00:00A lot of people are making a pretty big deal about this insurance policy that is going to result.
00:05According to Mike Florio, the decision to purchase the insurance resulted in more than $88 million in refunds for the
00:10games that Watson missed due to injury.
00:12We've talked about the insurance policy in previous years and talked about whether or not the Browns did have insurance
00:19on them.
00:19Did they not? What exactly that would result in?
00:21I think we have to understand a couple things here.
00:23It is not $88 million all at once and then all of a sudden, hey, we get this back and
00:29we're out of cap hell immediately.
00:30That's not how that works. It's spread across a multitude of years.
00:33I think the language on it said it's every year up until 2030 is kind of the idea.
00:38Yeah, through 2029.
00:392029, great. So there's good to this.
00:43It'll help out the future roster. It'll help out as far as how this rebuild is all going.
00:48But I need people to not take their eye off the ball, okay?
00:50The reason why we're in a rebuild is because Deshaun Watson wasn't good at quarterback.
00:55The reason why we're in this cap hell to begin with is because you gave him the largest guaranteed money
01:00in NFL history and it didn't work out.
01:02We can't lose sight of the reality here.
01:05And this was still an awful trade by every metric we have.
01:09And so it saves you 39% of the money you thought you'd lost.
01:12Okay, that's good. That's not bad.
01:14But this doesn't undo Deshaun Watson.
01:16Yeah, like you need to take it into a proper respect of it.
01:19There are benefits to them having this insurance policy moving forward that this is – it's not going to change
01:25the game.
01:26But it's substantial.
01:26Like I think this upcoming season it's about $20 million in cap relief.
01:29I think a little bit north of that.
01:31Not terrible.
01:32I think it's somewhere similar.
01:33A little bit more for 2028 I think has more in it.
01:3727 has a few extra million dollars.
01:39Like they do have extra cap space moving forward that they would not have had without the insurance policy.
01:44They should – they should kind of accelerate their idea of, hey, even the years where we are going to
01:49be like 27.
01:50Deshaun's not on the roster, but the cap hit was still there.
01:53It was still going to impact what you were going to be able to do.
01:55That still exists.
01:56It's just now slightly less.
01:58Like you have a slightly more free money to go out and operate with.
02:01It's a good thing.
02:02But, yeah, I mean, what we were talking – what was it?
02:0588 million was the total.
02:06So you're still looking at, I mean, a very large contract.
02:10Like it's still over $140 million that you essentially are paying to Deshaun for the 19 games now that you've
02:16gotten out of them.
02:17Which, again, from a financial aspect makes it seem much more tolerable because then it's like, oh, well, we only
02:22paid essentially $30 million a year to have this quarterback.
02:26Well, yeah, but it didn't really work that way.
02:28Because it wasn't as if you paid $30 million and then each year you only paid $30 million and you
02:33got to put your roster around having a $30 million quarterback.
02:36That's not really how that worked.
02:38And, yes, they did some fun language to go ahead and kick the can down the road for as many
02:43years as they can.
02:44And so in some instances it's actually better than a $30 million a year quarterback.
02:49But this was five years.
02:51It's year five right now.
02:52But this was, I guess, four already done years.
02:54And what I think is going to go miserably this year, that doesn't get undone because we get $88 million
02:58in cap relief.
02:59Like that almost half decade of Deshaun stinking existed.
03:03And the reason why we got into this bad spot we're in right now and won eight games in the
03:08previous two years is because it is still the worst contract and worst deal in NFL history.
03:14Yeah, and not to mention, the $88 million is also somewhat deceptive because some of the salary cap relief is
03:21coming from 2024.
03:22Some of it's coming from 2025.
03:24You didn't benefit off that.
03:25Like that's just essentially money back into the Haslam's and the Brown's pocket that they then can't just be like,
03:30oh, let's just hack that on to 2027.
03:33We're going to extend our salary cap.
03:34No, you just got some money back that you ended up having to pay him.
03:37So, I mean, you scratch, I don't know, $25 million off that 88, that doesn't actually count for anything you
03:43were able to do with the team.
03:44So, that's not there too.
03:46And like, yeah, the Deshaun side of it, it stinks.
03:48Like, it's not good.
03:49Obviously, the trade's still awful.
03:51I just, this isn't supposed to, it makes me feel better about where the Browns are moving in the future.
03:56It doesn't make me feel any better about what they've already done.
03:59Yeah, like, I mean, it's buying a Ferrari and spending a lot of money on it.
04:03And we can use the same exact example.
04:05Just use a car instead of a person.
04:06You buy a $230,000 Ferrari, a tree falls on that Ferrari, and an insurance company being like, all right,
04:12we'll give you $88,000.
