2022 Offseason thread

[Jikkle]

First majorish injury with Jimmie Ward strained hamstring looking like he'll be out at least Week 1 if not longer.

McGlinchey is an unknow right now as he irritated his surgically repaired knee so it could be just something that will be fine after a week off or something that could be an issue.

Team has too many soft tissue injuries in my book and they should reconsider what they are doing in terms of prevention of them. Too be fair Jimmie Ward's hamstrings have been an issue even before the Shanahan regime but basically 3 starters in the secondary are currently nursing soft tissue injuries. Wards and Moseley's seem like they'll be fine for the regular season at least but these injuries can linger and be ongoing problems as well even if you think you're good to go.

[CrimsonCrew]

Eleven games for Watson, and it's a settlement, so that's official. Interesting. It's a pretty long suspension, and they'll want to be in playoff contention when he gets back. With that contract, this may be the most talented roster they'll have while he's the QB. Decent argument to try to bring in Jimmy, but they may not see him as enough of an upgrade over Brissett.

[CrimsonCrew]

Browns schedule through 11 games:

At Panthers
Jets
Steelers
At Falcons
Chargers
Pats
At Ravens
Bengals
At Dolphins
At Bills
Tampa Bay

Those extra five games add some pretty stiff competition. I don't know that a Brissett-led Browns would be favored in any of them. Realistically, with Brissett, I think it's fairly optimistic that they would go 5-6 or 6-5. That might be enough to make the playoffs with games against Houston, Washington, and NO to go with three division matchups, but four of his six games will be on the road. In a very competitive AFC, I'd be nervous about making the playoffs under that scenario.

[Samurai]

Browns schedule through 11 games:

At Panthers
Jets
Steelers
At Falcons
Chargers
Pats
At Ravens
Bengals
At Dolphins
At Bills
Tampa Bay

Those extra five games add some pretty stiff competition. I don't know that a Brissett-led Browns would be favored in any of them. Realistically, with Brissett, I think it's fairly optimistic that they would go 5-6 or 6-5. That might be enough to make the playoffs with games against Houston, Washington, and NO to go with three division matchups, but four of his six games will be on the road. In a very competitive AFC, I'd be nervous about making the playoffs under that scenario.

I would agree. Plus that assumes that Watson returns and doesn't skip a beat; given that he is new to the team, it may take him a few additional games to get his timing down and smooth out the communications with his receivers. If Brissett was the starter, Watson would have to play at an MVP level immediately upon returning which doesn't seem realistic. Seems to make more sense to have Jimmy manage the office until Watson returns.

[CrimsonCrew]

Browns schedule through 11 games:

At Panthers
Jets
Steelers
At Falcons
Chargers
Pats
At Ravens
Bengals
At Dolphins
At Bills
Tampa Bay

Those extra five games add some pretty stiff competition. I don't know that a Brissett-led Browns would be favored in any of them. Realistically, with Brissett, I think it's fairly optimistic that they would go 5-6 or 6-5. That might be enough to make the playoffs with games against Houston, Washington, and NO to go with three division matchups, but four of his six games will be on the road. In a very competitive AFC, I'd be nervous about making the playoffs under that scenario.

I would agree. Plus that assumes that Watson returns and doesn't skip a beat; given that he is new to the team, it may take him a few additional games to get his timing down and smooth out the communications with his receivers. If Brissett was the starter, Watson would have to play at an MVP level immediately upon returning which doesn't seem realistic. Seems to make more sense to have Jimmy manage the office until Watson returns.

Yeah, got to assume Watson will be a little rusty/will have to work on his chemistry with his receivers a bit before settling back into pro bowl form. That said, Jimmy was able to come in and perform really well for the Niners in 2017 despite limited experience with his receivers, so it's not unheard of for a guy to come in and play well immediately.

[CrimsonCrew]

Money could be interesting if a trade is to materialize, and I think it probably comes down to whether Garoppolo is willing to accept a pay cut. He should, as he will certainly get less money if he is cut outright, but Jimmy seems like a little bit of a different cat, so it's hard to say. I can't see the Niners agreeing to eat much of the cap space. They can just cut Garoppolo for no cap hit, so as I've said previously, the cost to eat contract - which they need to fit the players under contract and extend Bosa, etc. - probably wouldn't be worth the value of a second-day pick. The Niners are already projected to have four of those (two of which they may want to spend on interior OL...), and there are only so many roster spots available.

