Hypothetically, What would you have done if Buffalo signed Deshaun Watson?

[GunnerBill]

9 minutes ago, eball said:

 

I don't think this is feasible when you're talking about the most visible and important person on the team.  He's the centerpiece of every win.  He gets all the interviews.

 

No way.

 

 

I wouldn't watch his pressers. I'm just being honest I don't think I could divorce myself from the team. One of my local pro soccer clubs where I played growing up and had a season ticket for 2 years as a teen it turned out had been complicit in sexual abuse of young boys by a former coach and tried to sweep it under the carpet. I tried to cut off from them for a bit and I can't do it. Too invested, too ingrained in me. I detest the administration of the club that allowed it to happen, but I still cheer for the laundry. With the Bills the only comparison is Incognito. And again I cheered for the laundry and drew the line at him. Maybe I'd feel different but I have tried to cut myseld off from a team I am heavily invested in and I couldn't. I doubt I could for the Bills either.

[Rico]

Still cheer for the Bills.

 

I would also cheer for anyone in the stands who would bounce batteries off his fat head.  

[FilthyBeast]

Probably the same thing a lot of Browns fans will and realize it's pretty much a death knell to the franchise.

 

This just shows the fine line between a fluke and real success (in terms of looking at the trajectory of the Bills and Browns the last few years).

 

Browns are so desperate to stay relevant after ending their own extensive playoff drought a few  years ago they didn't want to believe it may have been a fluke so they essentially made a deal with the devil so to speak in terms of what they gave up for Watson  both in draft capital and contract wise.

 

And I still think it's ridiculous as I don't view Watson as a clear massive upgrade over Mayfield which many seem to think is the case. Not arguing he's not better because he is but considering the aforementioned cost and the baggage that's clearly not going away it's truly a head scratcher.

[MJS]

I'd be confused. We have our QB already.

[BillsPride12]

47 minutes ago, PrimeTime101 said:

whole question is silly... We would back our QB... Watson would get us in the playoffs (not ever having Allen of course) Watson would take his licks and we would go on having a fine QB... something we didnt have for how many years?

Tone Deaf 

[frostbitmic]

I was disappointed they didn't draft him ... I've been glad they didn't since we got Tre' and then JA17.

 

As far as signing him, and to the contract they gave him despite his legal issues, the Browns are a joke. Unless he wins them a Super Bowl.

[eball]

34 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

I wouldn't watch his pressers. I'm just being honest I don't think I could divorce myself from the team. One of my local pro soccer clubs where I played growing up and had a season ticket for 2 years as a teen it turned out had been complicit in sexual abuse of young boys by a former coach and tried to sweep it under the carpet. I tried to cut off from them for a bit and I can't do it. Too invested, too ingrained in me. I detest the administration of the club that allowed it to happen, but I still cheer for the laundry. With the Bills the only comparison is Incognito. And again I cheered for the laundry and drew the line at him. Maybe I'd feel different but I have tried to cut myseld off from a team I am heavily invested in and I couldn't. I doubt I could for the Bills either.

 

I hear you, and believe me, it would kill me, but watching the game would mean having to root for the QB to make plays.  There's no avoiding him.  I don't want Deshaun Watson to have an ounce of success in anything, ever, after he has done what he's done and yet stands up and says he has "no regrets."  In one deposition transcript I read he had the gaul to say he "doesn't know why he is here."

 

It crosses every line.  The day the Bills bring someone like that in is the day I decide sports doesn't matter as much -- at least not the NFL -- until my team wisens up.

 

I'm pulling for the Browns to go 0-17 and hope a wayward drone crashes into the owner's box and disfigures Jimmy Haslem.

 

[PrimeTime101]

53 minutes ago, ddaryl said:

 

Most of us would be acting like Cleveland fans are acting now.  A bit betrayed, and disgusted

really? cause i checked out their forums yesterday.. they upset at him doing it but betrayed? Disgusted? naw.. for most part they just want to move on from it and win championships. and they feel with Watson they can do that.

[mjd1001]

The thing I don't get about Watson is....the NFL could just ban him from the league, suspend him long term....just like they could have done with a few other players in the past...and it would have a minimal impact on the game or their revenues.  If Watson wasn't in the NFL at all, how many people would stop watching? Very few.  Its not even like they need or 'want' any story (good or bad) to keep the league in the news.  it pretty much is already in the news most of the time.

 

Personally, I'll root against him and that team now.  And if Cleveland happens to go to the playoffs and they are winning big, I'll just turn the game off because I don't/won't want to watch him succeed.  I'm guessing there are others that feel in a similar way.

Edited June 8, 2022 by mjd1001

[Simon Says]

Your whole premise got off on the wrong foot....the Browns TRADED for Watson. Bills would nit have given up draft choices or signed this clown to a huge contract . Especially since they already had Allen,this is pointless conjecture.

[Nextmanup]

14 hours ago, YoloinOhio said:

Cannot even imagine this occurring with this regime. 

