Barry

There is an argument for moving S.R. based upon his contract, although they could have waited a year. Plus we don't know if he refused to restructure or not. The other interesting question is the timing. If the Browns are going after a DT in the draft, why couldn't they wait until after the draft to do this, instead of telegraphing their need now? That's the head-scratching part for me. 

My understanding is that Hurst was put on waivers, so there are many teams that could claim him before our turn comes.

10 minutes ago, Tour2ma said:

Shocking news... and not just because we just really downgraded our DT rotation. The above tweet nails it.

This is the type of move UFAs remember when it comes time to pick an employer.

 

That said.... a resign at a lower price tag would not shock me. I can't help but believe we were trying to restructure SR's contract and he wasn't interested in doing so.

Now? Even if he carries a grudge, if his choice to get paid only 60 or 70% of what he was slated to make or "retire" then we could see him return.

I hope this is it. The Browns didn't want to restructure and offered him the same deal as Higgins. They told him a figure they were comfortable with and said see what other teams offer and then come back.

The only problem with this is that they could have done this when free agency started. Clowney's contract didn't put us in cap hell but cutting S.R. now sure makes it seem that way.

One thing that hasn't been talked about is that Berry has brought in guys who want to make a point. It's about pride. Clowney wants to prove he is a top tier player, Takk wants to live up to 1st round potential. Greedy & Delpit want to show what they are made of after injuries. Even Ward is motivated by it being a contract year. These are players with a lot of motivation. Statistically, not all of them will rise to the occasion but there is still a very high potential ceiling.

Wasn't Houston going to visit us? If so, it looks like a little tightening of the vice by AB may have pushed Clowney faster than he wanted. 

Clowney is visiting the Browns today.

On a separate issue, TY Hilton, like JuJu, turned down more money from the Ravens to play for another team. We are seeing one of the consequences of setting up the kind of offense which the Ravens have, with a Qb whose throwing accuracy is questioned, by receivers avoiding them like the plague. This is Lamar's 3rd year and they still don't have a #1 receiver.

2 hours ago, The Gipper said:

The article seems to imply that it was no coincidence.  Though maybe it could vary from team to team.    I just wonder if, when a team has to decide to make cap cuts, how do they decide?  If they have to cut maybe 3 guys, and they have  6 candidates of seemingly equal value,  maybe the opt out thing is what tipped the scale. 

Did you see these guys' bio in the article? 

One was a 5th round pick in 2017, never spent more than one season with a team, and the Raiders were his 4th team in 3 years. Another was undrafted in 2017 and was on the Lions, Dolphins and 49ers before the Raiders. He has played 13 games in his career. And the 3rd never appeared in an NFL game. He had spent time with the Colts and Packers before signing with the Raiders.

Not your gold standard players. Hell, not even a copper standard. Sounds to me that a media guy is trying to work an angle to get himself noticed.

3 hours ago, The Gipper said:

I don’t see that is chasing a ring I see it is chasing  the money

That's what I was implying. Maybe my posting is off still from looking at Hilton all night. And no, I don't mean Mike. 😁

Glad to see he is chasing the ring. With the 49ers, Rams and Seahawks in their division the Cardinals won't smell playoffs.

17 minutes ago, The Gipper said:

OK:    Mike Hilton.   Tell us about him,   and how we can distinguish him from Paris Hilton.   

Well...for starters Paris' highlights video is far more impressive than Mike's.

8 hours ago, The Gipper said:

OK, sure, that makes sense what all of you have said,  More passing begets the need for more pass defenders,    except for one thing:

When a team, like the Browns can't stop the fucking run because they don't have decent linebackers.  And they lose games because of it,   Then what do you do?  

Think Mike Hilton.

Although the Browns do make the most sense in many ways I don't consider that there is any more knowledge about the situation than a week ago. "Browns are seriously being considered"? Of course they are. They are putting more than $10 million on the table. Any team that makes a serious offer will be seriously considered. That's different from being a favorite, however. And she most likely got her info from either the Browns, who have no idea what other teams are offering at this point, or from Watt's agent, who has an interest in having her spread the story. And wow has this story grown. Based purely on speculation.

I saw speed on defense. A lot of speed.

Hoping for the best obviously but it's possible that Baltimore and Cleveland, arguably the 2 best teams in the division, might both miss out on the playoffs, and the weakest team outside of Cincy gets in.

Not to mention that the Raiders risked a game-winning FG with a kicker who had just missed an extra point. Get the TD while you can. What a dumb-ass Gruden is.

38 minutes ago, nickers said:

We're embarking on a playoff run and you are worried about Njoku?... C'Mon man!!!!... I'm more concerned about the D...

You're right. It's only because there seems to be a hell of a lot of team support for one another that his attitude stood out to me. It should definitely be far down on the list of worries.

