Here we go... (Browns) Cleveland finishes the regular season with a 9-7 record (Browns continued from 2017...) Myles Garrett breaks NFL sack record with 23.0 in 2018 (AFC North Prediction) the four presumptive starting AFC North quarterbacks (Taylor, Flacco, Roethlisberger, and Dalton) will be playing their last seasons with their respective teams this season
I've proclaimed this somewhere else, so just to make it official; Denzel Ward takes DROY, making it back to back Buckeye CB's to win the honor...
I find this one very interesting for some reason....probably because I never thought much about it. I think the big road block with this one is with Flacco's contract. If you can explain how the Ravens get around this, then I'm on board with a possible retirement after this year by Big Ben and Mayfield taking over for the Browns next year.
Looks like the Ravens are on the hook for at least $16M in dead cap through 2019. After that, $8M dead cap (with a potential out) in 2020 and zero dead cap in 2021. He would become a UFA in 2022. Big Ben ain't going anywhere. He's a drama junkie!
1. Joe Flacco's contract might be the worst contract in professional football. Yes, that's a lot of dead cap space, but the Ravens will have to move on eventually and if he's replaced by the rookie at any point this season, his time would be done. They could always try to find a rebuilding team (al la, the Browns and Texans) to swap his massive contract for a draft pick. Teams eat big deals and absolute worst case is they do that here. 2. Ben is the one I feel least confident about. I'll try to rustle up the quote, but essentially: someone close to Ben asked "are you really retiring soon" and he said "no... too much money". He's signed through 2019, so that would be the smart money on his last season. However, things could change there. Getting beat up by Myles Garrett (avoided him twice last season), losing a stud player like Le'Veon Bell in to free agency after 2018 and the team's overall success could change his mind. 3. Taylor is pretty obvious. Even with a great season (I expect him to have the best season of his career), the Browns invested #1 overall in Mayfield and he's already exceeding expectations. 4. Dalton is signed through 2020, but the team has an out after 2018 and he's not due any guarantees. Likewise, Marvin Lewis is signed through 2019, but every year it seems like it should be his last year and they re-sign him at the last moment. 2018 could be the straw that finally breaks the playoff imperfection drought and have Mike Brown thinking "re-boot". Unless they pick off the Lewis tree, the new coach would probably want to choose their own QB - especially if Cincy struggles and has a higher draft position than normal.
LeVeon Bell will win the SB MVP. He will resign with the Steelers for a long term contract Ben will retire on top this season. Antonio Brown will win offensive player of the year. His 300 yards 5 TD performance against the Browns x2, will spring board him to 2000/23 this season. The Browns will go 8-8 this season sweeping the Bengals and splitting the Ravens. 3-3 isn’t bad in the AFCN.
The Rams will miss the playoffs (Big enough?) Also even though Ive said it elsewhere Ill post it here for ease of finding it later the Browns will be in contention for the AFC north.
The Rams have one of the easier schedules this season, so that is a fairly bold statement. I’m all in for Gidion’s bold contributions. Not that I believe it, but I’ll take it.
If I'm not mistaken I have the Rams and 49ers at 10-6 in main prediction thread but the Rams won the division on tiebreakers while the 49ers missed the playoffs. I could easily see it going the other way.
Garrett and Ogbah become the feared sackmasters that all Browns fans have dreamed about. The duo combines for 28 sacks.....Myles Garrett wins DPOY, makes first team All Pro, and gets voted inside the top 20 overall players for 2018...Ogbah makes 2nd team A.P. and gets voted to start for AFC (opposite Garrett) in the Pro Bowl. Also gets voted comfortably in the top 100.....