Deshaun Watson to Browns - $230 million guaranteed

[DrPJax]

12 hours ago, 716er said:

Browns play in Buffalo this season.

Wow, this really does suck! The AFC is going to be a nightmare to come out of.  Meanwhile the NFC looks like a predictable battle between Brady and Rodgers , with Stafford pulling up the rear and Murray as the little train who could ! .  The Texans are proving even tho they can’t field a team , they will influence the playoffs for year to come !    So the AFC HAS ALLEN, WILSON, MAHOMES , WATSON , Jackson of Raven lore, HERBET , CARR, JETS WILSON , THE PATS GAME MANAGER, POSSIBLY MITCH WITH THE STEELERS, LAWRENCE, possibly Mayfield with the Colts ? and that is a crazy level of competition.  Throw in guys like Mack and Jackson with bosa in San Diego and Adams with the Raiders, Miller now with the Bills , and even more talent flows into a super competitive AFC. All this even BEFORE the draft!   
 

It figures after all the years we had to deal with being dominated by Brady , just by him alone being so far above the other qbs in the division , that only two years with him gone Mahomes immediately emerges  and even with Josh developing  as a superstar , the AFC gets such a talent infusion that it is feasible there will be limited or even maybe just one shot at a SB title for any given team.    it’s almost impossible for a team to dominate in this conference for any consecutive periods because the QB position is now SB adequate in many spots and there are also possible dominant D’S on the horizon evolving !   All those thinking we are a certainty to go to the SB in the next three years Need to pump the brakes.
 

It’s going to be a dog fight all the way and it only takes that one loss, a flubbed 13 seconds that could even become more Billsy and someone loses with only 10:seconds remaining, in the arms race of the AFC!  Just in itself it seems this kind of thing only happens to the Bills; we finally have a generational talent at Qb , and right at that exact moment in history the AFC makes the NFC look like the XFL!  Lol!   If I don’t laugh , I may start to.tear up as it’s just never easy for our beloved Bills !  Man , I don’t think any of us saw this coming and just 48 hours ago I was watching so many content providers / podcasters on YouTube gleefully laughing after signing settles , safford et Al , and then with the huge Miller surprise out of thin air, proclaiming our right, our destiny to the super bowl.    It just goes harkens back to those who lived the 90’s,,,,, we all learned even 4 shots in a row guaranteed nothing , take nothing for granted , and things now seem anything but certain!   One thing is certain , there won’t be any frauds coming out of this conference!  😉😊

[cle23]

8 hours ago, Niagara Bill said:

A true franchise QB does not get himself in the position he has been in. He played well, but did not win anything. We shall see if he becomes a franchise QB.  My money would be on the downside, especially with Cleveland.

I see an overhyped guy with athletic ability, who failed to work and study hard enough to elevate his team before he was unmasked. IMHO

 

The dude has the 2nd highest passer rating in NFL history. If you don't like him for the off the field stuff, that's perfectly reasonable.  I get that, I'm not thrilled with the trade either.  But quit acting like he is some mediocre QB. You have no idea what his work habits are. 

 

[DrPJax]

5 hours ago, JayBaller10 said:

No disagreement here. They always say “where there’s smoke…” I typed out above what I believe happened, at least the initial contact, I’m just unsure the resolution, whether it was rape/assault, or women who took money in exchange. And of course even if they took the money they could still feel dirty and uncomfortable about it. 

It’s not just about rape, as he could have been a serial exposer or letting the towels suddenly drop off, guiding a hand , making suggestions etc.   Lots of levels of wrong possible and I am sure he passed it off as unintentional and many may have put it out of their thinking as self protection / denial kicks in. Pretty hard to report that UNTIL you start reading about him doing it to others and then they got courage and validation that they did nothing as an individual to bring on this behavior.  
 

In my family practice I saw more than a few cases of women abused and even physically beaten and it’s classic domestic violence ( just like we saw in the gabby case last year as she blamed her own behavior , justifying his abuse until it cost her life)response  behavior to keep denying and allowing terrible behavior to continue.  It’s about POWER  , and Watson had tons of that. In my own biased opinion ,  this many women are too compelling to just believe he is the “ victim” and I will only watch him if he is playing the Bills and I will be hoping he needs a masseuse after playing us and can’t find any to work on him except for some muscular dude with a family history of a close relative being victimized and they aggressively work out his trigger points ! 😉

[Matt_In_NH]

So in the end Watson loses a season of playing (but was paid) and public reputation.  But comes out way ahead financially.  Interesting.  

