Each of the league’s 32 teams is unique and distinctive, but they are a community called the NFL. And there are specific rules for doing business here. Browns owners are being judged by their peers, and the Deshaun Watson contract is to blame
The owners of the Cleveland Browns may well have to experience this firsthand. For the first time since the pandemic, the league’s team owners are meeting in a traditional face-to-face format from March 27-30. Jimmy and Dee Haslem are likely to get a cold reception at this meeting.
In his Football Morning in America column, Peter King writes that he’s heard a lot of rebukes in football circles about Browns owners. According to King, the Haslems aren’t the most welcome guest at the meeting, making Deshaun Watson’s recent contract.
The decision to forgo significant draft picks and pay $230 million in fully guaranteed salary over five years – all against a player who has yet to deal with multiple sexual harassment allegations – looks questionable. Even Russell Wilson didn’t get such preferential treatment at Denver. According to King, someone in one team’s management told him that the whole situation “smelled too bad.”
In addition to the moral aspect, team owners may be unhappy with the financial side of things. Watson’s contract will force other teams to face similar expectations of their players in future deals.
Embed from Getty ImagesTeams have long resisted large sums of guaranteed money in the distant future. “The Browns broke that trend and set a new one; now, other clubs may be required to do the same. Can the owners be happy with that?