BlogLab

Twenty-six thoughts on Deshaun Watson and the Cleveland Browns at the bye, the Cavaliers’ new pace-and-space options and potential position changes for the Guardians. …

1. Ever since Watson was scratched from Sunday’s loss to the Baltimore Ravens, I’ve seen too many people try to make the connection between Watson sitting with a shoulder injury and the torn labrum Baker Mayfield played through in 2021.

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2. These two are not the same.

3. The most obvious difference is Watson’s injury was to his throwing shoulder and Mayfield’s was to his non-throwing shoulder, but that’s not even the most important difference. There’s nuance to this.

4. The Browns had a decision to make on Mayfield’s future. Watson’s future is secure.

5. The timing on Mayfield’s initial injury (Week 2) was devastating because the Browns were still determining whether or not to pay Mayfield. If they were sold on Mayfield, they would have just extended him following the 2020 playoff season. This Browns front office is acutely aware it’s best to be at the front of the extension line and not the back. Just ask Baltimore how much more it cost the organization by waiting on Lamar Jackson rather than getting something done earlier.

6. The Browns were trying to decide how much to pay Mayfield, if anything, after the 2021 season. They needed to see him play. Mayfield, likewise, needed to play. I’ve said for a while now that Mayfield made too much out of the shoulder injury. Quarterbacks play hurt all the time and never talk about it. Mayfield made it known weekly he was hurt. The Browns simply did not have a ton of future capital invested in Mayfield and still had to decide what to do with him. For better or worse, they’re fully invested in Watson. That makes a difference.

7. That isn’t to excuse Watson for his decisions last week. He was adamant to everyone in the building he was going to play Sunday and the Browns took him at his word. Players I spoke to after the game were aggravated Watson didn’t play after he assured everyone all week he would.

8. Had Watson simply said, “This really hurts. I’ll do my best but I’m not sure,” I believe the week of preparation and the fallout from Watson not playing would have been much, much different.

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9. (Note: I don’t believe the outcome would’ve been different, however. Dorian Thompson-Robinson simply wasn’t ready. The game was too fast for him, and I’m not sure any other game plan would’ve resulted in a win. Yes, the Browns could have and should have run the ball more and made life a little easier on Thompson-Robinson with a few easier throws. At some point, however, he was going to have to make plays to win the game, and I didn’t see a quarterback equipped to do that.)

10. As I wrote Sunday after the game, this is an arranged marriage. There was no relationship between Watson, Kevin Stefanski and Andrew Berry until they met at the altar in Rusty Hardin’s office 19 months ago. Given the suspension last year, they still don’t really have much of a history together. So when Watson, who is well-known for playing through incredibly painful injuries, assures everyone he’s going to play, everyone believed him.

11. Just because players were upset after the game doesn’t mean the season is over or they’ve turned on their quarterback, it means the messaging could have been better and should be in the future. But this isn’t a Mayfield replay. Not even close.

12. Mayfield, incidentally, has been terrific for the Bucs. I was in favor of moving on from him and understood why the team pursued Watson, so I’m not going to run from that now. I also don’t believe Mayfield’s play is sustainable for an entire season and, more importantly, for a career. The elite quarterbacks do it year after year. Mayfield is on his fourth team in his sixth season and hasn’t demonstrated that type of consistency. His numbers in end-of-game scenarios in gotta-have-it moments were dreadful long before the shoulder injury. He just wasn’t good enough. Now the question that should keep the Browns up at night: Is Watson?

Cavs

13. One area where the Cleveland Cavs could create more offense relatively easily is to get out and run more in transition, particularly off long rebounds and turnovers. They were dead last in the league last season in pace, which is surprising for a team this young and athletic. They’re missing chances to create easy scoring opportunities.

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14. It’s worth noting the Miami Heat went to the NBA Finals despite being 29th in pace, just above the Cavs. So teams can certainly find success playing slowly. And the Cavs still ranked in the top 10 last season in offensive rating. But a team looking for more shooting can create open shots by running more.