[HOUSE]

 Like I always say, The Browns will screw this all up THEN dump the player within 3 years

 

This one is to predictable....Carnage in Cleveland

 

 

 

 

[Niagara Bill]

1 hour ago, cle23 said:

 

The dude has the 2nd highest passer rating in NFL history. If you don't like him for the off the field stuff, that's perfectly reasonable.  I get that, I'm not thrilled with the trade either.  But quit acting like he is some mediocre QB. You have no idea what his work habits are. 

 

And you should quit acting like you are some expert. I have read enough to know about his natural ability is excellent, but work ethic not top.

So, match that with Clevelands somewhat questionable QB decisions and you do not have a mix for 230m success.

[nucci]

$230M guaranteed.....what could go wrong? 

[BarleyNY]

35 minutes ago, Niagara Bill said:

And you should quit acting like you are some expert. I have read enough to know about his natural ability is excellent, but work ethic not top.

So, match that with Clevelands somewhat questionable QB decisions and you do not have a mix for 230m success.

You’ve shown that you are no expert either.  Watson was a top 5 QB in the league when he played.  He’s been off one season.  Work ethic and talent have never been an issue.  The contract and trade value are both in line for someone of his talent and performance.   His character is the only issue - and it’s an enormous one. You don’t have to make up garbage excuses to not like Watson or the move.  It’s right there. 

[stuvian]

11 hours ago, BuffaloRebound said:

Ball velocity numbers (MPH) from the Combine:

60 - Mahomes
59 - Webb
56 - Kizer
55 - Trubisky, Evans
53 - Peterman, Kaaya
49 - Watson

 

He’s obviously overcome this so far in his career but he’s also played at least 70% of his games in a dome or warm weather venue.  That’s gonna change in Cleveland and the AFC North.  

in all fairness, Watson had just come from a massage when he posted this mark

[Orlando Tim]

I have two main thoughts- I am so happy we have JA17 and therefore we're not in this competition to land him since he would be a step down.

 And I am not as convinced that he will be as good in Cleveland weather as I have not seen him play well in any kind of weather yet. 

[Mark92]

20 minutes ago, nucci said:

$230M guaranteed.....what could go wrong? 

This is the biggest issue I have and really we that we all should have.  The Browns opened Pandora's box and now fully guaranteed contracts will be the way.  It's going to destroy some franchise.  Also the fact that the browns gave a man $240 Million guaranteed who has 30 women going after him in civil court for sexual misconduct is crazy.  All 30 women are not lying.  Maybe 29 but not 30.  Browns will be Browns.  

[YoloinOhio]

3 hours ago, KDIGGZ said:

Back to football...the funny thing is before all of this I would say Cleveland was the 4th best team in the AFC North. Now they are maybe the 3rd best team in the North, not even top 5 in the AFC let alone the NFL. Was it worth it? Unless they win a Superbowl I'd say definitely not. Feels like they sold their soul for 2 more wins.

I’ll put it this way. I’m a die hard Bills fan but if this went down with my team AND I was guaranteed to win a Super bowl (which they aren’t obviously) I would still feel sick and disappointed. Being a fan of a team and a face of the franchise  is about way more than that to me. 
 

I have a buddy who is a huge browns fan and he’s thrilled. Literally doesn’t care. Just wants to win. Glad he finally has  a “stud QB”. And I feel bad for him. It has to suck to just put the important stuff on ignore because your organization has no other choice apparently to have a chance to compete. 

Edited March 19, 2022 by YoloinOhio

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

1 hour ago, ScottLaw said:

I actually think they are the best team in the division now…. I also thought that going into last season until Mayfield ***** all over himself.

agreed. But to defend mayfield, those injuries really derailed him. Feel bad for him— he has been pretty harshly impacted by gutting through those injuries for his team. A lot of guys would have shut it down last year to preserve their bodies and contract value.

[SirAndrew]

27 minutes ago, Buffalo Timmy said:

I have two main thoughts- I am so happy we have JA17 and therefore we're not in this competition to land him since he would be a step down.

 And I am not as convinced that he will be as good in Cleveland weather as I have not seen him play well in any kind of weather yet. 

I don’t know if Watson will fail, but people continue to underestimate the importance of a QB’s supporting cast. I was skeptical of Stafford, but we saw what LA did for him. The Texans eventually fell apart, but people forget the quality around Watson at one point. Watson had Hopkins and JJ Watt dominating both sides of the ball. What does he have in Cleveland? 

[HereComesTheReignAgain]

3 hours ago, cle23 said:

 

The dude has the 2nd highest passer rating in NFL history. If you don't like him for the off the field stuff, that's perfectly reasonable.  I get that, I'm not thrilled with the trade either.  But quit acting like he is some mediocre QB. You have no idea what his work habits are. 

 

His best statistical year came with a 4 win season. * I also don’t like him for off the field reasons. Best case scenario he is a creep. Worst (and most likely) case is he is a sexual predator. 

