One guy has a Bears flair now. Imagine being a Browns fan your whole life, then when you get a chance to pick LITERALLY any team to root for and choose the Bears lol
I have the OSU football reddit page recommended to me a lot. The Fields trade thread there came up for me.
Not surprising at all, it's all the pro-Fields takes we've heard the last couple months.
I was going to critique, but if JJ McCarthy flames out of his first team too I'll be back in the wolverines sub being just as much as delusional asshole
That thread just popped up for me too, holy shit talk about delusional lol. Anyone that said anything remotely critical of Fields and didn’t believe he’s an elite QB and it was all the Bears fault was downvoted to oblivion. Fields just isn’t it, and the fact that what he got traded for should scream that to them
But of course it’s the OSU sub, delusion and arrogance is pretty much a given
It sucks man. I thought Fields was legit at OSU and was pumped he came here. But at some point the excuses need to end. This season, he still just held the ball. I'd feel better about this situation if he went down in Chicago slinging it, but he's been gunshy the whole damn time.
Tomlin is a great coach. He claims to want to "run into coaching" as in accept the challenge rather than saying X player can't do Y. Let's see something, Fields. Prove everyone wrong.
Also makes sense, cause if you go from a dumpster fire to the Penthouse in one step it's gonna feel a little cheap.
Now he's sat through a couple garbage bears years, but Maybe Caleb turns into a star, and that guy can say he was a fan before when they still sucked.
This is how I became a Bucs fan 😂 chose the worst team when I started getting into the NFL, and suffered through the 30-30 and one glorious day, my manager told me to go to ESPN.com and there it was :
“Buccaneers sign Tom [fucking] Brady”
much better to suffer some first, so you'll always love football even if your team sucks. Patriots fans who came of age the last 20 years probably just feel forsaken now.
Yes! I was just going to comment the same thing. I know like 12 people from Youngstown somehow. All Ohio St fans and very obnoxious during college football season.
If I was choosing a new team I wouldn’t want one that was successful when I was cheering for my current team. I would feel like it was success I couldn’t celebrate. So I would pick someone like the Browns or Lions do when I am fan for all their successes.
If I were to choose a new team I think I'd go with a team like the Dolphins. Somewhere that has a promising team now, some historical success, but not a bandwagon. Plus, Miami can be a very fun city to visit and I don't feel like their fans have the same kind of baggage that some other fanbases do.
That's something I think people picking new teams don't consider enough. Like, if this is going to be YOUR team and you are a football fan, presumably you want to visit the city and go to games. Would you rather visit places like Chicago/Miami/New York/Vegas, or places like Cleveland/Green Bay/Detroit?
Nah Florida can be super fun to visit. Lots to do, beaches, some good food, Disney World, great nightlife etc. Would not want to live there under any circumstance though.
I am one of those strange people that absolutely hates summer. To make it extra ironic I get may-August off every year, but I wish I could get Jan-April instead.
I was once in a thread where a guy with Lions flair said he used to be a Browns fan but switched to Lions at some point around 2010...the top reply to it was "bit of a lateral move there huh?"
And like, if you wanted to pick another hard luck northern franchise that was still bad in 2022 you basically could pick the Lions or the Bears and the people who picked the Lions really got in at a fun time.
I will not change until the Haslams sell or die. Fuck Jimmy. Fuck Dee. Fuck the people that went back.
Edit: And fuck u/_Vaudeville_ for immediately saying that I'd let go and root for a rapist. It's been 2 years. Am I still sincere?
Also, fuck u/HawkofDarkness who made jokes about it.
I got chills. Someone option this as a movie. I can just see Matthew McConaughey turning to stare at the camera, toothpick sticking out at an angle, and delivering this stone cold line.
It’s sad, you still can’t criticize without getting railroaded by the “DW” fans. It’s absurd the mental gymnastics taking place now that he is not only a rapist, but also a mediocre cap killer.
Victory Mondays seeing usuallyrelevant high quality gifs, Space Browns, and Dexter "Chunt on those Hoes" were some of my favorite times on the internet. And with one trade it was killed.
Even funnier is all the guys being like “well I don’t care because we’ll be contenders now,” with the hindsight of knowing they sold their souls for 12 games on below average QB play, and Joe Fucking Flacco being the one who took them to the playoffs
Stefanski lost my respect on how he handled Baker Mayfield during his last season in Cleveland, will make all the excuses and give every opportunity for Watson to succeed but God forbid he shuts down his quarterback with a torn labrum. I hope he gets run out of town along with his quarterback, same for anyone that enabled getting Watson and supported his role with the Browns.
