Watson, like Wilson, was signed by their respective teams to be their franchise QB for the forseeable future. What @Great_Antibob seems to be saying is that Denver never intended Wilson to be more than a year or two fill in QB when they signed him. That seems insane to me given what theBroncos gave up to get him and how much they paid him.
I differ on what the Broncos were doing. Wilson was signed at age 33. He was considered a top tier QB. Brady, Manning, Rodgers, and others in that level played well into the age 40 strata and with Brady - beyond. The contract seemed fine for 7 years. Just my $0.02 worth, not a comment on Antibob, you, or anyone.
Back to the games. I see Cooper is questionable for the Browns. Tightens things up a bit. Njoku is still banged up too.
I wonder who will be the unknown (career) backup to supernova this week? Which will fade back to replacement level? I’d never bet on these games. Too many variables: injuries, weather, tipped passes, ref decisions.
Yeah. That’s what they gave up.
I think the Broncos traded for Wilson believing that he had several good years left and would lead them back to glory. After last year, they realized they made a mistake but they had to give him another opportunity, given what they gave up for him. But now it’s obvious that he’s not the guy and they are trying their darndest to cut their losses.
Nah, I said 12 months ago. Maybe should have written that better but 12 months ago, he already had one bad season under his belt in Denver and no real shot he’d open a window of contention for the next few years.
But they were stuck under that terrible contract they signed and after this season (and even then not really until next summer) was the earliest realistic chance they’d cut him. And given the dead cap hit, it wouldn’t have been surprising in Dec '22 if they were to keep him through the 2024 season as well. Still wouldn’t be shocking, though signs point against it. They’ll still have to deal with the cap hit but it gets slightly less onerous after yet another season.
Flacco is on fire!!!
Wilson was traded by Seattle because he wanted to be a drop-back quarterback. He’s not, he has to be mobile to be successful and Seattle knowing this didn’t want to deal with the issue. He then goes to Denver that hasn’t successfully coached a quarterback since Elway (Manning effectively coached himself). I knew it would be a disaster and for comparison, look at Drew Lock when he played a few series for the Broncos vs the game he had to fill in for Geno, Night and day.
296 yards in the first half, that’s bonkers. The Jets could’ve had him at QB at any time too, so that must be especially hard to watch.
And the rest of the AFC West is loving that fact. Long may it continue.
Also, Elway was GM for a while. He did sign Manning, who took them to a SB victory. But his other quarterback signings included Brock Osweiler, Trevor Siemian, Paxton Lynch, Case Keenum, Brandon Allen, and Blake Bortles.
Who wants to play January Joe?
It’s going to be a fun offseason of Joe wins a few playoff games and Browns ownership has the choice to get rid of the hero of the season or keep the most expensive backup of all time on the bench.
Denver signing Manning at that point and winning a SB is a bit like buying a really good store-bought pie to bring over to a potluck.
Though I guess that’s sort of the point. Russell has been a pro QB for over a decade. He shouldn’t need to be coached much anymore.
What he does need is a handler and an offense built to his strengths, not his whims.
No one wants to talk Browns? Fine, fine. I get it, they’re a bunch of shitbags with Watson, but think of it this way: think of how embarrassing and difficult it is going to be for the team and Watson when 38 year old, off the couch Flacco performs better than the quarter billion dollar man ever does. They’re going to be put in the position of alienating the fanbase by cutting or benching the hero that everyone loves, or having a $250m backup riding the bench. So you can probably root for the Browns knowing that it’s going to create an ugly situation for the bad guys.
The Jets actually have a really good pass defense - they’ve held a lot of good QBs to hardly anything, and Flacco utterly destroyed them in the first half, after which the game was pretty much over.
There were 22 players on the injury report and 15 players on IR for the Browns with third stringers starting in several positions but this team is overcoming all of that. 11-5 in the toughest division in football and peaking now. If they don’t have anything to play for in the last game of the season (the #1 seed is probably not going to be up for grabs) then they also get over 2 weeks of rest heading into the playoffs.
Seems like a Sunk Cost Fallacy for the Browns office. One way or another, they have to pay Watson the money on the contract. Watson starting, or riding the bench, doesn’t affect the finances one bit.
Meanwhile, if Flacco is playing best and gives the Browns the best odds of winning, then that’s what is best for the Browns on the field. Starting Watson to “get the money’s worth out of him” would arguably be detrimental to the on-field performance and still doesn’t save any money.
The good news, if it were, is that Flacco is 38, so one way or another he can’t be a Browns starter for long. If he were 28 it would be a totally different situation.
Agreed.
Having a very expensive backup QB isn’t the worse thing for a team. And if Flacco gets hurt, or has a bad game, you have Watson. I see zero upside for starting Watson as long as Flacco continues to perform well.
The non-zero chance that we’ll see a Browns-Lions Super Bowl, pitting the two oldest franchises which have never played in that game, is pretty exciting.
The thing with Russell Wilson is that in March they have to decide whether or not to pick up his 2025 contract. If he’s injured that contract automatically gets picked up.
Also, the trade for Wilson was made by the old ownership. The new ownership did sign him to his new deal and of course there’s a different head coach there. It’s a pretty messed up and convoluted situation.
Apologies if this is a silly question - I am a fan of the NFL, but the complexities of the salary caps and contracts are beyond me - but can’t the Browns trade Watson ?
They could, but they would need to find someone who is willing to take on not only (a) his extremely large contract, but (b) his PR baggage.
Also, next year, he’ll be four years removed from the last time he played at a level befitting his contract (2020), making him even less attractive as a player to trade for.
And his contract goes along. Any team wanting this social pariah (note: only among humans, NFL owners excluded) would still have to honor the contract. To take this on, the receiving team would demand the Browns pay the majority of Watson’s salary. I’d say that would be nuts, stupid, monumentally batshit insane but … the league collectively is crazytown.
edit (ninjed by kenobi, somehow the comment didn’t show up for me until I posted).
There’s also a nonzero chance that the Browns will be the #1 seed in the AFC. Longshot, but possible.
Browns are 11-5 with one to play, a road game at the Bengals.
Ravens are 10-3 with two to play, home games against the Fins and Steelers.
Dolphins are 11-4 with two to play, road game at Baltimore and a home game against the Bills.
If the Browns beat the Bengals, Ravens lose to the Fins and Steelers, Dolphins beat the Ravens and lose to the Bills, all 3 teams will finish 12-5. Cleveland would win the division over Baltimore by virtue of a better divisional record (4-2 vs 3-3; they split their two games), and would win the tiebreaker over the Dolphins by virtue of a better conference record (9-3 vs 8-4).