[BuffaloBill]

10 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

I’ll put it this way. I’m a die hard Bills fan but if this went down with my team AND I was guaranteed to win a Super bowl (which they aren’t obviously) I would still feel sick and disappointed. Being a fan of a team and a face of the franchise  is about way more than that to me. 
 

I have a buddy who is a huge browns fan and he’s thrilled. Literally doesn’t care. Just wants to win. Glad he finally has  a “stud QB”. And I feel bad for him. It has to suck to just put the important stuff on ignore because your organization has no other choice apparently to have a chance to compete. 

 

 

This also speaks to the culture of the organization. Obviously I am a homer, but the Bills have what I believe to be the best team culture in the NFL. Have the Bills turned to layers with question marks? Sure, Incognito to me is probably the most obvious.  However, in his time on the roster Ritchie seemed to be settled and appropriate in his behavior. 

[TBBills]

Welcome all Browns fans!!!

[nucci]

31 minutes ago, Mark92 said:

This is the biggest issue I have and really we that we all should have.  The Browns opened Pandora's box and now fully guaranteed contracts will be the way.  It's going to destroy some franchise.  Also the fact that the browns gave a man $240 Million guaranteed who has 30 women going after him in civil court for sexual misconduct is crazy.  All 30 women are not lying.  Maybe 29 but not 30.  Browns will be Browns.  

I don't mind the current contracts that come with some guarantee...I think they should but not entire contract...look at baseball...guys get big money and on injured list for sore calves for half the season

[TBBills]

36 minutes ago, Mark92 said:

This is the biggest issue I have and really we that we all should have.  The Browns opened Pandora's box and now fully guaranteed contracts will be the way.  It's going to destroy some franchise.  Also the fact that the browns gave a man $240 Million guaranteed who has 30 women going after him in civil court for sexual misconduct is crazy.  All 30 women are not lying.  Maybe 29 but not 30.  Browns will be Browns.  

No b.c when the Browns fail people will point to that and once again be laughing at them.

Edited March 19, 2022 by TBBills

[KDIGGZ]

18 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

I’ll put it this way. I’m a die hard Bills fan but if this went down with my team AND I was guaranteed to win a Super bowl (which they aren’t obviously) I would still feel sick and disappointed. Being a fan of a team and a face of the franchise  is about way more than that to me. 
 

I have a buddy who is a huge browns fan and he’s thrilled. Literally doesn’t care. Just wants to win. Glad he finally has  a “stud QB”. And I feel bad for him. It has to suck to just put the important stuff on ignore because your organization has no other choice apparently to have a chance to compete. 

Your friend can use Roethlisberger as a use case for best case scenario for Watson. Stay out of trouble, win a Superbowl (or two), donate to some charities, get married and have some cute kids, have a long solid career, and most people will forget how much of a dirtbag you were in your 20's. Just another dumb kid right? How ironic that Cleveland is turning into the one thing they hate the most...the Steelers!

[dave mcbride]

17 hours ago, mjt328 said:

Crazy that Baker Mayfield was not included in this trade.

 

Houston is left without a QB.

Cleveland probably won't get max value for trading Mayfield, since teams know they NEED to get rid of him now.

 

Mills is better than people think. He played well down the stretch.

[billsfan1959]

Just now, dave mcbride said:

Mills is better than people think. He played well down the stretch.

 

I believe he was the highest rated rookie QB in the second half of the season

[TBBills]

1 minute ago, billsfan1959 said:

 

I believe he was the highest rated rookie QB in the second half of the season

That wasn't hard to do. He was the least smelling pile of ***** out of all the piles of *****.

[YoloinOhio]

8 minutes ago, KDIGGZ said:

Your friend can use Roethlisberger as a use case for best case scenario for Watson. Stay out of trouble, win a Superbowl (or two), donate to some charities, get married and have some cute kids, have a long solid career, and most people will forget how much of a dirtbag you were in your 20's. Just another dumb kid right? How ironic that Cleveland is turning into the one thing they hate the most...the Steelers!

And they do say that about Ben.  The difference there with the Steelers is they drafted him and then he had his issues. So the decision was whether to continue to support him or not. And it was two girls (not that it’s better but it is a difference). Here the organization willfully dumped their franchise Qb for a guy with 22 pending lawsuits and expect the fan base to lap it up because now they might (MIGHT) be able to compete with the more talented QBs in the division and conference. Some fans will and some wont. The fan base is divided at the moment and i won’t  shame any browns fan who is familiar with this case and can’t stomach what’s going on. 
 

No, the browns don’t know whether he’s guilty. They also very clearly do not care. And that’s the issue. 