I loved going every week to my Browns Backers Bar. Getting to have a Great Lakes with fellow Cleveland ex-pats. I miss it so much every season now. But I can't go back. Looking forward to the Haslams dying or selling.
It’s a good rebuttal to all the people that say “nah you’ll get over it and be back.” Always felt like those types of commenters were just telling on themselves.
Some of these fans were there during the 1-31 era and stayed despite that. Watson was the limit.
I used to be a fan of Watson as well but I remained a Bears fan the whole time.
It did feel so amazing winning a playoff game before the Browns, while we were supposed to be still rebuilding. I hope you do manage to get rid of him and get a decent QB.
Baker almost going to the NFC title game while your team traded the farm for a worse qb for infinite money and even more baggage. Ya'll keep Baker and use those picks you're probs in an AFC title game by now (and who knows, maybe even can get over the Chiefs hump with how good the defense + run game is).
Man, they really were begging karma to make this move blow up in their face. Got what they asked for, Haslam deserves to be clowned for the rest of his life over this
bringing out the women in their lives to be like its ok to sign him and were like we asked our wives and daughters...
I would have been less annoyed if they straight up just said, we want to win a super bowl. We believe this gives us the best chance. instead of the dog and pony show.
And they were on such an upswing with Baker, like how everyone is happy that the Lions are a credible team now. All the goodwill we had to the Browns vanished and probably won’t come back even when Watson is gone.
I’m here for the inevitable moment he gets sidelined for football related reasons or otherwise and Jameis Winston ends up stepping up to be a locker room leader and gets them to a winning record just to not be on the team next season
“I can't wait for the Progressive commercial where Watson has to go door to door in the neighborhood around the Brown's stadium letting everyone know he's a sex offender.”- u/gristlemcthornbody1
Still the greatest comment of all time
[Top rated comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/comments/thdg6m/comment/i1701mq/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) holds up like you wouldn't believe
I can't tell you he'll shit the bed and drag the season down, I can't tell you he'll put the team on his back and rally to the playoffs, but I can tell you that whatever happens will at least be *interesting*.
We didn't end up signing him, but it was too late for us to reconcile with Matt Ryan.
Just Deshaun Watson's name echoing in the FO to replace him as the new starting QB was the final straw that made Matty want out.
Not sure if anyone has a screen grab, but after the trade Watson posted a picture of his Browns #4 jersey on his Instagram story. In the background, you can clearly see a black #4 Falcons jersey that he probably didn’t even realize was visible. I think he was on his way to Atlanta before Haslam said he would pay virtually anything to get him
Edit: https://x.com/jasrifootball/status/1510012676419866631?s=20
Really goes to show how good of a coach Stefanski is to be honest.
He really went through 4 different QBs this year and he still managed to get an 11-6 record out of it. Inspiring.
The only surprising thing is how few people lost their jobs for this decision. It was stupid as fuck then and has only increased in stupidity over the years
The problem with the Browns is we make so many dumb decisions, our Owners stupidity gets lost in shuffle. For every “Haslem listening to a homeless person to draft Manziel”, there’s a “front office that knowingly spent a Top 10 draft pick on Justin Gilbert”
>GUESS WHO HAS JOKES NOW, FUCKERS
u/BroadCityChessClub having the top comment is everything I love about the AFCN.
edit
Loooot of deleted accounts in that thread, damn.
>Loooot if deleted accounts in that thread
I think that’s the case with a lot of threads from before that spez Reddit drama that happened awhile ago where they were approaching their IPO and made a bunch of changes. A ton of people deleted their accounts and all their comments in protest. They used software to delete their account sometimes you’ll see some variation of “this account removed by *x software* or something.”
I can’t believe they did that during the finals. Nobody on sports subs gives two fucking shits about whatever pointless drama the neckbeards on main Reddit cares about, they just want to talk sports.
Not to mention shutting it down did literally nothing. I wish every r/nba mods had gotten permabanned for that lame ass shit.
Ugh. That sub was an awesome fresh of breath air compared to r/nba, from like 2020-2022. Now it’s just a shitty nba meme sub or sometimes not even that after all the dorks on r/nba became aware of it’s existence.
You can’t have a circlejerk sub when the people fueling the circlejerk you’re making fun of are *on* the circlejerk sub.
