Duff Beer Doug's Next Year - 2024 Version

Eating that contract for a year now is better than waiting a year and eating the contract later.

 

If it were that simple…

Jones contract is “edible”.. Watson’s isn’t. If they want to give up the 2025 and 2026 seasons, they might be able to do a post June cut after the 2025 season officially begins, but I’m not even certain they can work that out fiscally. They would quite literally have to cut or restructure every contract they currently own and fill the roster with league minimum players for two seasons before starting the rebuild.

 

They can “fight” all they want, the league would have to force them out, not the so called Modell Law. Fact of the matter is, the Haslems are good for the NFL. This domed stadium gives them more opportunities to draw events to a cold weather city, even if only for one year of its usefulness. Haslem hasn’t hurt the league. If this had happened 3 years ago when the owners thought the Browns ruined the QB market, then yes… but the Watson debacle actually works in the Haslems favor at this point in the fight for new ownership.

Im a helluva lot more worried about this “fight” causing enough of a rift between Cleveland and the league, as well as the Haslems that would give them enough ammunition to allow them to leave Cleveland altogether. Be careful what you wish for Cleveland fans and government leadership, lose this fight and it may very well open the door for the Haslems to move this team to Memphis. Memphis has a larger market than Cleveland if you don’t take the Akron/Canton market into account. The weather is better and I can almost guarantee the Haslems would have full financial support of the city and state for a state of the art stadium.

If the city and fanbase turn on the Haslems over a stadium location, this could turn ugly in the sense that the Haslems could lose any loyalty they may currently have to the area. If they are going to waste money for the fight to move to Brookpark, they might as well use that money to move to Tennessee, where they would rather be in the first place.


In a no way in hell scenario, they could keep the name by moving the team to Cleveland TN between Chattanooga and Knoxville.These two cities make up a similar population to Cleveland OH, without the Akron/Canton area added in.

For my sanity, this might be the best case scenario for me as it would most certainly be my last straw for being a Browns fan.

Im not a fan of the Haslems as I believe he meddles ala Jerry Jones, way too much in a world he doesn’t understand. However, he isn’t a lame duck owner either. He goes all in to try to put a winning team together. Change ownership and you have no idea what you will end up with. Moving the stadium 15 miles south, for me, is not a good argument to fight the owners on this one.