Ignoring for a second that you seem to be dismissing the cases brought against Watson by the alleged victims as cash grabs, there is a team representing the 22 women -- it's not 22 separate "ambulance chasing lawyers".
Conflicting reporting above. Defendants rarely every appear at a grand jury hearing. I mean we don't really know that no one else pursued him. How could we? But we do know he had a no-trade clause and it was reported back in January he wanted to be in Denver. I think that 2020 game is a factor here. But not in the way you think. They averaged 5+ yards per carry and only scored 17 points against the 16th ranked defense in the league. 14 of those points were when trailing by two scores and on both drives the Browns went for it on 4th down (desperation mode). *Baker when kept clean: 21 for 30, 181 yards 1 TD, 0 Int, 91.2 passing grade. *Baker when pressured: 2 for 7, 20 yards, 0 TD, 1 Int, 30.7 passing grade. Is it? The front office and coaches have won goal every year - win the Super Bowl. Paying a guy 30M per year (low end) if you don't think he can do that for you is now how you keep your job ***ESPECIALLY*** if he wasn't your draft pick.
What's acceptable to me (or any other fan) has absolutely no bearing on how this is going to play out. What should be acceptable is that a person in this country gets the opportunity to face his accusers in an unbiased court of law BEFORE the general public passes their judgement. So, unless you were in the room when he was “exposing himself to multiple women in the hopes that they will pleasure him sexually” and know that for a fact, then acceptability is a mute point.
No… we aren’t asking anyone to throw him in jail, I PERSONALLY am asking not to progress in employing him, while giving up franchise changing currency, while knowing what we do know.. that 22 women have accused him of AT LEAST that issue. Without being there, as you have already stated, we will never know as fact. I am sure Deshaun Watson is never going to make a statement telling us exactly what he did do. But you make your feelings clear that it ignorance is bliss and you are willing to take a chance that he didn’t do it, rather than give 22 women the benefit of the doubt. Again, no one is asking to take his freedom away, I am just asking him not to be the face of our franchise.
I'm not dismissing anything. I'm only suggesting that Deshawn Watson get his day in court before breaking out the tar and feathers. The fact that the accusers lawyers formed a "team" only suggests they're looking to get more strands of spaghetti to throw at the wall. That's just "Class Action Suits 101" Doesn't it strike you as odd that four teams (Browns, Panthers, Saints and now Falcons) are showing interest in giving up multiple assets for a player that will be ineligible to play if these accusations are, in fact, true? I would like to think that every NFL team has the resources to determine the validity of the accusations before they dip their toes in the water.
Are you are aware that, in a criminal Grand Jury hearing, the only lawyer in the room is the Prosecuting Attorney? If the Grand Jury only wanted to hear from one accuser, then you can bet your sweet ass he picked the one with the most compelling story.
Yet all four teams have chosen not to even question the attorney or his clients, who were apparently made available to talk to them. It seems they are on your side that, if there isn’t enough evidence for a grand jury right now to prosecute criminally, then no harm no foul, it might not be true at all.
No big deal, if I stop supporting the Browns, it really isn’t going to effect anyone’s life but my own. Carry on, your opinion to you is just as important as mine is to myself, nothing more nothing less.
At no time did I say, "if there isn’t enough evidence for a grand jury right now to prosecute criminally, then no harm no foul" I repeat "I'm only suggesting that Deshawn Watson get his day in court before breaking out the tar and feathers."
I'm not suggesting anything. You said 10 accusers testified in the criminal case against Watson. I'm showing you the article where only one of the 10 complaints was heard by the jury. Leonard Little killed a woman and her young daughter. Ray Lewis was at least an accessory to murder. Aaron Hernandez murdered multiple people. Ben Roethlisberger was credibly accused twice of rape. Jameis Winston was credibly accused of rape in college and was still made the first overall selection in his draft. Tyreek Hill brutally beat and choked his pregnant girlfriend, paid a price in terms of draft status, but still has a $50+ million contract to his name. The NFL is *litered* with trash humans who've done awful things but teams look the other way because of talent. It doesn't strike me as odd that four teams are looking to add Watson. In fact, it was also rumored the Steelers, 49ers, and Eagles were all in the mix previously, too, until the price tag was announced.
