DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Off-season player movement

My guess is the Carolina Panthers have already offered their 2022 1st round pick, 2023 1st round pick, RB Christian McCaffrey and a 2023 3rd round pick for Watson and a 2022 4th round pick as a starting point. Unless Cleveland is planning on parting with Chubb and a boatload of pick's I don't see them being competitive in the market.

There is also still the matter of Watson's no-trade clause.

Yeah. Carolina is going to go all in.

Mention the bevy of massage parlors in the Warren/Youngstown area and he'll be on the first flight to Cleveland!

I know I'm a dinosaur, but I would have a problem with a lizard being our QB.

j/c:

So you’re saying there’s a chance!

Texans are rumored to want 3 firsts and 3 seconds... or 3 firsts and three good players... Watson is a great talent, but you have to give up a ton to get him.

Yep, and pick up Cooper too

And then you have a QB who is younger and better than Baker Mayfield for the next ten years (at least).

Yeah, my concern is that he is still a creep.

A valid concern.

Seattle just came into a bunch of draft capital the other day. They could be a player in this too.

Watson
Metcalf
Lockett
Fant

what I have been saying. Pete ain't getting any younger. they will be all in on watson.

sell the farm

I'd trade 2 1st, Baker, landry, and a 2nd for Watson. then throw money at the best FA WR and DT on the market.

The problem is where are the Browns going to get the money? Landry is 16M and Baker is 19M. Watson's cap number this year is 40.4M but at a minimum his salary is 35M this year and over 136M the next 4-years. Landry and Baker might be a break even at best and light 5M at the worst. That would leave the Browns with about 15M to address through FA and the draft - 3 WR's, 3 DL, LB's, special teams and depth on the line.

Plus, I hate to keep bringing it up, Watson has a no trade clause and I'm sure he won't agree to come to a team with a run first scheme playing 2 and 3 TE sets. Money is not an object because he's under contract so the "juice" will be if Watson thinks it's a good fit to win and if he has the weapons around him to show off his skill set. Keep in mind Watson is used to throwing for 4,000 plus yards a season. That would be a complete change in the scheme Stefanski has run on two different teams. Just saying..............

We currently have over $18 million in cap space. If we were planning on trading for Watson that means we trade Baker for whatever we can get for him, that would clear his entire salary. That gets us to more than $37 million. Cut Landry, which we are going to do anyway, and we get to $52 million. Designate Hooper a June 1st cut and you get $61 million. Cut Keenum and then we have nearly $70 million in cap space. Sign Ward to extension to reduce his cap this year.

Getting the amount of money needed to get Watson is not that hard.

Actually, after all the moves you suggest, the number would be more like $62M available after subtracting the dead cap costs. Watson is not the only need that needs to be considered. If the Browns add Watson and Cooper for example, your war chest just went from 62M to 5M available (Watson 35M in 2022 and Cooper 22M).

That's 5M left to sign Ward to an extension or fill the roster needs of 2 more WR's, 2 DT's, 1 DE, LB upgrade, backup QB, OL depth and special teams. That's about 10 player openings and if they were all signed to the league minimum for rookie's it would cost the Browns $750,000 x 10 = 7.5M putting the Browns 2.5M over the cap before Ward's deal is even considered. The Browns also would not have a 1st or 2nd round pick for the next 3 years. Wentz was traded for a 3rd this year and a 3rd next year so Mayfield would be similar - you'd lose that 3rd round pick this year though in the trade for Cooper. No matter how you look at it though, a #1 WR is going to cost somewhere between 16M to 20M to secure. Unless of course the Browns can sell Watson on a group of 3rd round or later rookie WR's or a group of FA WR2 and WR 3's in the room all making less than 6M each. That's before the Browns even start thinking about how to address the 3 starting vacancies on the DL.

Realistically, the Browns are not going to sign 10 players in the league rookie minimum with more than half of those positions being starting positions. So the cash is not there realistically fill the roster to a competitive level if the Browns just sign Watson and a legitimate WR1. There's way more holes to fill than just getting Watson and the cash isn't there even with your moves.

jc:

You are wrong.

Prove it!

Have fun!



https://overthecap.com/calculator/

Thanks for proving my point - after all the moves and getting Watson and Cooper - the Browns would have a little more than what I said at about 13M which still isn't enough to get 3 DL starters, 2 additional WR starters, LB upgrade, OL depth, Backup QB, and special teams. Either through the draft (without any 1st or 2nd round picks for the next 3-years), FA, or trades - the Browns will have no less than 5 starting positions open with 13M just to fill them this year and that's not even factoring in signing Ward either.