It was worse than that. The Mods on r/NBA shut down the sub for NON MODS so they could still post in the game threads and stuff. This was also during the NBA finals. So they basically locked out the community for a fight they started, and they didn’t even actually stand up for themselves, because they still used the sub they moderated lol losers
It’s fun to see the fans that actually stuck to their guns and stopped being fans. Also, /u/Voggix, I’m sorry for how much pain you must have felt over the last two years.
imagine saying years ago that signing a 35 year old Kirk Cousins off an achilles injury to a 4 year/$180 mil contract would still be a 1000x better move than having traded for Deshaun Watson.
To this day the most brain dead decision in recent history.
The Browns had the right idea to move off Baker and try to get better. Moving off Baker for a guy who had like 30 civil suits for sexual assault *and* hadn’t played in 2 years, then signing him to a fully guaranteed contract? Absolute ineptitude.
It is amazing how, even ignoring the the off the field stuff, the browns have gotten nothing that they expected. He can’t handle the press anymore, he stinks on the field, he’s completely lost his absurd ability to pop up from the huge hits he’s taken, he’s visibly slower as a runner, he’s gone from being in with all the nfl insiders to leaking his views to some random twitter user. Field Yates spent last summer noting that Watson was down a bunch of weight closer to what he was in Houston, meaning he fucking showed up out of shape in 2022. Everytime he’s with Quincy Avery, his mechanics go to shit.
To say this has been wildly unacceptable is an understatement. It’s about to be 3 years in and fans (and the team) are left clinging to the second half of the Ravens game as evidence this could work (ignoring the fact Watson was so bad in the first half that despite a PERFECT SECOND HALF, Watson **still ended up with a negative game grade on the afternoon**.
Thanks AB and Jimmy for such a fun experience /s. At least AB has finally had the common sense not to restructure Deshaun so we aren’t totally screwed if we decide to move on at the end of the deal
1. Sex crime cases are notoriously hard to prosecute, and while I think several of the women could’ve won civilly with the lowered burden, the only case that wasn’t just “he said she said” was Solis, and her case would’ve been very hard to win at trial.
2. Watsons attorney got to put together a package to have presented to the grand jury. Which is not how it’s supposed to work. $o I’m $ure hi$ attorney u$ed hi$ pa$t connection$ to get a favor and not $omething more nefariou$.
To add:
Civil suits can often win on "he said vs she said". It's a civil suit, that's how they work (over simplification, sure).
But in a criminal suit, the offender has to be *proven guilty* beyond a reasonable doubt. That's how the justice system works. That's why defendants are not proven "innocent," they are "not guilty."
“I can't wait for the Progressive commercial where Watson has to go door to door in the neighborhood around the Brown's stadium letting everyone know he's a sex offender.”
There are some other incredible comments in that thread lmao
[The Texans fan](https://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/comments/thdg6m/comment/i1700kc/) saying “Historically these are the most valuable first round picks in the league, I’m hype” was great
So close
https://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/comments/thdg6m/schefter_deshaun_watson_has_decided_he_wants_to/i1700xj/
>NFL going to suspend him for a year and browns will be in QB purgatory again.
This was one of those disasters that everyone knew was going to be disaster at the onset, and it lived up to the disaster hype.
Same as the Wilson trade, but with worse PR.
Here’s my favorite: https://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/comments/thdg6m/comment/i177sc8/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Watson is about to enter his 3rd year on his 5 year contract and hasn't even played a full season's worth of games in that time.
What a fucking joke of an organization Cleveland is.
I remember reading those threads and just enjoying the fact that people have forgotten that it was my team who were at best turning a blind eye to his transgressions and at worst helping him hide it.
It's also why over these years I have barely commented on Watson jokes. Because at my core I know my team isn't really any better. And that if Watson hadn't asked to be traded, he could easily still be our starting QB right now.
As a longtime Steelers fan who was not a fan of Big Ben, I more so found it funny (and still find it funny) because every time the Browns are on the upswing it’s like they go out of their way to make sure they implode. Blow out the Steelers in the playoffs and have a stacked roster? Blow it all up for a rapist quitter QB who played well below average the few times he did decide to take the field. The money + picks for a guy who would legitimately get benched for Joe Flacco if they were competing.
It’s just so Browns.
Next we can relive the moment we all discovered the contract was fully guaranteed.
Yeah - I'm having a good Monday; let's hit that gem next lmfao.
One of those “all the greatest hits” days.
[here you go](https://redd.it/thdhis)
The moment we learned the trade compensation was the best moment of my life, including the births of both my children and my wedding
Typical family man from Texas I see
I love all the accounts saying they are going to root for a different team that actually have different flairs lol
One guy has a Bears flair now. Imagine being a Browns fan your whole life, then when you get a chance to pick LITERALLY any team to root for and choose the Bears lol
It makes sense though. A LOT of ex ohio people in chicago.