Until we see otherwise, Baker is still under contract for the Cleveland Browns. However, his complete receiver room is not. Jarvis Landry - cut Odell Beckham Jr. - cut mid-season Austin Hooper - cut Rashard Higgins - signed with Carolina 229 of the teams' 499 targets in 2021 (46%) gone. Feels like maybe just maybe the problem wasn't solely Baker Mayfield.
In 2021, Nick Chubb had a rush success rate of 49% - good for 42nd in the NFL among all running backs. Kareem Hunt clocked in at 47%. Our best guy was actually D'Ernest Johnson (52%), good for 24th. Our team rushing success rate (49% overall) ranked 17th among all squads in 2021. And before I hear "there was no threat from the pass so they stacked the box", Chubb was facing 8+ man fronts 26.3% of the time, good for 20th in the NFL. And the offensive line that we've already released J.C. Tretter from and have not shown any plans to retain Chris Hubbard. The Browns' offensive line finished with an 8.7% adjusted sack rate, good for 30th in the NFL behind only Cincinnati and Chicago. Even with all that... the Browns finished with a team offensve DVOA ranking of 14 (9th in 2020 with an easier schedule). Pass DVOA dropped from 10th in 2020 to 18th in 2021 (behind Las Vegas, Baltimore, and Cincinnati).
Actually I said 10 accusers filed criminal complaints and 8 were subpoenaed (the source was their attorney). Then I said, "If 8 of those women spoke at the grand jury hearing...". I wasn't sure. According to your source only 5 of the 8 showed up, the prosecutor presented 9 separate complaints (two being considered more serious than the others) and the grand jury only requested testimony from 1 of the 5 women present. I guess you could read a lot into that. But I don't read that the grand jury didn't do their due diligence simply because they only asked to hear from 1 of the women present. Hard to say for sure.
Not sure I understand this one. Jarvis Landry - never a problem, still not a problem. Released due to cap / age. Odell Beckham - has done better everywhere else he's been Austin Hooper - two seasons in Atlanta were far better before Baker Rashard Higgins - nothing to gain from Hollywood but things can only go up for him. And reports are pretty rampant Baker is out.
Rush success rate? Give me a break. Any stat that puts Chubb 42nd among all running backs should be scrubbed immediately.
I know I'm not the only one that thinks it's an absurd idea to make this the face of the franchise: Those who know me, know I've usually been on the other side of conversations like this in regards to pro sports. I advocated for Kareem Hunt all day. This is much different though. WTH is Haslam doing? Don't we need to draw the line somewhere? I mean this is the QB we are talking about.....And we have a pretty f'n good one already!
Not sure why? You said he had all the weapons at wide receiver he needed and here we are after a 8-9 season with 4 of the 5 leading receivers on the team being released or allowed to walk away. Jarvis Landry generated a 101.1 QB rating when targeted by Baker in 2020. That dropped to 65.0 in 2021. After the season, Jarvis releaved he was dealing with several injuries, rushed back too soon, and acknowledged a poor performance on the season. This is 100-percent performance side and there's definitely questions/concerns about his missing leadership and mindset during 2021 as he saw the team struggle and his friend force his way out. NYG Beckham stopped being elite after injury. CLE Beckham under Freddie Kitchen's system was a very good receiver. CLE Beckham under Kevin Stefanksi was a poor fit from the get-go. He demanded a trade before the 2021 season and didn't put forth any effort. His stat line outside of touchdowns in Los Angeles was on par with his output in Cleveland. His catch rate in ATL was 78.9%. That fell to 64.1% in CLE as we saw him lead the team in drops for two seasons in a row. Not sure exactly what this means "nothing to gain from"... but the point is that the Browns let ~17% of the teams' wide receiver marketshare walk out the door.
If they truly are moving on from Baker, maybe it’s time to take another look at Colin Kaepernick. I don’t think he’ll have anything after being out of the league for so long, but I also don’t think there is any harm in bringing him in for a workout.
