ForJimmy

I'm looking at the team he took to the playoffs end results versus our roster. Any injuries to our future roster would be an unknown (yes CMC would be an educated guess). My point is that roster (2020 Browns) had many injuries and he wasn't being carried by some All Star team that season. A rookie LT on a good OL with one solid WR for less than half the season and a good RB. Hooper was their top TE with 46 catches for 435 yards and 4 TDs. Is that 1000x better than what McAdoo can do with Baker throwing to Tremble or Thomas? I'm not sure about that.

So I mid/late pick and Darnold?? If we both are paying the same amount of our QB's contract, why not just trade them?

OBJ was only there for 7 games in 2020 and Chubb missed several (2). Njoku has talent but hands that are like Ginn (it also looks like he only started 5 games that year, Hooper was their 1). Landry is a good slot but he isn't some elite WR. The OL is definitely the difference. He had a good OL with Landry as his number 1 for over half the season and Willis was a rookie at LT. I'm not saying we will have a top 10 OL, but we have a top rookie LT also with a great RT and added some solid pieces in Bozeman and Corbett. The 2020 Browns roster isn't light years ahead of ours IMO. Here is a breakdown of that Brown's roster with games started and stats https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/cle/2020_roster.htm

I don't think he is great. I think he is a solid mid-level QB with some upside. I'd rank him around Kurt Cousins maybe? Stronger arm, but will make more mistakes. The Falcons traded Matt Ryan to try to acquire Watson as well. Watson has the ability and has been in the past a top 5 QB in this league. He elevated the talent around him in Houston like very few QBs can do. They made that move because it was a big upgrade to go from mid-level QB to top tier franchise QB. Kind of like it would be a big jump for us to go from worst QB in the league to mid-level QB. I don't want to give up high picks or take on his full contact, but for a decent deal then I'd be all for it. When you try to trade a player this time of year you aren't going to get full market value. Most teams were set at QB before this draft because many believe these rookie QBs weren't ready to start right away.

He only got a good coach in year 3 and 4. Hugh and Kitchen were there before that. He couldn't hit OBJ (according to you) so where is all of this other talent that made him so great? Landry who was a FA until like mid/late May this year? Their TE?? Chubb was solid, but CMC is pretty good too right? They had Garrett on defense and a decent CB in Ward. I just don't think that Browns team was as "loaded" as everyone thinks. They were solid, but we definitely have some pieces here as well. Plus OBJ only played in like 7 games and Chubb missed time as well.

Fair point. He looked good his rookie year with Hugh as his coach (I think). Had a sophomore slump where he threw way too many INTS but also lost his coach midseason (not 100% on the year this happened going on memory). Got their new coach in 2020 and looked great then got hurt last year and still was ok..

He played just fine when he was healthy in 2020. 26 TDs 8 INTs 63% completion and took the Browns to the playoffs for the first time in forever. Hell even last year's number where better than Darnold has ever shown and he did that with one shoulder for part of the year. If he is a "marginal" upgrade over Sam he will commit career suicide anywhere he goes. He is a middle of the pack QB with some upside if he can get his attitude under control. Also OBJ is on his 3rd team by age 29. He is a good WR, but let's not act like he wasn't part of the problem.

Unless Fitt thinks he could be the guy depending on how he plays. He also may give Corral time to develop while keeping the team competitive (yes I know you don’t like him sitting, but it’s not uncommon for coaches to do this). He could also help develop players like Marshall and Tremble by having a competent QB throwing them passes. There are some pros/cons to signing him. The main thing is don’t overpay him or give away much to acquire him.

Makes sense. Right now all we have is a 3rd round rookie in the QB room. Sam shouldn't start for a NFL team and PJ doesn't belong on a NFL roster. Baker and Corral is a MUCH better QB room. Still not great, but MUCH better.

The one year deals are a safe way to fill spots, see if players are a good fit, and not be on the hook if they aren’t a fit. We talked to Reddick about extending him, but he just wanted too much money. Longer deals can be dangerous if a player isn’t a good fit in our system.

He is warming up to it because he might not have any other option…

Just showing an example of yet another team manipulating the salary cap. The Rams have been pretty loaded for a while (since 2017) they just upgraded their QB. They look to have their core locked in for the next 3-4 years as well. We shall see if they have to do a complete tear down or not after then. I imagine any rebuild will be around them finding Stafford’s replacement…

Good answer!

