Keeping the best player on the roster for as long as they can and while they are trying to get public money for facilities upgrades and to distract from the Watson mess isn’t the worst idea ever.
The cap implications of that for Cleveland would probably be insane.
I guess optics wise but there is zero reason or hope for anything with or without him. Now there's probably even less for the future. My god what percentage of the cap is being taken up by two players, neither of which do a thing to help the offense?
Not in the NFL.
With Garrett, they got into the playoffs in 2023 when they were 11-6.
That's the thing, in football fortunes can turn quick. But the Watson contract really hampers Cleveland. They basically need to get lucky with a QB they draft a la the Seahawks with Russell Wilson in the mid rounds--and if they have that they can be a real contender, not just a WC team. Get good cheap QB play to wait out the Watson contract so they can build around him. They have a decent number of solid pieces that got them to 11-6, but they need a QB.
I want nothing more than for Cleveland to live in quarterback purgatory for decades after doing the Watson deal. They can have pieces all they want like they do now but I don’t want them to have the quarterback to put them over for a very long time.
His play doesn’t suggest he’s cooked. I wouldn’t go big for him, nor do I think he will command a big payday. But to replace the Von type role, we could do a lot worse.
I’m fully expect both Mack and Sweat to get paid more than that. More cap space than quality players available in FA. They are going to get stupid money.