Edited March 19, 2022 by YoloinOhio

[KDIGGZ]

14 minutes ago, nucci said:

I don't mind the current contracts that come with some guarantee...I think they should but not entire contract...look at baseball...guys get big money and on injured list for sore calves for half the season

I don't wish injury to anyone... but...it would be a shame if Watson had a Bo Jackson type injury and then Cleveland was paying someone $47 mil per year to sit at home. 5 years is a long time. This guy is a few more massage parlor trips away from spending a bulk of that time in prison

[zevo]

I know fandom runs deep, but how can you honestly root for this guy. Only in the NFL does a sexual predator get rewarded with a 200+ mill guaranteed contract...Its really gross.

[billsfan1959]

13 minutes ago, TBBills said:

That wasn't hard to do. He was the least smelling pile of ***** out of all the piles of *****.

 

He had a decent rookie year, particularly down the stretch. I tend not to write off rookie QBs (or rookies at other positions), especially those that aren't in the best situations, in terms of talent around them. To call all rookie QBs from last year piles of s*** doesn't really reflect any in-depth analyses on your part.

 

Edited March 19, 2022 by billsfan1959

[H2o]

26 minutes ago, dave mcbride said:

Mills is better than people think. He played well down the stretch.

Davis Mills 8th Grade yearbook picture.

[Draconator]

[wjag]

Putting all the contract and legal stuff aside, the question is can a carreer-so-far dome QB be successful on the shores of Lake Erie?  At the end of the day, that is going to be the thing to watch.  I’ve attended a game in Cleveland stadium.  The breeze be a blowing there.  

[Bobby Hooks]

Why is the Watson thread pinned? 
 

Not complaining, just wondering, there’s been a lot of big non-Bills signings and trades. Just kinda interested to know what makes this one pin worthy? 

[wjag]

1 minute ago, Draconator said:

Lol. 

[H2o]

1 minute ago, Draconator said:

👆

[nbbillsfan]

It Sucks that there are so many elite, young, qbs in the AFC while so few in the NFC. There are legitimately 7-8 AFC teams who will be competitive for the next decade simply because of their QB (including us, of course.) Getting the elite QB is the hardest part of the equation, and much of our  competition has that spot solved. I guess the posting is they are all outside the afc east.

 

The NFC has like 1 or 2 answers at qb for the present and future. If we are in the NFC I think we could cake walk our way to the Superbowl until Josh’s legs fall off.  

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

55 minutes ago, TBBills said:

Welcome all Browns fans!!!

[Niagara Bill]

1 hour ago, ScottLaw said:

What does this even mean? 
 

Watson is a top 5 QB in the league. He’s on the Browns now, he’s not going to suddenly suck. 

I suggest he very well might suck.

2 hours ago, BarleyNY said:

You’ve shown that you are no expert either.  Watson was a top 5 QB in the league when he played.  He’s been off one season.  Work ethic and talent have never been an issue.  The contract and trade value are both in line for someone of his talent and performance.   His character is the only issue - and it’s an enormous one. You don’t have to make up garbage excuses to not like Watson or the move.  It’s right there. 

He was not found guilty by the league. What character issue?

I read his work effort may keep him from Elite. Cleveland has a history of poor qb decisions. Match the two...recipe for trouble.

[Mikie's Bills]

Ian Rapoport

@RapSheet

Important contract note for Deshaun Watson, who got a 5-year, $230M contract. His base salary for 2022 is $1M, which means if he’s suspended, it’ll come out of that base.

 

People were making a big deal about the Packers potentially allocating ~40% of their cap space to Rodgers and Adams. With this contract detail, it appears that the last 4 years of Deshaun's deal could all be $50M+ cap hits, unless I'm understanding this wrong? This isn't like the Mahomes deal either where they can stretch out the signing bonus over 8-10 years. Garrett will make an average of $29M/yr over those 4 years.

 

~$80M+/year tied up into two (great) players, and no first round picks for the next 3 drafts. They and a lot of teams must be hoping for substantial, consistent salary cap increases the next 5 years, which could very well be the case.

 

This deal absolutely makes them better, but if Watson is suspended for any notable amount of time this season then their playoff hopes could be over with how competitive the AFC will be. And then from 2023-26 they may be hamstrung financially and by their lack of 1st round rookie talent on the roster.

 

Should be interesting, especially if they find a way to **** it all up.

[SoCal Deek]

Why does this remind me of Michael Vick? These things don’t seem to work out after a player goes through a period on the outside. But we’ll all certainly see.

[GolfandBills]

Rapist and now the highest paid player ever... gotta love professional sports

[SoCal Deek]

3 minutes ago, GolfandBills said:

Rapist and now the highest paid player ever... gotta love professional sports

Not that there’s anything wrong with that. 😉

3 minutes ago, SoCal Deek said:

Not that there’s anything wrong with that. 😉

716er needs to learn his Seinfeld references.