Deshaun May be Activated by Game 5 and Should be QB2

Deshaun Watson looks to be on track to be healthy, meaning he will have to be activated by Game 5 and if so he is probably the second best quarterback on the roster. 

The Deshaun soap opera continues, but maybe this is not a bad thing. As noted by the x.com post above, as well as several other sources, Deshaun Watson looks fine physically.  He's running sprints and executing his drills. He is currently on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list, where he will remain for the next month.  By Week 5, however, a decision will be made.  If he is ready to start practicing, he must be given a roster spot. 

The fan consensus is that Deshaun is the Antichrist and must never see the field.  But the last time he saw the field before the ruptured Achilles, he went 15 for 17 with zero INTs. That's not terrible. Although the fan base does not want to hear this, it's better than Shedeur is capable of in 2025, and the Front Office does not want to hear that Dillon Gabriel combines lack of height and lack of speed in a package that has rarely been successful at the NFL level. 

Moreover, keep in mind that the team gave Deshaun everything he wanted in 2024, and that was a bad idea. Namely, they tried to model their offense off Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills using an Offensive Coordinator that the Bills fired.  Watson was never a long ball quarterback, but he might really be good in Stefanski's grind it out, run-first short passing offense.  When all else fails, listen to the Coach. 

I should probably mention in passing that there is also a Nuclear Option, in which the Browns say that Deshaun is (a) not healthy and  (b) re-injured himself by doing something negligent during his first rehab. If they can prove that, they can get some of the $167 million back that they still owe him.  That would be hard to prove when the dude is running wind sprints and looks like his old self. Face it, he should be back, and he has to take up a roster spot, whether he plays or not.  I think he should be the number two quarterback this year.   

Watson may be hated by the fan base, but inside the building at 76 Lou Groza Blvd he is a regular guy despite his alleged problems with masseuses. And fans, the real problem with Watson his contract, which is a Jimmy Haslam III special.  It's hard to blame the player for accepting the money offered by a foolish owner.  

 

The Browns Will Contend for First Overall Pick in 2026 Draft

 

Andrew and Kevin did not seem to happy about drafting Shedeur, leading many observers to suspect it was not entirely their idea. They may get the blame anyway for the lack of talent as the Browns cruise to another four win season.

Contending for first overall pick is a nice way to say that this year's edition of the Cleveland Browns will probably be a disaster. Never say never, but the Browns are simply operating at a huge disadvantage compared to the rest of the NFL. Namely, they still owe Deshaun Watson $167 million dollars (including $36 million this year), which inhibits their ability to sign long term deals, and they are paying an astounding $71 million in "dead money" in 2025 to players no longer on the team. In total they are paying over $100 million to players who will not play football for the Cleveland Browns in 2025. They Browns have borrowed and put off player salaries to the point where the team is just not sustainable.  Compare that to the Steelers, who have just $16 million being spent on dead money.  

The Browns have blown a total of 10 draft picks on quarterbacks since 2022 (six from the Watson deal, a net of four since then) and those players are going to be missed. 

Look, I am not a genius in player evaluation, but you can't gouge the payroll by upwards of $100 million dollars and waste 10 draft picks on quarterbacks and expect to be competitive. 

And it's actually not that good.  The Browns have invested a lot of money in players who are older and not healthy, and they owe money in "voidable years" which will come due when they stop extending their contracts.  How many concussions has Denzel Ward had?  Well, if he is not extended, the Browns will be charged $59 million in dead money next season. Jack Conklin has one year left on his deal, and then the Browns will be charged $13 million in dead money next season.  Similarly, the Browns will owe $24 million on David Njoku if he is not extended.  All this while they attempt to pay down Deshaun's $167 million remaining money.  And you don't think that will affect the team? 

All those articles speculating the Browns might put in a bid for Micah Parson make me want to toss my cookies. You guys have to get real. The days of big fat juicy free agent signings are OVER.  Accept it. 

The Browns plan all along was to hoard draft picks and cap for 2016-2018, and then overspend for a few years to try to win rings.  Ladies and gentlemen, that window has CLOSED.  The Browns have tried to keep the window open by borrowing money from the future in order to feed their superstar quarterback, Deshaun Watson.  IT DID NOT WORK.  They need to reload and safe cap and draft picks for another three years.  Instead they are making a mess by attempting to offloading commitments against future cap dollars and they have fallen behind. 

The Browns need to face the truth, like the Dallas Cowboys have, and admit that they have a rebuilding period ahead of them.  They will not be competitive until they have paid off Deshaun's deal and cleared these ridiculous "voidable years" contracts. In the meantime, as painful as it sounds, they need to be trading down, like they did this season and foregoing the stud receiver type pick like Travis Hunter, and generate additional first round picks and rebuild the offensive and defensive lines.  If they can prove they can protect the quarterback and run the football, then we'll talk about acquiring someone to fling the pigskin.  I don't know why anyone wants to fire Shedeur before his career even starts, anyway.  Let's give him his shot in 2026 and 2027. 

4-13 seems like the over under, I'm sorry to say.  Don't blame Kevin Stefanski, but do blame Andrew Berry for these atrocious deals and especially blame James Arthur Haslam III for reasserting his meddling role in the personnel affairs of the team.

Jerry Jones , Cowboys, Micah Parsons All Got What They Wanted

 

Photo Credit:  https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Jerry_Jones_%2824176024648%29_%28cropped%29.jpg

Jerry Jones' Cowboys needed cap relief and draft picks to rebuild.  He got them what they needed, and made out agent David Mulugheta  to be the bad guy. 

The press is ragging on Jerry Jones for trading away Micah Parsons, a premier pass rushing talent for two first round draft picks and three time Pro Bowl lineman Kenny Clark, but this is actually a great move for the Cowboys in the long run, and Parsons and Green Bay get an opportunity for a ring right now. Face it, the Cowboys were not going to make a run this season. Parsons gets a deal for $188 million dollars over four years, which fans figure is really cheap, but which was unaffordable for the Cowboys.  

