by Jerome Ford
Ford has had multiple chances to do something in Nick Chubb’s absence both this year and last and hasn’t. He is injury prone and has proven time and time again he cannot run north to south. With Pierre Strong and Foreman on the roster and performing well in the small windows they have had to produce, Ford will not be on this roster much longer and dealt to a contender that made need a third down back who can catch passes out of the backfield, which is the one thing Ford can do well.
Amari Cooper
This one hurts the most. The guy went from having an amazing season with Joe Flacco who he personally admitted was the leader for this team, to the guy the Browns tried to trade in the offseason. The bottom line is Cooper is not part of the long-term plans, and that is simply insane to me. When you look at how well he played catching passes from Jacoby Brissett, PJ Walker, DTR and Joe Flacco, it is crystal clear the problem is Deshaun Watson, not Cooper. Furthermore, he will not stay silent much longer if he has to keep catching passes from Watson.
Elijah Moore
When you look at trade busts for Andrew Barry, their will never be a bigger one then Deshaun Watson, however, the move to bring Moore in last season has been a disaster. The Browns gave the New York Jets a second round pick for Moore, and it has cost them. They could have drafted line depth with that pick instead of this debacle.
In 22 games as a Cleveland Brown, Moore has 74 catches for 732 yards with only 2 touchdowns. Yes, Watson has been bad, but Moore has been every bit as awful. It is time to cut ties with this bust and see what you actually have with Cedric Tillman and then next year, David Bell.
Jameis Winston
He is a suitable backup for Cleveland and has served his role well. I don’t think many people will deny that, the problem with him remaining on the team is much different. He was brought in because the Cleveland Browns couldn’t run the risk of a PR nightmare bringing back the guy everyone wanted in Joe Flacco.
Bringing back Joe Flacco would have put the pressure on Deshaun Watson to live up to his contract and the massive amount of picks the Browns gave away to obtain him. Watson has been a disaster since arriving in Cleveland and this season was a make-or-break year for him.
If he continues to bomb this year with either injury or more bad performances, it doesn’t matter as the Browns are stuck with him and the fans are going to continue to call for Winston to play.
It’s absolute desperation time with Watson, no matter how anyone wants to spin it. Flacco being around would have put immense pressure on him, and the Browns front office simply couldn’t have it. The move was made to protect Watson, not to challenge him, again, the Cleveland Browns front office was bailing out a guy who has done nothing to earn it.
Thus, with that being said, they are never going to Winston unless Watson gets hurt. Even then, the Browns cannot afford to have Winston on the roster, come in and play well. Sounds crazy doesn’t it? If and when Watson has a season ending injury, which shouldn’t be too much longer, the Browns would have a better time with PR promoting DTR instead.
DTR is not the threat to Watson that Winston is. The Browns front office was praying to God that Watson would do well enough not to be in the situation, sadly they are and it is panic mode time. They’d rather say, “hey, let’s see what we have in DTR”, then admit Watson is terrible and they are going to the backup on purpose. It’s the same reason they got rid of Jacoby Brissett a little while back.
Winston is beloved by teammates, and thus is the front offices warped eyes, needs to go asap.
Final thoughts on next page.
