2927

I think that kind of salary split when a free agent is signed is normal. The original team pays whatever the new team doesn’t towards the base pay.

2928

Offset language is really inconsistent for contracts, it’s definitely normal to have it but it’s also normal not to have it. It tends to be one of the major negotiation points. For instance other #1 overalls Burrow and Trevor Lawrence don’t have offset language but Kyler Murray does have it.

2929

Right. The Seahawks weren’t trading Wilson until they… traded Wilson. Sheesh. Don’t believe anything they tell you.

2930

The difference here is there were plenty of trade options with those other players. Due to the situation in Cleveland there are no trade options at this point for Mayfield. Cleveland refuses to give him away since they are stuck with his guaranteed payout and no GM is jumping at the chance to give up draft capital for the 25th ranked QB in the league last year, especially when he is being painted as a locker room cancer. I am sure Cleveland would love to trade Mayfield and be done with it. They are not keeping him because they don’t want to trade him, they are keeping him because every GM out there knows they can have Mayfield 7 months down the road without giving up draft capital for him. So unless some team feels Mayfield is worth the cost ( apparently no one does at this point ) the Browns are stuck with him. Now that could change if a playoff ready team loses a starter mid season and gets desperate but frankly I would be shocked if Cleveland managed to move him before that. And I think they are serious about not cutting him. If they have to pay him, they plan on keeping him. Of course these things are not absolutes and anything could happen. But as things stand now, a trade or Mayfield being cut is highly unlikely. But as you have said, time will tell.

2931

His value will grow a few weeks into the season as starting qb’s get hurt.

2932

If Watson is suspended at the start of the season, do the Browns play Mayfield or Brissett?

2933

If they were smart, they would tell Mayfield that he has an opportunity to audition for the rest of the NFL and start him. If Mayfield is smart he takes the opportunity and plays hard in the hopes that he can get traded and if not at lease improve his free agency opportunities. From what I have seen neither side in this is that smart so I expect it will be Brissett.

2934

I am starting to think the $230 million the Browns guaranteed to DeShaun Watson may not have been the most astute financial and personnel move in team history.

2935

Summary available for non-NYT subscribers?

2936

Summary: Deshaun Watson really really likes massages.

2937

I wonder what Vegas has the odds he never plays a down for them at.

2938

They did structure his contract so that they take a minimal cap hit if he’s suspended for the 2022 season.

2939

I would think somewhere in his contract is wording that would void the contract if this were to really blow up. Wouldn’t effect the trade though.

2940

The Browns deserve all the shit that comes their way from this move. What an embarrassment.

2941

When the contract was signed, it was reported that there’s language in it that the signing bonus and guaranteed money can’t be voided by a suspension. I don’t think anyone knows how that would play out if even more egregious things come out, but my super under informed speculation is that the Browns probably would end up on the hook as long as the various things are still in the category of creepy sexual stuff with massage therapists before the contract started since that was basically all known at the time the Browns were dumb and gross enough to sign the deal with him and presumably that contract language was crafted by Watson’s side with that in mind.

Personally, I don’t know how I feel about that part of it. Having the Watson not play and so the Browns gave up three first rounders for nothing and they end up being top of the draft picks because they suck is obviously great. But the Browns also being out $260M is hilarious except that means Watson gets $260M, so maybe the Browns pay all the cash and it goes to the women involved would be my ideal movie ending.

But in reality I bet he ends up not playing this year, losing $10-20M to the various women in civil cases, and then playing next year and on and making a quarter of a billion dollars anyways.

2942

That’s what rubs me wrong. Guy has 66 or whatever accusations, his lawyer isn’t seeming to dispute them very well, and the NFL MAY suspend him for one year then say all’s fine, come on back and get rich and play in our league.

At what point do you say, you’ve crossed a line, you’re banned. Or you have a 3 year ban. Or whatever. He will be the same guy 12 months from now that he is now.

2943

Let’s say he gets a 1-year or 2-year suspension. That will likely be new time to miss – he won’t get anything like “time served” credit for last year.

So that means that if he can’t play in 2022 (and who knows, maybe he will) if he’s allowed back in 2023, he’ll be coming back to the NFL as a guy who’ll turn 28 in Week 2 of that season, and as a guy who hasn’t played a competitive down of football in more than 2 years. I’m not sure the Browns will be getting the QB they hoped to get when they traded and signed him. Maybe. But it’s also almost as likely that when he comes back that he’s lost something in the two years or three years of shelf time.

2944

… and that he is a PR issue for a team and most likely will repeat some sort of issue going forward. Sexual kinks don’t just go away. It’s compulsive behavior. He will need treatment for it, which would most likely need to be approved and managed by any team who does take him. And it’s not a guarantee working through a treatment for a compulsion will work.

To what @JeffL said, we aren’t talking rookie numbers here. 66 women with similar statements is WAAAAAAY beyond Brett Farve level of shenanigans, and that’s what led to his (second) retirement. But then again, he came back to the play for the Vikings. Still, his charges seem really tame now compared to Watson.

2945

But the Houston DA (IIRC) declined to press charges. I don’t think he is home free though between the civil cases and the new stuff. Look what MLB did with Trevor Bauer.

I would still find it hard to believe the Browns don’t have something in his contract that would cover this if it blows up.

Also, he is still young and taking time off in a physical sport like football isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

2946

I believe a grand jury declined to indict.