The Fumblerooski Podcast - East But Not Least -Ep 87 The Fumblerooski Podcast

Episode Date: June 3, 2022

Will the AFC East be the most competitive in its existence? Adam Wright and CJ Medieros host special guest Jack Hartman who talks about Baker Mayfield and when (or if) he's traded!

Here's Edelman broken up and the pass is no sign yet. Edelman comes down with a football and they're saying it's a catch. It's caught! It's a catch! Side-line! Touchdown! Unbelievable! Swings it way down the field to Watkins!

Sammy Watkins for the touchdown! Good evening. You are listening to the Fumble Rooski podcast by Power 88 and Fans Only Sports Network. I'm Adam Wright along with CJ Medeiros. Guys, we have a very, very great episode planned for you guys today. We have special guest Jack Hartman. He is a loyal listener for our show and he's coming on for the first time. Jack, welcome to the show. How about you introduce yourself? Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Yeah, Adam, CJ, thanks for having me. My name is Jack Hartman. I am going into my senior year of college at Gordon College here on the North Shore in Wenham, Massachusetts. And yeah, I've been a listener here for a little while and, you know, love the content and was so excited when, you know, Adam, you reached out and invited me to join you guys. So I'm super excited, really looking forward to this. Yeah, I appreciate you coming on. It's going to be great. You're a, I, I understand you're a Browns fan and you're

going to be using your guest segment to talk a little bit about a Baker Mayfield. That's going to be, that's going to be interesting. That's something we've been itching to talk about for a little while, and that's going to be, that's going to be fun. But our Thursday. I do have an announcement for our show. Our Thursday episodes. As I posted in our Instagram. All planned out. So today we're going to be previewing the AFC East. And next Thursday.

We're going to be previewing the AFC North. Then the week after that. AFC South. AFC West after that. NFFC South, AFC West. After that, NFC East, NFC North, NFC South, NFC West. And then we're going to get into the fantasy football world for the first time. That's going to be our first step going into fantasy football. We recognize that you guys really like fantasy football. That's a lot of why people tune in to watch football

and to listen about it. So we're going to be ranking some of the top five in the fantasy football positions. So we'll be doing defense and special teams and tight ends for our first week of that, then fantasy quarterbacks, fantasy wide receivers, fantasy running backs so this is going to be a great summer for you guys we already have our tuesday episodes planned out with the player rankings and power rankings and all that stuff and that is going to be added on

to our guest segment so uh without further ado let's get into it and talk about the AFC East. So, guys, what do you guys think of this division? I just want to get your thoughts on this and how all the teams are going to stack up. I'll start, Adam. So when I think about the AFC East, I hate to say it as a Pats fan, but this is the Bills division to lose, and they're probably not going to lose it. But that means it's going to be a race for second place. You know, the Dolphins appear to get better. You know, they added guys like Tyreek Hill and Sonny Michel on offense.

You know, they got Gasicki on the franchise tag. The Pats came in second last year, and they really didn't do too much in free agency due to cap concerns. But, I mean, they did kind of address the offense. They drafted guys like Pierre Strong Jr. and Taequann Thornton. That could help. Their corner room is looking a little sketchy, but they're an overall solid team.

Now the Jets. The Jets are going to be interesting. I don't want to call them a wild card because I feel like that would be a little too generous. But after that draft they had, getting guys like Brees Hall, Jeremy Ruckert, Jermaine Johnson, that wide receiver from Ohio State, Wilson, and who could forget the great Sauce Gardner, that's going to be interesting. But all jokes aside, it is definitely going to be a race for second. And like I said, it's Buffalo's division to be interesting. But all jokes aside, it is definitely going to be like a race for second.

