They can't sign any real contracts without knowing when he will be back. Doesn't matter if you have cap relief in 2023 because he is suspended, unless you are talking about 1 year deals. Regardless, we all know.. Without a QB nothing else matters.
Meh. He's still rehabbing from that shoulder surgery. And considering the fallout with Cleveland, there was no reason to even show up. This way they avoid the media focus and scrutiny. Watson will be getting enough of that anyway
The whole thing has to play out. Seems like both sides are buying time when time is running out. I personally dont see anything going down till camp gets set to go, then and only then, something has to give... thats when I think all party's, including the NFL and Goodell, have to do something. In the mean-time... posturing. Questions I have personally are; 1) Why is all I hear, publicly and on social media, the accusers and Busby? 2) When does the defense go ballistic and start to deny, in an offensive fashion, all the charges? 3) What went on with the Browns higher-ups in their own investigations of Watson and his accusers, when this whole thing started? Seems to me and at their own admission, they did a "thorough" investigation? What did they find? Whom said what? 4) When will the powers that be start to look at or at least go public with the credabillity of the accusers? There is a lot left to the imagination of the accusers, such as what in hell do they do on a regular basis? Im sure Watson isnt the first SOB to indulge in these, 'next to the airport' massage spas. The whole damn thing is beyond getting old. Pretty soon the shit must hit the fan. On a personal note, FWIW... If 1 of these allogations is true, Watson is a perverted, weird SOB and deserves the book being thrown at him. ____ ___________ Ive been reading this thread, but I finally felt compelled to comment and at the same time, Im sick of the whole F'n thing! Sure Browns fans are also (I feel for you). A billion years of loosing and now this... its all crazy and surreal.
In NFL salary alone Watson has been paid 84 million in the last 21 months. That doesn't include the Nike and Beats by Dre money he made prior to April of 2021 when the story broke. p.s. Seems to me with the rush the Browns were in to get the deal done there's not going to be any language in there that gets them out of this deal. Watson had all the leverage. He could have simply walked out of the room and not signed. Plus he already received a 45 million signing bonus that can never go away.
But . . . he has not yet been excused from Training Camp and probably won't be unless a final decision on Watson's pending suspension comes down prior to the start of training camp. IF Watson gets suspended for the entire 2022 season, my guess is that the Browns will downshift from whatever Stefanski's offence would have been with Watson under center and will financially force Mayfield to show up. In this case, it's up to Mayfield to put on his big boy pants, play in Stefanski's 2020-2021 offense and perform as if he's auditioning for his next team (because he would be). IF Watson gets suspended for less than 6 games, all bets are off. They may even abandon the hope for a trade partner and simply release him. Where the cheese gets binding is if the suspension ends up around 10 games (+/- 2). Could end up being somewhere between the 1st and 2nd bullet points.
The Reno case was a civil suit from Day one (2009). Pretty similar to Deshaun. It took three years to settle (Jan 2012) for what was said to be less than a game check. However much that is. The Milledgeville case was never dropped because there was never a charge. The DA was pretty blunt when he said, "We don't prosecute morals, we prosecute crimes." Also there was never a civil suit.
I could be wrong but I still don't believe there is a scenario where Mayfield plays for the Browns again. I think that locker room was pretty bad last year and no one wants to go back there.
Are teams waiting for Mayfields non throwing shoulder to heal or are they just not interested in him? He’s not great but he can play well enough to help a good team to make the playoffs, and with a little luck maybe more. I would gladly trade for a good starting QB if I didn’t have one. An injury to the non throwing shoulder is nothing to be concerned about as long as it fully heals.
I would think both the Seahawks and Panthers would be better with Mayfield under center than what they are going into the season with. Are they tanking for the 23 class of QBs?
There are teams interested. Problem is they don't want to pay his salary. The Browns also don't want to pay his salary so there's no negotiating to be made. Especially when those teams assume he'll eventually be cut anyway
True. But for a guy you also have to trade a draft pick for, and may not re-sign, it's apparently more than teams want to pay
What teams think the Browns are just going to cut Mayfield loose and still pay him $18.9M? That's nonsense. You have good takes followed by ridiculous takes Raven..
Why is everything you don't agree with ridiculous? You seriously think the teams that wanted to trade for him then refused the asking price aren't sitting back waiting for him to be cut? Whether he's a free agent this year or next, teams that showed interest (the panthers, seahawks) will gladly wait for him to become available or until they find someone better. Nobody is trading for Baker. But since you probably want proof. Here's an article about how Seattle would only go after Baker if they don't have to give up anything, aka don't have to trade for him. What other way can they acquire him without trade? Oh yeah, if he's a free agent. Hmmmm, how could he become a free agent?? Hmmmm (hint hint, read the url) Seahawks would pursue Baker Mayfield if Browns cut him
I genuinely believe Hardin knows his client is going to lose and end up settling at a huge figure -- and that it's his (Hardin's) doing. Going all the way back to 2021 when the Miami Dolphins were going to trade for him, the team demanded that Watson settle all his lawsuits before the deal go through, which... yeah... which self-respecting NFL franchise wouldn't? Watson's camp balked because they were still holding out for "we're innocent". This, despite the fact there was an agreement in place to settle with the original plaintiffs in the case for an undisclosed amount. The settlement was rumored to be $100,000 a piece, which is looking like chump change now. Ultimately, it never went through because of how strict the NDA terms were. So to summarzie: "We're innocent", but... You're going to get paid and... You can never mention anything about it ever. Totally what an innocent party does, right? Then... Hardin throws gasoline on the fire when accusers #23 and #24 come out with receipts by saying "happy endings are part of massages" and "that's not illegal". Umm... (1), no, they're definitely *not* the norm, an (2) yes it most definitely *is* illegal - it's call prostitution. Brown's "thorough" investigation: In his introductory press conference, Jake Trotter pressed Andrew Berry in several different methods about who they talked to or how they investigated the case and Berry admitted they didn't talk to anyone, that a "third party" did the research, and that that third party probably didn't talk to any of the accusers, either. They likely got the PowerPoint presentation Hardin's team put together to influence the GJ ahead of the hearings.
This has been discussed ad nauseam on this thread. Thinking the Browns are going to cut Mayfield and pay him $18.9M anyway to play somewhere else is ridiculous. That's the only thing I referenced. Don't try to broad stroke it as something else. I've posted direct quotes from Haslam, and Berry, "The Browns aren't cutting Baker Mayfield." I've explained why at least 5x on this thread. And your article about the Seahawks doesn't prove anything. I can show you an article that details how Carolina and Cleveland were very close on a trade during the draft, and they are still interested, with the obvious hold-up being money. If you say so. lol!