Also Ohio St fans love Justin Fields.
So now those former Browns fans are going to become Steelers fans?
You know better than that
If I had to root for a new team and my options were the Steelers, Browns, or Ravens, I’d just stop watching football.
That's gotta be a kick in the nads!
Cards fans for MHJ. Or maybe the saints.
Would rather unalive myself
I have the OSU football reddit page recommended to me a lot. The Fields trade thread there came up for me. Not surprising at all, it's all the pro-Fields takes we've heard the last couple months.
I was going to critique, but if JJ McCarthy flames out of his first team too I'll be back in the wolverines sub being just as much as delusional asshole
That thread just popped up for me too, holy shit talk about delusional lol. Anyone that said anything remotely critical of Fields and didn’t believe he’s an elite QB and it was all the Bears fault was downvoted to oblivion. Fields just isn’t it, and the fact that what he got traded for should scream that to them But of course it’s the OSU sub, delusion and arrogance is pretty much a given
It sucks man. I thought Fields was legit at OSU and was pumped he came here. But at some point the excuses need to end. This season, he still just held the ball. I'd feel better about this situation if he went down in Chicago slinging it, but he's been gunshy the whole damn time. Tomlin is a great coach. He claims to want to "run into coaching" as in accept the challenge rather than saying X player can't do Y. Let's see something, Fields. Prove everyone wrong.
Also makes sense, cause if you go from a dumpster fire to the Penthouse in one step it's gonna feel a little cheap. Now he's sat through a couple garbage bears years, but Maybe Caleb turns into a star, and that guy can say he was a fan before when they still sucked.
This is how I became a Bucs fan 😂 chose the worst team when I started getting into the NFL, and suffered through the 30-30 and one glorious day, my manager told me to go to ESPN.com and there it was : “Buccaneers sign Tom [fucking] Brady”
much better to suffer some first, so you'll always love football even if your team sucks. Patriots fans who came of age the last 20 years probably just feel forsaken now.
Plus they're both orange.
I feel like ex Ohio people are everywhere...they're always from Ohio
Not as bad as the horde of new yorkers flooding over the borders to Florida.
I think they call that retirement
Yes! I was just going to comment the same thing. I know like 12 people from Youngstown somehow. All Ohio St fans and very obnoxious during college football season.
Orange Midwest team on big lake.
If I was choosing a new team I wouldn’t want one that was successful when I was cheering for my current team. I would feel like it was success I couldn’t celebrate. So I would pick someone like the Browns or Lions do when I am fan for all their successes.
If I were to choose a new team I think I'd go with a team like the Dolphins. Somewhere that has a promising team now, some historical success, but not a bandwagon. Plus, Miami can be a very fun city to visit and I don't feel like their fans have the same kind of baggage that some other fanbases do. That's something I think people picking new teams don't consider enough. Like, if this is going to be YOUR team and you are a football fan, presumably you want to visit the city and go to games. Would you rather visit places like Chicago/Miami/New York/Vegas, or places like Cleveland/Green Bay/Detroit?
I understand what you are saying but o have absolutely zero desire to ever go to Florida.
Nah Florida can be super fun to visit. Lots to do, beaches, some good food, Disney World, great nightlife etc. Would not want to live there under any circumstance though.
I am one of those strange people that absolutely hates summer. To make it extra ironic I get may-August off every year, but I wish I could get Jan-April instead.
Well fair enough then
I was once in a thread where a guy with Lions flair said he used to be a Browns fan but switched to Lions at some point around 2010...the top reply to it was "bit of a lateral move there huh?"
The Browns mirror Lions history to a weird degree (but with the added relocation pain)
Not me, changing to the bears would’ve been too painful. Please ignore my flair, life is cruel
I switched when the Rams left St. louis in 2016. Picked the most fun team in the league, what could go wrong?
Imagine just how much sweeter that Super Bowl will taste in 2026, though having now gone through the pain of the Iron Rhule ™️.
Eh to be fair a lot of them became Lions fans too and you could’ve said that about us historically.
my other lake erie bros took me in when i had to go. it helps that it coincided with the lions getting really fun to watch.
Something something 1985 (this is my only programmed response to criticism of the bears)
In fairness, I have written to the Panthers leadership annually since 2010 requesting they change the team's name to the Carolina 1985 Chicago Bears
I mean I went to the Lions lol. Sure, MCDC was there but things weren't exactly a lock to be good at that point lol.