And like I said, it's Buffalo's division to lose. I don't see them losing it, but, you know, anything can happen. The second place is more likely going to be Miami or New England. All right. Jack, what are your thoughts? Yeah, I agree. I think that – I agree to some extent. I think the AFC East is going to be more competitive now

than it has in a very long time. Because even when you look back at the years, you know, that Brady was still in New England, the entire division wasn't competitive. It was just that New England was kicking everybody's butt. I do agree that it's Buffalo's division to lose, but I think it's going to be closer than a lot of people think. Going through, I had Buffalo going 11-6. division to lose but i think it's going to be closer than a lot of people think um going through i had buffalo going 11 and 6 um it's the the the afc east is playing the afc north which in my

opinion you know being a browns fan but also just looking at the rosters um is probably one of the more tougher divisions this year. You know, there's a good chance that each of these teams could lose, you know, three of those four games, you know, in that, just with how strong those teams are. So we'll see about that. I do have the Pats coming in second place at 9-8, but very close behind them is Miami at 8-9.

The Jets, I think the Jets are going to have a similar season this year to the Lions had last year in that they are going to be close in a lot of games and just won't really pull it off, but they are still going to win a lot more games than they did last year. I think they're going to go 6-11, but they're going to have two or three games that they lose by a very small margin. What does help some of these teams like Miami, New England, and New York going into the season is they're also playing the NFC North,

which is a fairly weak division. Minnesota, Detroit, and Chicago don't really have much to say about themselves. Who knows what Green Bay is going to look like? Yes, they've got Rodgers, but they don't really have anybody for him to throw the ball to. So, so we'll see, you know, we'll see what, you know, how those games favor for, for each of the AFC East teams. But, But I think it's going to be pretty competitive. I think you're going to have teams like New York and Miami that might steal a game from the Bills that we aren't expecting.

I don't think the Bills are just going to get all the way through the division slate without losing a game. I think it's going to be a good season and a good year in the AFC East. Yeah, so look, I agree with most of what both of you are saying. I'm not going to add anything to the idea that this is the Bills' division to lose. Right on with that. I'll add this one thing. This is probably the only year in recent memory where you could realistically see

any of these teams making the playoffs any of them even the jets i can see that team has team has a lot of young talent now it's a lot of wishful thinking but you can they they have some talent now probably the most in in over a decade probably not probably since they made back-to-back AFC championships with, uh, well, they, they had Mr. Mark Sanchez out, out there at quarterback, but they had some talent on those teams. And I can, I can easily see this team, uh, making the playoffs. Uh, they prop, um, I, I think they, they more realistically make it next year or the year after that. But I can still see, I can still see a very solid chance that if everything goes right for the Jets and if these rookies that they got in the draft pan out, that this team could

be an electric offense. They have a solid defense and they just, on paper, they have an all-around very good team and uh i haven't even mentioned the the dolphins and patriots who are both they both have very strong looking rosters especially miami miami is an interesting one actually because with miami they have everywhere across across that roster you could argue they're almost, you could argue they're better than Buffalo. The only spot that is a wild card is quarterback. To a tongue of Iloa, if that kid pans out and it turns out he can play, I might have Miami winning that division.

If he can play in any sort of capacity with the team that they have, you add Jalen Waddle, who's broken out as a rookie and then, and then, and then Tyreek Hill on top of that, that is an electric offense. And you still have, you have a plethora of serviceable pieces in the running game. You have Mike joseki who's a very solid tight end and don't let's we haven't even talked about the defense yet i just this is going to be a very competitive division and i think you can realistically see any of these teams making the division we haven't seen that in the afc east in a very long time the thing yeah the thing with miami that that makes things tough is is there as good and as bad as Tua is.

I know Dan Orlovsky, I think, tweeted his list of like, these are quarterbacks that because of these quarterbacks you're going to win games. These are quarterbacks that despite of these quarterbacks you're going to win games. And these are quarterbacks that because of these quarterbacks you're going to lose games. And I think we can't say where Tua is in those three categories yet we just haven't seen we haven't seen enough we haven't seen enough of him with the right pieces um I think Miami played this offseason perfectly and that they like built everything around him and basically said to Tua this is this is your shot you know this is you've had a couple seasons yeah, we haven't had a lot of stuff around you.

