2022 NFL Discussion Thread

[Joseph Zarr]

Paying that amount of money to Deshaun Watson is some kind of something. Pair it with that amount of draft picks and, well, the Cleveland Browns are the Cleveland Browns for a reason. I imagine vetoing your 'No Trade' clause is a wee bit easier with that price tag attached on the other end. Goooooodness Gracious.

[adambr2]

54 minutes ago, Julio Muchacho said:

Paying that amount of money to Deshaun Watson is some kind of something. Pair it with that amount of draft picks and, well, the Cleveland Browns are the Cleveland Browns for a reason. I imagine vetoing your 'No Trade' clause is a wee bit easier with that price tag attached on the other end. Goooooodness Gracious.

Guess I don't really disagree with them doing it. The going rate for franchise QBs is extremely high and now they have one. Rarely does one become available via trade. After everything that franchise has been through over the years, I can certainly understand them going for it. They weren't going anywhere with Baker Mayfield as their QB.

[PeaveyFury]

Reports tonight that long time ESPN reporter John Clayton passed away today.

[Joseph Zarr]

49 minutes ago, PeaveyFury said:

Reports tonight that long time ESPN reporter John Clayton passed away today.

I was literally coming to post this. AND, frankly, I am truly truly sad. John seems to have faded from the ESPN machine over the past several years. He was a 'Go To' in the bygone era. May he rest in peace. AND, may he be remembered for the part he played in helping lift American Football to its heights. He is a Legend. No doubt about it.

[wildcat83]

Designing a contract to protect a player financially from an impending sexual assault suspension is pretty disgusting.  Doesn’t surprise me one bit, but still pretty low.

[jerichoholicninja]

I thought contracts had to be paid within a certain percentage of the total every year to prevent cap tricks.

[HarryDoyle]

Robert Woods to the Titans for a 2023 6th round pick.

[PeaveyFury]

I know Davante is better than them, but the people calling the return light are seeing first hand how good it actually was. Cooper and Woods are pretty solid WRs and got traded for 3rd day picks.

[endaround]

Cooper has injury concerns but if the Packers knew Adams was this close to gone they should have been in on him.  Woods has injury concerns but they also should have been willing to go after him too. At least there are lots of possession types still available. 

[craigharmann]

On 3/18/2022 at 10:14 PM, wildcat83 said:

Designing a contract to protect a player financially from an impending sexual assault suspension is pretty disgusting.  Doesn’t surprise me one bit, but still pretty low.

Exactly. I live in Houston. The feelings from fans here (I’m not a fan, just a casual observer of the train wreck) is good riddance to him. I’m shocked that the Texans got the return for him, but honestly, I’m not surprised he got the contract he got. It’s gross and absolutely out of bounds, but people think he’s got talent and even after sitting out one year (and will be out for an undetermined period this upcoming season), he’ll pick up where he left off. I’m skeptical.

[GAME05]

Why wasn't Watson suspended last year? The civil suits aren't all that recent. 

I'm also surprised that the Browns paid him what they did. You'd think they'd have a little leverage in negotiations with someone in his situation who also could hurt their playoff chances next year by missing a lot of games (or maybe just a game or two, considering how the NFL operates. If only he'd have watched a friend murder somebody and then covered it up we wouldn't have to worry about a suspension). 

Browns haven't had a decent QB since Bernie Kozar, who wasn't a world-beater to begin with. Makes sense to pay big and finally get one. Their fans really need it at this point. 

[madbad2000]

Watson wasn't suspended because the NFL was waiting out the criminal investigations before making a suspension choice.  They also didn't need to suspend him in the interim because the Texans basically did that for them the whole year.  The Browns gave him that contract because that is what put them back into the running for Watson.  Once Carolina and Cleveland were out, the Browns power move of a fully guaranteed deal obviously moved them back to the front.  This was a very unique deal because Watson had a no trade clause.  So it doesn't matter what you were willing to trade Houston, you basically had to court Watson like free agency and the Browns went over the top obviously.  The acquiring team had very little leverage in this weird situation.