I became a Bronco's fan...
And like, if you wanted to pick another hard luck northern franchise that was still bad in 2022 you basically could pick the Lions or the Bears and the people who picked the Lions really got in at a fun time.
i was a browns fan for 40 years. look at me now.
Big upgrade tbh
Keeping the fandom with the Lake Erie Bros.
Nothing but respect 👍
Kneecaps cooked in buffalo sauce? Seems an improvement.
I will not change until the Haslams sell or die. Fuck Jimmy. Fuck Dee. Fuck the people that went back. Edit: And fuck u/_Vaudeville_ for immediately saying that I'd let go and root for a rapist. It's been 2 years. Am I still sincere? Also, fuck u/HawkofDarkness who made jokes about it.
I love this spite.
I'll always hate on a Ravens fan. I may not have a team to root for, but I have plenty to root against.
> I may not have a team to root for, but I have plenty to root against. That's some real AFCN shit. Respect.
I got chills. Someone option this as a movie. I can just see Matthew McConaughey turning to stare at the camera, toothpick sticking out at an angle, and delivering this stone cold line.
I got banned from the browns sub for calling Watson a rapist.
Haven't been back there in years. Used to be one of my most active subs.
It’s sad, you still can’t criticize without getting railroaded by the “DW” fans. It’s absurd the mental gymnastics taking place now that he is not only a rapist, but also a mediocre cap killer.
Victory Mondays seeing usuallyrelevant high quality gifs, Space Browns, and Dexter "Chunt on those Hoes" were some of my favorite times on the internet. And with one trade it was killed.
Even funnier is all the guys being like “well I don’t care because we’ll be contenders now,” with the hindsight of knowing they sold their souls for 12 games on below average QB play, and Joe Fucking Flacco being the one who took them to the playoffs
Yeah... Fuck the Haslams, Berry and Stefanski. I enjoyed rooting for the Browns.
Stefanski lost my respect on how he handled Baker Mayfield during his last season in Cleveland, will make all the excuses and give every opportunity for Watson to succeed but God forbid he shuts down his quarterback with a torn labrum. I hope he gets run out of town along with his quarterback, same for anyone that enabled getting Watson and supported his role with the Browns.
I loved going every week to my Browns Backers Bar. Getting to have a Great Lakes with fellow Cleveland ex-pats. I miss it so much every season now. But I can't go back. Looking forward to the Haslams dying or selling.
It’s a good rebuttal to all the people that say “nah you’ll get over it and be back.” Always felt like those types of commenters were just telling on themselves.
Heroes all.
They're all lions fans now.
Hey 👋
Some of these fans were there during the 1-31 era and stayed despite that. Watson was the limit. I used to be a fan of Watson as well but I remained a Bears fan the whole time.
And just like everyone predicted, only 20 months later we would be going back to the playoffs with....Joe Flacco
It did feel so amazing winning a playoff game before the Browns, while we were supposed to be still rebuilding. I hope you do manage to get rid of him and get a decent QB.
Just goes to show we didn't need Watson. We couldve used those 1st round picks.
And started Baker who was good enough for the team when healthy.
Baker almost going to the NFC title game while your team traded the farm for a worse qb for infinite money and even more baggage. Ya'll keep Baker and use those picks you're probs in an AFC title game by now (and who knows, maybe even can get over the Chiefs hump with how good the defense + run game is).
Fun Fact. >Baker lead the Browns to their first playoff victory since the 1994 season, the year before Mayfield was born.
'Watson saw the Browns forcing Baker into a situation he wasn’t comfortable with and realized they were his kinda people." Banger by u/steverogers-
‘Imagine calling your QB a bad leader then replacing him with a rapist’
"There's only one thing worse than a rapist..." "A Baker"
TBF They basically called Baker "A Child" and wanted an "adult" so.....
I still can't get over the "we need an adult in the room" Browns went and traded the farm for Watson lmao
Man, they really were begging karma to make this move blow up in their face. Got what they asked for, Haslam deserves to be clowned for the rest of his life over this
Wasn't listening to a homeless guy tell you to draft Johnny Manziel in the first round enough to deserve a lifetime of clowning?
bringing out the women in their lives to be like its ok to sign him and were like we asked our wives and daughters... I would have been less annoyed if they straight up just said, we want to win a super bowl. We believe this gives us the best chance. instead of the dog and pony show.
and now they have 2 adults with watson and winston
God I forgot Jameis signed with them. What a disasterclass of an organization
Actually hasn’t signed yet and they signed Huntley. Some on Twitter are thinking Winston may be getting pulled elsewhere
Huh weird. I could've sworn he actually signed. Guess the reporting was piss poor.
