A big gamble by the Browns

The Browns are perceived around NFL circles– accurately so, by most accounts — — to have a front office made up of a lot of young guys who are really smart — smart way beyond their years, in fact.

Well, those guys had better be right — right as rain, in fact — with the way they’ve decided to handle their quarterback situation. Their jobs — even their professional livelihoods overall — could depend on it, not to mention the reputation of the Browns.

They publicly — and brazenly — humiliated their starter over the last four seasons, Baker Mayfield, by traveling to Houston and trying to convince — prod, plead, beg — Deshaun Watson to agree to come to Cleveland in a trade to be their starter.

Report: Teams involved in Deshaun Watson talks expect a decision as soon as today @ProFootballTalk #DeshaunWatsonhttps://t.co/nnY0mcZEYW

— Keith Garvin (@KPRC2Keith) March 16, 2022

Now, this is the same Baker Mayfield who was drafted by the Browns No. 1 overall in 2018 and who then led the team in 2002 to its first playoff appearance in 18 years.

And in addition, this is the same Deshaun Watson who did not see the field last season as he tried to keep from getting sacked by a fiery rush of controversy, specifically allegations of sexual assault of women.

When it was decided there would not be a criminal indictment of Watson regarding that, several teams, including the Browns, came at him with a rush of their own.

We’ll see how it all plays out, but It’s immaterial now in at least one big regard whether or not the Browns end up getting their guy. Indeed, the damage has already been done — and then some. The Browns are throwing caution to the wind by putting their morals and integrity — and, some would say, also their common sense — out there for public judgment and scrutiny.

The type of act in question — women being sexually assaulted — has never been right, obviously, but because it went unchecked for so long by a male-dominated society, some people see that as an excuse, and an opportunity, to perpetuate it. Now, finally, after all this time, it’s being identified as what it is, egregious acts, and there is absolutely no public tolerance for that.

That the Browns would wait for that legal opening and pounce upon the chance to perhaps win over Watson and make him the face of the franchise, for that’s what a quarterback always is, and to do it particularly in light there are at least 22 women who are considering filing civil lawsuits against him, defies logic.

A bad look? Are you kidding? A 30-car pileup at Dead Man’s Curve on the Innerbelt on I-90 is a better look? Right now, this is a public relations disaster of the highest proportions. In the court of public opinion, those accused, whomever they are, are guilty until proven innocent.

Are the Browns, who spend all day, every day, conducting internal surveys so as to be able to read the public’s attitudes on a variety of subjects, football and otherwise, really that tone-deaf?

Or — and hopefully for their own sake — do they know something of which no one else is aware?

It’s hard to say.

But this much is for sure in that sometimes when you think you’re the smartest guys in the room, you find out that just the opposite is true.

By Steve King