last year the Titans did the same thing with Ryan Tannehill’s contract restructure to sign WR Julio Jones. It’s common in the NFL.
As for Baker Mayfield, his agent is working with the Browns to find him a new home. The Browns are going to have to pay the team trading for Mayfield part of his salary because right now Mayfield is seen as a backup, unless Seattle changes its mind about Drew Lock. You have to think Tampa would take him as a backup to Brady. Look what happened to Mitch Trubisky and Marcus Mariota last year. They both sat behind two pretty good quarterbacks and worked their way into starting positions with two new teams. Wash, rinse, repeat. The biggest Mayfield news over this weekend was reported by ESPN and Joe Thomas that he turned down a $30 million dollar a year extension last year. Put the shovel down Baker. Right now, the man can’t get out of his own way. All this will come to a head before April 18 when the Browns have a training camp session. If Mayfield doesn’t show up, (he’s still on the roster), he’ll be fined $50K a day. This penalty is written in the new CBA and is mandatory. Money talks and you know what walks.
As for more free agency news, I hear it’s coming. Trust in the man who I consider a Ninja GM, Andrew Berry. All I know is I don’t have to watch the first day of the draft for the next three years, or do I? Everyone stay safe and Go Browns.