With the NFL league year starting on March 17, here are some quick notes.
J.J. Watt News. There is none. Despite what John Clayton said on a Pittsburg radio station that Watt had narrowed his choice to three teams, Titans, Packers and Bills, Watt still doesn’t have a favorite. Clayton reversed course a couple hours later saying he was giving an opinion, not sourced information. Yes, the Browns are still in the bidding for Mr. Watt’s services. There was also a report that a team offered Watt $15-$16 million. Also not true. No one has made Watt a formal offer yet. It does sound like Watt has narrowed his list to five or six teams. Don’t you just love twitter.
Current Browns Players Tweets. We’ve had Jarvis Landry tweeting inspirational messages, Rashard Higgins wanting to sign a contract to stay in Cleveland and David Njoku sort of saying goodbye. I don’t try and decode players tweets because it makes my head hurt. Landry is always tweeting uplifting messages. If he had tweeted “When one door closes, another door opens” during a game week, Browns fans would be pumped and waiting for Landry to have a big game. He tweets this prior to free agency and now Browns twitter is convinced he has been traded or cut. Stop. As for Higgins and Njoku, the Browns are going to let the market set the price for Higgins and Njoku still wants to be traded, no surprise.
Twitter Rumors. We are in Bulls**t season so here comes the barrage of “experts” throwing crap against the wall to see what sticks. Here’s an example from someone named Chad Forbes, ” #Eagles Not Shopping Derek Barnett but perspective around league is they’re certainly listening. Timing Wise, most teams will sort through FA Edge Rushers prior to considering trades at position. One exception is #Browns. Told there’s a dialogue there on Barnett.” I have no idea who Chad Forbes is and no clue if this is true. I do know that Andrew Berry has made only two trades for players since being hired as the Browns GM, FB Andy Janovich and S Ronnie Harrison. He doesn’t trade for players unless he can get great value. Starting FB for a seventh round pick and a starting safety for a fifth round pick. Value. Berry likes to save his draft picks for the draft, whether it be for players or movement during the draft.
Salary Cap News. As I mentioned in my last blog, the cap went from $175 million to $180 million. Now that the NFL has worked out a new TV deal, the league and the players union will meet this week to officially set the 2021 salary cap. Because the NFL is trying to recoup the revenue it lost in 2020, I don’t expect the cap to go any higher than $185 to $188 million. However, once the cap is set, I do expect a flurry of activity involving players and more players signing one year contracts. The 2022 cap could go $210 million, so players will cash in then.
Virtual Meetings With Draft Prospects. These lists of players the Browns are interviewing are accurate. Believe tweets like this, “http://clebrownsnetwork @clebrownsntwork · 11m The #Browns have/plan to conduct virtual meetings with the following NFL prospects: Northwestern CB Greg Newsome (projected late first, early second), Kentucky LB Jamin Davis (projected late first, second round), and SDSU CB Darren Hall (projected round 4-6).” This is an example of good twitter for Browns fans.
That’s all I got for now Browns fans. If it’s true that J.J. Watt has his list down to five or six teams, then he might start taking visits to team training sites. If this happens, everyone will know the teams he’s got on his list and twitter will explode. You think the Cleveland media will be camped out in Berea? Again, if the salary cap gets set this week, Boom, you’ll see a lot of activity. Everyone stay safe and Go Browns.