MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK

Watson received a contract in the middle of one of the biggest controversies an active player has ever faced. I can’t imagine the war over Lamar if he returns to MVP form in 2022. It’s a big bet for a dangerous QB that plays the position in a dangerous way. But that payoff could be really groundbreaking if he is available as a free agent and not franchise tagged, like I believe he would be. Even if tagged, I think the Ravens could choose the non-exclusive designation and allow him to set his market. Worse case scenario, they end up with two first round draft picks if it is too rich. Regardless, that would be a much smaller price paid by the signing team than the Browns paid.

 

Brown’s fans are really upset now, first Watson then they cut Rosen.

 

UH oh!

Baker Mayfield reportedly said of Browns: “I’m going to f–k them up”



Baker Mayfield is fiery to a fault. It’s sometimes problematic. It’s always entertaining.

Most recently, Mayfield reportedly said to Bills preseason sideline reporter Cynthia Frelund of a looming game against the Browns in his first regular-season game as not a Brown, “I’m going to fuck them up.”


She reluctantly made the disclosure, in a roundabout way, during a visit to the Around The NFL podcast, via Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. After the Bills-Panthers preseason game, Frelund spoke to Mayfield.

“I walked up to him and said, ‘I’m so excited to see you, like, go kick some butt,’ I didn’t say that word,” she said. “’Go kick some butt, especially Week One, I like cannot wait.’ And he uses some expletives and I was like, ‘I just hope you’re like ready.’ He was like, ‘I’m gonna bleep them up.'”

She then confirmed that word she omitted had four letters and started with an F.

It’s not a surprise. Mayfield, even if he wasn’t habitually feisty, would reasonably be upset about how he was treated. They told him after the 2021 season that he’s their guy for 2022. Then they told him that he’s their guy, unless they find someone better. Then they leaked to Chris Mortensen of ESPN that they want an adult in the room at quarterback. Then they traded for Deshaun Watson and gave him a five-year, $230 million, fully-guaranteed contract.

So, yeah, he should be pissed. And no one should be surprised by what he said.

And no one should be surprised if he does what he said he’s going to do. He may even go back to Cleveland for a Progressive commercial during which he plants a Panthers flag at midfield.

PFT

 

Fuck Mayfield... Go Browns!

 

Browns put Deshaun Watson on suspended list, set 53-man roster



Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson‘s 11-game suspension is underway.

The Browns placed Watson on the suspended list on Tuesday as they set their initial 53-man roster. He will not be permitted to practice with the team until November 14th and cannot play in a game until the Browns travel to Houston to face the Texans on December 4.


Jacoby Brissett and Josh Dobbs are the quarterbacks on the 53-man roster in Cleveland. The Browns released quarterback Josh Rosen on Tuesday.

Running back John Kelly was also released. The Browns waived linebackers Dakota Allen and Willie Harvey Jr.; wide receivers Daylen Baldwin, Mike Harley Jr. and Easop Winston; tight ends Miller Forristall, Nakia Griffin-Stewart and Zaire Mitchell-Paden; offensive linemen Blake Hance, Brock Hoffman, David Moore Jr., and Alex Taylor; cornerbacks Shaun Jolly and Herb Miller; safety Lavert Hill; defensive tackle Roderick PerryII; and fullback Johnny Stanton IV.

PFT

 

Easy… she’s already backtracking on context. She has “clarified” twice already. The last one basically saying she is the one that said to “Fuck ‘em’ up” and all he said is “I will”.

it was a nothing blurb from a young analyst that wanted to say something profound and didn’t realize the Cleveland fans and media would blow the doors off of it. I am sure SHE regrets saying anything because at the end of the day Mayfield didn’t really say anything, it was after a practice and he was just leaving the field and acknowledged the comment, from what I heard on the radio today.

The whole thing shocks me because it sounds exactly like something Mayfield would say. There is no shock value because he is the king is smack talk.

 

Hopefully Mayfield starts the season with a win. I’m rooting for him to do good.

 

Nothing would be finer than to see the Browns roll him!

 

I want him to do well... Weeks 2-18

 

Myles Garrett on Baker Mayfield’s comment: “We’ll take it and we’ll use it”



The Browns are well aware that their teammate-turned opponent Baker Mayfield said, “I’m going to fuck them up” in preparation for the Week One Panthers-Browns game.

