$230 million.....fully guaranteed! Gave up five draft picks including three first rounds! Insane for a guy with his history.
Holy Kamoley! DeShawn Watson to the Browns in insane deal!
- Thread starter The Spin Meister
- Start date
The trade is okay for the Browns but that contract is a prime example of what bad teams do. Texans win that deal big time.
Was a big Browns fan. This is nuts, but this is what the Browns do. How many Super Bowls have the Steelers been in? The Steelers are a well run organization. Look at their SB record. The Browns are traditionally run by idiots. What is Johny Manziel doing? Dream come true if you are the Steelers.
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Worst nfl trade of all time for both on the field and off the field reasons. Did you know baker’s record is far better?
Watson's a better QB than Mayfield so I don't have a problem with the move but the off-field stuff and the guaranteed money is insane.
Mostly yes. He had a bad year but tried to play through a shoulder that required surgery. The lesson learned is don’t try to play through injuries, I guess.
Steelers not worried.
The Browns will always be the Browns.
What was Ben's record against them again? 25-3-1 was it??
Look for THAT tradition to continue.
One of the best things to ever happen to the Steelers is to have the Browns in the same division. 2 guaranteed wins most years.
The fully guaranteed part I question.
Will the NFL suspend a guy who has guaranteed pay?
Maybe it's a dare.
More likely it isn't fully guaranteed.
LdN
He got a $45 million signing bonus with only Million dollar salary going to the cap limits. Guess he needed the cash for payoffs to settle the lawsuits out of court. Certainly the cost of such just went up.
That also greatly diminishes any loss of pay due to upcoming suspensions from the NFL. Pretty smart move by his agent.
No thank you--I'm content with Trubisky if my other option is Mayfield
Draft and develop well, then you don’t have to do crazy stuff like this.
True. I can't really be a Steelers fan, being from Cleveland. I still remember as a kid going to the old municipal stadium and watching the beered up steelworker fans from Cleveland and Pittburgh duking it out about the start of the 4th quarter. Think I'll be a bengals fan. There is still the Ohio connection.
Even an organization run as poorly as the Browns would have some sort of conduct clause that could invalidate the remaining years and potentially require repayment of some of the signing bonus. If DW wound up in prison, for example, I can't imagine they would be paying him whatever balance of $230M remained.
I thought the Sixers giving up 2 first rounders + Simmons for a 33yo Harden was insane, but that looks cheap by comparison.
What is really interesting, in the contract, is that Watson gets very little money in 2022. Why? They are expected the NFL to suspend Watson without pay, for at least 6 games. So the penalty has been, basically, paid by the Browns by loading the contract up after year one. The other benefit is that Watson only counts against the salary cap in 2022 ~ $1m. If they trade Mayfield, that will free up another $10m in cap space. Browns will now have more cap space than any team in the NFL and a roster that is pretty damn good from a talent perspective.
Like I said in post #14 they gave him a massive up front signing bonus so that if he is suspended he will end up paying almost nothing in fines/lost pay while suspended. Guessing the cap space is a bonus for the team that they saw as reducing the risk of signing him.
Pretty smart of his agent. Or maybe the Browns came up with this as a last minute ploy to convince him to sign with them after he said the Browns were out of the running.
Seems the NFL needs to amend their bylaws restricting signing bonuses and lump sum payments must be in some ratio to the annual salary. Say limit it it to 20% or 25% of annual salary.
Agreed. Teams are (finally) starting to understand the cap space implications in the NFL where stars are often cut because the team needs to cap space. It is no longer a simple evaluation of talent, but of talent at what cost? Guys like Baker and Saquon signed huge rooking contracts but just aren't worth the money (both due to injury, IMHO). This creates a much more "one and done" situation. You look at the Browns and OBJ. The guy was trouble and needed a new home. He'll wear out his welcome soon enough. But for half a season, he helped deliver a championship. AB was the same last year with the Bucs.