Jones has been an easy target, ever since he fired Jimmy Johnson, one of the greatest coaches and part of one of the smartest organizations in history. But speaking of Johnson, how did he build the Cowboys?  One of the key moves was trading superstar Herschel Walker to the Vikings for a slew of draft picks including Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith, Pro Bowl lineman Russell Maryland and 3-time All-Pro Darren Woodson.

Now, were the Cowboys going to win the Super Bowl this year?  Well, probably not.  What they needed was cap relief and extra draft picks to make a run in the future. Now, do you think Jerry should have been brave and honest and told the press, "Well folks, me and Stephen and the boys figure we ain't got the hosses this year, so we're fixin' to save cap space for upcoming years and tank for draft picks, and build for the next several years!"?

No way!  Dallas vigilantes would have shot old Jerry out of the saddle for that!  

So the cover story is that it is all the agents fault. Jerry still loves Micah and Micah loves Jerry, but Jerry blames David Mulugheta, Micah's agent, and that's why there was an impasse. Jerry knew what he was doing all along.

We have to ask what exactly Micah's true value is. It's not unlimited, though in the minds of the fan and the press, he could have gotten a billion dollars and it would still be too low.  But there has to be a true value. Make no mistake, Micah is a premier pass rusher, and he's young.  But his run defense is more ordinary. He cannot be worth unlimited dollars, and the Cowboys are overspent. Dak is a really good quarterback, but he is getting paid $50 million dollars with a total commitment of $180 million dollars.  This is totally nuts, but what is done is done. The team needs other players in order to win and they cannot afford them now.  They have to clear cap space and they need good young players from the draft.  

So Jerry took the hit for the front office, but really doesn't mind the attention even if it is negative.  Call him an idiot, a dictator, a buffoon, but he loves being the center of attention, and he got the club what it needed.  Parsons and his unaffordable cap number is out.  Two first round picks are in; the Cowboys are going to be set up to win for the next several years and they will be able to sign new free agents.  And by the way, they received a three time Pro Bowler in Kenny Clark, who only counts $3 million against the cap.  

The Cowboys have saved themselves $185 million of future year dollars. Good Lord, you can buy an entire defensive line for that kind of money. 

Very likely, in three years the Packers are going to wish they did not have a gigantic Micah Parsons salary staring them in the face.  It's kind of like that expensive sports car you bought on a 72-month loan.  It was great for the first few months, but as years go buy and maintenance bills pile up, you realize that was a dumb idea because you cannot afford to get married and buy a house.  The Pack will miss having first round draft picks.  

The Packers get a great deal in Year One, but in the long run, this will work out for the Cowboys, too.  It's a win-win, and if Green Bay does not win the Super Bowl, Cowboys win hands down.  

How Does Anyone Know Caleb Williams is a Franchise Quarterback?

 

                                    https://x.com/jimbocarter6/status/1955070895799624024

So, if there is one term that makes me want to barf, it's "franchise quarterback," and if there's one stat that I hate, it's "quarterback won-loss record," and I don't believe that there is any such thing as a "quarterback guru" or quarterback whisperer."  Nor do I believe that any team or their fan base are cursed. However I do believe in psychological complexes, aided and abetted by the pathological press.

The narrative is that the quarterback is solely responsible for the team's fortunes.  So, for example, Josh Allen is supposedly better than Lamar Jackson because his team won in the playoffs by two points last season, and Patrick Mahomes is better than both of them, if you believe that the quarterback is the only factor that determines wins. 

Which brings us to the Chicago Bears and their pathological and perpetually upset fan base.  They have decided that Caleb Williams needs to be the MVP of the league or close to it this year because they have Ben Johnson as Head Coach, and last year Sam Darnold was "molded" by Johnson into a 14-win quarterback last season after never having won more than seven games in a year previously.  So, given that Caleb Williams was drafted first overall in 2024 and is therefore a "generational talent," Quarterback Guru Johnson should do even better with with Williams. Sounds logical, right? 

OK, now shut up and listen, Bears fans.  What if Darnold was a good quarterback all along, but playing on bad teams? Maybe the New York Jets and Carolina Panthers were not good teams. Their fan bases, like yours, believe that they are perpetual Super Bowl contenders were it not for their poisonous quarterbacks. In fact, however, those are awful organizations.  The Vikes, on the other hand, have a very good GM and they went to the playoffs four times in the ten years before Darnold, twice with Kirk Cousins, once with Case Keenum, and once with Teddy Bridgewater.  So maybe you don't need to have a generational talent to win as many as 13 games in the NFL.  Give Darnold credit for getting them to 14, but Case Keenum got them 13 and so did Kirk Cousins.  By the way, the Guru Offensive Coordinator for Cousins was Kevin Stefanski.

The super prospect, like John Elway or Andrew Luck is supposed to have arm strength, size, speed, accuracy, playmaking skill, readmaking ability, a strong college resume and strong character.  How many of these qualities were evident in Caleb Williams?  

Williams has a strong arm; the same height as Baker Mayfield; a few pounds heaveier; playmaking skill was in great evidence in 2022 when he threw for 42 TDs versus only 5 picks.  He elected to not run the 40 yard dash in the Combine, but plenty fast.  The hardest thing to judge is accuracy and information processing because of the difference between the college game and the Pro game. In the college game, quarterbacks basically prove they can hit wide open targets; in the Pro game, the windows are much smaller and the reads are much more complex and the game is much faster.  There might just be a limit to how much you can know about a rookie quarterback.  Hence making a young quarterback first overall carries a certain element of risk.  Cleveland fans, do you remember how many of your were crying for Mitchell Trubisky instead of boring old defensive end Myles Garrett?  