I think the Teron Armstead signing was the biggest move that they made in the offseason, giving him protection on his blind side. Blind side, excuse me. And I think, yeah, I think they're as good and as bad as Tua is. I think, yeah, if he's the guy, then, yeah, they can win 11, 12 ballgames. And if he's not,, then yeah, they can win 11, 12 ballgames. And if he's not, then they could only win five. And it's just sort of, and he'll have flashes that he'll win them games and he might have flashes where he loses them games. It's just, it's so, yeah, it's so

up in the air. Their floor and their ceiling is so vast because of Tua. Yeah, i kind of want to touch on that real quick uh tua i'm sorry this is the put up or shut up year he should not get any more chances after this he has no excuse not to suck this year actually that's not true the only thing if everybody and their mother on that roster gets hurt then i'll you know then i'll give him a pass but like no no i'm sorry this is this is his year and i think that people if they if the miami has an above 500 record you really need to scrutinize that and you got to ask yourself are they winning because of tua or are they winning despite tua and even if they go to the playoffs, if you can tell they're winning despite him,

I would honestly argue he needs to go. And I don't want any – you need him to be more than a game manager, you know, because that's what he can do. I'm sorry. You have like a multi-headed monster in the running game. You have Hill, Waddle, and Gasicki to throw to. There is no excuse for you to be a game manager. If you can't come out and wow them, you should not be there.

Game managers don't win Super Bowls anymore. They just don't. But it's just, I don't know. And I mean, like, I don't want him to be average. I feel like even if he has an average season, they should probably let him go. He needs to be a star. He needs to be undisputed top 15.

That is, and I know that's lofty expectations, but after what they've built around him, there's literally no excuse for him to suck, barring half the team going on IR like the Ravens last year. And the Jets, oh, sorry sorry i just want to say one last thing and one last thing the jets i'm kind of going to pump the brakes on the jets hype train for one reason everyone's like uh zach wilson showed flashes his rookie year there was a lot to like no there wasn't and if you believe that kindly get your brain checked. Like, you might need a lobotomy. I'm sorry.

But no, there was not jack or squat to like about his rookie season. And let me tell you something. The best game for a Jets quarterback last year wasn't even his own. It was Mike White, I think. Was that his name? Yeah, Mike White had, like, the best game for a Jets quarterback last year. That was against the Bengals, right? Yes, yes, against the Bengals. Who were a Super Bowl team, I might add. Yeah.

And this is another – it's kind of like another Tua case where the Jets only go as far as Zach Wilson can take them. But, I mean, I'll withhold judgment for now, you know, just because that entire roster is really, really, really young. I mean, most of their best players are quite literally rookies. All their biggest names are rookies. They're second-year guys. So, yeah.

But, I mean, if Zach Wilson, with everything around him, even though they're rookies, has another season like he did last year, it might be time to push the panic button. And finally, New England, Mac Jones. He's already a game manager. I just want to see if he can take it past that. I mean, they tried. They gave him, you know,

Tyquan Thornton and Devontae Parker this offseason. They have a good duo. But my only concern is that offensive coordinator spot. They're not doing right by Mack by not giving him a good offensive coordinator. But on the flip side, with McDaniels gone, we'll have to put up with screen passes on third and 10. So, you know, you win some, you lose some. But the Pats, Dolphins, and Jets,

the main theme is they will go as far as their quarterbacks can take them yeah well look though the reason the only the reason i am still holding out hope for zach wilson is you know it it usually takes a couple of years for a quarterback to develop. You very rarely see a Justin Herbert who just jumps onto the scene and is just spectacular right out of the gates. That's relatively rare. And I kind of relate it a little bit to Josh Allen when he first came into the league. He was a quarterback his rookie year

people didn't really like him they thought yeah he's not really gonna pan out um but he did show some flashes down the stretch and then they added some pieces around him in free agency and through the draft and that following year he had a decent year, what, did he have like 16 to 10 touchdown to interception ratio? I'm not sure. Don't quote me on that. Wait, his second season? His second year. I think it was like 20 to 12.

