Last year, the Haslams gave Deshaun Watson an unprecedented guaranteed contract worth $230 million and the NFL retaliated against them mercilessly for it.
First, there was the league’s summer-long kangaroo court proceedings that hung over the entire off-season and into the pre-season whereby it first suspended Watson for six games, then, pursuant to a bizarre and unprecedented “appeal” process, increased the suspension to a season-destroying eleven games. This was all based on he-said she-said allegations of “sexual assault” that (A) didn’t involve any serious claim that Watson used force against any of his “victims” (recall that the only accuser who alleged that she was “forced” to have sex with Watson admitted, when questioned, that it was his “power and influence” that caused her to feel “forced” to have sex with him); (B) weren’t corroborated by a single piece of evidence apart from the word of “masseuses” who were apparently (if not obviously) more than willing to take Watson’s money in exchange for sex; (C) even if believed, didn’t amount to more than allegations that Watson had made unwanted advances on the accusers; (D) didn’t support a single criminal charge despite extensive efforts by the accusers’ lawyers; and (E) were apparently (if not obviously) orchestrated as part of a PR campaign by the Texans’ owners in retaliation for Watson having embarrassed them by calling them racists and refusing to play for their organization.
Once Watson was finally allowed to play for the season’s final six games, the Browns were subject to officiating that flipped at least two of the three losses sustained after his return. All three of these losses were winnable games wherein Cleveland was flagged for twice as many penalties and penalty yards as their opponents. In the loss to Cincinnati the Browns were flagged nine times for 98 yards, including four penalties on a single drive for a staggering 61 yards that handed the Bengals their first touchdown. The calls in Pittsburgh (nine penalties for 65 yards against the Browns against four for 20 for the Steelers, and worse) were as bad as you’ll ever see at any level of football. It also bears mention that the early loss to the Ravens with Jacoby Brissett under center was also heavily influenced by poor officiating that kept the Browns from starting the season 3-0 against AFC North opponents. And somehow the Browns’ offensive line, which is manned by three Pro Bowlers, managed to lead the league in holding calls last season.
Additionally, there was the heavily astroturfed character assassination campaign against Watson and the franchise that persists today. Despite how thin and apparently retaliatory the accusations against the quarterback are, and that Watson was never charged let alone found guilty of even a single misdemeanor in connection with them, many in the press (see, for example, these self-described “irreverent liberals” at the Defector website) have conclusively pronounced him as “a serial sexual predator” anyway. LeBron’s mentions turn into a sewer of fake accounts every time he tweets a word of support for Deshaun. And even a critical mass of more mainstream NFL voices—this absurd interview that Jason LaCanfora gave to 92.3’s Baskin & Phelps is representative—seem to want to pretend that Watson’s career is over as a result of the suspension. As if a 27-year-old world-class athlete in peak physical condition who’s taken tens of thousands of snaps of football at the highest levels and made three Pro Bowls in his first four seasons in the NFL is somehow going to forget how to play the game. That Mike Vick was able to come back at a Pro Bowl level at age 29 after serving three years in a federal prison for actual crimes, that he actually did commit, then it seems especially safe to assume that Deshaun will be able to shake off the rust as well.
Anyway, the historic campaign to unperson Deshaun, brought on by some of the worst people and forces on Earth, is reason enough in itself for the Browns to be America’s Team in a righteous sense of the term. That many of the players on this roster weathered this experience together will strengthen their bonds considerably heading into this season. And whatever else about the Haslams, their support for Deshaun through this firestorm is genuinely admirable.
Also admirable, the way the organization has loaded up its roster for this first full season with its new $230 million quarterback. There are nine established Pro Bowlers on this team, including six on the offense which boasts one of the top lines in the league and indisputably the top running back (who has as admirable a family history as any American). The offensive starters who aren’t Pro Bowlers are young first and second-round picks like David Njoku (expected to have a Pro Bowl season himself), Elijah Moore, and Jedrick Wills, and established starters in Ethan Pocic and Donovan Peoples-Jones. And apart from the three Pro Bowlers on the defense, including newly added Za’darius Smith to bookend the league’s top pass-rusher Myles Garrett, the Browns have added at least four other new starters, including Dalvin Tomlinson and Shelby Harris along a dramatically improved defensive line, who are expected to make major contributions in new coordinator Jim Schwartz’s scheme. This is more talent than the post-1999 Browns have ever had on both sides of the ball, and arguably more than even in the Kosar-led “glory days” in the late 1980s. Additionally, the organization heads into this season with as much stability at the head-coaching position since the Kosar/Schottenheimer era.
Which is why it’s somewhat striking to see that most sportsbooks have set the over/under on wins for this season as 9.5. Sure, the AFC North is tough but what’s tougher is to see a nine-win season for this roster as anything other than a disaster. So does this betting market reflect the understandable perception that disastrous seasons are what’s to be expected from the Cleveland Browns until proven otherwise, or is there something more sinister at play here regarding the NFL’s increasingly egregious tendency to engineer sponsor-preferred outcomes?
This is why we watch the games, folks. Especially this year, where it’s Super Bowl or bust for the Browns, and Cleveland against the world in a sense that’s as real and righteous as it gets in today’s NFL. Anyway, best wishes for a safe and happy football season to all.