How do you ruin a young quarterback?  This is an art form which has been perfected in Cleveland.  First, give him a team with a lousy offensive line so that he can get sacked a lot and develop some bad habits.  Second, don't give him a running back, make everything depend on the passing game.  Third, avoid possession receivers and tight ends; instead go for speed demon wide receivers with stone hands and go for the bomb as often as possible. None of this ground and pound stuff.  Make the quarterback earn his paycheck. 

So what did Caleb's first season look like?  Well, he led the NL in getting sacked with a whopping 68, 16 more than the next highest.  He was 33rd in passing yards per attempt.  As a team the Bears were 25th in rushing yards, so all the pressure is in fact on the passing game, as no help is available from the running game.  So yeah, we basically see the same factors in Chicago that fit the Cleveland formula. 

So, Caleb, Chicago has got this hard-ass coach, Ben Johnson, who is a certified Guru based on Sam Darnold having a good year, and so the Chicago Bears fan base is convinced that this is the year for you to emerge as a Franchise Quarterback. 

This observer doesn't buy it, however. The Vikings had a very good team in 2024, with All-World Justin Jefferson at WR1, and running back Aaron Jones turning in over 1100 rushing yards and over 1500 total yards from scrimmage. So no wonder the quarterback performed well. But if you were to trade Darnold back to the Jets, he would probably still underperform. Since Aaron Rodgers put up similarly unimpressive numbers during his brief tenure in the Big Apple, that is a strong indicator that the franchise theory is hogwash.  Football is a team game, it's not just about one guy. So Ben Johnson may not actually have magical Guru powers, and he may not be enough to propel Caleb to the superstardom that Bears fans think they deserve. 

A few stud linemen and a premier running back would make the offense run a lot better.  Once you have a real offense, then you might learn more about the quarterback.  

 

Football Reasons Why Deshaun Hasn't Had Success in Cleveland--Yet

Unfortunately, maybe it does make sense.  

The signing of Deshaun Watson is regarded as the worst signing in NFL history because not only did the Browns fork over a record amount of money, but they also gave up six draft picks including 3 number one picks.  A trade of this magnitude would not make sense even for a superstar quarterback, but for a player who achieved a passer rating of 80 over three years, it is terrible.  But why did Watson's performance slide, and can he be brought back to some semblance of his former successful self?

With the benefit of hindsight, we can see his success in Houston happened with a vastly different offensive style than he was trying to succeed with in Cleveland. Specifically, in Houston Coach Bill O'Brien had the wisdom to set him up in a Triple Option offense, where he truly excelled. That is, a typical play starts with a (1) handoff (which would be a fake if it is a pass play) and then rollout. Deshaun could (2) run the ball himself, or (3) throw the ball, either a screen or downfield.  

In 2020, he threw for an incredible 4823 yards, numero uno in the NFL.  If you look at the snap counts in the O'Brien era, you will see that they were usually not deploying extra wide receivers, but often had two tight ends or two running backs in order to make that triple option offense go.  

In 2020, Watson also got sacked 49 times, second in the NFL. Deshaun also ran the ball 90 times, which hurts just as much as a sack. He also took 47 quarterback hits. That is, he got tackled 186 times that year. Despite his yardage totals, perhaps that is a good football reason for wanting out of Houston and wanting a different style of offense. You have to ask how long he would be able to take that kind of pounding.

Hence when he went to Cleveland he wanted to be part of a downfield passing offense, similar to the Buffalo Bills offense, which this writer derisively refers to as Air Deshaun.  But from Watson's point of view, it makes sense.  The guy had had two ACL surgeries and getting hit 186 times a season would be a terrible idea for a five-year investment. Hence the Browns scrapped the Stefanski run-first concept. After trying unsuccessfully to convert Offensive Coordinator Alex Van Pelt to a vertical passing specialist, they hired Ken Dorsey, the former Buffalo Bills Offensive Coordinator.  By the way Dorsey had been fired by the Bills (too many Josh Allen INTs), so he might not have been the total answer after all.  In any case, Air Deshaun was a flop.  

Even at Clemson, where Watson was unquestionably brilliant, he did have a problem with interceptions, tossing 17 his senior year and 13 as a junior. Those interceptions, coupled with a slow ball velocity measurement at the Combine, spooked this writer, so I did not have Watson rated as a first round draft pick at all. But maybe that skeptism about Watson was partly justified if we were evaluating Watson as a pocket passer.  Again, Watson's NFL success was as the World's Greatest Triple Option QB, not as a pocket passer.  Credit Coach Bill O'Brien for designing an offense that maximized Watson's effectiveness, but we also understand why Watson hated it and why it could not last forever. 

Now, what about the Stefanski offense? He does not utilize the triple option per se, but Flacco is really good at the run pass option (RPO). Like the 2020 Texans' offense, Stefanski loves two and even three tight end formations, but does not expose the quarterback as much as the Texans did.  The classic Stefanski offense runs the ball more often than it throws the ball.  Boring!  Make no mistake, quarterbacks, not just Deshaun, love to sling the ball over the ballyard.  But Stefanski has had great success as an OC and HC with veteran quarterbacks like Case Keenum, Kirk Cousins, and Joe Flacco.  Maybe if Deshaun can commit himself to the boring Stefanski offense and run the ball behind six foot eight Dawand Jones, he might yet prove to be an effective QB again, if called upon.

The Browns would like to put Watson on the PUP list all year, but that may not be possible if he wants to play and the docs give him a clean bill of health. The Browns cannot cut him this year unless they can  find $167 million of cap space to absorb his  remaining contract and they can't.  Hence he may wind up as the third string quarterback and he probably won't play again.  However, never say never.  They used four starting quarterbacks in 2024, and five in 2023.  