20 to 12, something like that. See, that's the thing. And they made the playoffs. Yeah, I mean, but I don't know. I'm just, and I know supposedly Joe Douglas is a good GM and supposedly Robert Saul is a good coach, but I don't know if they can bring along talent like Sean McDermott can. I really don't know.

I'm not entirely, I mean, history has given us no reason to be confident in their ability to develop players. Look, I understand history holds some sort of water in it, but I also don't like using history as a measure for what's going to happen in the future and it does it like i said it holds water but you also like some things have to end like the jets can't always be the jets like the red socks when they went 86 years without winning a world series they eventually won one and the cubs after going 108 years without winning a world series actually without making one

for about for almost a century eventually made one and won one and it's just it it it all it eventually has to come to an end and i just don't't like using that. If the Jets have a promising-looking team going into this season, then I'm going to buy into it. And until I'm indicated otherwise, I have faith in this team in the next two to three years. Zach Wilson can't play. I get it. I get it.

I mean, maybe he can, like i'm just tired of like the hype they're saying like don't count them out of the playoffs so yeah well i am because everyone's like and i'm just i'm tired of everyone saying there was a lot to like from his rookie year there was not there was i agree almost nothing to like yeah it was worse the differences with josh allen he could run i mean zach can run but but he was but you you saw his arm his athleticism his mobility zach wilson really doesn't have an arm all he's really has is mobility i really don't like how he reads defenses i don't like his deep ball nor do i like his football iq i mean alan at least you know had a deep ball and a decent

football iq coming into the league i mean zach wilson is a total project and a decent football IQ coming into the league. I mean, Zach Wilson is a total project. And Adam, I don't know if you remember, but last season I was not high on him. I had said Zach Wilson should not have gone to the top 10. But, you know, alas, what do I know? But I'm not counting it out. I'm just saying, like, let's just pump the brakes for now. I think a big thing and this is you know sort of off topic but i think i'm one of i'm one of the big believers that you know you that rookie

quarterbacks should not be given the reins to be the starting quarterback their first season i mean if you look you look at patrick mahomes for example there was one he sat behind alex smith for one year and learned you know and look at look at where he is now look, you look at Patrick Mahomes, for example, there was one, he sat behind Alex Smith for one year and learn, you know, and look at, look at where he is now. You know, you look at Aaron Rodgers who sat behind Brett Favre for three years, you know, and just learned and, and where, guys like that. And, you know, who knows, maybe Zach Wilson, I don't know, that we're just called on to be the savior of this franchise right off the get-go. And, and here they are, you know, like when your team has a lottery pick a top 10 overall pick, it's because you don't have much to begin with. So why draft your quarterback and put them in that situation where he's going to have nothing to do and just expect him to, you know, make things,

make things amazing again. So was Zach Wilson's season last year? Good. No, not really. Was there much to like about it? No. But if you look at that entire roster, there wasn't much to like about the entire roster that he had around him either. you know? And I think, I think that, you know, next year, probably we're going to be saying the same thing that, you know, we're saying about Tua now, or it's like, all right, the Jets have built everything around you go do it, you know? And it's just, it just takes a couple of years to get to that point. It's a lot to ask. It's a lot to ask of a rookie quarterback to really just become that uh that guy and it's also you if you're an organization you need to be really cautious that you don't ruin the player

even if if he theoretically could play and if you if you draft a quarterback who doesn't have a great roster and you don't have a great roster around him you better do you better get that roster quick or else you're just going to end up ruining the player if he could play. And I do like what the Jets did this offseason. It looks like they showed some urgency to really build around this quarterback in Zach Wilson. And they had a decent offseason last year as well. They brought in Corey Davis, who has been solid for them. He is a little bit of an injury issue, but he showed flashes.

