Deshaun Watson is a Cleveland Brown

[Thomas5737]

2 hours ago, MWil23 said:

Yep. I’m hoping the counter suit for Watson’s suspension, Gruden, and Flores burn the shield and owners to the ground. Watson and Gruden are probably/definitely scum bags, but they can be used to burn it all down, not to mention Flores and company. I’m rooting for complete anarchy and utter transparency, and let the bodies fall where they may.

Sure to a point but be careful what you wish for. If they somehow remove all immoral owners Haslam will probably be one of them and new ownership may move to Berlin. 

Still, I don't think anything happens. Snyder may have to step down or at least be a silent owner while his family makes the official decisions after consulting with him. Owners look after each other. They do have dirt on each other and aren't going to press things. 

[MWil23]

12 minutes ago, Thomas5737 said:

Sure to a point but be careful what you wish for. If they somehow remove all immoral owners Haslam will probably be one of them and new ownership may move to Berlin. 

Still, I don't think anything happens. Snyder may have to step down or at least be a silent owner while his family makes the official decisions after consulting with him. Owners look after each other. They do have dirt on each other and aren't going to press things. 

If the owners are smart, they try to settle Flores and Gruden. However, I think Chuckie is out for blood and Flores is bigger than coaching/football, so I don’t know if either settles.

I think they come down heavy handed on Watson and then back off after the countersuit by the NFLPA in conjunction with the precedent set by Kraft and Snyder in light of the statement and language of “owners being held to a higher standard”, and “everyone wins”, except of course for the victims.

[Kiwibrown]

1 hour ago, MWil23 said:

If the owners are smart, they try to settle Flores and Gruden. However, I think Chuckie is out for blood and Flores is bigger than coaching/football, so I don’t know if either settles.

I think they come down heavy handed on Watson and then back off after the countersuit by the NFLPA in conjunction with the precedent set by Kraft and Snyder in light of the statement and language of “owners being held to a higher standard”, and “everyone wins”, except of course for the victims.

The crap thing about the later is that it just drags on. Watson has quality legal council and is doing a good job at the moment. I could see a situation where he gets a life time ban reduced to a year. 

Whatever happens this will always hang over his head. 

[hornbybrown]

4 hours ago, MWil23 said:

If the owners are smart, they try to settle Flores and Gruden. However, I think Chuckie is out for blood and Flores is bigger than coaching/football, so I don’t know if either settles.

I think they come down heavy handed on Watson and then back off after the countersuit by the NFLPA in conjunction with the precedent set by Kraft and Snyder in light of the statement and language of “owners being held to a higher standard”, and “everyone wins”, except of course for the victims.

This seems like the most likely scenario to me with all of this stuff.

[hornbybrown]

1 minute ago, hornbybrown said:

This seems like the most likely scenario to me with all of this stuff.

I think Watson gets a season long suspension that turns into a 8-10 game suspension 

[Forge]

Sounding like the NFL is pushing for an indefinite suspension. That's worst case scenario for Watson. That's the suspension he definitely doesn't want

[NateDawg]

Of all the ways this organization has flown the coop, trading 3 1s and change for a creep at QB who is possibly going to not play this season is a new one. At least prior to this we had an average quarterback. Who didn’t see this type of suspension coming? Browns front office (or Jimmy) watched the playoffs and got in desperation mode. I don’t think this team was going to win a Super Bowl with Mayfield at Quarterback, but you can’t just desperately force things. This whole thing has been such a bad look. 

[Thomas5737]

35 minutes ago, Forge said:

Sounding like the NFL is pushing for an indefinite suspension. That's worst case scenario for Watson. That's the suspension he definitely doesn't want

I think indefinite is fine as long as nothing new or more cases doesn't pop up. If it's an indefinite suspension and he is able to apply for reinstatement in 1 year it would be the same as a 1 year suspension if he doesn't have any future issues.

The worst case scenario for Watson is if they were to suspend him for each case independently. 4 games per each dropped to 2 games per case would still be 56 games or 3+ seasons.

What happens if Joe Schmo gets 2 cases of sexual misconduct against him and Watson only received 8 or 10 games for 28? They going to suspend Joe for a quarter or a half of a game? There will be a precedent of how many games per charge/case already on the books. Makes it tough to take a stand later. Fortunately the NFL hasn't had a history of suspensions that make sense so maybe they won't care.

 

[mrpazzo]

12 minutes ago, NateDawg said:

Who didn’t see this type of suspension coming? Browns front office (or Jimmy) watched the playoffs and got in desperation mode.

This could be a description of Haslam, not the front office.  I firmly believe this front office knew there is risk of a year long suspension.  Like most business decisions it comes down to risk analysis.  Those that believe Watson is not worth the risk of losing this season, or just doesn't pass the smell test obviously would not make the transaction.