Why the Browns are Financially Broke Now till 2028

 

Your Cleveland Browns are forced to underspend the salary cap in 2025, 2026 and 2027 compared to their AFC North rivals because of Deshaun Watson's $167 million of cap charges oer the next three seasons, plus another $92 million in dead money over the same period, and probably much more if they cut or trade overpaid players to liberate cap space. So that's at least $259 million dollars over the next three seasons, and it is going to get worse before it gets better.  

It doesn't mean that the Browns are going to be terrible. The Denver Broncos were able to succeed in 2024 despite carrying $89 million in "dead cap" charges, mainly due to Russell Wilson's contract.  Nevertheless the Sashi Brown plan to spend our way to the Super Bowl is OVER.  

It's true that the Browns have some offsetting savings from past seasons, that money is more than cancelled out by $36 million dollar charge for Deshaun Watson and $68 million for former Browns stars including Amari Cooper, Zadarius Smith, Jed Wills, Dalvin Tomlinson, and several others.  

This season, we can guesstimate the actual amount they will spend on players not named Deshaun Watson by using the top 51 salaries pubished in OvertheCap.com and adding about 15 million dollars to cover the Practice Squad, injury replacements and late free agents. It's a bit of a shell game because teams can push money into the future by restructuring contracts to a certain extent. Nevertheless the total cap spent on players who are actually playing provides us a rough estimate of what the teams are actually investing in this season. That would say our Browns will come in at $216 million for money actually spent on players who actually play this season, while the Ravens will be at $249, the Bengals at $261 and Steelers $266. Thus, the Browns will spend about $30 million to $50 million less on their active players than their Division rivals this season, and it will get worse in 2026 and 2027.  

Those sportswriters who are writing stories about the Browns being able to afford trading first round draft picks and spending money on high priced contracts like Micah Parsons from the Cowboys are living in fantasyland. Quit reading that stuff!  Face it, the Browns ability to afford players who actually play is millions less than their AFC North rivals' this year, and it will probably get worse in 2026 and 2027. They simply need to recharge all the cash and draft picks that were blown on Deshaun, plus all the future-loaded contracts that are now coming due.  

The budget shortfall has been planned since 2022 when they signed Deshaun.  The idea was that they were going to overspend for as long as possible and try to win a Super Bowl and pay for it later. Well, they didn't win, and "later" has arrived.

Still, let's not give up hope.  A number of teams have won Super Bowls with the backup quarterback, including three in a row from 1999 to 2001: 1999 Rams with undrafted Kurt Warner, 2000 Ravens with Trent Dilfer, and the 2001 Patriots with second year man Tom Brady.  The most recent backup to bring home a Lombardi Trophy was Nick Foles and the 2017 Eagles.  

So, it's not good that the Browns are overspent for the next few years, but it's not impossible to win, either.  But can we at least stop overinvesting in quarterbacks? In addition to the well-publicized over-investiment in Deshaun, the Browns have burned through $22 milllion dollars in the Deshaun era and used five additional draft picks on quarterbacks in the past three years. This is preposterous! In 2026, with two first round picks (probably good ones, since the extra one is tied to Jacksonville), the temptation will be enormous to draft yet another quarterback, this time to replace Shedeur, if he does not win the Super Bowl as a rookie.   

I did not like the process that brought Shedeur to Cleveland, but here he is. He is the quarterback of the future, and no one else.  So stop wasting additional draft picks! 

A

$22,584,000

Za'Darius Smith

$14,233,000

Jedrick Wills

$11,812,057

Dalvin Tomlinson

$7,042,000

the money that they are spending on players not with the team, plus 

S

The Best Thing About Shedeur's Start With the Browns

He seems to be the same dude that he was in his Jackson State days, despite his automatic fame and being a rich kid.  

Shedeur's first game in the preseason was an unqualified success, the most impressive showing for a rookie since, um, Deshone Kizer in 2017.  Let's not go crazy about a few touchdown passes.

But what is the best thing about Shedeur's preseason?  

He has defused a potentially explosive political situation by recognizing what went wrong during the draft.  Namely, the threat of interference from his famous famous father, Coach Prime, who is a helluva football coach, is the reason he slid in the draft, NOT a perceived lack of ability. 

There was a real fear that an impetuous owner--like JH3--might want Coach Prime to be the next head coach of the Cleveland Browns to coach his famous son.  Who else would know how to get the most out of his son? But Shedeur gently defused the potential controversy by asking his famous father to stay away from Browns camp altogether.  Instead, Coach Prime visited the Tampa Bay Buccaneers camp to see his other son, Shilo Sanders as he attempts to make the team.  Accordingly, Coach Prime was in camp on Day One to visit his less famous son.

Truthfully, the entire draft process was screwed up this off-season, with the Browns once again way over-investing in quarterbacks.  They gave up on Dorian Thompson Robinson and bundled him with a fifth round pick for Kenny Pickett with one year left on his deal; used two picks on Shedeur and a third round pick on too-short-and-too-slow Dillon Gabriel in a move that made no sense to anyone.  Many observers believe that Jimmy Haslam wanted Shedeur. Like Jerry Jones, Haslam loves controversy and notoriety.  The whole process was flawed--but that does not mean that Shedeur might not be a very good quarterback.  

The best thing is that Shedeur, to the extent that he is able, is trying to make it on his own and avoid the politics of the coaching situation.  

 

Browns are Praying Some Team Will Give Them a Draft Pick for a Worthless QB

 So, the national media seems befuddled that the Browns are holding a four-way competition for the Browns starting quarterback job. "Gee, they are all so good, we can't decide!" Let me explain Brownspeak to those of you who are uninitiated.

The Browns do stupid things all the time, generally because of owner interference. So they need a cover story. The truth is that they are desperately hoping that some other NFL team out there is as dumb as the fan base and actually believes that there are four starting caliber quarterbacks. In that case, that NFL team might actually trade a future draft pick for one of the undesirable quarterbacks currently on the roster. Thus, the Browns are trying to not tip their hand as to which quarterbacks they prefer. 