04:13Like, it's not, it's not nothing.
04:17Sure, I'll take $88,000.
04:18You're telling me my car is worth nothing because a tree fell on it, essentially.
04:21I'll take $88,000.
04:22Sure, that's fine.
04:24Again, better than getting $0, but also, it doesn't take away the fact that I spent $230,000 on this
04:31Ferrari that I can no longer drive and no longer have.
04:33And even in the case of Deshaun, I have it, and people like me don't want it.
04:38It's not removed.
04:39And so, I thought there was a weird amount of victory laps and clapping and making sure that everyone knew
04:46what a great thing this was for the Browns.
04:48It's not a bad thing.
04:49No stretch of it is a bad thing.
04:52It's just it doesn't erase the previous four years of suck.
04:55You know.
04:55It doesn't change anything as far as my opinion is concerned about one of the worst trades we'll ever see
05:00in our lifetime.
05:01I mean, one of my pat on the back for the Browns for purchasing the insurance policy.
05:04Smart on you.
05:05Like, that's the extent of this.
05:07Good job.
05:07You got the insurance on the really expensive thing.
05:10I'm happy.
05:10I would wonder how many NFL contracts, how many teams don't have an insurance policy on anyone that is making
05:16supposedly $40 million or more.
05:19Like, if you have a quarterback out there and they sign a make-a-deal, like even like Mahomes and
05:23his half-billion-dollar deal that he initially signed that now has been jumped up to make him, I think,
05:27the second highest paid in the NFL at like $60 million.
05:31Do you think the Chiefs don't have an insurance policy on that?
05:33I sure hope they do.
05:34They have to, right?
05:35I mean, I don't know why.
05:36It seems like just fiscally stupid to not have an insurance policy on any of these mega quarterback deals or
05:42even when you get into just the Miles Garrett territory or the Micah Parsons territory or Jamar Chase territory.
05:48Anyone that's making like $40 million plus, I would imagine you'd have an insurance policy on.
05:53I would think you have to at that point.
05:55Like, and it's just odd because we don't ever really hear about these.
05:58I mean, it's not often that we get, you know, I don't know, $40 million players that probably miss the
06:03magnitude of games that it takes for this to kick in, or it's not the substantial amount of money.
06:07Like, oh, Miles Garrett missed three games.
06:09Like, if you're getting insurance kickback for that, it's really not that impactful.
06:13It's when we look at Deshaun, you're like, oh, you've missed seasons.
06:15Like, multiple of them, when we combine them together, you've missed seasons of football.
06:19Yeah, you're getting a lot of money back on your insurance policy.
06:22I also can't imagine what it costs to have an insurance policy on a $230 million contract.
06:28Yeah, I can't even, I was thinking about that myself, and I'm like, I don't even know where to begin
06:31to ballpark such a thing.
06:32I have no guess.
06:33And they have to have enough of these to have signed up to offset even just the $88 million that
06:38they're now going to, you know, pay out.
06:40Like, they're not in the business of losing money, so there's got to be enough people that are doing this
06:44and insuring it at a high enough rate.
06:46But I'm not an insurance adjuster, and I'm not, I don't deal in that world, so I have no idea
06:50how to even ballpark that.
06:52Probably some really, really rich insurance people out there that are selling these policies.
06:56On $230 million?
06:58You're not insuring a lot for $230 million.
07:00I'd want to exclusively work in the NFL insurance policy business.
07:03Like, NBA, get me inside of that, too, some MLB insurance policies.
07:06It doesn't even seem like it's like a yes or no.
07:09It just seems like it's like, I mean, it's a yes or no, obviously, but a yes or no in
07:12regards to, like, do we put it on this guy or do we not?
07:14It seems like it's like, it's, do they make enough money?
07:18And if they do, then we have to get an insurance policy.
07:21It's kind of like how everyone has house insurance.
07:23It's like if you have, sure, if you have a shack down the street, you might not need house insurance,
07:28but anybody with X amount of a house, if your house is worth $400,000, $300,000, $200,000 or
07:34more, probably going to need that house insurance.
07:36Probably going to go ahead and need that.
07:37And so, like, it's like it's an obvious thing.
07:39It just seems like that would have to be the case here as well.
07:42Yeah, I would have to imagine so.
07:43Like, J.B., I have to imagine financially.
07:46It probably wouldn't be very good if your house wasn't there tomorrow.
07:47Like, that would probably hurt financially.
07:49That would kind of suck.
07:51Thank you for that.
07:53I'm just like, but that's why you get it.
07:54The same thing where it's like.
07:55Yeah, but, like, you don't, you probably, you have an apartment that you now rent.