Browns defensive end Myles Garrett told Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com that he’s fine with Mayfield saying whatever he wants to say — and that the Browns can get just as fired up about their meeting as Mayfield is.


“We’ll take it and we’ll use it, and I’m hoping for a great matchup,” Garrett said. “I don’t think any less of him because he’s going out there and doing the same thing he did when he was with us. He’s the same guy personally, and maybe we’ll see a different Baker when we get on the field. Who knows?”

Garrett said he respects Mayfield, who went to the Browns with the first overall pick in the 2018 NFL draft, one year after Garrett went to the Browns first overall.

“We’ve known he has that type of demeanor and that attitude, and for better or for worse, it works for him,” Garrett said. “And I’m not mad at him using that fire and that chip on his shoulder to help him play to the level he has. He’s been successful in what he’s done.’’

Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski was less interested in talking about Mayfield.

“I’m not going to get involved in that type of thing,” Stefanski said. “As you know, it’s Carolina week. I get how unique it is that Baker is the starting quarterback for the Panthers. We’re really going to focus on putting a plan together to beat the Panthers. That is really the focus.”

Stefanski said he won’t be posting Mayfield’s comments on the bulletin board. He may not need to, as Garrett and his teammates have already heard.

PFT

 

Lions cut David Blough, leaving no backup quarterback behind Jared Goff for now



The Lions no longer have a backup quarterback.

After the Lions cut one of their backup quarterbacks, Tim Boyle, they’re cutting the other one, David Blough. That leaves Jared Goff as the only quarterback currently on the Lions’ 53-man roster.


Obviously, Goff won’t be the only quarterback on the roster when the season starts, so the Lions must already know of another quarterback they’re going to bring into the fold. Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports that the Lions plan to sign former 49ers backup Nate Sudfeld.

The Lions’ decision to head into Year 2 of the Brad Holmes/Dan Campbell regime with only Goff and no viable backup at quarterback was surprising: Most people thought when the Lions traded Matthew Stafford for Goff and two first-round picks that they’d draft a quarterback who could develop for the long term while Goff played in the short term.

Instead, the Lions are without a backup quarterback. At least until the transaction wire comes out this afternoon.

PFT

 

The Lions have their new backup quarterback: Nate Sudfeld.

Sudfeld signed with the Lions today, after he was cut by the 49ers. The Lions also officially waived quarterback David Blough, who made the initial 53-man roster yesterday.


The 28-year-old Sudfeld has been in the NFL since 2016, when Washington picked him in the sixth round of the NFL draft. He spent one year in Washington, four in Philadelphia and one in San Francisco.

Sudfeld has never started an NFL game and is best known to football fans for playing badly in the second half of the final game of the 2020 season, handing the NFC East to Washington and leading to accusations that Eagles coach Doug Pederson was intentionally losing the game.

Jared Goff will be the Lions’ starter for the second consecutive season, and Sudfeld will serve as the backup. If the Lions have to turn to him, they’ll hope he plays better than he did the last time he took the field, in that ugly loss to Washington.

PFT

 

Baker Mayfield: I never said I’m going to f—k Browns up



Panthers quarterback Baker Mayfield will be facing his former team in Week 1 and he’s admitted that the game means something extra because of how his time with the Browns came to an end.

Mayfield denies that extra emotion led him to tell Cynthia Frelund of NFL Media that he is going to “fuck them up” in the season opener. Frelund relayed the quote during a recent podcast appearance and it drew enough attention on Tuesday that Mayfield was asked about it on Wednesday.


Mayfield said he always wants to win, but that he never said what Frelund quoted him as saying.

“First, I didn’t say it,” Mayfield said, via Joe Person of TheAthletic.com. “Obviously everybody’s going to write whatever story they want, there’s history that I played there the last four years. I’m an extremely competitive person. Everybody knows that. If I wasn’t wanting to win then there would be a really big issue with me being the quarterback here. I want to win in everything I do. That’ll never change. That is not how I phrased it. It’s not even what I said.”

Browns defensive end Myles Garrett said “we’ll take it and we’ll use it” in reference to Mayfield’s purported quote about the matchup, but one imagines there wasn’t much need for extra motivation to kick off the season with a strong performance against the former Brown.