How stupid is this?  Well, the hope is that other NFL GMs really are as dumb as us fans. There really is no decision at this point.  Dillon Gabriel is not as good as Shedeur Sanders, and Kenny Pickett is going to be a free agent in 2026. There was very little point in obtaining his services for one season, but they did that and gave up their developmental quarterback, Dorian Thompson-Robinson, who they kept rushing into battle before he was ready, plus a Round 5 draft pick that could have been better used for, say, a wide receiver or defensive back.  But maybe by hyping up Pickett some team will decide to trade for him (?)  Good luck with this plan, Browns, but it does not seem likely.    

Next year they will be in position to draft a real quarterback in the first round while Deshaun Watson has $167 million left on his deal, payable over two years.  How will they afford a big contract for Pickett at the same time? No, Pickett would be gone, and anyway he is not that good or the Steelers would have kept him.

Hence they are stuck with Pickett. The cannot afford to throw away his services so he makes the team.  

Shedeur Sanders will not be traded because Jimmy Haslam loves him and also is no doubt intrigued by the idea of hiring Coach Prime to replace Kevin Stefanski if and when the Browns turn in another lackluster year this season, and that could very well happen. Should they start him Year One? Sure, if you want to ruin another good quarterback, why not? 

The main problem the Browns have is their roster is depleted due to investing six draft picks in Deshaun Watson as well as the financial investment which they will not finish paying off until 2027.  

Actually, the signing of Tyler Huntley as QB5 is not ridiculous.  If the Browns want to manage 40-year-old Flacco's workload, installing a "Wildcat" or quarterback option would not be crazy. Huntley could run that style of offense, and he could probably be stowed on the practice squad in the early going.  Of course players hate two-QB systems, but today's NFL is potentially a 21 game season, and you might rethink that and try to use your bottom-of-the-roster guys as best as possible.   

The truly inexplicable move is blowing a third round pick on Dillon Gabriel who is too short to throw passes over giant defensive linemen and too slow to roll out.  In college he was timed at 4.94 seconds in the 40 yard dash and he did not run the 40 at the Combine.  It's hard to believe he can be successful in today's NFL.  Drew Brees did it, but he was one in a thousand, and he was an inch taller and a few ticks faster. So Gabriel's chances are not zero, but something like 1000-to-1 against making it as a starter. 

40-year old Joe Flacco, who proved he can take a team to the playoffs is the obvious starter. The Browns fired him in 2024 because they were frightened of a potential quarterback controversy because, obviously, the fan base loved Joe much more than the perpetually ineffective Deshaun Watson.  Firing a quarterback due to fear of a "quarterback controversy" is a classic sign of a weak front office and weak ownership.  

Pretending that the other three are close to landing the first string job is just a show, with the hope that some other quarterback-hungry franchise will crack and offer a draft pick for one of them.  It's very unlikely.   

Which Cleveland Browns Quarterbacks Actually Have Trade Value?

Trade?   Doesn't it take two teams to trade? What team would pull the trigger for one of these qbs at roster cutdown time? 
 

So I keep hearing how the Browns are going to trade their worst quarterback for draft picks and stuff. Which of the four quarterbacks has trade value?

Shedeur slid because nobody wanted to be part of the circus. In particular, Coach Prime explicitly expressed the intention to interfere with the front office that drafts his son, and will be an obvious candidate to replace the head coach. It's not Shedeur's fault, but the threat is real. Now what team other than the Browns would take on that chaos. Um, Dallas. Okay, but what team other than the Browns and Dallas?

Dillon Gabriel? What team other than the Brown wants a small and slow quarterback? He should not have been drafted at all, and Round 3 makes no sense. For what it's worth, this amateur's belief is that no NFL team will give up a future pick for Gabriel. He will clear waivers if the Browns decide to park him on the Practice Squad.

Kenny Pickett was worth a backup qb (Dorian Thompson-Robinson) plus a Round 6 draft pick. DTR alone was probably worth a 7th round pick. That suggests Pickett's off-season price tag was worth about a Round 5 pick last winter. No other team but the Browns was willing to put up more value. But if he fails in Cleveland this summer, that will devalue him a lot more. Going to a new team, without any training camp reps and only one year remaining on his contract and a $2.6 million cap hit, very likely no team will want him at that price.

Joe Flacco is a proven quarterback that some teams might be interested in as a backup, especially if there is an injury to one of their qbs. A good backup might command a 6th round pick if there is a team looking for an emergency quarterback.

Thus, Flacco is the only qb that I see having any real trade value. And other NFL teams are not like the Browns who impulsively acquire quarterbacks just because. There are going to be a LOT of decent quarterbacks on the market come roster cutdown time. Plus Flacco might well be the Browns number one option.

The Cleveland Browns Have Used 11 Draft Picks on Quarterbacks in 4 Years??!

https://www.instagram.com/thescore/p/DI67Oj3Rl6w/?locale=gb&hl=am-et

The Browns have used 11 draft picks since 2022 on quarterbacks.  Believe it or not, it's true.  They are the most quarterback-obsessed team in the NFL, worshipping a messianic Franchise Quarterback that can never exist with the dearth of talent on the rest of the team. It's a vicious cycle.  With a weak offense, no quarterback can succeed.  Without success, the Browns become more desperate for their Franchise Quarterback.  Well, THERE IS NO MAGICAL FRANCHISE QUARTERBACK IN CLEVELAND.  STOP IT!  Build the team from the ground up, as ever GM has tried to do until he got fired. 