15. I’m most interested to see how often coach J.B. Bickerstaff uses Max Strus and Georges Niang on the floor together. We all know by now the court was clogged at times, particularly in the playoffs, with too many non-shooters. Now the Cavs can spread the floor when needed with four shooters and either Evan Mobley or Jarrett Allen at center. We can have the discussion another day about whether Mobley will ever join them as a perimeter threat. All I know is he regressed last season as a shooter and still has a long way to go.

16. Opening the floor with four shooters creates lanes for Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland while presenting drive-and-kick opportunities for guys like Strus and Niang.

17. Strus shot 36 percent last season on catch-and-shoot 3-pointers, but Bickerstaff likes the way Strus moves without the ball as well and can put defenders in motion. So I asked him whether he wants Strus to stand in the corner and wait for the ball or get active and start getting shots off windows. The answer is both.

18. “Early through the clock, the more movement, the better,” Bickerstaff said. “When a secondary action starts to happen, then all of those guys have to hold their space so people know where their outlets are. It’s going to take a little bit of time for Max and our big guys to figure each other out. Our big guys are used to playing with Donovan and Darius, who play pick-and-roll, attack and find them. Max really likes to throw the ball and chase it and maybe get to a second action if he doesn’t get the chase, so now it’s full cut and he gets a late layup.”

19. Mitchell acknowledged the floor was clogged at times last season but was quick to add that the Cavs still won 51 games. So it’s not an excuse. But the reality is this has been a pace-and-space league for the better part of a decade. The Cavs should have the ability to play that way, too.

Guardians

20. Team president Chris Antonetti acknowledged this week that the Cleveland Guardians have to get more out of center and right field next season, which perhaps means finally moving Myles Straw out of an everyday role.

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21. Straw’s contract, however, is getting worse by the year. He’s due $4.5 million next year, $6 million in 2025 and $7 million in 2026. As of now, he’s the third-highest-paid player on the team next year, behind José Ramírez and Andrés Giménez. It’s unsustainable to keep trotting him out to center field given how little he has provided offensively the last two years.

22. Antonetti called Steven Kwan “among the best left fielders” in the game but didn’t seem to rule out the idea of Kwan switching positions next spring. A move to center for Kwan, coupled with a pair of offensive-minded corner outfielders, makes sense for a team desperate to score runs.

23. “Those are all things we’ll talk through,” Antonetti said. “Both (Giménez) and Steven, they’re two of the best defenders at their position, which is something that we don’t take for granted. So moving them off of those positions or contemplating that, we recognize could come with cost. So those are discussions that we’ll have as we continue to move forward through the winter.”

24. Moving Giménez to shortstop could be a solution if the Guardians ultimately determine both Gabriel Arias and Brayan Rocchio aren’t right for the role. It should theoretically be a bit easier to find a second baseman than a shortstop, although Gimenez was perhaps the best defensive second baseman in the game this season. His fielding run value of 15 runs saved, according to Statcast, was tops among American League second basemen and tied for fifth among all defensive players at all positions.

25. For now, the competition between Arias and Rocchio will resume in spring training. Arias will play winter ball in Puerto Rico when the hairline fracture in his wrist heals and Rocchio will play in Venezuela. I was told a couple of years ago that Arias and Gimenez were viewed as the up-the-middle combination of the future. Now it’s up to Arias to prove he can consistently hit major-league pitching.

26. “I think what we saw was (Arias) has a lot of tools and skills to impact the game,” Antonetti said. “He’s got a great arm at shortstop, he’s a gifted defender. He can play multiple positions on the diamond. He has power and he’s shown the ability at times to manage the strike zone. I think the challenge for Gabby is to be consistent in all of those areas, and if he can, it’s exciting to think about what he can become.”

(Top photo of Deshaun Watson warming up before the Browns’ game against the Baltimore Ravens: Nick Cammett / Getty Images)

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