Cleveland/D Watson/NFL saga..what happens if..

Whatever is guaranteed in year 1 will be paid, unless there is some hidden language in the contract.

If he’s suspended he won’t count against the cap.

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Oh yeah.....LOL at Cleveland. Worst run organization in sports at this point.

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Naw

Andrew Brandt was on Mcafee show yesterday saying if he is suspended then the contract doesn't actually kick in until 2023.

But yes, pretty much guaranteed.. Only new accusations or troubles could void year 3 and beyond.

If you want details you can hear the explanation from yesterdays Pat Mcafee show on youtube.

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Let’s all just appreciate how terrifying Joe Burrow has made the AFC North for opposing teams.

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You mean the same Joe Burrow who is 0-4 against the Cleveland Browns and Baker Mayfield?

He’ll get suspended for a year.

That’s happening.

He still gets paid, and everyone keeps laughing at the Browns

If you want to be accurate about it, at least acknowledge Burrow didn’t play in week 18 last year due to them dominating the division and having the North locked up.

And yeah, he lost 2 very tight games to the Browns as a rookie, by no fault of his own if you review those tapes. Both games were high scoring shootouts. 37-34 and 35-30 and I remember Cincy dropping an easy TD in one of those games.

Obviously 1 game this year was a bit weird. But every team in the nfl has 1 weird game a season. That’s why they play 17 weeks. Cleve still is obviously terrified of Joey B considering the move for Deshaun.

You are looking at things from a simpleton point of view. Obviously you don’t appreciate Burrow because you never got to reap the benefits of his talent as a Buckeyes and Browns fan. I’m sorry baw.

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If you want to be accurate about it, at least acknowledge Burrow didn’t play in week 18 last year due to them dominating the division and having the North locked up.

And yeah, he lost 2 very tight games to the Browns as a rookie, by no fault of his own if you review those tapes. Both games were high scoring shootouts. 37-34 and 35-30 and I remember Cincy dropping an easy TD in one of those games.

Obviously 1 game this year was a bit weird. But every team in the nfl has 1 weird game a season. That’s why they play 17 weeks. Cleve still is obviously terrified of Joey B considering the move for Deshaun.

You are looking at things from a simpleton point of view. Obviously you don’t appreciate Burrow because you never got to reap the benefits of his talent as a Buckeyes and Browns fan. I’m sorry baw.

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Wow! That's a whole lot of explaining for such a fearsome QB.

The NFL would like to give Watson an indefinite suspension. They would really like to suspend him for the full season. They have the mechanisms to do that but in the end the suspension will be 8 games and the NFL will be at fault for not getting a larger punishment.

The hearings before the former judge Watson is meeting with have an incredibly low bar to find a player has done something wrong. The burden of proof is clearly not "beyond a reasonable doubt" like a criminal case. It's not even "Clear and convincing evidence" like civil cases. The bar for the NFL to punish players under the NFL Conduct Policy only has to be "preponderance of evidence" which just says there's a better than 50% chance of the offending action to have taken place. That's it.

Correct me if I'm wrong but that's a lower standard than it takes to get an indictment. Anyway, that's likely to happen. In however many cases the NFL presents there will be a text message or an IG that at least indicates something happened that goes against the NFL Conduct Policy. Clearly whatever evidence that is wasn't enough to produce an indictment. It didn't meet the standards for a criminal case. It may or may not have reached the threshold for a civil case. But it's likely to be enough for a ruling Watson violated the policy. I do believe the judge at that point can agree to the punishment suggested by the NFL, indefinite suspension, or Watson's team, 1 season already missed, no more games under the tiny section of the CBA that prevents a player for being suspended twice for the same offense. The CBA version of double jeopardy. I do believe she has the right to make a suspension of her own choosing.

Whoever loses will almost surely appeal. In this case, the appeal goes to Commissioner Goodell who has the final say and can accept what the judge says or impose his own penalty of anything he wants and there is no appeal possible afterwards. So the NFL can present their case, make a punishment suggestion, have it overruled by the judge, appeal it to themselves and whatever outcome they determine at that time is final and without appeal. Genius that is.

Except the NFLPA can sue in court.

And if Goodell comes back with indefinite or full season, the NFLPA will most definitely do just that. This would be the first time thru this process and the NFL has already stated they don't want it to reach that point. So here's how I see it going. If these hearings aren't clearly a decided win for the NFL, if Kessler from the NFLPA can make a legit argument for Watson, the NFL will reluctantly settle because they don't want 2 things. They don't want this appeals process to look like a complete sham the first time it's had to be used. But more importantly the NFL doesn't want to go to court with the NFLPA on this issue.

The NFL has a standard in their conduct policy that says "Ownership and club or league management have traditionally been held to a higher standard and will be subject to more significant discipline when violations of the Personal Conduct Policy occur.” And yet in at least 3 cases, ownership was not held to a higher standard. Details are in the article linked here, but Robert Kraft had charges against him for prostitution which were eventually dropped and the league handed out 0 punishment. Jerry Jones settled with a bunch of Cowboy Cheerleaders for $2.4 Million when his long time public assistant was caught spying on and possibly recording Cheerleaders naked in the dressing room and in the shower (allegedly) and Jones got 0 punishment. Daniel Snyder is under investigation by both the NFL and Congress for a series of possible infractions of a systemic sexual deviance problem in his organization and his punishment so far has been he had to give control of the team to his wife (wink wink, nod nod).

The NFLPA has already stated much of the Watson defense in these hearings will deal with how the NFL has not lived up to their pledge to hold ownership to a higher standard than a player while handing out an indefinite or year long suspension for Watson despite a grand jury finding for him in the criminal case. The NFLPA has threatened they will ask for "discovery" evidence involving the Kraft, Jones and Snyder cases for their own case against the NFL should it go that far. And that's where the rubber meets the road. The NFL, Kraft, Jones and Snyder don't want the NFLPA to have all the evidence they have hidden away under lock and key re: those 3 cases. That could potentially be much more embarrassing than settling with Watson on a suspension which is what I think will happen.

Kessler is a pit bull and he will make a case before the judge that Watson doesn't deserve a harsher penalty that owners who possibly went unpunished for worse, possibly criminal behavior. The NFL will have to settle. They will negotiate with the NFLPA that they gave Brady, the GOAT, 6 games for deflate gate, so 24 civil cases demand more. The PA will counter with time served and they will settle around 8 games and it will be the NFL's fault for giving leniency to their owners over decades, but more specifically the last few years.

why would Baker play for them when they want him replaced at QB. Why would Baker help them out in anyway? Baker aint playing for them ever again.