I like Michael Carter, who was taken in last year's draft, and to team him up with Brees Hall is going to make a solid one-two punch. And Elijah Moore is a guy who was taken, what was he taken, in the second, third round? Somewhere around there way elijah moore's second yeah elijah moore second it was in the second round he he showed some promise as well i believe he had an 800 yard season didn't he so they have some they have a lot to like for on this team and they also have they also have zach uh excuse me. They have Garrett Wilson, who has promised to be a number one receiver.

So they have a lot there. And they have CJ Uzama from this year's free agency. So yes, pump the brakes, because I do know a lot of people are really overhyping this offseason. And they have plenty of reason to hype up this offseason for them. However, they are doing all the right things so far. And regardless of whether they are the Jets or not, they're doing the right things. And they can't always be just the same old Jets.

The Bengals made the Super Bowl after being the Bungles for God knows how long. So just things have to come to an end. I don't like using the past as a measure for what's going to happen in the future. I don't. I hold the same. I also hold the same standard towards the Cowboys. A lot of people say, oh, they're the Cowboys.

They're just going to be the Cowboys again. Well, if they have a promising season, then all right. I'll see what you got. Yeah, I agree. Yeah, something like that. But we do need to move on. And we have Jack's. So Jack is a Browns fan as we mentioned and he is going to have his guest segment which will be on baker mayfield and the whole situation happening with

that we haven't been able to touch on that yet this off season we really haven't had the chance so it's going to be fun covering this baker mayfield what's going to happen to him and everything uh that'll be next this is the fumble ruski podcast here's edelman broken up in the past is no sign yet. Edelman comes down with a football. They're saying it's a catch. It's a catch.

Giggs! Side-side! Touchdown! Unbelievable! Swings it way down the field to Watkins! Sammy Watkins for the touchdown! Welcome back. This is the Fumble Rooski Podcast.

I'm Adam Wright, CJ Medeiros, special guest, Jack Hartman. All right. Now, we are on to the guest segment, and Jack has something to talk about with the Baker Mayfield situation going on in Cleveland. As many of you know, the Cleveland Browns traded for Deshaun Watson, which leaves Baker Mayfield saying, well, what do I do now? So, Jack, what do you got? Yeah. So as a Browns fan who has been following this situation very closely, has sort of been following the Baker Mayfield situation, as you could say, since he was drafted. Yeah, there's a lot more to this than sort of meets the eye.

So yeah, so I just want to sort of dive into this and give a little feedback, a little info, and talk about what I think Cleveland is going to do from here with Baker Mayfield. So just a little brief background. In 2018, the Browns draft Baker Mayfield first overall. Baker Mayfield becomes the starter due to an injury to Tyrod Taylor during his rookie season, which is funny because that's the exact same thing that happened to Justin Herbert with the Chargers. But, yeah, so, you know, midgame takes over the role. He finishes his first season with Greg Williams as the head coach

after Hugh Jackson is fired halfway through the season. So just like that, through his rookie season, he has two head coaches. His second season is a less than stellar season. I think the Browns finished 7-9 maybe. And Freddie Kitchens was the head coach who was then fired after. So he's at his third coaching staff at this point. During that offseason, the Browns hired Kevin Stefanski, who comes in and is just an awesome, perfect hire for them.

Year three is a turning point for Mayfield. He plays great football under Stefanski and leads Cleveland to the playoffs for the first time in 18 seasons and to win a playoff game for the first time in 26 years in Heinz Field against the rival Steelers on Sunday night football, a game that was wild and started with the Browns being ahead 28-0 after the first quarter, and the touchdown off of the snap over Ben Roethlisberger's head on the very

first play of the game was a wild, wild game, you know, and a great, just great turning point for, for Browns fans to, you know, sort of be seeing the light, seeing, seeing where, you know, good football is coming, you know? Then the following week during that playoffs, the Browns suffer a heartbreaking loss to the Chiefs in the divisional round of the playoffs. That was where Chad Henney came in and went goat mode after Mahomes was out with a concussion.