Anyway, here we go:

In 2022, not only did the Browns commit to spending $230 million on Deshaun Watson, but they also threw in the following six draft picks:

2022:  Round 1 Round 4

2023:  Round 1 Round 3

2024:  Round 1 Round 4

In 2023, they also drafted Dorian Thompson-Robinson, an exciting but undersized quarterback in Round 5.  There is no way to prove it, but this writer believes this pick was ordered by Jimmy Haslam.  The evidence is DTR was promoted immediately to second string out of training camp, which is just bizarre, and in 2024, in the middle of the year they demoted Jameis Winston for no reason and once again DTR became second string. That made no sense and suggests meddling from the owner.  Anyway, that's 7 picks. 

For 2025, the Browns traded DTR plus a Round 6 pick to the 49ers for former Steeler Kenny Pickett. That’s eight.

In 2025 they  also drafted Dillon Gabriel in Round 3. That’s nine. It's also a stupid pick given that he is too small and too slow to be an NFL quarterback and he is also 24 years old, which is a bit outside the norm. But anyway, that's nine.

Then they traded a Round 5 and Round 6 pick to move up and take Shedeur Sanders earlier in Round 5.  That's 11 picks. 

Plus we tend to forget that Deshaun Watson is still on the roster with $167 million left on his deal.  The Browns probably would like to spread it over three years rather than two (if they cut him this season they can spread it out between 2025 and 2026), so he has to have a roster spot when he is healthy enough to play, even if he just sits on the bench. It's too expensive to cut him.

So with Watson, Kenny Pickett and Joe Flacco on the roster...um, how much room is there for rookies?  Uh, none. There are five quarterbacks on the roster and three roster spots. Why are the Browns blowing draft picks and cap on quarterbacks that cannot be kept on the roster?   

Your guess is as good as mine.  Is Andrew Berry really this foolish, or is owner meddling to blame?  

Is Coach Prime the Next Head Coach of the Browns?

 

Yeah, Coach Prime Might Be the One Guy Who Browns Fans Might Be Willing to Forgive for the Upcoming Post-Watson Era Disaster.

Coach Prime, the Superstar formerly known as Neon Deion, formerly known as Deion Sanders, is probably the front runner to be the next Head Coach of the Cleveland Browns when Kevin Stefanski, two-time NFL Coach of the Year is fired. 

The reason Stefanski will be fired is simple. Deshaun Watson has been employed as the poster boy on the play-now-pay-later plan, and the Browns have deferred the poison pill as far as they can. They must now swallow $130 million dollars remaining remaining on his contract over 2026 and 2027. 

That means the 2026 cap will be charged, in round terms, $80 million dollars and 2027 will be charged another $50 million. No team can win that that kind of dead money taken from the salary pool.  

Rather than blame himself, Jimmy Haslam III will fire Andrew Berry and Kevin Stefanski.  

What idiot would want to coach the Browns in such a dire predicament?  Only the father of Haslam's hand-picked quarterback, Shedeur Sanders.  

There is a strong rumor that the Browns overloaded the quarterback room so that Jimmy couldn't draft Shedeur, but he went and did it anyway when Shedeur slid.  This writer believes the rumor and moreover also believes that Dillon Gabriel was deliberately overdrafted so that there would be no roster spot for Shedeur.  Gabriel is a sixth round pick who they probably should not have drafted at all based on his lack of NFL speed and size. Still, he can competently can hand the ball off the three headed monster of Jerome Ford, Quinshon Judkins and former Tennessee Vol Dylan Sampson, and throw dink and dunk passes to the likes of former Tennessee Vol Cedric Tillman and Jerry Jeudy.

By the way, why do the Brown have two former Tennessee Vols among their draftees (Tillman was their highest pick in 2023). Then the Browns also picked up former Tennessee Vol QB Joshua Dobbs twice. Isn't Jimmy Haslam III a Tennessee Alum?  What a coincidence!  Or not? 

Perhaps Jimmy, having not learned his lesson from the Manziel affair is making draft picks for the team, making the GM and Head Coach job in Cleveland exceptionally unappealing.  

Only the father of Shedeur Sanders would want to be the Head Coach in such dire circumstances.  Who knows?  It might be a good move. Sanders is a strong enough personality he might force Haslam to stand down and let the new GM do his job. 

Shedeur Needs to Go

 

Shedeur has got to go. This writer is a big fan of his famous father, Coach Prime. However, the Browns are once again entering a realm of quarterback dysfunction.  First of all, we can't prove it, but it is suspected that owner Jimmy Haslam made the call on drafting Shedeur, not Andrew Berry. You have to admit it's weird they drafted two quarterbacks in the same draft when there is not enough roster space for both of them.  So why did the talented Shedeur slide into fifth round?  Much had to do with fear that Papa Prime would seek to influence the Front Office of any team that drafted him.  Drafting Shedeur can get the GM fired if that were to happen.  

It was also rumored that Shedeur gave very bad interviews, possibly because he wanted to discourage certain teams--such as the New York Giants--from drafting him.  That might actually be a sound strategy, given their poor record at developing quarterbacks.  

However, two speeding tickets at over 90 miles an hour is additional evidence of immaturity and a rich kid's sense of entitlement. 

Now the question is whether Haslam is going to protect his kid again, just like he protected Johnny Manziel from a Coach who wanted to start someone else. 

Flacco has a 4-1 record as a starter for Cleveland.  Why do we want to fire him in favor of an unknown rookie?  A case could be made for Kenny Pickett, who has a 15-10 lifetime record.  That's not terrible, is it?

In a sound football organization, the owners carry out ownership functions, the General Manager manages the roster and salary cap, the coaches coach and the players play.  

In a dysfunctional team, you have players that overrule decisions by the coach and GM, and report directly to the owner who makes his own football decisions, overruling the coach and GM. So, the owner's favorite players have more authority in certain matters than the coach or GM. The net result is chaos.  Dee Haslam, who is the CEO of Haslam Sports Group, and not Jimmy, tried to get the organization to run properly and for a while it seemed like it might work.  But with Jimmy's decision to overpay in salary cap and draft picks for "generational talent" Deshaun Watson, that went out the window. 