 I believe the Browns front office made this evaluation with a 5 to 10 year time horizon.  They took the risk knowing that finding a top 5'ish qb is not easy.  They didn't believe that there was a high probability that Baker would grow into a qb that they would want to invest in long term.  That would leave them at the end of 22 not knowing where they could acquire a qb better than Baker.  (Quarterback purgatory here we come).  They knew this would be a bad look, they decided that the pain would and are currently enduring, was worth acquiring a franchise qb in his prime for the next  5 to 10 years.   If this was not a difficult painful decision, Watson would not be available.  He would already be in Miami. 

This move cannot be evaluated in full until Watson plays again, and for at least 2 or 3 seasons at that.  And yes he will play again no matter the length of the suspension. (As an aside, one my good buddies once told be that Josh Gordon would never play in the league again.😉)  

I am not trying to convince those that think this was a bad or immoral transaction otherwise.  I just think that it's too easy to say the Browns didn't know what they were doing.  I think they did know what they were getting into.  They are paying the costs now, but the benefits of the transaction can't occur until Watson plays.  The Browns rightly or wrongly believe this will payoff over time.  

TLDR: The wisdom or foolhardiness of this move can only be judged over time.

[Forge]

42 minutes ago, Thomas5737 said:

I think indefinite is fine as long as nothing new or more cases doesn't pop up. If it's an indefinite suspension and he is able to apply for reinstatement in 1 year it would be the same as a 1 year suspension if he doesn't have any future issues.

The worst case scenario for Watson is if they were to suspend him for each case independently. 4 games per each dropped to 2 games per case would still be 56 games or 3+ seasons.

What happens if Joe Schmo gets 2 cases of sexual misconduct against him and Watson only received 8 or 10 games for 28? They going to suspend Joe for a quarter or a half of a game? There will be a precedent of how many games per charge/case already on the books. Makes it tough to take a stand later. Fortunately the NFL hasn't had a history of suspensions that make sense so maybe they won't care.

 

This is the exact reason I gave in the niners forum for not wanting it to be indefinite. It just leaves the door open for a worse punishment. It's so much easier for the NFL to just be like, "nah, not going to do the reinstatement thing right now" as opposed to trying to have a separate suspension if something came up. 

As you said, it also pretty much locks in a year with no option to really plead it down

[Thomas5737]

58 minutes ago, Forge said:

This is the exact reason I gave in the niners forum for not wanting it to be indefinite. It just leaves the door open for a worse punishment. It's so much easier for the NFL to just be like, "nah, not going to do the reinstatement thing right now" as opposed to trying to have a separate suspension if something came up. 

As you said, it also pretty much locks in a year with no option to really plead it down

It seems like at this point they pretty much have to give him at least a year anyway. I thought he would wait to settle until after his suspension. Then throw on the 4 additional cases and I think an 8 game suspension would have a lot of negative feedback from groups that the NFL is trying to build on. You know, like p.a.s.p. or people against sexual predators. Okay, I made that up I meant the female audience but either works.

If this were Josh Gordon who the NFL seemed to throw the book at I'd agree with you 100%. It doesn't seem like (by reading between the lines) that the NFL is disgusted by his charges. Otherwise they probably wouldn't approve his trade and contract extension unless they just wanted to really put it to the Browns which I guess is possible.

[hornbybrown]

If he gets suspended for one season it doesn’t count as a year played and pushes his whole contract out a year.

 

so next season would be the first year of his Browns deal.

From a Browns point of view a year long suspension could actually be better than a 10 game one

[hornbybrown]

Just to say anything I post is in no way in support of Watson. Just talking about the possibilities 

[AkronsWitness]

4 hours ago, Forge said:

This is the exact reason I gave in the niners forum for not wanting it to be indefinite. It just leaves the door open for a worse punishment. It's so much easier for the NFL to just be like, "nah, not going to do the reinstatement thing right now" as opposed to trying to have a separate suspension if something came up. 

As you said, it also pretty much locks in a year with no option to really plead it down

At the same time I doubt the NFL wants this to linger that long and have their 'brand' constantly being in the news because of it.

Just suspend him a year to get your pound of flesh and let the NFLPA try to fight it down to 10 games and get it over with.

Edited June 26, 2022 by AkronsWitness

[Thomas5737]

56 minutes ago, hornbybrown said:

If he gets suspended for one season it doesn’t count as a year played and pushes his whole contract out a year.

 

so next season would be the first year of his Browns deal.

From a Browns point of view a year long suspension could actually be better than a 10 game one

I don't think it's like holding out where the contract year doesn't progress. The player still earned that year's salary it was just lost as a fine.

 

Now if for example Baker held out and didn't earn a paycheck he would still be under contract for that lost year. If Baker were suspended for the season for whatever reason he would still be a free agent next year.