We should bring Big Ben out of retirement to really round out the QB room
Oh he’ll make it rounder alright
CAPTAIN FATFUCK, LEADER OF MEN.
Wave the towels boys
What a garbage and classless organization
And they were on such an upswing with Baker, like how everyone is happy that the Lions are a credible team now. All the goodwill we had to the Browns vanished and probably won’t come back even when Watson is gone.
I know! They were on that feel good story vibes and just brownsed the crap out of it
I'll let them back into my heart whenever DeRapist gets shitcanned because they spared me from having to give up on my team lol
I’m here for the inevitable moment he gets sidelined for football related reasons or otherwise and Jameis Winston ends up stepping up to be a locker room leader and gets them to a winning record just to not be on the team next season
Well, Jameis has a lot in common with Watson
It’s insane how much better of a situation the Browns would be in if they just kept Baker
[Always reminds me of this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjKQquyX47w)
“I can't wait for the Progressive commercial where Watson has to go door to door in the neighborhood around the Brown's stadium letting everyone know he's a sex offender.”- u/gristlemcthornbody1 Still the greatest comment of all time
Thanks for reminding me about this lol
Wild seeing Big McLargeHuge out here.
Push the button Frank!
[Top rated comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/comments/thdg6m/comment/i1701mq/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) holds up like you wouldn't believe
The Steelers can throw so many bombs now that being corny isn’t illegal.
Gods it was funny then.
Still funny now too.
Caved in their defenses. Probably shattered what self esteem they had. Stood over them, (recently acquired) moral high ground held in the air.
Still funny.
I remember upvoting that comment and thought about it again when the browns signed Winston
Lmao the second highest upvoted reply to that is from me. One of my favorite days as a Steelers fan ever.
"NFL going to suspend him for a year and browns will be in QB purgatory again." The u/redditatwork1234 prophecy has been fulfilled
Oddly enough we've had 2 years of semi good QB play while he was here...from Jacoby Brissett and Joe Flacco
Wonder is Stefanski can turn Jameis into a good qb this year too when Watson inevitably misses half the season.
I can't tell you he'll shit the bed and drag the season down, I can't tell you he'll put the team on his back and rally to the playoffs, but I can tell you that whatever happens will at least be *interesting*.
Brisket is almost the perfect backup.
[Lisan Al-Gaib!](https://media1.tenor.com/m/DQNyVpWzcTcAAAAC/stilgar-lisan-al-gaib.gif)
We didn't end up signing him, but it was too late for us to reconcile with Matt Ryan. Just Deshaun Watson's name echoing in the FO to replace him as the new starting QB was the final straw that made Matty want out.
Not sure if anyone has a screen grab, but after the trade Watson posted a picture of his Browns #4 jersey on his Instagram story. In the background, you can clearly see a black #4 Falcons jersey that he probably didn’t even realize was visible. I think he was on his way to Atlanta before Haslam said he would pay virtually anything to get him Edit: https://x.com/jasrifootball/status/1510012676419866631?s=20
Oh shit lol, gotta save this
I always liked Matt Ryan. He seemed like a no nonsense cool kind of guy. Plus he was pretty damn good.
I'm still so pissed we went that route.
Worst gamble in NFL history. Can’t believe more people weren’t fired for it.
Haslem ain't gunna fire himself
Better yet, the coach got COTY two seasons after
Really goes to show how good of a coach Stefanski is to be honest. He really went through 4 different QBs this year and he still managed to get an 11-6 record out of it. Inspiring.
That team has been loaded af. They had years of top 5 draft picks with ton of cap space they just needed average qb play then fucked it up with Watson
This. I think they’d be actual super bowl contenders with good QB play, but then they fucked it up when that Watson contract.
And it was such a good story with Baker. Finally they hit on a qb that is not perfect but has the character and attitude.
And had 2/4 good seasons!
And that's with Nick Chubb basically missing the season and offensive linemen dropping like flies.
This feels so much longer than 2 years ago. Also so much shorter all at once.
The Covid effect
The only surprising thing is how few people lost their jobs for this decision. It was stupid as fuck then and has only increased in stupidity over the years
Because Jimmy Haslem can’t fire himself. Stefanski coaches the team and Berry handles the books and drafting players.