What we are learning in the Shedeur affair is that Jimmy has not changed and is repeating the same mistakes from the Manziel days.  Shedeur is obviously talented, but also has a sense of entitlement which allows him to think he should drive cars at 100 mph and still be the Face of the Franchise and leader of the team.  Mind, it's one thing if a defensive player does something a bit crazy (in fact we like that), but quite another if the Leader of the Offense does it. 

For those who think Shedeur loves Cleveland is loyal to us, let's ask this very relevant question:  If Shedeur is ultimately cut, he will presumably be signed to an NFL Practice Squad.  So, will  Cleveland be Shedeur's first choice?  If he is so happy in Cleveland he can stay here and learn under Kenny Pickett and Joe Flacco and can be promoted at any time.  He's got plenty of money from NIL in college, not to mention his burgeoning merchandising sales with the Browns. So, do you think 76 Lou Groza Blvd will continue to be his home if he has a choice?  

Oh hail nah!  You wanna bet?  He grew up in Dallas, and played college ball in Boulder Colorado, which is close to Denver and  Jackson State, Mississippi, which is 186 miles from New Orleans.  That's only an hour and a half drive for him.  No, if he is cut, he will leave Berea and never look back.  He is only a Brown because he had no other choice.  

 

Browns' QB Room is a Kluge

 

Browns quarterbacks Dillon Gabriel, Kenny Pickett, Joe Flacco and Shedeur Sanders. Would another NFL team actually trade for one of these quarterbacks? 

The Browns have four quarterbacks, with three roster spots available.  Hence the roster will be decided by competition in training camp and to a lesser extent how they perform in the preseason. Of course, pre-season is against vanilla defenses, so you really should not be able to win a job in the preseason (hello Deshone Kizer), but you can for sure lose your job if you demonstrate that you cannot perform.  

So, to recapitulate, the Browns fired everyone except the immortal Deshaun Watson, who they want to wind up on the Injured Reserve and possibly cash in some insurance money. Joe Flacco was the team hero in 2023, and he had to be traded because he was too good and might make Deshaun look bad. Since Deshaun is out of the picture for 2025, they rehired Joe. He has $3.0 million guaranteed.  Kenny Pickett has $2.6 million guaranteed money. Pickett cost them backup QB Dorian Thompson Robinson (drafted in Round 5 in 2023) and a fifth round pick.  Then they drafted Dillon Gabriel in the third round and Shedeur Sanders cost them a Round 5 and Round 6 pick . 

Okay adding it up, that's five draft picks used to obtain three quarterbacks, only two of whom will be kept after roster cutdown.  There's a chance, however, that if the Browns cut Gabriel, he could be signed to the Practice Squad because it is not certain that 31 teams will value him anywhere near where the Browns did on draft day.

On the flip side, we all know how good Flacco was in 2023, and Pickett was a Steeler first round draft pick who went 15-10 in 25 starts for the Steelers, who have been a great defensive team, but a lousy offensive team.  

In Cleveland, the QB's job will be to hand the ball off to a running back 60% of the time, throw passes to tight ends and running backs and once in a while connect with a wideout. The Mad Bomber offense of 2024, created to pacify Deshaun, is totally out.  

Flacco and Pickett can both carry out the requirements for the run-heavy Stefanski offense.  Now, if you decide you like both rookies and Flacco and want to trade Pickett, could you? Would another team want to invest in a QB with only one year remaining on his deal?  Trading him at roster cutdown month might be tough. Hence he most likely makes the team backing up Flacco. 

As for the rookies, Shedeur Sanders had a terrible offensive line but still found his secondary and tertiary targets, so we like that, but don't see him as better than Comeback Player of the Year or first round draft pick Pickett.  

Now the real head scratcher is Dillon Gabriel as early as Round 3.  He appears to have high intelligence, high motivation and can run the dink and dunk for Stefanski.  So he is not altogether a lost cause.  But of the factors that are important for a quarterback, the tangible ones, he misses on several:

1. He is older than the average rookie, age 24, so his ceiling might be lower. 21-22 is considered optimum.

2. He is shorter than most (not all) qbs at 5 foot 11. 

3.  He is smaller than most (not all) qbs at 205 pounds. 

4. His arm strength is judged to be so so. NFL Draft Buzz ranks Shedeur first and Gabriel eighth. 

5. His hand size is smaller than average 9 1/4"

6. He is slow. He did not run at the Combine, and his 40 time is variously reported to be in the 4.8s or 4.9s. 

It would have made sense had the Browns selected Shedeur in the third round and Gabriel in Round 5. As it is, they simply over-invested in quarterbacks yet again. 

Would anyone trade anything of value for Gabriel?  That is doubtful.  

We'll see if Gabriel can get us to change our minds.  

The Best Help for Your Quarterback is a Running Game

 

Do you want to know how to best help your quarterback? The average fan will not like this article, because the answer is not investing in speedy wide receivers like everyone thinks. The team spends top dollar for the likes of Jarvis Landry, Odell Beckham Jr and Amari Cooper. However, If you believe in Statmeister Elliot, you should invest more in the offensive line and running backs.  There is an amazing correlation between the running game and the performance of the passing game.  

Check out Figure 1 below.  The x-axis show rushing yards and the x-axis is the passer rating for each team for the 2024 season. Though there is significant spread in the data, the correlation is unmistakeable.  Those teams with top rushing yards tend to have quarterbacks that perform well. 

It couldn't be more clear. Teams that have lousy running games have qbs with passer ratings in the 80s.  The teams at the top of the league in rushing yards also have quarterback ratings in the range of 100 or above.  

  

Figure 1.  NFL Team Passer Rating versus Team Rushing Yards, 2025. Stats from Pro Football Reference. 

