The Cleveland Browns are playing their own March Madness tournament before our very eyes and the good, the bad and the ugly are on full display
Weeks like this continue to remind Cleveland Browns fans to prepare for anything. Not all of what happened in the first week of the new season has been bad, but the everyday soap opera can be draining on those that follow the team with a passion. There have been many mixed messages from the various decisions the team has been making this week.
Some of the player cuts and trades could be considered pretty good moves, while there were others that were made that were just bad, especially from a public relations standpoint. The ugly became more evident in the last day as the team’s quarterback Baker Mayfield demanded a trade and the Browns returned fire by saying no.
So, a line has been drawn in the sand. Who started drawing the line is still up for debate as it was announced earlier in the week that the Browns front office was going “all in” on trying to trade for the Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson who recently became available after a year of off the field activity, that caused him to miss last season.
We’ll discuss that ugly side of the story soon, but first, let’s review a few good decisions by the team.
Cleveland Browns: The Good
The Browns began this entertaining time of free agency, trades, and releases by franchise tagging their tight end David Njoku. They also decided to part ways with their other pricey tight end Austin Hooper. The two players have been splitting time over the last couple of seasons. You add in the third tight end Harrison Bryant and it was a very crowded and expensive part of the team.
This will likely give Njoku a confidence boost and will help his production for the team.
Cleveland also announced that they would be resigning linebacker Anthony Walker and offensive lineman Chris Hubbard, both of who are solid veterans. They also made a good trade midweek when they sent linebacker Mack Wilson to New England for their linebacker Chase Winovich.
Another big piece to salary cap savings was the team going ahead and releasing wide receiver Jarvis Landry this week. This move has been met by some fans with anger, but it was a financially responsible move for the team long term.
All of these moves weren’t totally unexpected nor were they blockbuster deals that it seems every Browns fan is always hoping for when this March Madness starts up. What happens next is any ones guess but let’s all cross our fingers for more good moves.
Cleveland Browns: The Bad
When the Browns made it publicly known they were going to Houston to try and sweep Deshaun Watson off his feet and bring him back to Cleveland they had to have known they’d be upsetting their current quarterback Baker Mayfield. Their calculations were right because before everyone went to sleep midweek, Mayfield had come out with a goodbye letter to the fans and city of Cleveland.
He was upset and he wanted our sympathy — and many fans gave that to him.
The risk and reward for the Browns had to have been known and since that trip to Texas to try and sell Watson on the team. Since then the risk was real as Watson said no to the organization and immediately muddied the waters a bit more between the team and its current quarterback.
“Now what? ” was heard across “The Land”.
Well, Mayfield got even more upset with his team trying to bring in Watson and announced that he was demanding a trade now as Adam Schefter of ESPN reported that he’d spoken to Mayfield and now wanted out.
Want your voice heard? Join the Dawg Pound Daily team!
The team then was reported to have said in essence, “no way” according to Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com.
So Cleveland, who went out of their way to try and recruit a replacement for Mayfield now was saying no to a request from the player that they don’t want anyway. Is that fair to say?
Cleveland Browns: The Ugly
However you want to try and slice and dice it, this very public fight now and neither side is going claim victory here.
On one hand, one can certainly see how the Browns would do their due diligence on researching quarterbacks across the league. They hadn’t yet negotiated a new deal with Baker Mayfield leading up to this point, leaving him to play out the fifth season on his rookie contract.
The team’s pursuit of Deshaun Watson doesn’t come as a complete surprise, simply based on his football skills but it did shock many who cheer on the franchise that they would invest the time and make that known publicly because of the numerous issues that he’s had off the field.
Complicating that view was that Cleveland was reported to have said that they were looking for someone at quarterback that acted more like an adult.
Considering that Watson has so many legal matters off the field the Browns suggesting Mayfield isn’t grown up only makes the team look more irresponsible by trying to court a player with so many problems himself.
So where do we go from here? There’s a lot of debating today on the matter and who’s side are you on?
It’s a difficult decision on all sides of the situation. The fact that it’s at the point of no return there will be more moves and surprises ahead. Little did you think when you started watching the NCAA tournament this week, the real March Madness, that your favorite team would be making some of their own madness.
It goes with being a Browns fan, but this time it seems so unnecessary