They were OVER the cap and easily made money to throw at Watson when he was available. You really don’t think they could do it again if another star QB some how becomes available? More than likely they will look at drafting one like most teams do. They aren’t the only team that does this with the cap. The Rams built their roster with a bunch of high priced free agents and some salary cap gymnastics. I don’t understand where this idea comes from that if a team isn’t a top tier team they shouldn’t sign FA vets to improve?

You don’t even know what kind of contract we are offering this player and you already not liking it? Cap space should be managed to a degree but it is very fluid. Hell the Saints went from over the cap to enough money to sign Watson in a couple days. Look you were originally upset Dunlap would take valuable reps from YGM and now it’s the salary cap for a contract we have no clue what the numbers are. They are just doing their jobs and addressing weak spots on the roster. It’s why we are still inquiring about QBs because it is by far our biggest weakness right now. Let’s just see how this all shakes out before we get upset of us bringing in a FA.

Teams all over the NFL sign good veteran players. We can’t just not sign them because we don’t want to curve Rhule’s win total for the season. That’s not how it works… We need a good pass rusher for our rotation to help fill Reddick’s void. This is just Fitt or Rhule or both trying to add depth to a position we are thin at. They are wanting a complete roster which is what they should be trying to build every season.

Not saying I disagree (especially with the win total), but where do you see these big holes outside of QB. RB looks solid, WR is ok, OL is much improved (plus a solid OL coach), TE could be a weakness but there is young talent there, so outside of QB (the most important I know) our offense is pretty decent from a talent standpoint. Defense- the safeties should be better with the addition of Woods (Burris is now depth), CB should be ok with Horn coming in to replace Gilmore, with Jackson and hopefully Henderson develops, LB has had upgrades with Littleton and Wilson (a weakness, but much better than last year) plus Shaq is solid, DE still have Burns with YGM devloping on the other side and Dunlap could provide great depth with Haynes, DY has Brown and Ioan as starters with Nixon and some young guys behind them (this could be a weakness too IMO). Kicker should be good with Zane and punter was upgraded with Hekker.

I still can't see how people see this as a bad thing. I mean unless his gets a dumb contract it should do nothing but improve this team. Dunlap mixed in the rotation would help offset the loss of Reddick.

It's all situational. If it's an obvious passing down like 3rd and long I think they slide one on the inside and use Burns, Brown, YGM, and Dunlap. If YGM is playing good they aren't going to pull him on critical downs unless he is tired and it shows. At the end of the day these coaches are wanting to win. On top of all of these we have another experience pass rusher in practice that a young player like YGM can learn from. I know you mentioned we have moved on from our young pass rushers after year 3 of not showing promise. Have any of these players played extremely well in their new environments? I'm not saying they haven't just can't really think of any on the top of my head...

Oh yeah I agree 100%. I was just adding to what you were saying. He would have played more if healthy last year. However, if he gets injured again it's nice to have some decent depth behind him.

He also was injured the past two seasons and missed time from that. https://www.foxsports.com/nfl/yetur-gross-matos-player-injuries

I don't think it's as big of a deal as you are making it. Dunlap played in what 39% of Seattle's snaps last year and now is a year older. Say he plays 1/3 of the snaps and YGM gets 2/3, that should be plenty of exposure to see what we have in YGM. YGM also has had several injuries over the year, so it's smart to have some talent behind him. If it's a reasonable contact I think this could only help our team. At the end of the day these coaches are paid to win games and Dunlap should help us do that. I could also see us sliding YGM inside of obvious passing downs (in fact I think we have already done this in the past). If YGM is playing well and healthy he will stay on the field.

Roy gets tossed around pretty regularly and Hoskins is still a bit of a question mark. I wouldn't mind throwing a vet in there for depth/experience.

Our DL is very thin and could be considered a weakness. Dunlap at the right price would be a solid move. I wish we could find a decent cheap DT as well.

How good is Dunlap at run defense? That is what looks like is going to be a weakness next year. Also YGM tends to get hurt throughout the season, so he could be some welcomed depth.