PFT

 

Somebody is a liar.

 

The reporter admitted she asked Mayfield if he was going to f up the Browns and he said yes. He didn’t really say it just answered the reporter’s question.

 

yeah, she’s backtracked a few times to cover her overzealous account of the interaction for click bait. She’s in some hot water. She’s already stated she was contacted by the NFL, the Panthers, the Browns and Baker’s representative. She works for the NFL, so her segments might get smaller and smaller.. her “analysis” using formulas was a time filler already for the network.

She fucked up trying to get more air time.

 

Russell Wilson won’t leave Denver any time soon.

The Broncos and Wilson have agreed to a five-year contract extension, according to multiple reports. That’s on top of the two years he had remaining on his current deal, so he’s now under contract to the Broncos for seven more seasons.


The deal is worth $245 million, of which $165 million is guaranteed. That puts his total pay for the next seven seasons at $296 million.

There was never any doubt that the Broncos were committed to Wilson for the long-term when they traded three players, two first-round picks and two second-round picks to Seattle to acquire him. But now Wilson has put pen to paper and made his commitment official as well.

The 33-year-old Wilson has said he’d like to play into his 40s, so it’s possible this won’t be the last contract he signs. But there’s an excellent chance that he will play the rest of his career for the Broncos.

PFT

 

Lack of fully-guaranteed contract for Russell Wilson counts as a win for the NFL



A wise man once said, repeatedly on ESPN, “Once is an accident, twice is a trend.” The new Russell Wilson contract suggests that the fully-guaranteed contract given to Brown quarterback Deshaun Watson was the accident, and the absence of full guarantees for veteran quarterback deals will continue to be the trend.

If anyone else was going to be getting a fully-guaranteed deal, it was Wilson. He had the leverage; the Broncos gave up a huge haul of picks to get him. He has the credentials. He went to two Super Bowls, and he’s a nine-time Pro Bowler. He has the agent, a one-client-only representative who had always driven a very hard bargain. He has a team with unlimited resources, fronted by new Wal-Mart-money owners who can write a check of any size for placement of the future payments in escrow.


But it didn’t happen. The Broncos wouldn’t do it, possibly to ensure that they don’t piss off their new partners less than a month after buying the team. And Wilson, for whatever reason, didn’t push for it. He wasn’t willing, in the end, to pass on the

While the devils of these deals always lurks in the details, it’s out of character for Wilson to commit for so long. Usually, he does a four-year extension with one year left. Now, he’s done a five-year extension with two remaining seasons.

It’s $296 million over seven years, an average of $42.2 million per year from signing. The structure will be critical to understanding this one. Will he get back to the table sooner, or will he be stuck with a contract that could become obsolete, sooner or later between now and 2028 as the cap keeps skyrocket and the market keeps climbing?

We’ll get the full details, and we’ll break them all down. Until then, here’s the takeaway, from a source with extensive knowledge of the contracts negotiated by NFL teams: “I don’t see another fully guaranteed quarterback contract any time soon.”

PFT

 

Kenny Pickett: I am just focused on getting better



Though Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin has not announced his starting quarterback, there’s a chance he’s decided on one.

But if rookie Kenny Pickett knows the choice, he wasn’t offering any clues when he talked to reporters on Thursday.


“I am just focused on getting better,” Pickett said, via Teresa Varley of the team’s website. “Still learning a lot of things, getting my first true game plan going into Cincinnati. So, a lot of things I am learning, taking it all in stride and enjoying it.”

Pickett noted he felt he built upon everything from the offseason program into training camp and wants to continue that into the regular season. In his extended preseason action, he was 29-of-36 for 261 yards with three touchdowns.

“Practice is incredibly important, but game reps, you can’t duplicate those in practice,” Pickett said. “Having those games reps under my belt heading into the season I think is incredibly important.”

Even if he isn’t the starting quarterback, the weekly focus changes now that the Steelers are preparing to take on the Bengals in Week One.

“A lot more goes into it,” Pickett said. “Preseason games you are focused more on yourself than the opponent. Now we’re starting to get into Cincinnati and game planning and scheming, seeing what we want to do versus them, so it’s definitely an adjustment.”

PFT