Should be an interesting few days to monitor the situation.

[arich35]

Pretty sure at this point we will just be releasing him

[CrimsonCrew]

Pretty sure at this point we will just be releasing him

It's still the most likely outcome, but it's a lot less likely now than it was this morning.

[Cactus Jack]

Pretty sure at this point we will just be releasing him

It's still the most likely outcome, but it's a lot less likely now than it was this morning.

What could you realistically get for him? This late into camp. Curious. A future 6th/7th Rounder in return? Maybe?

What's the expectation?

[CrimsonCrew]

Pretty sure at this point we will just be releasing him

It's still the most likely outcome, but it's a lot less likely now than it was this morning.

What could you realistically get for him? This late into camp. Curious. A future 6th/7th Rounder in return? Maybe?

What's the expectation?

I'd think best-case would be a 4th with conditions that could make it a 3rd. Don't even know if the Browns have those resources.

I was thinking a bit more about this. It's an interesting situation. Very arguably, the eleven-game suspension is worse for the Browns than a year. My understanding (supported by this article: https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/deshaun-watson-contract-suspension-browns-qbs/sxgdjq8o8ouiyxsz6qf5g1qt#:~:text=Watson's%20original%20six%2Dgame%20suspension,to%20lose%20about%20%2428.11%20million.) is that a full-year suspension would have basically tolled Watson's contract, and it would have just pushed to next year. As it's less than a year, that first, very cheap year (salary-cap-wise) goes into effect now. So the Browns lose one of the two cheap years they built into the front of that contract (Watson has cap hits of $54 million in years three and four), and are still in very real danger of missing the playoffs.

Even rolling over a huge cap number this year, the Browns are going to struggle to maintain their talented roster in years three through five of Watson's contract, so there is pressure to win immediately. Additionally, while they can wait and make a play for Jimmy once he's released, Cleveland is not a long-term situation for Jimmy. It would basically be a one-year audition for a new starting position, without an offseason and on a team whose major weakness is at the WR position despite being generally quite strong. Would he take that over an offer from the Seahawks, for instance, that could potentially lead to a full-time gig?

All of this is, of course, contingent upon the Browns believing he's clearly better than Brissett. And the last point is contingent upon a team like Seattle or the Giants having interest in him, but we can't know that until he becomes available. If the Browns think he gives them a better chance of staying in the playoff hunt this year, it would be really risky to wait on the Niners to release him.

[CrimsonCrew]

Hadn't realized this (thanks Maiocco): the Niners can hold onto Garoppolo until September 10 and will only owe him each weekly game check of $1.35 million. I thought his contract became fully guaranteed if he's on the roster past August 30. They could call someone's bluff and keep him a week or two with relatively minimal financial penalty. More and more interesting.

[CrimsonCrew]

Hadn't realized this (thanks Maiocco): the Niners can hold onto Garoppolo until September 10 and will only owe him each weekly game check of $1.35 million. I thought his contract became fully guaranteed if he's on the roster past August 30. They could call someone's bluff and keep him a week or two with relatively minimal financial penalty. More and more interesting.

Okay, either I misread, or Maiocco got something wrong. They have to cut him before the first game, which is September 11. But there's nothing stopping them from holding him until September 11, and I think it's prudent to do that. If the Browns aren't willing trade for him, let them wait until the last possible moment and then compete with a bunch of teams with worse longterm QB situations to sign him for one season.

[wco81]

I'd trade him for a bag of chips to the Browns just to keep Seattle or Rams from getting him, because Stafford's elbow is hurting.

But if they release him, it's based on waiver wire order right?

So Seahawks would be high on the waiver order based on last year and Browns and Rams would be much lower on the list.

[thesack12]

Short of whatever is going on with Tom Brady forcing him to miss an extended amount of time, or a QB on a team with visions of competing getting seriously injured in the next couple weeks, I think the hopes of trading Garoppolo have pretty much vanished.

The shoulder injury/surgery just threw a huge wrench into the equation. By now its just far to late into the process for a team to make a sizable investment into bringing in a QB. Unless they lose their current QB1, teams are just going to roll with that they have.