07:59You probably don't have renter's insurance in your apartment.
08:02You may, but you also may not.
08:05Do they make you now?
08:05You know, it used to be a coin flip back in the day when I was doing it.
08:08Like, you could, you didn't, they didn't make you.
08:11They now make you do it?
08:12They make us.
08:13It's still, it ain't all that much.
08:16No, it's very cheap.
08:17And you're really just insuring against somebody coming in there and just stealing all your
08:19prized possessions.
08:20Yeah, me walking into an empty apartment.
08:22I don't know what your prized possession, what is your prized possession in life at this
08:25point, Jake?
08:26Like, what is your, what is your most expensive prized possession?
08:29Like, if I were to lose it in my house, it would cost me those, I don't know, my couch.
08:33Like, it might be the most expensive thing in my apartment.
08:35Like, Jonathan, don't go down that road because it's going to give incentive to somebody to
08:39rob Jake's apartment.
08:40But I knew he wasn't going to be like this Michael Jordan piece that is worth $27,000.
08:45Like, I knew that wasn't coming.
08:46I knew the answer was going to be your couch or something similar that we can replace for
08:50a very, very small amount of money, all things considered.
08:53It's like, I got a couch.
08:54Goodwill and get you one for $25.
08:56I got a couch.
08:56I got a PlayStation.
08:57Like, that's about all you're getting.
08:59If there's nothing that you're walking in, you're being like, wow, I hit the holy grail.
09:03It's like, that's the most average apartment that I've ever gotten into.
09:07You just had that fun part of life.
09:08Like, I remember when I was, again, and I declined the renter's option on every apartment
09:11I had when I was in Houston and Wichita and even in Montana, because at that point it
09:15was, I wasn't legally obligated.
09:16Or if I was, I didn't know.
09:18I didn't do it for any of them.
09:19And it's like, well, why?
09:20Because you're not, I don't have anything of value.
09:22I don't, I'm sorry.
09:23I don't like you.
09:23You're not breaking into my apartment and taking anything worthwhile.
09:27Oh, my Tupperware is gone.
09:30That's going to be like 30 bucks.
09:31My mom told me not to leave that Chipotle gift card out there.
09:34Like, I knew, I knew it.
09:36Dang it.
09:38Yeah, not losing a whole lot there.
09:39But it is in the respective of these NFL teams.
09:42Like, yeah, you miss out on a player that you give a $4 million contract to.
09:47Like, that's a lot of money to be in you.
09:49To the Cleveland Browns, it's like, yeah, $4 million, that stinks.
09:52$230 million.
09:54Nobody can afford to lose $230 million.
09:56But it's good, though.
09:57I mean, you can, you have more cap room over the next several years.
09:59It can be used on other players.
10:01It makes surviving Watson's dead money a little bit easier.
10:04And it gives them flexibility during what is now the most important part of this whole
10:07entire thing, which is this Browns rebuild.
10:10So there's like four or five steps to this being really not, like something to be celebrated,
10:15all things considered.
10:16But we also do have to put it in the proper context of it.
10:18I just, I don't want people looking back and being like, well, yeah, it wasn't that bad
10:23that Deshaun deal because we only ended up paying, I mean, to subtract 88 from $230.
10:27And it's like, no, no, no, don't, don't lose sight of the big picture here.
10:32It cost you four years of your football life and put you into a rebuild to have Deshaun
10:37Watson.
10:37We can't lose sight of what that is, even if the end result is it didn't cost you an arm
10:42and a leg financially.
10:43It still costs you six draft picks.
10:45I'm never getting back.
10:46It still costs you four seasons of us watching bad Browns football in the process.
10:50And I'm sorry, like you're not going to be able to wipe that away.
10:53Yeah.
10:53I, that's the big thing is what is left of the Deshaun contract is not going to be described
10:58by monetary value.
11:00It's going to be the time that was wasted, the amount of effort and resources that were
11:04put into let's make Deshaun our starting quarterback for five years that you just never got the
11:09return on.
11:10Like you wasted an entire era of Browns football by going after Deshaun and making him your
11:14quarterback, your chances, your championship window that you legitimately had as being a
11:19really good playoff team, trying to get to a Superbowl.
11:21That's what went out the window with it.
11:22And you can't celebrate.
11:23You're not getting that back.
11:24Like that era is gone.
11:26That doesn't come back.
11:27Yeah, sure.
11:28You got some money back, but at the end of the day, I don't think you or I really care
11:31that much.
11:31Like yeah, $20 million in cap space.
11:33Really good.
11:33Really good on an individual season.
11:35Also wasn't worth the last four years that I just went through.
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