Yeah, but that's not the question.

 

It's a thought experiment.

 

 

14 hours ago, Success said:

I've accepted a lot of bad behavior from players on my various teams, but this would be too much for me.

 

I wouldn't walk away permanently - but I wouldn't pull for them as long as he was on the team.  

 

 

I think I would still follow the team and want to see them be successful, but I would be as vocal as I could be about my unhappiness with the choice of QB.  

 

I'd try to ban together with everyone to put pressure on the organization to get rid of the guy, and maybe even the guys who thought it was a good idea to acquire him too.

 

 

[BillsPride12]

6 minutes ago, Georgie said:

Your whole premise got off on the wrong foot....the Browns TRADED for Watson. Bills would nit have given up draft choices or signed this clown to a huge contract . Especially since they already had Allen,this is pointless conjecture.

He specifically stated Hypothetically...under that context it's a fair conversation 

[Clyde Smith]

14 hours ago, qwksilver said:

Become a Saints fan until him and the people responsible for him being on the team were gone. If I didn't learn to love the Saints, NFL would be removed from Sundays for a long time. 

Because it looks like a orange jail uniform or its the Browns or both?

Taint brown 

[Rocky Landing]

https://www.theonion.com/deshaun-watson-rethinks-life-choices-after-finding-self-1849004731

[AuntieEm]

13 hours ago, TheBrownBear said:

I'd stop watching until the GM/ownership group left or until they fixed the situation.  I wouldn't root for another team.  Just play more golf on fall Sundays.

 

Yea I would boycott the Bills and I would have serious questions on the ownership which I can happily say I don't believe would ever allow such a transaction to take place.  We really do have an ownership that was actually just one of us back in the glory days when they were just fellow WNYers cheering on the Sabres and Bills.  I just cannot see Terry or Kim ever allowing such a player to be signed to the team.  

[GunnerBill]

2 hours ago, eball said:

 

I hear you, and believe me, it would kill me, but watching the game would mean having to root for the QB to make plays.  There's no avoiding him.  I don't want Deshaun Watson to have an ounce of success in anything, ever, after he has done what he's done and yet stands up and says he has "no regrets."  In one deposition transcript I read he had the gaul to say he "doesn't know why he is here."

 

It crosses every line.  The day the Bills bring someone like that in is the day I decide sports doesn't matter as much -- at least not the NFL -- until my team wisens up.

 

I'm pulling for the Browns to go 0-17 and hope a wayward drone crashes into the owner's box and disfigures Jimmy Haslem.

 

 

I get it. I am just not sure even if I tell myself that was what I'd want I'd actually be able not to root for the team on Sundays. 

[Don Otreply]

14 minutes ago, BUFFALOBART said:

He swept 'Spygate' under the rug, so I am not so sure that owners were on board with something that may have impacted them in a negative manner.

He does their bidding, they all wanted it to go away asap, remember for these guys the gravy train is the most important thing, the last thing any of them wanted was for politicians to start to get involved with their special tax status/monopoly, it was in all off their best interest to make it go away as soon as possible. Note that not one owner speaks of it, its like it never happened…,

[Albany,n.y.]

Fortunately, since we drafted Josh in 2018, the hypothetical was never possible.  If we had drafted Rosen, by now I'd probably be willing to take on Watson, although I wouldn't have agreed with giving that many top draft choices away.  I never care about players salaries (they're doing something I can't do & I'm willing to pay to see them perform), so the contract wouldn't have been a factor.  For the record I was all for signing Vick when the Bills were contemplating it.   Players come & go, the team is forever. 

 

1st off, I don't believe in boycotts, so I definitely wouldn't start now.  I root for the team, not many individuals on their own.  I've been to 262 Bills games over the last 49 years, so I wouldn't drop the team now.  There have been a few players that I have rooted for the team while they played on it who have been pretty bad actors off the field.  Obviously OJ turned out to be the worst post Bills career.  I didn't go & burn any programs that OJ was in.  While he was on the Bills, I thought Richie Incognito was the biggest dirtbag I can remember as an active player-and we acquired the bum TWICE!  I didn't see many fans jump ship when we signed Richie. We once signed an addict when he came out of prison (Reggie Rogers for vehicular homicide.)  He eventually died because of his addictions.   Moulds had a domestic violence incident when he was a Bill.  Bennett went to jail for a sexual assault in Buffalo after his playing days.  The list is too long to continue, you get the point.  

 

So, in all honesty, I'd continue to root for the Bills & hope for a Super Bowl win no matter how low an opinion I had about any player off the field.  

 

Edited June 8, 2022 by Albany,n.y.

[machine gun kelly]

It’s not just McBeane never ever bringing in a guy with his off the field resume, but in reading page 1 at least, Kim Pegula would never sign off on this pick nor would Terry.  Terry may be a shrewd business man, but he’s not stupid or desperate.

[In Summary]

Re OP, I'd have stopped following the Bills until character was once again a priority.