Yeah, so then there's a lot of upside looking into year four. Mayfield is looking to sign a contract extension because he's still on his rookie deal. But he's willing to wait to do it. He wants to show what he can do and hopefully leverage the situation to a higher value so he can get a higher deal. A deal never gets made during the season. But again, that was something that both Cleveland and Mayfield were okay with. They opened up the season in Arrowhead with a tough loss to the Chiefs. They led most of the game until the end of the fourth quarter.

The game ended with Mayfield throwing an interception while falling to the ground, and he was throwing it towards the Cleveland sideline. I give that info because I think that he was trying to throw the ball away and just got tripped up, was falling forward, and couldn't get all the mustard on it that he needed. But after that, there was not much to write home about for the Browns season and for Mayfield. The rest of the season was rough for the Browns. They ended the season eight and nine and they missed the playoffs after having such such high hopes for the season eight and nine and they missed the playoffs after having such, such high hopes for the season.

Especially after making the divisional round the previous season and then going and, you know, signing more contracts, they signed Jadavion Clowney that off season, which was the off season, the head of time, which was huge, you know? So, so to go eight and nine and miss the playoffs was, was, was rough. And Baker looked nothing like his 2020 self. He dealt with a lot of injuries. He had an ankle, his labrum. He had knee issues. I mean, he was, he was banged up, but,

but even before those injuries, he didn't look good. Examples are the Vikings game where his accuracy was abysmal and the embarrassment of a game hosting the Cardinals in week six. That was a game that Mayfield did get hurt, so he didn't finish the game, but he played through most of the first three quarters, if I remember, and it did not look good at all. And from that injury, he wasn't the same for the remainder of the season. At the end of the season, Browns fans were interested in exploring what other QB options there were, not necessarily giving up on Baker, but looking in other directions just to see. Personally, one of the things I wanted them to do was maybe trade like a sixth round pick to the Eagles for Gardner Minshew, you know, or just or just be willing to give Case Keenum the reins earlier in the season

if need be, make it an actual QB competition, just to make sure that Mayfield didn't feel comfortable. I'm a Syracuse fan, and during Syracuse's 2018 season, where they went 10-3, their star quarterback, Eric Dungy, a game against North Carolina just wasn't playing well, and they benched him for his backup, and the backup came in, and they scored three touchdowns in the fourth quarter to force overtime to win the game.

And from that point on, Dungy looked better than he had yet, just feeling that pressure of, okay, there's somebody else that can step in if I'm not doing a good job. So wanting to see that. Other options were bringing guys in free agency like Jameis Winston or Mitch Trubisky, again, just to give Mayfield a little more pressure. There were talks of trading for a big-name quarterback like Russell Wilson, Jimmy Garoppolo, Aaron Rodgers because of that whole thing.

But what no one saw coming was the watson trade um the browns uh traded for deshaun watson um which was sort of sort of uh out of the blue they they had never in any of the deshaun watson trade talks been been brought up it was really miami new york uh philadelphia chicago were the teams that you know were sort of you know the first time and even then the second time talked about. So the Browns trade for Deshaun Watson and immediately give him a huge and record-breaking fully guaranteed contract. In a blink of an eye, Baker goes from being our QB1 with fans wanting him to get healthy, perform better,

and have some pressure to do so, to somehow being public enemy number one and kick to the curb and obviously done as the Browns starting quarterback. Yeah, just in a blink of an eye, weird how that happened. Things got nasty from there. Mayfield goes public requesting a trade and describing how unfair it is, what has happened to him, and that he hates the city of Cleveland and the fans and all this stuff that turns the perspectives of the relationship very, very quickly. It is very clearly irreparable at that point. Cleveland says that they will look for potential suitors to trade for a trade for him, but they're not going to force a trade with him still on the roster and being paid $19 million this upcoming season.

