Robbie Moore

March 9th, 2017 at 5:20 PM ^

...A boatload of cap space. Likely more than they can reasonably ( tho this being the Browns reason is always in question) spend this off season. So why not take on a $16 million one year flyer? If it doesn't work out they get the cap space back next off-season. And they pick up a second for a fourth in the process. 

pdgoblue25

March 9th, 2017 at 4:11 PM ^

We had more cap room then we could even spend.  We only owe Osweiler for one year, so we essentially paid for a 2nd round pick.  If we cut RGIII then it will even offset some of that year that we do owe him.

Perkis-Size Me

March 9th, 2017 at 4:11 PM ^

Never at all understood why Houston felt it was necessary to give Osweiler 16 million a year when he did absolutely nothing in Denver to say that he deserved that kind of money. He didn't play bad, but 16 million means you're in the company of Matt Ryan, Aaron Rodgers, Rothlisberger, and some of the other true elite QBs in the league. 

Osweiler isn't bad, but he's just a guy. Unfortunately, now that he's going to Cleveland, his career is as good as dead. 

jimmyshi03

March 9th, 2017 at 4:20 PM ^

But John Elway, aka the NFL's Jerry West, was willing to give him the same deal, he jsut chose to go to Houston instead. I think the bigger issue was not meeting with O'Brien, or getting a sense of what Houston might do offensively, and then not building any sort of rapport with DeAndre Hopkins.

OwenGoBlue

March 9th, 2017 at 8:16 PM ^

Cousins is also cashing in on being mediocre in a special way. Not good enough for Washington to want to commit long term (which they easily could have done without giving him $43 mil guaranteed) so they just keep franchising him. I agree with your point, but it's also necessary to point out the incompetence at the slur-iest, most dysfunctional team in the NFL. I hope Cousins is still there in 2020 making $50 mil to be the 17th best QB in the league.

mGrowOld

March 9th, 2017 at 4:12 PM ^

This is an "NBA" trade where we basically just bought a 2nd round pick from the Texans.  I doubt Brock ever even suits up for the Browns - we can cut him and take a 10MM cap hit but once we cut RGIII we take 7MM off the books so basically it's going to cost us 3MM for that 2nd rounder.

This year we have two 1st and two 2s.  Next year we have 1 1st and 3 2s.  We have enough draft capital to go after any QB we want (Garrapolo or Cousins) and we also put together a hell of an o line today in FA.

The boys from Harvard were mocked by the NFL old guard last year.  Now they're calling this the most creative trade the NFL has ever seen.  Nobody's laughing at us now.

mGrowOld

March 9th, 2017 at 4:21 PM ^

I've been getting beat up all day over my feelings about our AD.  I ran over to this thread so I can take solice in the fact that for the first time I can remember we're not being laughed at - we're being admired for creativity and our approach.

BTW - just saw a tweet from a Browns insider that said "we aint seen shit yet.  Browns have something crazy going on behind the scenes.  I'm not sure what it is yet but it's going to be unreal."

kehnonymous

March 9th, 2017 at 6:29 PM ^

Also a Browns fan, and I'm cautiously optimistic even in spite of the team's decade long crusade to get me to stop rooting for them.

The main thing for Browns fans, now more than ever, is patience.  I knew we were going to suck hot turds last year even by our lowly standards.  We should be ready to do more of the same this year - we've been so badly mismanaged over the last decade that we're too deep in the whole to rebuild this clusterfuck in only 2 seasons.  The thing is - even if the new braintrust won't take us up to the top of the mountain, at this point pulling the plug prematurely again would be the worst thing we could do.

I get why Pettine had to go.  I get why Chud and Shurmur and who-knows-who else had to go.  In a just and decent world Haslam - the jackhole who hired all of them - would also be combing the want ads, but he isn't going to fire himself.  So absent that, the best thing to do is to not demolish our re-build for the fourth time in as many years and accept that sucking this year and likely the next is our inevitable karmic debt of how badly we've mismanaged everything up til now.
 
(FWIW, while I don't fully agree with your pessimism re: our AD, I didn't downvote you - I get why fans would feel that way and it's certainly a defensible position)  
 

bronxblue

March 9th, 2017 at 6:23 PM ^

That might be a bit optimistic. Bouye is apparently out the door, as is Demps, and losing Watt isn't something you want to deal with, even if the Texans responded reasonably well. And while I think Romo is an upgrade over Brock, this is still an older QB coming off back surgery.

Dix

March 9th, 2017 at 5:35 PM ^

Belichek obviously orchestrated this. It is way too smart for Cleveland.

Belichek sensed that CLE was unwilling to part with the picks he wanted for Garoppolo, so he told them to go use their huge cap space advantage to absorb Osweiler + picks, knowing that by adding more picks to their draft CLE would be more willing to part with some to get Garropolo.