I think this was part of Haslam's strategy. He knew he had to pay to get him, so he made it so all the others would have to do it. These teams don't have the cash in escrow to do this, and I think the Browns knew this and made a bold move to put their rivals in a bad position. I love it.
His strategy was after watson made it plain he wasn't coming to Cleveland, he made a last ditch effort to outbid everyone else for watson. If that had been his actual strategy he would have made an offer like that from the start.
