Hey, Kids! Remember, Crime Doesn’t Pay: The Deshaun Watson Trade (and massive raise) Analysis

So… Deshaun Watson leverages multiple teams against each other to get into a bidding war…and makes the Browns squeal the loudest, as they are set to re-do his deal and pay him a record amount of guaranteed money.

Watson’s last two years has been highlighted by entrapping and sexually harassing (called ‘misconduct’, legally) a bunch of female massage therapists (allegedly). Demanded to be traded before the criminal charges rained down, but then the charges held up any deals -- and thus he was paid a full year’s wages to take a year off. Then he was miraculous cleared of like 20+ accusations of sexual harassment in the ‘me too’ era and then went back to his sly ways of entrapping and fiscally assaulting a bunch of rich owners and desperate GMs/head coaches from Carolina, Atlanta, New Orleans, and Cleveland (among others), and squeezed a mega-deal re-do of his contract from the most desperate of the bunch – the Browns. Another fleecing/manipulation scenario by Watson.

I don’t know if I should throw up in my own mouth at what just happened…or if I need to switch religions, and just worship Deshaun Watson as a god among men. I mean, the sheer audacity…the chutzpah…the right-in-front-of-our-face money heist under the worst circumstances – the next stop is the White House for Deshaun…no?

Here’s a video clip of Bill & Hillary Clinton, George Bush Jr. & Sr., Mitch McConnell, Nancy Pelosi, and Joe Biden, reacting to Watson’s ability to do a public 180 from the worst allegations imaginable and then subsequent football bank heist he just pulled off: https://youtube.com/shorts/mFjLkFEMhDw?feature=share

I cannot believe Watson has been able to take one of the worst allegations ever leveled at a player…and it was not a one event he said/she said thing, but 20+ women making claims – and have most of us forgetting about it already. I know he was cleared but 20+ allegations with all that weird planning, seeking, culling he was doing of random local female massage therapists. 

22 women came out after him.

22.

One punch vs. twenty of them. One stabbing vs. twenty stabs. One DUI vs. twenty of them. One murder vs. twenty of them. One is bad…twenty is…is…it’s a lot worse.

Hey, credit Deshaun – when life deals you lemons, you take those lemons and stick them right up the ass of a bunch of billionaire owners and desperate to not-be-fired head coaches/GMs and then pick their pockets and walk away laughing.

So many thoughts about this, just off the top…

 -- This is a great example of my running theme of the problems of the Northeast and Upper Midwest franchises…they have to pay extortion to get anyone to play/stay there.

What Cleveland will spend on Amari Cooper this year ($20M) and Deshaun going forward (after a cheap 2022, in case he’s suspended) is franchise damaging.

When Tampa Bay acquired Tom Brady, and when L.A. acquired Matt Stafford, and when Denver acquires Russell Wilson – other players are going to want to sign there and join up with the elite QB in a desired geography/climate…often taking inferior deals to what they could’ve gotten elsewhere just to be with a title contender with a top QB in a desired living geography.

But what players are going to want to team up with Deshaun, with this cloud over his head, and go live in Cleveland to do it? What NFL players with young daughters are going to want to join forces here on purpose? Like Deshaun (and Amari, and OBJ/Landry), you can buy money grabbers to come to your undesirable place of employment, but you’re not going to attract a bevy of ‘winners’, quality players trying to get that Super Bowl ring.

Will Fuller, and players of his ilk…welcome to Cleveland…soon.

This has a really good chance of backfiring on the Browns organization in a massive way, which…they authored and paid for the Hue Jackson era, so they’re used to be the toilet paper of the NFL anyway. There’s not much further space for them to fall.

Watson may be legally ‘innocent’, but among football ‘fans’ that I communicate with and among the players themselves…he’s guilty by the nature/number of the allegations (fair or not).

 -- The people who don’t care about the allegations against Watson the most, the ones set to ‘ignore’, besides the Browns upper management, is the media – the lowest life form on the planet, the most distrusted public group of people aside from Congress…they love all this because it’s good tv/print. There’s no moral outrage from them…right now.

