OT - The Early DeSean Watson Cleveland Browns NFL Suspension Line

[Bawb the Revelator]

Mayfield should offer to come back for a fully guaranteed three year extension. I'd say $30M per year

Screw the Browns ashard as he can

That won't bother Jimmy Haslam. Between Jimmy's accountants and the U.S. Tax Code, mooks like us may get even less of a break...

[hawaiiansteel]

Mayfield should offer to come back for a fully guaranteed three year extension. I'd say $30M per year

Screw the Browns ashard as he can

Mayfield ever playing for the Browns again is a ship that has sailed and will never happen.

things have gotten way too personal for all parties involved.

[Ghost]

On the eve of the hearing before the independent disciplinary officer who will make the initial ruling on what kind of punishment Deshaun Watson will face, the NFL has recommended that the quarterback serve an indefinite suspension of at least a year.

The league informed Sue L. Robinson, the former federal judge who serves as the disciplinary officer, Watson and the NFL Players Association of its recommendation Monday evening, a person with knowledge of the situation confirmed to USA TODAY Sports. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized by either party to comment on the matter.

Upon completion of the hearing, which is slated to begin Tuesday and possibly extend into Wednesday, Robinson - who is jointly compensated by the league and players union - will review the facts gathered during a year-long investigation conducted by the league. She will also consider the arguments presented by the lawyers of the NFL and NFL Players Association.

[NorthCoast]

The Browns, in epic fashion, traded away 3 1st round picks and spent 230 million dollars....
To end up with Jacoby Brissett as their starting QB.

And they are spending $50M+ on QBs that won't even be playing for them this season.

The Browns need a new logo:



It's been fun this offseason living in Stainsland.

[crushedspirit]

I feel sorry for some of their diehard fans, but man what a dysfunctional franchise that continues to create their own drama. They literally have nobody else to blame for that dumpster fire.

[steeler_fan_in_t.o.]

Mayfield should offer to come back for a fully guaranteed three year extension. I'd say $30M per year

Screw the Browns ashard as he can

I'll say 5 years, $231M fully guaranteed. After all, if a guy who can't play is worth $230M, what is a guy who is allowed to play worth?

[Oviedo]

I'll say 5 years, $231M fully guaranteed. After all, if a guy who can't play is worth $230M, what is a guy who is allowed to play worth?

If I was Mayfield I'd make the Browns crawl over broken glass to get me to play. If I didn't get a long-term contract, I could see my surgically repaired shoulder bothering me all season

[WindyCitySteel]

If this is true, the Browns may be able to recoup money and picks.

https://apnews.com/article/houston-texans-cleveland-browns-nfl-sports-e3177cd9252709e5acbf111fd3df2c30?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=AP_NFL

[Oviedo]

If this is true, the Browns may be able to recoup money and picks.

https://apnews.com/article/houston-t..._medium=AP_NFL

Houston has already used one pick so that's gone. If they move on past "the Masseuse" they still don't have a QB. They are going to be a mess for several years

I think the Browns ticked off enough of the other owners with the contract they gave Watson that there will be no other owners wanting to see them made well.

They lit their house on fire, let them burn

[crushedspirit]

Interested to see what "overwhelming" evidence Buzbee has against the Texans.

[Northern_Blitz]

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/deshaun-watsons-disciplinary-hearing/id1523336993?i=1000567924712

New podcast from Joel Corry about Watson. Corry is a former agent and talks about contracts and the cap.

A couple of things I remember from when I listened to it:

• He thinks it's unlikely that the Browns will be able to recoup money or void the deal. That the "disclosure of prior issues" related to this case and the language in the contract is likely sufficiently vague that the new accusations will likely not jeopardize the contract.
• If the suspension is for 1 year, the contract will toll. That means that the 1st year of the contract won't be this season, but the next season. But the cap hit from the signing bonus still hits as normal (with the portion for this year on their cap for this year).
• He thinks the leak about asking for an indefinite suspension is probably real. That the league wouldn't want to go through the same "double jeopardy" issue they did with Rice. Rice got a small suspension before the video. Then they added a larger suspension after the video (because all the league cares about is PR). IIRC, the longer suspension was eliminated, but no teams brought him back. But vet RBs are no where near as valuable as good QBs.
• He expects Watson and the PA to fight a suspension hard. Especially if it's longer than say 4 games. They apparently brought in a big gun lawyer.
• Thinks that the big argument that Watson's team will have is that the disciplinary policy talks about ownership and management being held to an even higher standard of discipline than players. But there are several cases where that's blatantly false: (1) Kraft, (2) Jones, and (3) Snyder at least.
• Also thinks that Watson will appeal just about any suspension and will threaten to go to a real court if any discipline isn't reduced. Apparently this is what Brady did and why his punishment was differed by a year

I think that last two bullet points are the show stoppers. I imagine that the league will do everything in their power not to go to a real court where all the details will become public knowledge (including what the Texans, the League, and the Browns knew and when they knew it). Since owners will likely be implicated, I think they will do what they can to sweep this under the rug. And to do that they probably need to keep Watson happy.

[Northern_Blitz]

Interested to see what "overwhelming" evidence Buzbee has against the Texans.

I thought there were rumors (?) that the Texans were the ones booking hotels in certain cases.

If true, I wonder if that only happened in the cases that haven't been settled yet.

[Northern_Blitz]

That part p)sses me off to no end.....

There was talk that the NFL would chill on a suspension this season and wait for all the court proceedings to end. Then slap him next season with the suspension. His agent/lawyer is doing a work-around on that.

One thing I forgot to mention in the post above from the Corry podcast. He did say that the league can also levy a fine.

I think they should levy a very large fine on the order of 1x AAV of the contract because the Browns and Watson obviously worked to circumvent league discipline in this case.

But I imagine that the CBA includes language on the maximum amounts of fines and that it's much smaller than that.

[Northern_Blitz]

On the eve of the hearing before the independent disciplinary officer who will make the initial ruling on what kind of punishment Deshaun Watson will face, the NFL has recommended that the quarterback serve an indefinite suspension of at least a year.

The league informed Sue L. Robinson, the former federal judge who serves as the disciplinary officer, Watson and the NFL Players Association of its recommendation Monday evening, a person with knowledge of the situation confirmed to USA TODAY Sports. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized by either party to comment on the matter.

Upon completion of the hearing, which is slated to begin Tuesday and possibly extend into Wednesday, Robinson - who is jointly compensated by the league and players union - will review the facts gathered during a year-long investigation conducted by the league. She will also consider the arguments presented by the lawyers of the NFL and NFL Players Association.

The process is stupid because after she rules, the league can appeal*. And if the league appeals, guess who hears the appeal?

If you guess the Commish (or someone hand picked by the Commish for that specific appeal), you'd be right!

The only way it can't be appealed is if she rules that he didn't violate the personal conduct policy...and I can't imagine that being the outcome.

* Watson can also appeal. But it's still Goodell that picks who hears the appeal.

[Steel Maniac]

The process is stupid because after she rules, the league can appeal. And if the league appeals, guess who hears the appeal?

If you guess the Commish (or someone hand picked by the Commish for that specific appeal), you'd be right!

The only way it can't be appealed is if she rules that he didn't violate the personal conduct policy...and I can't imagine that being the outcome.

I’m hearing that Watson’s lawyers are going to say he’s already missed an entire season so time has already been served. I thought that a crazy stance but they may debate the merits of that.