ESPN’s Deshaun Watson trade suggestion lacks logic despite coming from former GM

There aren’t even rumors of Deshaun Watson being on the trade market for a reason

For the Cleveland Browns in 2024, it is clear the team will go as far as QB Deshaun Watson takes them. In 2023, the Browns showed that they are a very good team and able to overcome a ton of injuries but the NFL has proven to everyone that it is a quarterback league.

Watson is also the biggest question mark for the team going forward. He has played in a total of 12 games in two seasons for Cleveland due to suspension and injury. His record is an acceptable 8-4 but his play has been inconsistent.

In 2023, Watson had great games in Week 3 and Week 10 but was unable to build on it due to two different shoulder injuries.

Whether due to the reasons he was suspended, the huge guaranteed contract or his performance on the field, Browns fans have reasons to have doubts about the quarterback. Cleveland fans are also smart enough, the majority, to understand that Watson is untradeable for a variety of reasons starting with the fact that the team believes he can lead them to where they want to go… the Super Bowl.

There are not even Watson trade rumors for a variety of reasons yet ESPN’s Mike Tannenbaum suggested that the Browns trade Watson and a second-round pick to the New York Giants for Daniel Jones. We will let you watch the clip to see the illogic in his presentation and then share even more details of the illogic behind it:

Did you notice how Tannebaum quickly got excited about the idea of Watson in New York but had Cleveland giving up a second-round pick to get rid of him? Why should the Giants be excited about a “front-line difference-making quarterback” with “a high upside” that the Browns want to get rid of and are willing to add a second-round pick to do so?

As I often say on social media and in reality, make it make sense.

We aren’t finished though. Tannebaum, a former NFL GM, also said that Cleveland would get “an enormous amount of flexibility” by trading Watson. He’s wrong. According to Over the Cap, if the Browns trade Watson they will only gain $1 million in cap space this year and still have over $140 million in dead cap space allocated to Watson while saving around $57 million in cap:

A trade of this magnitude, as we saw with Aaron Rodgers last year, must be completed well before June 1st, and trades can’t be post-dated as post-June 1st moves as cut players can be.

On top of the incongruent thinking of the Browns paying a second-round pick to get rid of Watson but the Giants being excited along with the incorrect statement that Cleveland would gain flexibility, Tannebaum also acted as if Dorian Thompson-Robinson, Joe Flacco and Daniel Jones would be good enough.

Thompson-Robinson showed a glimpse or two of upside but not enough to hold off Flacco. Flacco was a fun story but his turnover issues doomed the team’s playoff game and are not new to the veteran’s career. Jones has shown to be a bust so far in New York. Tannebaum’s trade leaves the Browns with a bust, an aged veteran with limitations and a fifth-round pick that struggled as a rookie.

It is fine if Cleveland fans want to be rid of Watson. There are enough reasons for that. For those fans, it is important to note the logical reasons a Watson trade just isn’t going to happen. There are Browns fans who are excited about what Watson can possibly do, with a couple of games last year providing reasons for that hope.

For a former GM and national media member to provide an illogical trade scenario that has multiple reasons that don’t make sense is different than fan discussion. Tanenbaum’s suggestion is beyond silly, it is dumb.