BarleyNY

That would not hurt the Browns as much because his contract would toll. The NFL had to do this so they would get punished for their mishandling of this whole thing. Yup

Plus lawyer fees in the millions, settlements totaling millions, the negotiated $1M donation and lost salary. The total hit to him is definitely over $10M and probably closer to $15M.

I like seeing the $7M donation to sexual assault prevention programs. Not sure of Watson’s portion, but NFL fines go to former players programs and can’t be diverted. This gets some of the money to the right places while those former players programs still get over $5M. Edit: Check that. The NFL & NFLPA negotiated thy the $5M fine go toward that $7M donation.

Little help for the Bills

22 years old. Simply tragic.

I think if Hodges did anything that the Bills didn’t want him to do, he has already heard about it from a coach.

Moss is fine to have in an NFL RB stable, but I think the real issue for him is that the Bills just drafted a RB that does the same things as him. And it’s a guy who will likely be at least as good as him at them.

Since it’s just him in negotiations with the team there have been no leaks there is literally no information- good or bad - about what he asking for. We can make a good guess based on the Murray and Watson contracts, but that’s all we have to go on. I am fascinated by this process. If he walks away with Murray’s contract plus, then it worked out better than having an agent would have for him. Injury is really the only risk for him and that isn’t a big one IMO. If Dak can get paid after being injured, then Lamar can. I would also bet that he took out an insurance policy in the event of something catastrophic/career ending.

In unrelated news, Bobby Hart might be available for a late round pick.

Yes, it was Osemele. The big issues was that the Jets doctors showed him an old scan of his shoulder, which showed no injury because it had been taken prior. He got a second opinion and another scan, which showed the injury. He was, understandably, very upset. Complete POS move by the Jest

He was still effective against zone last season, but not so much against man. That happens with smart WRs as they age. They still know what to do, but physically can’t do it all anymore. Plus he was injured the last two seasons even though he mostly played through them. No shame in eventually losing to Father Time. It happens to everyone eventually.

The only things that changed were Beasley’s on field performance and, consequently, his value to the team.

My feelings at time of the draft were that it was just okay. I’ll reserve further judgement until I see them play. Beane was not in an easy spot on draft day 1. He was sitting there with a very late pick and had to come away with a CB who could start. He had plenty of work to do the rest of the weekend too.

There is an A-hole in my neighborhood whose house is just past a 90 deg curve - on the inside lane side. It’s blind due to a house. He parks in the street well off the curb to “slow down traffic”. What is really weird is that you can’t even speed through there because of another turn. He also jogs in the middle of the street. And I mean middle.

They certainly maximized the value of their hand in this situation. It tells you something when a train wreck of an owner can outmaneuver another train wreck of an owner. It is interesting that there is no hint that they’re going to be facing any penalty - or even an investigation - for their part in all of this though.

Can we just take a step back and forget about the specific allegations and any debate of their merit? Instead let’s take a moment to just focus on how both Watson’s camp and the Browns organization has handled this. Is there a single aspect either could have executed more poorly? Had Watson take a bit more of a financial hit upfront and settled with all parties and apologized publicly for his actions, this would all be over and he probably wouldn’t have even gotten 6 games. Also the Browns could have insisted he do so. Instead every step has been a misstep.

Standard of evidence. Criminal conviction requires the standard of “beyond a reasonable doubt”. The standard of “Preponderance of evidence” that was used here is >50%.

I’ve been thinking about this. The NFL dramatically changing the neutral arbiter’s ruling would undermine the overall agreement between the NFL and PA - as well as lead to a lot of other problems. But what about the NFL appealing and keeping the suspension at 6 games per Robinson’s ruling, but also tacking on a huge fine? They could use his contract structure as the rationale for that, saying that it will bring his lost income more into line with his missed games.

Spleen

Suspension from the league meeting is a big deal if he can’t send other representation. I have not seen whether or not that was the case. As for not being able to play with his multibillion dollar toy for a few months, good. It will also help the league the next time they put forth a case to suspend a player. The real hit is the first and third round picks.

That was certainly true in the past. The Watson case is forcing the league’s hand however. In her ruling Sue Robinson addressed the NFL’s inconsistency in application of their PCP. The league does not want the next player up for a suspension making the same argument. Might be a new day. Edited to add: Plus no owner wants other teams tampering with their players. This is an owner v owners issue.

Also the same league that gave Ray Lewis a $250k fine and 0 games suspended for his involvement in a double murder. They are not exactly a model of consistency.

https://theathletic.com/3224175/2022/04/05/von-miller-buffalo-bills-film-review/?amp=1 This article from The Athletic is about exactly this topic. I do not have a subscription and was able to read it. He’s best over RT and I would expect him to get the majority of his reps there. The big question raised by this is how it will impact Rousseau, who played in the same spot all last year.

It’s like they forgot they were going to have to issue a statement and threw that together in five minutes from a generic MS Word template.