Jimmy is still pretty early in his rehab process, and would also need to learn the offense for his new team. And we are what only like 3 weeks from season openers. That isn't a lot of time to rehab or learn an offense, let alone try to do both simultaneously.

On top of all that, how many teams out there have enough cap flexibility to absorb Jimmy at this point? Of those few teams that do, how many of those are in the QB market?

I'd love to be wrong, but it certainly looks like its not a matter of if but when they just release Garoppolo.

[thesack12]

I'd trade him for a bag of chips to the Browns just to keep Seattle or Rams from getting him, because Stafford's elbow is hurting.

But if they release him, it's based on waiver wire order right?

So Seahawks would be high on the waiver order based on last year and Browns and Rams would be much lower on the list.

I could be wrong, but I very much doubt a team would make a waiver claim for Jimmy.

If a team claims him, they would be on the hook for his entire current contract and would need to create enough cap flexibility to do so.

It would make more sense to just offer the 49ers a mid round pick and negotiate a restructure with Jimmy or negotiate the 9ers absorbing some of the contract. That way they guarantee they would get him if they really want him, and get cap savings vs claiming him (and risking someone else with higher priority claiming him, although that seems to be of low risk.)

[CrimsonCrew]

I'd trade him for a bag of chips to the Browns just to keep Seattle or Rams from getting him, because Stafford's elbow is hurting.

But if they release him, it's based on waiver wire order right?

So Seahawks would be high on the waiver order based on last year and Browns and Rams would be much lower on the list.

Garoppolo is a vested veteran, so he wouldn't pass through waivers. He would immediately become a FA.

[CrimsonCrew]

Short of whatever is going on with Tom Brady forcing him to miss an extended amount of time, or a QB on a team with visions of competing getting seriously injured in the next couple weeks, I think the hopes of trading Garoppolo have pretty much vanished.

The shoulder injury/surgery just threw a huge wrench into the equation. By now its just far to late into the process for a team to make a sizable investment into bringing in a QB. Unless they lose their current QB1, teams are just going to roll with that they have.

Jimmy is still pretty early in his rehab process, and would also need to learn the offense for his new team. And we are what only like 3 weeks from season openers. That isn't a lot of time to rehab or learn an offense, let alone try to do both simultaneously.

On top of all that, how many teams out there have enough cap flexibility to absorb Jimmy at this point? Of those few teams that do, how many of those are in the QB market?

I'd love to be wrong, but it certainly looks like its not a matter of if but when they just release Garoppolo.

In terms of a trade, it's basically the Browns or nothing. They're the only team in the market with anywhere near the cap space to fit him under his current contract. Even so, I can't see them paying his his full salary. They need to roll over a lot of that cap space into next year. That said, Jimmy may have a strong incentive to take a pay cut. Let's say he takes a pay cut down to $15 million. On the open market, at this point in the season, that's a solid $5 million or more over what he could reasonably expect to get. Plus, the Browns are almost certainly the most talented team he could play with if he wants to boost his stock. They have a very good OL and a strong run game, though their WRs aren't stellar. On the flip side, there's no longterm future as a starter in Cleveland, and he might prefer to go to a place like Seattle or the Giants where he would at least have a shot at that.

The long and the short of it is that Garoppolo doesn't have great options, either. If we release him, he could end up playing for a bad team for $8 million or less. He might even be in a situation where the best approach is to sit out, but then he's eating a season in his prime.

[CrimsonCrew]

I keep forgetting Amari Cooper is on the Browns. So even their WRs are very solid. That's a really good offense, outside of QB. And a strong defense.

[Dodub]

With Jordan Mason coming on, is Trey Sermon on the team on Monday?

[thesack12]

With Jordan Mason coming on, is Trey Sermon on the team on Monday?

I wouldn't be shocked if Sermon doesn't survive final cuts, but I would be mildly surprised simply due to him only being 1 year removed from being a 3rd round pick.

Even if he does make the team, I suspect he will frequently be a game day inactive. He's indecisive, slow in both burst and top end speed, he doesn't have good vision, doesn't have much power and doesn't really finish runs, and is not good in then way of pass protection.

Really the only thing he has half decent potential with, that the other backs don't provide is as a receiver. Even then, he's far from great with that, and as we saw last night he's prone to drops.