Note some of the statistical outliers from Figure 1. The Bengals and Joe Burrow posted a high passer rating despite a poor ground game.  The Browns were just terrible. They were actually rated about the same when Jameis Winston and Deshaun played, with Dorian Thompson-Robinson and Bailey Zappy dragging down the averages further with some spectacularly bad games. 

The Colts were really bad with their generational talent, Anthony Richardson, and the Ravens had the best running game AND the highest rated passer in Lamar Jackson. Nevertheless they didn't win the Super Bowl, possibly because defense wins Championships. That's why you draft your top two guys for the defense. Remember that, Browns fans. We'll see if Jacksonville wins the Super Bowl with the speedy wide receiver we wanted.  I kind of doubt whether that plan will work. Remember, the Browns own Jacksonville's number one pick next year and it could be a goodie.  

A lousy running game means your quarterback is going to post lousy numbers, unless you have Joe Burrow on your team (please note: the Browns do not have Joe Burrow on their team). 

So what does Coach Kevin Stefanski want to do?  Well, he likes cold weather, run-first football, run-pass-option (we used to call it play action), screen passes and multiple tight end sets.  He likes cross training offensive linemen to play fullback.  It's a ball control offense that wears down the defense. As a result the running game usually got stronger in the second half and the Browns beat people up at the end of the game. 

Did Jerome Ford Receive a Pay Raise, or a Pay Cut?

It's been widely reported that Jerome Ford has accepted a pay cut to remain with the Cleveland Browns. Reports claim that Ford was due to receive $3.486 million in 2025 but instead accepted $1.75 million.  Overthecap.com lists a signing bonus of $80,537, which according to my pocket calculator makes his 2025 cap number $1.83 million.  Get it right, folks. 

Ford was a fifth round draft pick in the fourth year of a four year, $3,982,148 deal. Overthecap says that he has been paid $322,148 in bonus money, plus three years of salary amounting to $2,560,000, leaving a total of $1,100,000 remaining for year four of his rookie contract. 

  

That was his 2025 salary, not $3.486 million. Thus the new number is $730,000 HIGHER than what he was scheduled to get, not lower. Probably the pay raise was meant to reassure him that he is not being cast aside in favor of glamor rookies Quinshon Judkins from Ohio State, and SEC Offensive Player of the Year Dylan Sampson from Tennessee, and to reward him for playing way beyond expectations for a fifth round pick.  

The most stupid narrative of this off-season is that Jerome was sitting on $3.486 million dollars somehow, and he decides to take a voluntary pay cut because he was afraid of becoming a free agent, and so he he steals Nick Chubb's spot on the roster. Oh puh-lease!

If Jerome is cut from the Cleveland Browns he will be richly rewarded. HE WILL NOT BE UNEMPLOYED BY 32 NFL TEAMS.  Why would Jerome want to take a pay cut to be the second or third string running back in Cleveland? If he gets cut by Cleveland, he will be immediately picked up by another team   "Go ahead, release me. Make me rich!"

So what is the source of the $3.486 million that Ford supposedly was going to get in 2025?  Just as a guess, it might be his agent's fantasy.  Ford might well be worth that much as a free agent, but the Browns are so not going to cut him. A trade is not out of the question on the grounds that the Browns actually have depth; however the Ravens are always four and five deep at the position and it has not hurt them a bit. 

No, something probably got garbled here, as is often the case in Cleveland. All the signs point to Jerome Ford being a valued member of the team, and if Nick Chubb is not re-signed it is because they do not trust his knee, not because of Ford or his contract.  

Why Shedeur Sanders Could Not Be Drafted

 

Shedeur Sanders has his own quarterback coach and assistant general manager with the power to create a disruption large enough to get a Coach and GM fired.  So no wonder no one wanted to draft him. 

So how could Shedeur Sanders possibly slide to the fifth round?  And why is it a good move to draft him in Round 5 if the Browns had already drafted Dillon Gabriel in Round 3?  

Once you realize that the GM who would draft Shedeur in Round 1 would surely be fired, the answer is obvious.  Deion Sanders has too much political power and the team cannot afford to blow a Round 1 draft pick. Deion had said explicitly in the weeks and months leading up to the draft that there were a few teams that he would not allow his son to play for. That is,  USAToday on January 10, 2025 reported as follows: "Colorado coach Deion Sanders issued another reminder that he will intervene if his quarterback son Shedeur is drafted by an NFL team he doesn’t like and said there are a 'couple of teams that I won’t allow him to play for.'"

 

So.....Okay.....Suppose you are an NFL GM. How does this impact your choice in the first round?  Well, if you draft Shedeur and find out that Prime does not like your team, he demands a trade, and you have very little leverage.  Prime is a multimillionaire and his family does not really need the money.  Shedeur can stay out of the game or play in the UFL or something, generate fan gear money or other notoriety-based income and force you to trade him. You, the GM, are humiliated and run the great risk of being fired for wasting a first round draft pick.   

Or what if he plays and hits a rough patch, throws several interceptions? If you bench the kid, Good Lord!  All Hell breaks loose!  Here again, if you started out on the Sanders "Good List," you just got demoted to the "Bad List."  

It's obvious that this is much more negative risk than any other prospect in football.  This guy could get you FIRED.  Browns fans know this only too well, having suffered through the Johnny Manziel debacle as well as the Deshaun Watson Mega-mess-up.  We believe that meddling ownership was behind both of these deals. 

Now, the dynamic changes completely if Shedeur is a fifth-round pick in a competition with three other credible candidates.  Deion can say, "Start my kid or he is going to quit the team!" and Andrew Berry is going to say, "Good! That helps us figure out which three guys we are going to keep! Bur you're still under contract and we are not trading your rights for nothing!"

Losing a fifth round pick is a tolerable ar

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