Watson didn't play for 2 years, it really destroyed anything he had going for him.

I also think it's missed how much of his game was throwing jump balls to an elite jump ball WR who was paired with an elite speed WR.

Cleveland has a really good roster but they don't have "that"

New lawsuit just dropped.

Cleveland is taking it well....

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The first call on Cleveland sports talk radio this morning <a href="https://t.co/Ef9dln5MjX">pic.twitter.com/Ef9dln5MjX</a></p>&mdash; Ben Axelrod (@BenAxelrod) <a href="https://twitter.com/BenAxelrod/status/1833102587182104859?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 9, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Make sure and check his BP

ROFLROFLROFL


That just warms the cockles. Damn, that's funny.

And I feel bad for the Browns fans, because they didn't ask for any of this, they didn't make the trade for Watson, but my hatred for the CLE ownership/organization just looms large over that little bit of compassion. Suck it, Haslam, and whoever else was in on the decision to try and ruin Baker. Reap it 10000x over.

The big difference is that Denver took the out. Unethically. But they decided to just take it on the chin just to get him out. What Cleveland is doing with deshaun with all the backloading is going to blow up even worse than what Snyder did in Washington trying to buy super bowls. It almost feels like they're going to fall into an unprecedented cap hole.

Unlike Denver they went all in and then tripled down on it. Which I kinda get because once Chubb and Garrett are gone the whole thing implodes. But man they're going to be in hell for a very long time. Rebuilding is one thing, rebuilding with massive cap debt you can't get rid of is something entirely different

I mean, the fans really did ask for this. They wanted Mayfield GONE. The were loud and proud in that declaration. They also wanted a "franchise QB" immediately because they felt the rest of the roster was ready to compete for a title. They were also THRILLED with Watson AND the trade that got him there, although maybe not the contract.

It's not like Browns Fan hid any of this.

LMAO CLEVELAND ROCKS!

Well, and I get that a lot of Browns fans were done with Baker and a lot of them thought Watson was elite, but not all of them, and I think it wasn't as overwhelming as it seemed from the outside.

I know a few CLE fans, and none of them wanted Baker gone. They wanted him to sit and get surgery. They wanted him to stop saying dumb things to the press. But they also wanted him back, just healthy.


All just semantics now, of course, just saying I'm only really annoyed with CLE ownership/management. Ymmv

?

I just started a new thread on it.
Deserves its own IMO

I posted earlier today that I think it is. He is soooooooo bad.

Correct. Baker can be a ****. And he's not Mahomes. But that doesn't mean he's devoid of value. In limited resource environments it is important to maximize the production per unit salary cap. Giving it all to Watson ain't it.

True enough. I'm no Baker fanboy but he's better than he gets credit for. He's not Mahomes, but you can win with him as well as Hurts, et al.

Yeah, the number I heard on the podcast I referenced was a little off but right around there. That is mother****ing catastrophic.

I mean, I have a million posts on the subject here. So some of us got it.

The current Baker at his current salary is a bargain.
And maybe Baker was more injured than I remembered.
But he had a great D. He had Chubb and Karem. I guess I don’t really remember thinking his WR were particularly good or bad but if that wasn’t good enough for a game manager. Where do you go from there?

Baker's a notch above game manager talent-wise.

He played through a significant shoulder injury that last year in Cleveland, and they hung him for it.

He's no Mahomes, but nobody is.

He's playing well in Tampa-I think he just needed a stable organization and a coaching staff that believed in him.

I thought for sure that his path was going to be the Jim Plunkett path, and that he'd end up in Vegas and win one in a KC off-year.

Tampa probably keeps him, though. And they should.