I noticed that Njoku had a good PFF rating for the Giants game so props to him for that. But even up here in the nosebleed section you could tell that he's been pissed off this year at the lack of balls thrown his way. This video confirms it. Just look at how he's looking at Baker at the end of the video. I can't help but contrast that with Chubb running out of bounds and how he gets along with Hunt. 

From a talent viewpoint, and financial, he wouldn't be difficult to replace. And we don't know how he is in the locker room but he comes off like an a-hole here, imo. He could have joked with Baker and said "Hey...take a look where I was when you see the film."

I will feel better if the Raiders beat Miami on Saturday. Then we are guaranteed a spot and beating the Steelers, assuming they lose to the Colts, will be icing on the cake. Otherwise it might come down to beat the Steelers we're in, lose to them and we are out of the playoffs.

6 minutes ago, The Gipper said:

I always thought that he could become  more Montana like.   Not tall in stature,  not a runner but mobile enough. Relying more on guile and precision passing  Not a hugely strong arm but certainly good enough and with extreme accuracy. 

This makes me think of a question. Which other Qbs can you remember who have had as drastic a makeover as Baker that has been successful? Remember that Baker was mentioned in the same breath as Favre when he entered the league, in terms of playing style and talent. Now we are talking about him as a Montana or Brady-type Qb, and he is succeeding at it. I'm sure there are some but off the top of my head I can't think of a Qb who has weathered such a different transformation and been successful at it.

4 minutes ago, The Gipper said:

I always thought that he could become  more Montana like.   Not tall in stature,  not a runner but mobile enough. Relying more on guile and precision passing  Not a hugely strong arm but certainly good enough and with extreme accuracy. 

I can see that also.

14 hours ago, SdBacker80 said:

That was the best of Baker Mayfield.  Wow.

I hate to say the name but he looked like Elway  

i don't think he looked like Elway at all. Elway was more of a scrambler and pushed the ball downfield a lot more and took more chances. His passing percentage doesn't come close to Mayfield's. Though we remember him as picking us apart in those 2 games that wasn't his dominant M.O. 

The Qb who came to mind for me while watching Mayfield last night was Brady, believe it or not. Mayfield played smart. He knew who to throw it to, spread the ball out, had perfect timing with his receivers, and threw it past 20 yards just enough to keep the defense honest. He even ran 1-2 times when he had to. Not saying he'll turn into Brady but that's what his game reminded me of last night.

14 hours ago, Frenchie said:

Taking Care Of Business !!!  Best half-time adjustment. Shutting down the run up the middle. Once that worked, they were on the ropes! Still don’t understand why the Giants took over the ball with 12 min left, down 3 scores, and were running the football and taking their time to the next snap. Also a critical timeout on an on-side kickoff recovery? Wow, if I’m the NY media, I’d be all over these guys. Taking nothing away from our win but that was inept coaching. 

 

 

Their whole play-calling was strange, though I could see their strategy. That challenge of the onside kick was the dumbest call I've ever seen  a coach make. Like you said, it robbed them of a potentially critical time-out and did he really expect to see an unobstructed view of a pile-up?

I understand going for it on 4th down both times and kicking the FG late in the game. They felt that the Browns would score a lot and they'd have to take every chance they got to score 7, though the play they called both times left a lot to be desired. The FG late in the game put them 2 scores behind. if they went for a 1st instead and didn't get it they'd be 3 scores behind, so it made sense to kick it.

Here is an article by Brent Sobleski on Twitter where he admits that there has been enough time, i.e. games, to where it is becoming clear that the Browns are a better team without OBJ. The stats are all there, and the eye test is there also. Baker scans the field better, he throws to more receivers (9 in the first half alone against the Titans), and of course the wins are there.

The strongest argument for keeping OBJ, imo, is that it isn't OBJ not being in the lineup that has made Baker improve, it is Baker getting used to the system. But even if that's true and Baker shows that the Titans game was not an aberration but the norm my feeling is that, from a money/cap perspective and a trade value perspective, we would get more value trading OBJ than keeping him on the team.

I look at it this way. In this system does it make much sense that we pay so much $ to a guy that will catch 65 passes for 1,100 yards tops? (Because if he is catching a lot more passes than that then the balance between the receivers and the offense start to skew) And while OBJ's value is down because of his injury, imagine what his value will be next year if we find out that he IS the reason for Baker not being successful, and we decide to unload him at that time. It will be the middle of the season and teams will know that we need to unload him.

https://t.co/8xR6GRwCiq?amp=1

On 12/8/2020 at 5:28 PM, Orion said:

Somehow I don't see Williams' ego allowing him to take the fall for anyone.  I mean, now, who's going to hire him as a coach after that call?

Just for sake of argument I'd wonder which F.O. would hire him if he 'came clean' and said he was told by Gase (and therefore implicates the F.O.) to lose the game?

So everyone is 100% sure that that defensive call wasn't done intentionally to lose the game, and when there was such blow-back Williams became the fall guy?