Chris, how are you? Good to be here. How are you doing? Very well.
Thank you for taking the time to join us. I guess after all of the chastising done by the Browns organization, the coach and the players about the treatment of Deshaun Watson as he was caught off the field yesterday, what's the temperature in Ohio right now with this situation? Well, I think now it's kind of looking forward. Because the bigger issue now is the guy they think might start next Sunday against Baltimore, they don't know if he's going to be able to start because he has his own injury. That's Doreen Thompson Robinson with a finger injury. So it might be Jamis' time Sunday against the Ravens. But as far as Deshaun, it's just the latest, whatever you want to call it, the latest roadblock, the latest pothole, whatever you want to call it, that has just marred this trade, marred him, marred this organization since they made the trade back in March 2022. Well, Chris, given all of the draft capital that they gave up to acquire him and the guaranteed contract, what do you think is the likeliest scenario when it comes down to Deshaun and his future?
Are they going to bring him back next year and then cut him if it's another mediocre year? What is most likely for the Browns in the long term with their relationship with him? Well, the problem is the amount of money.
Like you said, the amount of money they have tied up in him. I mean, he's still got two years of 73 million dollar cap for the team in 25 and 26. So it's, my guess is, I think you have to look at it at some point and say, we've got to move on. We can't, we're three years, we've gone through three years of this.
We've never gotten anything close to a full season. We can't bank that in the last two years of this, we're actually going to get anything close to a return on our investment. So it might be time to cut bait.
It might be time to let's figure something out. Let's, you know, he's going to get his money and it's going to take, it's going to be a big hit on the cap. But I mean, you got to kind of look at the future and say, we're just every time next year, you're just stunning the growth of this franchise going forward because, I mean, you have no guarantees.
He's good. I mean, he already came back from the shoulder injury, not looking even like the same player you saw in sports last year before he got the injury. So, I mean, I think at some point they, you know, they come in, they sit down and they have to think about what it's going to take to move on from him. Chris Easterling is joining us from the Akron Beacon Journal. We know this is going to reverberate throughout the organization. When you think about the general manager and Andrew Berry and Kevin Stefanski, I don't expect him to go anywhere unless it's his own choosing.
Is Berry going to feel a hit for this? Because it certainly feels like from when they made the trade for Watson, it was done from all the way at the top, the Haslam's. Right.
I mean, yeah, that's the thing is everybody is sort of tied to this. They all went all in on him. You know, Kevin went down, Stefanski went down and met with Deshaun in Houston when they were trying, when they were courting him and, you know, went over what this offense was going to look like with him. And, you know, Andrew obviously sacrificed years of draft capital that in hindsight has probably set this franchise backwards because they're an older roster now. They don't have some of that young talent that they need, young first round talent that they need to, you know, to stay competitive, to keep this window open. And like you said, the Haslam's signed off on it.
I think it was driven by the Haslam's, but that hasn't stopped him before from, you know, making decisions and, you know, creating scapegoats and ball guys. And if that, I don't think it will happen, but let's see where this season goes because there's still a lot of season left and it can only get worse from here or for the football team, especially where they sit right now. Because, I mean, it just, you already treated Amari Cooper, Deshaun Watson's injured, and it just, I mean, you're getting to the point where other guys are probably going to get moved. So my guess is it gets a lot, lot darker before, for, for this team, before, before they see the light.
Chris, that was my next question. You see Amari Cooper, he goes out, well, he gets sent out the Buffalo. At least Nick Chubb came back and I'm like, this guy's working his way back to do what?
Get, get pained and beaten down? Like what, what's his situation? Well, actually there he is, he's on the last year of his deal, you know, they reworked it, they scintillated it, they, the thing is Nick Chubb may be about as beloved an athlete as there's been in Cleveland. And I mean, if there was a, if you had a, you know, approval rating, Nick Chubb may be the highest of any Cleveland athletes in the last half century.