[young guns]

Any possibility the NFL uses this season to "gather information" and then suspend him next year as a way to bypass that 1 million base salary?

[NBBrewFan]

7 minutes ago, young guns said:

Any possibility the NFL uses this season to "gather information" and then suspend him next year as a way to bypass that 1 million base salary?

Well they can do whatever they want, but sometimes that costs them lots of money (see City of St. Louis v. NFL). I think they are limited with what they can do to the player, but they may want to have a discussion with the Haslem's. I wonder if the Browns even have a PR person because helping a serial sexual assailant from losing money because of those activities is a REALLY bad look.

[RedStickBrew]

The Bengals are starting to take the LSU North thing seriously I think, signing La'el Collins now

[jerichoholicninja]

On 3/20/2022 at 9:59 AM, NBBrewFan said:

Well they can do whatever they want, but sometimes that costs them lots of money (see City of St. Louis v. NFL). I think they are limited with what they can do to the player, but they may want to have a discussion with the Haslem's. I wonder if the Browns even have a PR person because helping a serial sexual assailant from losing money because of those activities is a REALLY bad look.

People moved past Vick and Roethlisberger pretty quickly. If Watson is consistently taking the Browns to the playoffs no one in Cleveland is really going to care. Most likely some other NFL player is going to be accused of something equally or more heinous before the start of next season and people will forget Watson. I can't believe Alvin Kamara assaulting a man for being in his way in an elevator hasn't made more news.

[NBBrewFan]

1 hour ago, jerichoholicninja said:

People moved past Vick and Roethlisberger pretty quickly. If Watson is consistently taking the Browns to the playoffs no one in Cleveland is really going to care. Most likely some other NFL player is going to be accused of something equally or more heinous before the start of next season and people will forget Watson. I can't believe Alvin Kamara assaulting a man for being in his way in an elevator hasn't made more news.

In most cases people will move past it when the player is suspended and he/she loses the associated salary.  What the Browns have done is unique in that they are really removing punishment from the player by structuring his contract in such a way that he will only lose a tiny fraction of what he should lose.  I believe this is the first time a team has actively set up a contract to reduce the impact of a likely suspension due to sexual assault. To me that's a really bad look. 

[jerichoholicninja]

10 minutes ago, NBBrewFan said:

In most cases people will move past it when the player is suspended and he/she loses the associated salary.  What the Browns have done is unique in that they are really removing punishment from the player by structuring his contract in such a way that he will only lose a tiny fraction of what he should lose.  I believe this is the first time a team has actively set up a contract to reduce the impact of a likely suspension due to sexual assault. To me that's a really bad look. 

I think you're giving the general public too much credit to even understand that's going on.

[PeaveyFury]

Matt Ryan to the Colts for a 3rd.

[BillScottCanRake]

2 minutes ago, PeaveyFury said:

Matt Ryan to the Colts for a 3rd.

The cynic in me is already wondering who they'll acquire next year...

[PeaveyFury]

1 minute ago, BillScottCanRake said:

The cynic in me is already wondering who they'll acquire next year...

Jordan Love would be a great backup this year to take over next!!

[NBBrewFan]

So they trade a QB who will be 30 and had a RATE+ of 102 last year and replace him with a QB who will be 37 and had a RATE+ of 100, 102 and 98 the last 3 years?

[adambr2]

Adams' contract is essentially for 3 years and $67.5M. Actually quite team friendly given the market. He has non guaranteed salaries of 35M each for '25 and '26 and is therefore almost certain to be a cap casualty after 2024.

[Matt Breen]

Marcus Mariota to the Falcons as a FA. Two-year deal. Likely a stopgap QB to run things as they tank and lose even more.

 

[PeaveyFury]

So with Winston back to the Saints, is there any place left for Mayfield to actually go?