Browns are going all in on next season. Which is on the risky side considering watson may miss a sizable portion of it.
He’s not going to miss any of 2022, but my guess is he will miss the majority of 2023. (edit) First) The Commish has already publicly stated that he will not be placing Watson on the Commissioners exempt list since he wasn't indicted with a criminal charge. They will let the civil cases play out until they make any other decisions. Second) The court has stated that none of the civil cases will be tried before spring of 2023 due to scheduling. These two elements cleared the way for Watson to be available all of 2022-23 season. Only the Browns (like the Texans) could suspend/bench him at this point and the way they are going right now, I don't think there is the slightest possibility of that happening. The Browns are all in for 2022... after this season it is going to get ugly with cap space and no first draft picks. They don't win this year, it could be awhile before they reset and try again 5-10 years from now.
Macro-picture: the AFC conference is a gauntlet right now. Realistically, only 2-3 teams in the NFC have a clear pathway to a Super Bowl (Tampa Bay, Green Bay, and Los Angeles). The AFC is so stacked there's probably 10-12 teams with legitimate shots and only one can make it, so the odds aren't great. Wild situation where the best teams in the NFC have a 1-in-3 shot but the best teams in the AFC are looking at 1-in-12. Buffalo, Kansas City, and Cincinnati have to be your front-runners. Tennessee, New England, Miami, Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Baltimore, and Cleveland should also all be in the running. I've stated repeatedly that Cleveland still has the third-best QB in its own division (probably seventh in the AFC picture), so you're counting on the other pieces and head coach coming together to beat the favorites in the field.
While I share your feelings against Deshaun Watson, I think you are being a little biased on his abilities. I'll give you the argument on Burrow, despite the fact he has only done it one year... However, Watson would definitely be considered #2 then in the AFC North based on all eligible QBs in the division. We would have to do a deep dive into your AFC Conference top 7 to be able to debate the merit of that statement... it would be fun though if you are up for it, who is your top 7?
I wasnt asked, BUT I thought it would be fun... whether you want it or not, lol... here it is. Top 8, because of the closeness of the bottom group. 1. Patrick Mahomes 2. Josh Allen 3. Joe Burrow 4. Russell Wilson 5. Justin Herbert 6. Deshaun Watson 7. Lamar Jackson 8. Carr or Tannehill - I couldnt decide. Sorry... I couldnt help myself!
For me it's; Top Tier: Josh Allen Patrick Mahomes Next tier: Deshaun Watson Justin Herbert Joe Burrow Russell Wilson Nest tier: Lamar Jackson Matt Ryan Baker Mayfield Derek Carr Mac Jones Ryan Tannehill I think you can make arguments within those tiers above, but I personally don't think there are arguments for putting a player in another tier(the only one I would personally consider would be Jackson to the tier above him). BTW, I put them in the order I personally think they fall within the tier as well.
Sounds like fun. Ranking AFC starting QB's top to bottom. 1. Josh Allen 2. Patrick Mahomes 3. Russell Wilson 4. Joe Burrow 5. Deshaun Watson 6. Justin Herbert 7. Matt Ryan 8. Lamar Jackson 9. Derek Carr 10. Mac Jones 11. Ryan Tannehill 12. Tua T. 13. Mitch Trubisky 14. Trevor Lawrence 15. Zach Wilson 16. Davis Mills * Baker Mayfield would slide in at #10
1. Josh Allen 2. Pat Mahomes 3. Russell Wilson 4. Justin Herbert 5. Joe Burrow 6. Lamar Jackson 7. Derek Carr 8. Deshaun Watson 9. Ryan Tannehill 10. Mitchell Trubisky 11. McCorkle Jones 12. Matt Ryan 13. Zach Wilson 14. Trevor Lawrence 15. Tua Tagovailao 16. Davis Mills Honestly, Carr and Watson are 7 and 7a for me, so you could flip/flop them. I suspect Carr with McDaniels will be more of a weapon than Watson with Stefanksi. The "hot take" may be Allen over Mahomes but I'll die on that hill this year and we should get more answers with Allen's primary developer over his career thus far (Brian Daboll) off to a new team. When you look at Buffalo QBs before Allen compared to Kansas City QBs before Mahomes, you can see which one has had a bigger impact on the franchise, despite Mahomes getting further in the post season. As I've said, I still think DW is QB3 in the AFC North. He's close to Jackson, but Jackson is much more of a dynamic weapon than Deshaun.
