CLEVELAND — Blow it up. Blow it all up. Set fire to the wreckage, tip it into Lake Erie and let it float to Pelee Island or Buffalo or any point in between. The NFL’s most expensive roster belongs next to the other famous shipwrecks at the bottom, only accessible with flippers and oxygen tanks.
Trade Za’Darius Smith, Dalvin Tomlinson and Jed Wills. Cold call contenders searching for a backup quarterback and send them Jameis Winston for market value (it won’t be much). Elijah Moore can go with him.
I’m not sure anyone here is ready to have the Nick Chubb conversation, but I also don’t believe he’d return much in value anyway.
The larger point is any player who isn’t under contract beyond this season is free to go because this thing is going to get so corrosive by January that no one will survive.
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The NFL’s trade deadline is Tuesday. This roster should look much different by Wednesday when general manager Andrew Berry has what is sure to be an awkward conversation with reporters over the bye week.
This is about to be the Cleveland Browns’ version of a Presidents Day mattress sale. Buy now, pay later. Zero percent financing with approved credit.
A few players left the locker room after Sunday’s 27-10 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers with that zombie stare, unsure of how they got here or what happens next.
“I’ve never been in this situation,” one veteran said on his way out of the locker room. “I’ve never been in a spot where the season is over before the bye week.”
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There is never a bad time for a week off in the NFL, but the Browns enter their time off needing to get away from each other and cleanse. Exfoliate. Maybe get a nice foot scrub.
The Browns have invested $337 million in cash spending on this roster, $15 million more than any other team in the league. It’s not only the most expensive roster, it’s the most expensive roster in NFL history.
They have two wins.
They blew up an offense and an offensive coaching staff that fought through incredible injuries and adversity last year to reach the playoffs.
They have two wins.
Firing Alex Van Pelt as offensive coordinator was clearly a huge mistake. It may have cost them Bill Callahan, too. The design and installation of whatever this is has been a disaster.
The Deshaun Watson trade wrecked the franchise. There’s no other way to frame it. At the time of the deal, off-field baggage aside, Watson appeared to be the better quarterback. But it hasn’t worked out that way. The money they’ve paid him, the future cap hits still looming, the trade capital they sent to Houston and Watson’s inability to perform and stay healthy have slammed shut a contention window that barely ever opened.
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The Browns tanked for two full seasons in 2016 and 2017 to win one playoff game in the seven years that followed. And now it’s over.
Joel Bitonio has a year left on his contract but just turned 33. Why would he want to return to this? Myles Garrett has two years left. At what point does he walk upstairs and ask out?
Chubb is in the last year of his deal. How much does he honestly have left? How much patience does he have left for an organization that squandered the career of one of the best running backs in team history?
The entire offensive line might need to be rebuilt. Those who will be shipped off by Tuesday will need to be replaced.
And all of it must be done despite Watson’s strangling cap hits, which still total more than $170 million. If there is a worse combination of roster forecast and future cap sheets anywhere in sports, I can’t find it.
Winston threw interceptions to all corners of the field Sunday, the secondary can’t do simple things like communicate coverages properly, and the special teams are a special disaster. Blocked kicks allowed. Big returns surrendered.
Jameis Winston today
16-31
0 Pass TD
3 INT
24.5 Pass Rating pic.twitter.com/ytYWdg8XgX— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) November 3, 2024
The Browns were leaning toward Dorian Thompson-Robinson a few weeks ago. His promotion from scout-team quarterback to backup — even though no one bothered to tell him — was supposed to be for more than one week. Then Thompson-Robinson hurt his finger and the Browns probably figured they owed it to the veterans to play Winston.
Well, there’s nothing left to play for now. Garrett said the Browns could still win out and go 10-7, which is the kind of thing leaders are supposed to say from the lectern. The season is over, and the players all know it.
This was so close to being the most Jameis Winston play of all-time pic.twitter.com/YopGOhepmh
— Football Digest (@FoootballDigest) November 3, 2024
Thompson-Robinson likely isn’t the answer. He’s too small and can’t stay healthy. But coming out of the bye week, whether Winston is still here or not, is the perfect time to start him on the road against an equally lousy New Orleans Saints roster.
Either DTR surprises everyone, or more likely, the Browns will be bad enough to draft another quarterback in March and start this miserable process all over again.
As for the fate of the front office and coaching staff, anything is possible at this point. Nobody is safe. I thought last year tested the mettle of Kevin Stefanski and his ability to hold the team together through a storm of injuries. He thrived in the moment. This is a completely different challenge. Guys have nothing left to play for except their tape and next contract.
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As the defense was introduced individually before the game, Smith jogged out of the tunnel in his No. 99 jersey blowing kisses to the crowd. If this was his last day in a Browns uniform, that was his goodbye.
Who else will join him?
(Photo of Jameis Winston: Jason Miller / Getty Images)