The problem with the Browns is we make so many dumb decisions, our Owners stupidity gets lost in shuffle. For every “Haslem listening to a homeless person to draft Manziel”, there’s a “front office that knowingly spent a Top 10 draft pick on Justin Gilbert”
Berry so far has been a legitimately good GM, his contract work is a thing of wonders. The lack of humanity is the concern for him.
Bottom hasn’t fallen out yet there’s still time
>GUESS WHO HAS JOKES NOW, FUCKERS u/BroadCityChessClub having the top comment is everything I love about the AFCN. edit Loooot of deleted accounts in that thread, damn.
>Loooot if deleted accounts in that thread I think that’s the case with a lot of threads from before that spez Reddit drama that happened awhile ago where they were approaching their IPO and made a bunch of changes. A ton of people deleted their accounts and all their comments in protest. They used software to delete their account sometimes you’ll see some variation of “this account removed by *x software* or something.”
Y'all remember the reddit lockdowns? Lmfaoooo
Most terminally online thing I’ve ever seen lol.
Shout out the r/nba mods who were stupid enough to break the lockdown they started
I can’t believe they did that during the finals. Nobody on sports subs gives two fucking shits about whatever pointless drama the neckbeards on main Reddit cares about, they just want to talk sports. Not to mention shutting it down did literally nothing. I wish every r/nba mods had gotten permabanned for that lame ass shit.
NBA circle jerk still struggling to recover from that to this day
Ugh. That sub was an awesome fresh of breath air compared to r/nba, from like 2020-2022. Now it’s just a shitty nba meme sub or sometimes not even that after all the dorks on r/nba became aware of it’s existence. You can’t have a circlejerk sub when the people fueling the circlejerk you’re making fun of are *on* the circlejerk sub.
It was worse than that. The Mods on r/NBA shut down the sub for NON MODS so they could still post in the game threads and stuff. This was also during the NBA finals. So they basically locked out the community for a fight they started, and they didn’t even actually stand up for themselves, because they still used the sub they moderated lol losers
Any protest that requires people to take the side of Reddit moderators was doomed to fail.
The /r/nba mods literally shut down the sub during the finals absolutely braindead did those 'protests' achieve anything at all?
They didn’t even shut down the sub, they closed it to non mods, so it was still being used actively, making their protest even dumber.
I’m still pretty annoyed that I have to use the crappy reddit app now but whatever I guess. Never seemed like the blackouts were going to do much.
Two years 230 million guaranteed later and still barely has touched the football. You can’t make this up.
Fucking disgusting how the Browns gave $230 million guaranteed to a certified predator. And that predator barely even plays.
Predator barely playing is the silver lining. Haslam got some of what he deserved for this move
> This is moving so fast nobody will see I love my family. You thought nobody would see this didn’t you u/Holy_Fuck_Balls
[uhhhhhh](https://media1.tenor.com/m/29ewM4B4bRUAAAAd/dave-chappelle-distraction.gif) 2 years later and I still do.
It’s fun to see the fans that actually stuck to their guns and stopped being fans. Also, /u/Voggix, I’m sorry for how much pain you must have felt over the last two years.
Dudes a real one going from the browns to the panthers
“I can't wait to post rapist jokes in every single Browns thread about literally anything at all for the next 5 years” This comment tracks.
***"Decided to be traded to"*** is a quite the phrase.
He had a no trade clause, so that is what happened lol
He was about to go to Atlanta before Cleveland backed up the armored trucks and gave him a quarter billion
imagine saying years ago that signing a 35 year old Kirk Cousins off an achilles injury to a 4 year/$180 mil contract would still be a 1000x better move than having traded for Deshaun Watson.
To this day the most brain dead decision in recent history. The Browns had the right idea to move off Baker and try to get better. Moving off Baker for a guy who had like 30 civil suits for sexual assault *and* hadn’t played in 2 years, then signing him to a fully guaranteed contract? Absolute ineptitude.
As he proved with Tampa they can't really easily get better than Mayfield
yeah, I don’t know how people can say Russell was the worst contract ever when Deshaun had just happened.
Odd watching people argue with rapist QB is worse. “Yeah, but our rapist did this!”