Dynamic weapon doesn't necessarily mean better QB.. Deshaun Watson's best was his last, Lamar's best was three seasons ago for him..2 seasons in a row, the last due to 3 more games of injuries. I can see a lot of bias in your view of Jackson over Watson. Why would you put him over Watson, besides the fact we don't like the look of his off field issues? For me, that is the only reason I have for hating this trade. Truth is, you would actually have a hard time putting Burrow atop the North now that Watson is there: Joe has one good season, albeit out of only 2... It isn't as good as Deshaun's best and Deshaun has been pretty consistent for the last 3 seasons.. the only one I am leaving out is his rookie season when he only started 6 games. Let's look at their rookie seasons, to see how they came out of the gate: I know a lot of people put Burrow ahead of Watson, but this is why I cannot...
As I've previously detailed... Deshaun Watson did his statistical damage in a very weak (the weakest in the NFL at the time) conference. He took a perennial 0.563 team to a worse winning percentage and has a lifetime 0.333 winning percentage in the post-season. By contrast, Lamar and Joe have had to play in arguably the toughest division in the NFL since they entered at a time when the Browns were (are) finally competitive. Lamar Jackson's winning percentage (0.755) is simply ridiculous. Yes, I've been highly critical of his play at the QB position but his prowess as a runner more than makes up for some of those deficiencies. Sure, DW may be a better thrower of the football but even his numbers are skewed by poor competition and mostly garbage-time stats. Joe Burrow, while still a work in progress to evaluate (26 career starts), has a tremendous ceiling and admittedly some of his higher ranking is likely due to that potential. He's also had a TFQB-like effect on the Bengals, taking a 2-14 and 4-11-1 team to a Super Bowl in only his second season.
obviously your opinion, but what are you using to back it up? The eye test?? This is the NFL, I know there are statistically better and worse teams, but they are all professional athletes. Unfortunately we are going to get to see them head to head twice a year, so we will see.
2020 Texans division defenses: Indianapolis Colts #10 in the NFL Tennessee Titans #24 Jacksonville Jaguars #31 Other opponents: Chiefs #11 Ravens #2 Steelers #3 Vikings #29 Packers #13 Browns #21 Patriots #7 Lions #32 Bears #14 Bengals #22 Defense average ranking during his best year: 17.75 2019 Ravens division defenses: Pittsburgh Steelers #6 in the NFL Cleveland Browns #20 Cincinnati Bengals #25 Other opponents: Dolphins #32 Cardinals #28 Chiefs #7 Seahawks #22 Patriots #1 Texans #19 Rams #17 49ers #8 Bills #2 Jets #16 Defense average ranking during his best year: 15.88 Are you trying to tell me, these foes are WHY Watson succeeded and Jackson was that much better that he overcame these defensive powerhouses in the AFC North? As soon as the defenses started to improve in our division, Jackson started to decline. If anything, this just proves how evenly distributed teams schedules are and how at the end of the day, everyone faces good defenses while also facing not so good defenses. To say, he only does it at a certain time during a game, or he faces power house defense in division while the other guy doesn't.. it doesn't hold water. They can either compete in this league or they can't. How about the fact that the Ravens defense ranking since Jackson arrived: 2018 #2 2019 #3 2020 #2 2021 #19 Only year the Ravens didn't make the playoffs in Jackson's reign Have ANYTHING to do with his success, maybe setting him up for success? Lamar 1-3 in playoffs Compared to Texans defense: 2017 #32 4-12 record 2018 #4 Made the playoffs 2019 #19 Won a playoff game 2020 #27 4-12 record Which player was set up for success? We can go round and round in here with this debate @SAS.. Usually you come at me with more than, he played shit teams and Lamar didn't. Come on man...make this fun.