And you also have a franchise QB.

Teams are able to restructure and sign extensions to get more cap space.

Agent's Take: Asking prices for intriguing players with expiring contracts

LB Von Miller LAR
Contract package: $35 million, two years ($17.5 million per year)
Overall guarantees: $30 million
Fully guaranteed at signing: $25 million

DE Jadeveon Clowney CLE
Contract package: $72 million, four years ($18 million per year)
Overall guarantees: $50 million
Fully guaranteed at signing: $40 million

LB De'Vondre Campbell GBP
Contract package: $40 million, three years ($13,333,333 per year)
Overall guarantees: $27.5 million
Fully guaranteed at signing: $27.5 million

LB Haason Riddick CAR
Contract package: $62 million, four years ($15.5 million per year)
Overall guarantees: $36 million
Fully guaranteed at signing: $32 million

DT D,J. Jones SFO
Contract package: $36 million, three years ($12 million per year)
Overall guarantees: $25 million
Fully guaranteed at signing: $20 million

WR D.J. Chark JAX
Contract package: $20 million, two years ($10 million per year)
Overall guarantees: $20 million
Fully guaranteed at signing: $20 million

WR Christian Kirk ARI
Contract package: $50 million, four years ($12.5 million per year)
Overall guarantees: $37.5 million
Fully guaranteed at signing: $25 million

WR Michael Gallup DAL
Contract package: $10 million, 1 year
Overall guarantees: $10 million
Fully guaranteed at signing: $10 million

WR Allen Robinson CHI
Contract Package: $60 million, four years ($15 million per year)
Overall guarantees: $45 million
Fully guaranteed at signing: $40 million

I would love to have Clowney back but I feel like we already dodged a bullet with his health last season. $40 million guaranteed is a lot for him.

wait, you're expecting us to sign starters at every position?

Well, the Browns are missing 3 DL starters - the Browns are missing a starting LB, the Browns are missing 3 starting caliber WR's but maybe could get by with DPJ but he has work to do. That's 6 or 7 starters needed no matter how you cut it.

j/c

After the years of grief Browns fans have given the Steelers, and rightfully so, for having a scum bag like Big Ben as their QB, I'll be damned if I am going to be a hypocrite now and welcome Watson to our own team. I guess it's true that people are willing to sell their souls to win.

The only legit argument (imo) is that we're already hypocrites for embracing Hunt. There's no doubt he'd be an upgrade, and I'd expect AB to make it work financially.

The news on Friday is definitely a hurdle removed from in front of Watson, but he's not out of the woods yet (just speaking pragmatically). I don't know for sure how I feel about Watson coming here. The thing I don't like about him is the 22 number. Hunt did something horrible, but has been taking steps to not repeat and has been mostly successful. 22 incidents/victims speaks more to a mindset vs unfortunate lapse in judgement.

And I think that's a huge difference. Hunt paid for his actions to a large extent. He was suspended for eight games and apologized for his actions. Not only that, he played for a fraction of the money he would have made without such an incident. He was even out of football when our FO gave him a chance at redemption. And yes, that number is 22. 22 Women total. I don't see how anyone can claim 22 women are lying while Watson is denying everything and didn't lose a penny. Nah, I don't want him here.

Or we're planning on giving players we've drafted and developed opportunities on the DL (Elliott and Togiai) and are looking more for affordable depth there. Maybe they plan on using Njoku in the slot and they are comfortable with Schwartz being the other receiver opposite DPJ.

They probably plan on JOK and Phillips playing LB and have Takitaki for the rare occasions they'll use 3.

Suddenly we only need one DE starter and maybe a WR. We've got draft picks to use as well and it looks like there are good players going to be available at those positions. We can restructure contracts, like every other team, if we need to.

Yep. Magic Eight Ball says "not likely" when asked if Clowney will be healthy in 2022. He seems like he always has a lot of nagging injuries and is more than happy to be on the sideline while he's healing.

I was really surprised and happy how much Clowney played last year. I was expecting he would be out most of the year with some kind of injury. Maybe he just had a healthy year, maybe it was being on a one year contract as the reason he played more.

I'd love to see Clowney come back, on a 2 year type deal. Maybe 3 if it benefits us on the third year.