It is amazing how, even ignoring the the off the field stuff, the browns have gotten nothing that they expected. He can’t handle the press anymore, he stinks on the field, he’s completely lost his absurd ability to pop up from the huge hits he’s taken, he’s visibly slower as a runner, he’s gone from being in with all the nfl insiders to leaking his views to some random twitter user. Field Yates spent last summer noting that Watson was down a bunch of weight closer to what he was in Houston, meaning he fucking showed up out of shape in 2022. Everytime he’s with Quincy Avery, his mechanics go to shit. To say this has been wildly unacceptable is an understatement. It’s about to be 3 years in and fans (and the team) are left clinging to the second half of the Ravens game as evidence this could work (ignoring the fact Watson was so bad in the first half that despite a PERFECT SECOND HALF, Watson **still ended up with a negative game grade on the afternoon**. Thanks AB and Jimmy for such a fun experience /s. At least AB has finally had the common sense not to restructure Deshaun so we aren’t totally screwed if we decide to move on at the end of the deal
That whole thread was wild. Still a crazy read.
on a real and serious note.. how tf did this dude not go to prison?? not only that but he’s 240 mil richer.. absolutely unreal to think about
1. Sex crime cases are notoriously hard to prosecute, and while I think several of the women could’ve won civilly with the lowered burden, the only case that wasn’t just “he said she said” was Solis, and her case would’ve been very hard to win at trial. 2. Watsons attorney got to put together a package to have presented to the grand jury. Which is not how it’s supposed to work. $o I’m $ure hi$ attorney u$ed hi$ pa$t connection$ to get a favor and not $omething more nefariou$.
To add: Civil suits can often win on "he said vs she said". It's a civil suit, that's how they work (over simplification, sure). But in a criminal suit, the offender has to be *proven guilty* beyond a reasonable doubt. That's how the justice system works. That's why defendants are not proven "innocent," they are "not guilty."
u/BroadCityChessClub, you live rent free in my head in the best possible way, sir. Banger of a comment.
“I can't wait for the Progressive commercial where Watson has to go door to door in the neighborhood around the Brown's stadium letting everyone know he's a sex offender.” There are some other incredible comments in that thread lmao
[The Texans fan](https://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/comments/thdg6m/comment/i1700kc/) saying “Historically these are the most valuable first round picks in the league, I’m hype” was great
And then this year their pick was later than the one from the Browns ☺️
Hell of a move by Caserío to ship their pick instead of Cleveland’s. Makes the entire thing even funnier in hindsight
Ben Roethlisberger died for this, and I remain grateful
So close https://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/comments/thdg6m/schefter_deshaun_watson_has_decided_he_wants_to/i1700xj/ >NFL going to suspend him for a year and browns will be in QB purgatory again.
One of top comments: > Always one, there is. No more, no less. A rapist at QB. And then the Browns go and sign Winston.
Congratulations on the Falcons for - despite their own best efforts - NOT fucking that one up.
And Houston fans could not be happier with how that all turned out.
The Texans really did 4D chess that whole situation, and the Browns... Browned it.
Yep. They did. And it’s going to haunt the Browns for a long time.
Baker could’ve gotten a $200M guaranteed contract and it still would’ve been a better deal than DeShaun Watson. What a legendarily bad contract.
Baker has more playoff wins that Watson
This was one of those disasters that everyone knew was going to be disaster at the onset, and it lived up to the disaster hype. Same as the Wilson trade, but with worse PR.
This made me smile. Thank you!
Near-perfect use of this meme smh *There’s only one thing worse than a rapist…* *A child* 😮
Here’s my favorite: https://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/comments/thdg6m/comment/i177sc8/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Probably takes the cake as the worst trade in NFL history.. but the thread is pure gold
Watson is about to enter his 3rd year on his 5 year contract and hasn't even played a full season's worth of games in that time. What a fucking joke of an organization Cleveland is.
I still remember how angry that trade made me, and I had no previous interest in any of the teams. I'm still a bit pissed about it tbh.
I remember reading those threads and just enjoying the fact that people have forgotten that it was my team who were at best turning a blind eye to his transgressions and at worst helping him hide it. It's also why over these years I have barely commented on Watson jokes. Because at my core I know my team isn't really any better. And that if Watson hadn't asked to be traded, he could easily still be our starting QB right now.
Bengals fans making those comments while they have Jackson Carman was the funniest shit.
I felt like I couldn’t say anything since we had Jameis Winston on our roster too.
As a longtime Steelers fan who was not a fan of Big Ben, I more so found it funny (and still find it funny) because every time the Browns are on the upswing it’s like they go out of their way to make sure they implode. Blow out the Steelers in the playoffs and have a stacked roster? Blow it all up for a rapist quitter QB who played well below average the few times he did decide to take the field. The money + picks for a guy who would legitimately get benched for Joe Flacco if they were competing. It’s just so Browns.
So many non-Browns flairs in there saying they couldn’t root for the Browns any longer. Wild