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. Daks 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.