Watson personally called the Browns Thursday morning to tell them they were out of the running.  Apparently, the Browns stayed in touch with his agent and turned Watson's head with a five-year contract for $230 million GUARANTEED.  That puts Watson between Rogers and Mahomes.  

Interestingly, Dee Haslem, co-owner of the Browns, is on the NFL's Conduct Committee. 

I don't think any of the talking-heads picked the Browns as the landing place for Watson.  I didn't either.  This statement by Cleveland.com's, Mary Kay Cabot, sums up the situation as well as any I've seen.

"Watson, ... comes to Cleveland with a boatload of Super Bowl potential and arguably more baggage than anyone in NFL history."

 

The Browns are fools. But we knew that already. 

Every single one of my friends on Facebook that are female and a Browns fan, are ticked off. Every. Single. One.

11 minutes ago, CincySportsFan said:

Every single one of my friends on Facebook that are female and a Browns fan, are ticked off. Every. Single. One.

I have already seen it too including a Bill Cosby face on Watson's body.

Browns Get:

Watson

24' 5th RD Pick.

 

Texans Get:

22' 1st RD Pick

23' 1st RD Pick

23' 4th RD Pick

24' 1st RD Pick

24' 5th RD Pick

 

As a die hard Houston fan, I'm not sure how I feel about this. I guess just have to wait and see how it plays out. Better be some darn good picks.

So Cleveland gets Watson at what $80 mil a year guaranteed?   Good luck fielding a quality team around him with your QB sucking up that much cap room.   Will he restructure when Garrett is up? Or Cooper, or Chubb or anyone else?

From what I read, his base salary is only $1 million, so if he is suspended, it comes from that base.

13 minutes ago, MJAlltheWay24 said:

From what I read, his base salary is only $1 million, so if he is suspended, it comes from that base.

Which is a super slick way of sidestepping that.  Does anyone know if the NFL has a maximum limit on their fines? You'd have to think if they suspend him that they will levy a hefty fine as well - especially since they know that's what Watson and his agent were playing at here.  But that was a very savvy move.

How good of a fit is Watson for the Browns and does this addition make them the favorite in the North?

That's a good question..  One interesting thing is, the Browns didn't give up any existing players in this deal.  When healthy, they have a very good roster on offense and defense.  In fact, I don't know of a better team roster in the AFC North.  They addressed the need for a very good receiver (though not elite).  They added another WR, Jakeem Grant who is also a good returner. And already have Donovan Peoples-Jones.   Though they previously dumped TE Austin Hooper, they still have an athletic freak at the position, David Njoku and a second TE with good hands and excellent route runner.  The OLine is a top unit when healthy.  And they have Chubb, Hunter, and kept D'Ernest Johnson.  Throw Watson into that mix and you have an explosive offense that will put a lot of pressure on the oppositions whole defense.  I believe Watson will do well because he is an elite talent.  Stefanski will figure out how to maximize his talent. 

Their much improved defense is also coming back in 2022.  

Btw, the Browns are not done in free agency.  

7 hours ago, MJAlltheWay24 said:

From what I read, his base salary is only $1 million, so if he is suspended, it comes from that base.

I believe that is only the case for the first year, as that's when they're worried the NFL may step in and suspend him. If he would've gotten suspended this past season, he would've lost about $2M per game. Now, if it happens this year, it'd only be about $55k per game.

As to fines, I think there are maximums that the NFL can impose, due to the CBA. This is why missing game checks can have much more impact than a fine. But Watson has weaseled his way out of that being the case this year.

6 hours ago, theguru said:

How good of a fit is Watson for the Browns and does this addition make them the favorite in the North?

Now let me answer your question a little more specifically.  Scott Patsko of Cleveland.com addressed this very question.  He pointed out that Houston ran a very different offense than that run by the Browns under Stefanski.  However, Watson is mobile and Mayfield seemed to do better in this offense when he was mobile.  The Browns ran a lot of play action while Houston did not.  But in Watson's rookie season, Houston did run more play action and Watson performed well.  His completion percentage goes down slightly when using play action but not enough to notice.  Huston runs a lot of 3-WR sets.  Cleveland does not.  Cleveland uses a lot of 3-TE sets.  Houston did use a lot of 2-TE sets so this should translate to Cleveland.  And with Austin Hooper gone, I don't know if Cleveland will have three TEs on the field as often as they have the last two years.  Watson's completion percentage has been over 67% and this bodes well in a ball control offense.  With threat of Chubb and Hunt, and Watsons ability, I believe there will be more opportunities down field with Watson and I expect there to be more chunk plays added to what Stefanski had for Mayfield.  I think Stefanski is going to enjoy scheming for the skills Watson brings.  

Here is a link the Cleveland.com article for who may be interested: Watson in Stefanski Offense?

On 3/18/2022 at 4:28 PM, oldgrappler said:

Watson had everyone fooled.  Money talks and Haslem has it.  And as @bugatti says, winning will change people's opinions. 

....IF he spends more time on the field than in court/jail.....

On 3/19/2022 at 5:34 PM, oldgrappler said:

Now let me answer your question a little more specifically.  Scott Patsko of Cleveland.com addressed this very question.  He pointed out that Houston ran a very different offense than that run by the Browns under Stefanski.  However, Watson is mobile and Mayfield seemed to do better in this offense when he was mobile.  The Browns ran a lot of play action while Houston did not.  But in Watson's rookie season, Houston did run more play action and Watson performed well.  His completion percentage goes down slightly when using play action but not enough to notice.  Huston runs a lot of 3-WR sets.  Cleveland does not.  Cleveland uses a lot of 3-TE sets.  Houston did use a lot of 2-TE sets so this should translate to Cleveland.  And with Austin Hooper gone, I don't know if Cleveland will have three TEs on the field as often as they have the last two years.  Watson's completion percentage has been over 67% and this bodes well in a ball control offense.  With threat of Chubb and Hunt, and Watsons ability, I believe there will be more opportunities down field with Watson and I expect there to be more chunk plays added to what Stefanski had for Mayfield.  I think Stefanski is going to enjoy scheming for the skills Watson brings.  

Here is a link the Cleveland.com article for who may be interested: Watson in Stefanski Offense?

I am interested to see the offense they run too with Watson. Watson always seemed to be better off in the spread. Which Mayfield also most likely would be better off in a spread offense too. However, they didn’t allow Mayfield to do that really. Will they change to fit Watson skill set, since they didn’t really change to fit Mayfields? Or will they make Watson have to change to fit their offense?