They still have the highest amount of cap space remaining among any team currently. This includes all signings and trades that they have made this offseason. They were like number two or three, but with not having a first round pick, you know, that was that was some millions of dollars that they were saving there. And, and, you know, including with the recent Clowney signing, they still have the highest amount of gap space. The likely shooters before draft night were Seattle, Carolina, Atlanta, Indianapolis, and maybe Tennessee for Mayfield. Nobody bites, and Cleveland holds on to Mayfield through the draft. You know, Carolina gets Corral.

Seattle decides to stick with Drew Locker, Geno Smith. Atlanta gets Desmond Ritter. Indianapolis gets Matt Ryan in Tennessee and Malik Willis. So now Cleveland is sitting in a spot where the third guy on their depth chart at quarterback is taking up $19 million in salary. Salary that could go to signing a free agent wide receiver that they kind of need. You guys touched on that a couple weeks ago. But Andrew Barry is patient and willing to wait. The question is, what is he waiting for, is what a lot of people are asking.

There have been trade offers from other teams, but it requires Cleveland taking on much more of the $19 million fully guaranteed year than they want. So what it seems like they're waiting for is a QB to go down in a training camp or mini camp, and a team to become desperate for a quarterback. It's very similar to a situation in the 2016 preseason with the Vikings and the Eagles.

During training camp, Teddy Bridgewater suffered a terrible knee injury with the Vikings. That time the Vikings felt they were contenders for the NFC North and didn't want that injury to force them to give up on that season. The Eagles were stuck in what I like to call quarterback purgatory with Bradford as their starting quarterback, eating up $18 million of their roster. Because the Vikings were so desperate, they traded a first round and a fourth round pick to the Eagles for Bradford. Philadelphia still had to pay $11 million of Bradford's roster, but they got him out of the locker room and got a first round pick out of it as well. I'm like 100%

positive this is what Andrew Barry is waiting to do with Baker Mayfield and the Browns. Barry is waiting for the right situation to occur. It makes the team need Baker Mayfield and makes them willing to give up more than they were getting they were going to get before, which was looking like third-round picks, fourth-round picks, and the Browns still needed to, you know, pay a lot of his salary. So at this point, you know, with Baker Mayfield, he's going to get traded. It's just a matter of where and when,

and waiting patiently for things to play out. Yeah, you raise a good point with talking about how, and I didn't think about this before, about how they're probably just waiting for another team in their quarterback situation to just blow up with some sort of injury during training camp. Because the quarterback market, I mean, let some sort of injury during training camp because the, the quarterback market, I mean, let's face it. It's all dried up. The 49ers are in a similar position with Jimmy Garoppolo. What I was also thinking another, another issue that could pop up for the Browns is now that Baker Mayfield

doesn't want to play with them anymore. Bad blood there. They should have at least, you know, they if they he just wasn't he just wasn't involved in the talks when uh or as at least wasn't notified when deshaun when they were in on deshaun watson but now that you're looking at this deshaun watson's not in the clear either because he could still get suspended and you have this you have this roster in the Browns, kind of like the Vikings you mentioned, how they don't want this to be a lost season. They invested a lot in this season, and if Deshaun Watson is suspended for like half of the season, then you don't have another quarterback option.

They have Jacoby Brissett. They signed Jacoby Brissett, which, signed jacoby brissett um which yeah not a great option but an option yeah it's it's it's an option uh i would rather have baker mayfield there and i wonder if they if they at least were up front with baker and said look we're looking at going in for deshaun watson this is just this is is just a decision for what's best for the club, but we would like you to still be involved with us. And maybe if they could ask him to be – and, I mean, he must know –

they must all know about Deshaun Watson's legal issues. They could say, look, we'll get you another chance, but we need you to help us out with Deshaun Watson. If he gets suspended, you're the best option that we have. And that's a chance for Baker Mayfield to show to teams that he can play and he can be on a starting roster while he's still winning games for the Browns and setting the stage for Deshaun Watson for a return. And I wonder if they actually treated this situation a little better,

