Never fear Browns fans, just remember the old maxim, "Quarterback Greed wins Championships," and rest assured that the Browns are in good hands with the greediest ownership and front office in football. Oh wait, that's not how the old saying goes. It's actually DEFENSE wins championships. The rest of the NFL, with the possible exception of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Minnesota Vikings, and a few others, have forgotten that.
I about want to barf when I read stories, often by bloggers like myself, about how the Browns ought to blow another first round draft pick--after not having one for three years due to the disastrous Watson trade--on a bright, shining quarterback next year so we can ruin another one.
Look, the problem is the BROWNS ARE OVERINVESTING IN QUARTERBACKS AND NEED TO STOP. They are gorging themselves on quarterbacks they cannot afford and throwing away quarterbacks who are good enough to win, falsely believing that the quarterback is some kind of magical Messiah. Well, he is not.
The Browns got rid of Baker Mayfield because he was not a franchise quarterback Well, franchise or not, he is currently fourth in the NFL in yards with 984, ahead of guys like Joe Burrow, Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes, and he is second in the NFL with 8 TD passes (behind Sam Darnold with 11). You thought Sam Darnold sucked because he could not succeed for the New York Jets or Carolina Panthers. MAYBE THE TEAM HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH IT? Anyway, do we still think Deshaun Watson is a franchise quarterback that made so much of a positive difference for Cleveland? How?
Meanwhile, last year's backup, Joe Flacco, came off the bench and led the Indianapolis Colts to a big win, beating the Steelers with two TD passes. Well, fancy that.
Jacoby Brissett, the 2022 Browns' best quarterback on the roster, is starting for the Patriots who have a bad roster. You can say he stinks, based on his stats, but he can play on a good team.
Tyler Huntley had a tryout with the Browns this spring but got cut. He will be the emergency starter over in Miami due to injuries to their two top guys (that's why you need three qbs in this league, Coach McDaniel, particularly when your top guy has a concussion history. I may be an amateur, but I am so right about that).
The problem with the Browns is that they gave away six draft picks including three number ones--three years worth of picks, basically--for one quarterback who didn't want to play football. Forget about his, uh, romantic adventures. He took a year off from football because his team did not let him be the Assistant General Manager, basically. You can't have a guy like that in the locker room. And they paid him an entire team's worth of salary. $230 million guaranteed is equivalent to an entire season's payroll. They are trying to defer it and spread it out, but they cannot recover from it.
Their only hope is to try to void the contract, if Deshaun is found in breach of the clauses that require him to have no further blemishes on his record. He is currently being sued by yet another woman. If he loses, perhaps the Browns can pull the plug on this hideous quarterback. However, the rest of the team is still depleted of talent.
In any case, it is time to give it a rest. No more overinvesting in quarterbacks. There is no need to fire Jameis Winston, who is a capable quarterback. Plus the Browns need to find out what they have in Dorian Thompson-Robinson who has looked fine in small sample sizes. They should not just give up on the kid and cut him before developing him. No, no, no! That's part of the disease, cutting the quarterback for no reason. There are other positions besides quarterback, and if they don't develop the rest of the team, they will be like the Jets or Panthers and never know if they have a quarterback who can play. It's like a drug, throwing away quarterback after quarterback after quarterback, and signing free agent after free agent and drafting first round pick after first round pick, looking for the quick fix while neglecting the rest of the team. Stop it. It's a waste of resources. Even if you have the perfect quarterback, you will never know it if you put him on a team with a punk roster.
I would make it an internal rule that there should be three quarterbacks on the roster every year, and the team never replaces more than one per year. Stability at the position is a good thing.