I’m not taking any moral high ground here either, all jokes above aside…because I’m not a big, public media figure. I’m a cold-hearted fantasy/football profiteer. I don’t care about the ‘meaning’ of the state of our world because of this Deshaun sideshow. I assume half the players and owners are doing a lot of things off the field that I don’t agree with/are highly criminal and have done so for a hundred years (mostly covered up by a corrupt legal system and the pond scum media). I’m here to profit off betting for/against players on the field…I don’t own any jerseys or have a favorite team.

Our politicians are doing worse things, are more a threat to me/my income – Deshaun Watson’s life choices don’t affect me one bit. I’m just trying to figure out the Fantasy-ripple effect to prosper from it. I’m just trying to earn enough money to fill up my car with inflated gas this week/year.

 -- If Watson gets the Browns to a few Super Bowls, all will likely be forgiven…or just conveniently forgotten. But if Watson flops…oh, boy…the Browns may have to move again and rename/rebrand themselves in a few years.

The owner should sell this franchise RIGHT NOW, like a stock – this team will never be worth more to him than it is right now. It’s all downhill from here.

 -- It was a bad year to announce this from the NFL headquarters a few weeks ago: NFL Celebrates Women's History Month with Programming Lineup on NFL Network.

 -- A year ago, the Browns had come off a 2020 season of 11 wins, making the Final Eight, and were seen as the sneaky Super Bowl pick for 2021 season…and Baker Mayfield was accepted as a ‘pretty good QB’ and the right kind of gritty leader of this ragtag franchise.

One year later, Baker is a terrible QB and leader…they never liked him anyway.

The Browns are transferring blame for their $#!%%y organization onto the quarterback. Generic fans do it. The media does it. Everything is all about the QB…and NEVER about the Owner/GM/Head coach (in their own minds)…or about the left tackle or DB group…only the QB.

It’s so ludicrous.

Fantasy/Dynasty GMs do the same thing…everything is fine when things are going fine, but the moment a blip season or week hits, that one wildcard then 1st-round playoff loss season or missed the playoffs season – then you hate not just your QB…but all your players and want to trade them all, and you’ll never use those players again in any fantasy league/situation.

There’s a reason we all feel like – these teams are trading QBs like it’s Fantasy Football. Because Fantasy Football is a lot like the NFL, psychologically…the game theory, the mental aspect to team building and lineup setting.

 -- Baker Mayfield played through multiple injuries…serious ones…in 2021, trying to get the team to the playoffs. Within that, he ends up not having a great statistical year…for good reason. For that, he gets treated with a massive disrespect like this.

Baker 2020 to 2021 is a cautionary tale – if a player has leverage (not in danger of getting cut), a fast-approaching free agency to play for, etc., they should absolutely NOT play through any pain/injury. They should not go try and perform at anything less than 90-100%...or it could come back to haunt them/their next contract. And the teams only care about the on-field…you don’t want bad tape, bad stats on your record.

All this football talk about ‘family’…and the 53 guys in the locker room being a band of brothers – Cleveland just publicly divorced their gritty leader/captain/QB for ‘this guy’ (Deshaun). And Instead of serving the divorce papers first, they just went and publicly announced they were going on a date with a guy from Houston…to see where it went…right in Baker’s face.

Then when Baker asked to be traded after, when it looked like the Browns were ‘out’ of the Watson sweepstakes, and the relationship damage done between Baker and management…the Browns were like ‘nope’.

Cold blooded.

I don’t feel bad for multi-millionaire players getting disrespected, but I have to think the way the Browns are treating people, what they are rejecting, and for what they are investing in – Karma is probably going to be a bitch.

Why would any well-known/well-paid player ever play hurt for the Browns? Or any team for that matter…because I suspect 25-30+ of them are run like this. You are only as valuable as last season’s record/stats.

