HOW SMART ARE THE BROWNS’ SMART GUYS?

By STEVE KING

What is all the Browns’ smart guys are wrong?

What if they totally missed the target in their assessment of the 22 civil lawsuits claiming sexual abuse that could be brought against the team’s new quarterback, Deshaun Watson?

Indeed, what if these claims pack more punch than what the Browns’ smart guys have determined they do?

What if some, or even all, of these possible lawsuits are filed and Watson is found guilty in one of them?

Yes, what if? For it would take just one of these situations to sack Watson, possibly causing him to miss a considerable amount of time before he ever takes the field for The Browns?

And what if two or three or even more sack him?

That could be, quite probably would be, devastating to Watson and the Browns.

The Browns traded three first-round NFL Draft picks, plus a number of other selections, to get this guy in a trade with the Houston Texans. So, they have a lot — a whole heckuva lot — of stuff invested in Watson. For the sake of the Browns, it has to work out, and it doesn’t, then this is also a game-changer, but in the worst way possible.

Teams research possible first-round draft picks to the nth degree, trying to get every piece of information — from on the field, and off it — they can find. The more info, the better. It gives them a great picture and profile of each player.

That’s because no matter what these players did in college, there’s no sure thing — there’s no guarantee as to what they will be as pros.

With Watson, the Browns already know just how good he is as a pro. The unknown with him is the presence of these 22 lawsuits that could be filed.

When a first-round pick doesn’t work out, it sets the team back in years, not months. When it’s a quarterback, it’s even worse.

With it’s a quarterback AND three first-round picks are involved, it’s catastrophic.

So, then, just how smart are these smart Browns guys?

The Browns had better hope and pray that they’re geniuses.