I mean, he's that popular. That's why they, they, they made sure even after the injury last year, that we're going to take care of you. This city needs you. I don't know if you read the player's Tribune piece, Nick, Nick sat down for where he talked about how the city, you know, this was for the city and how much the city, much the, the, the mutual love that exists between him and the city. And, and that's what complicates this is that he is such a beloved player, but you know, do you, you got to get younger, but if, if Nick Chubb shows that, that may be the thing that fans hold on to over the course of the next two and a half, three months is, Hey, can we see Nick Chubb get back to being something close to Nick Chubb? And then maybe I would assume they do everything they can to bring him back at, at a, at a rate that makes sense because obviously he's an older running back. There's a lot of, you know, the two knee injuries, all that. So, but my guess is, you know, he's a Brown, he's a Brown for life, but you know, let's see where I, again, let's see, let's see how it looks at the end of the season because he's coming back from a major, he's still trying to do something that I don't, I can't think of somebody to come back from two major knee injuries on the same knee. So let's see what he could do because I, I think that's a, that's a subplot to this season that, that at least I think he's going to keep some bands engaged as it continues to careen out of control.
Well, Chris, you talk about Nick Chubb being a Brown for life. Kevin Stefanski has kind of geared this team towards success from what we saw with Baker Mayfield, not up until now, but he's been a two time coach of the year. We saw what happened last year when Flacco comes through. Do you see a scenario where Kevin Stefanski, even through his successes, just moves on, whether he wants to do it or they let him go? Again, I think anything's on the table. I mean, you have the Haslam's only in this team and you know, they've shown previously that, you know, they're willing to move on.
They're willing to cut bait. I mean, they're willing to, to, to fire coaches, fire GMs, if they don't like where it, where it's going. So I think it's all about what does, what does Kevin do to try to salvage this? What can Kevin do to, to keep the locker room, which I will say at least right now is still something he's done. I think he's engendered a lot of good will in that locker room. I think the players really do like Kevin. They like playing for Kevin because I think Kevin gives them shelter. You know, we in the meeting get frustrated talking to Kevin sometimes because he, he refuses, you know, even when Deshaun was pointing back, he refused to just blame it on Deshaun. He's like, we all have to do it.
And the players appreciate that he, now what he says behind closed doors, I'm sure, you know, I'm sure players, players catch it for, you know, not doing what they have to do, you know, on a given play and whatnot, but publicly, he gives them the cover and I think players appreciate that. But this season is going to test a lot of that because this, I mean, just the direction this season is going, you know, he's going to burn through a lot of it because it's just, it's looking like one of the worst seasons. It's going to be the worst season since he's been here.
And it might be the worst season since they went winless in 2017. Chris Easterling is here with us from the Akron Beacon Journal. Where and when do they find that next quarterback after Watson? I think their whole, my guess is that, you know, I've just started diving into the quarterback. Coming into these, I don't think they thought they were going to have to look at this quarterback class. I mean, I'm sure they did their due diligence, but they thought, we're going to get Deshaun back.
This is the year. So I think they've had to pivot. But right now they're looking, you know, I think that was why Dorian Thompson Robinson was elevated to the number two spot is because part of it for the rest of the season is they got to know what they have in him, finally. They have to fully answer that question before they can really move on and say, do we need to get a, we don't like this quarterback draft class. And it's a mixed review. You get mixed reviews on this draft class, you know, the, you know, what it, what it potentially could be. If they don't like it, do they go out, they get a veteran to be the bridge guy for 2025 and then hope maybe, you know, maybe a Garrett Nussmeier in 2026, you know, the kid at LSU or somebody else that the 26th draft class has somebody a little more appealing that can be your, your long-term plan.
But right now, I mean, my guess is if it's not, not DTR and I'm not sure it will be, my guess is it's either going to be a bridge guy or it's going to be a bridge veteran, or it's going to be somebody, you know, sugar Sanders, Carson Beck when yours, I mean, insert somebody they're going to have to, because you have to, your window is closing rapidly on one of the most talented collections of players this franchise has had since the expansion theme was, was started in 1995. Chris, thank you so much for the time. The information is just does not feel good. If you're a Browns fan, where can people follow you, your work, your writings?
Fill us in. You can follow me on Twitter or whatever we're calling it today at, at C Easterling, ABJ. You can also read my work at the beacon general.com. There's a click on sports and there's a sub page for the Browns.
You can read it there. And we'll, I mean, we're here to the end regardless of what direction this season goes, but it's certainly going to be interesting to see where it goes because I, I, I have a feeling there's, there's still a lot of dominoes to fall before the season ends. Oh yeah.
And there's a lot of stories. Hey Chris, thank you so much. We'll catch you on down the line. Okay. All right. Thanks a lot, J.R.