The owners have a right to do anything they want to the players in 99% of the instances…and the players have little-to-no rights. Imagine if Baker announced this offseason that he was visiting 4-5 organizations to get ready for his 2023 free agency, as he seeks to replace the Browns? People would be apoplectic…but the Browns can go meet with his potential replacement as desired.

 -- Get used to all this…Deshaun just opened a door to football hell that will never be closed.

If I’m 15-20 other top NFL starting QBs, and I see this Deshaun deal – I’m not playing for my current team anymore…I want a trade…unless I get $200+ million guaranteed. It worked for Deshaun. This all began with Deshaun demanding a trade and not showing up to team events over it…then later we found out about his massage situations.

Kyler Murray is in the catbird seat now.

Coming up on free agency/negotiating currently Lamar Jackson is loving life right about now.

Joe Burrow demanding a trade out of a place like Cincinnati ahead…it’s on the clock!

Non-QBs, the top guys have pulled these stunts too…and mostly gotten traded. Now, the top guys will do this more and more. The NFL is about to become a revolving door or trades…finally.

-- From Ross Jacobs, sharing with me some random comment he saw soon after the trade: "Calvin Ridley is accused of betting $1500 and got a year suspension. Deshaun Watson is accused of 22 cases of sexual assault and got $230 million"

 -- What does this all mean for Fantasy? We have to see about the suspension for 2022. I suspect it’s 4-8 games. It should be 17 games/a season, but I bet they do 4-8 to be able to claim they addressed it…but not draw too much attention to it either.

The league is about ‘the shield’ first and everything else second. So, Mr. Goodell…spare me your messaging on the military and breast cancer and social justice. Just take my money, don’t waste time conning me.

We can be all up in Roger Goodell’s face on this, but what would you do in his shoes? Watson is not technically guilty of anything.

Amari Cooper will likely be working with Case Keenum part of the season, then Deshaun Watson trying to get integrated. 2022 season seems like a lost cause before it even gets started, for Cleveland. They still aren’t better than Cincinnati/the Joe Burrows…so, good luck with all that.

 -- Where does Baker wind up? I have to believe the Colts are the best spot, but possibly the Saints come after him?

Coaches who want a subservient ‘buddy’ QB to take their orders…those kinds of coaching mindsets (most all the younger coaches) don’t want to work with a personality like Baker, so like a Frank Reich has ZERO interest in a QB he cannot control. It will take a strong-minded or desperate/hot seat for 2022 head coach – so Reich may eat his pride because he’s desperate right now, or desperate Matt Rhule jumps in. Baker is a one-year rental, so wherever a team would want that. Indy or New Orleans makes the most sense, but the Saints new coach probably wants a new QB all his own to grow with.

 -- How about these crazy trades (items exchanged) for these top QBs? All the picks going back and forth, and giant money being given to QBs and teams flying in and asking permission to try and trade for a QB, etc. The ‘QB is everything’ theory is alive and well.

So once Baker lands in his new spot – then what do the other 2-3-4 teams looking for a QB do? Everyone is running around acting desperate to chase QB hopes and dreams and change, so what happens when there are no more ‘obvious’ QBs to target in trade?

You turn to the draft.

And when the teams in need of a QB, the ones who were not able to trade for Watson or Russ or Rodgers, realize there’s one path remaining (because Jimmy G.’s shoulder is a real problem to try and trade for) – they’re going to seek hopes and dreams in the draft, and they’ll all realize there is really only one hopeful-legit pro style QB…and that’s Kenny Pickett…and all these QB desperate teams that have just acted in total desperation to get Watson, etc., but didn’t...you think they’re just gonna sit back at whatever pick number they have and ‘hope’ they get Pickett at #6…or #10…or #19?

Nope. They will be forced to make a bold move…or they will be without said QB. And the bold move is to trade with Jacksonville to get to the #1 pick and shoot their shot. Ensuring no one else can get in line in-front of them for their QB.

There’s growing hope for our Pickett #1 overall pick bets, but just wait until after his Pro Day (next week) and see if it heats up.