that that's something that could have happened. But now it's not, and there's really bad blood between this guy who was, you know, he really was a fan favorite in Cleveland before all this stuff happened. Yeah, honestly, to take a sadly more pessimistic road i don't think that he's even going to suit up for the browns and truthfully i know the browns don't want to have to cut him because you know you really don't want to give him up for nothing but at this point in time it's looking more than likely that you're gonna have to because even if watson gets suspended i think baker has been ticked off to the point where i don't think he's gonna even want anything to do with exactly

with cleveland exactly but like what i'm saying is if they treated the situation a little bit better now the way the situation is there's no chance he's gonna want to suit up and help them out and like i'm just saying if they, usually the way it works with these players who get ticked off after they get a replacement is that they're just not, they're left in the dark on the situation, and then they find out out of the blue. Like, oh, you've been replaced by this star quarterback. And the Browns might be justified in doing that

because they found it they found a better guy to lead their to lead their team however it's still good to lead to you know keep them updated on it say look this is what's happening and we just wanted to keep you updated and they and i think it's i think that would have been a pretty good idea. They all know Deshaun Watson's issues. And Baker Mayfield, after a somewhat lackluster season, they could say, look, we have a better roster for you now. If Deshaun Watson were to be suspended, this gives you a shot to step in and really and and boost your value a little bit so that uh if a team does need a quarterback we can get we can accommodate you for that but i guarantee

you they just left him in the dark and now there's really no way they can fix that that's all i'm saying yeah and i think i think one thing that's going to thing that might be interesting is, I probably should say when, not if, when Deshaun Watson probably gets suspended. If that's during this season, I wonder how many teams that were sort of hesitant to trade for Baker Mayfield decide to trade for him then because you know if he then if he if Baker Mayfield then plays you know six or seven games and plays really really good football and

you know the Browns are five and two six and one in that span then teams are gonna have to give up more than they were already going to then they like, like, his draft or his trade stock right now, it could get worse than that or it could get better. And I wonder what other teams are going to take the chance either way. When it comes to cutting him, I mean, they, you know, if they cut him, they're still going to have to pay him the $19 million. And then there's a chance that he signs somewhere else. So I think that, you know,

they don't have a need for that spot on their 53 man roster right now. And I think that if nobody trades for him, then they'll just say this sucks, but that we have to, you know, pay him this money without getting any value, but he's not going anywhere else. The one thing is the big concern was if we cut him, the Pittsburgh Steelers will sign him. That was the biggest concern for the Browns when it came to,

okay, should we just cut him? Now the Steelers have Mitch Trubisky, or Mitchell Trubisky, I guess is what he prefers to go by, And, uh, and Kenny Pickett now. So they're not necessarily in the Baker Mayfield market. Um, so it's, yeah, it'll be, it'll be interesting to see, you know, let's say we get through training camp and no team is like, crap, we need a quarterback, you know, let's see, you know, let's say we get through that in Seattle is like, you know what,

we're actually, we're, we're, we get through that in Seattle is like, you know, we're actually we're we're we're OK with Drew Locke. And and, you know, and they don't they don't bite. Then we'll see what happens. But it'll be interesting to see how this plays out for sure. Yeah, it'll certainly be be just interesting to see how it how it all goes. And when it happens, we'll we will be covering it as it is the summertime. And football, at least football news will give you plenty of content. It is a little bit slow over the summer. And it is challenging for a football podcast.

But we're working through it. And we have plenty to give you guys. But, yeah, if you guys have any other thing, anything else to talk about before we end the show here tonight? No. No. Thanks for having me. Yeah, thanks for coming on.

It was great having you. I loved your guest segment. And we'd love to have you on another time. I'd love to. I'd love to. Awesome. All right, guys. guys well that'll do it for us tonight thank you for listening to us be sure to tune in to us live tuesdays and thursdays at 7 30 on twitter and facebook through fans only sports network be sure to subscribe to our youtube

channel we also have all our episodes available on spotify spreaker apple podcast iheart radio google podcast and so much more also be sure to follow our instagram at fumble ruski underscore podcast to keep up with our podcasts and the latest coverage on the nfl otherwise we'll see you next week over and out