Albert Breer's NFL Combine Notes: Browns, Colts Facing Crucial QB Decisions

INDIANAPOLIS — My first full day at the combine’s winding down. Here’s what we got …

• The Browns’ willingness to give Deshaun Watson a go is logical, even with how poorly the 2022 trade to get him has gone. And the reasons are largely a matter of simple economics.

Cleveland owes Watson $46 million this year. The quarterback’s getting that $46 million one way or the other—and if the Browns were to cut him neither he nor his new team would be compelled to do a deal with him at more than the league minimum, and stick Cleveland with the remainder. So with that in mind, and with a new staff getting a fresh set of eyes on Watson, and Watson potentially fighting for his career, it makes sense to give a healthy 30-year-old three-time Pro Bowl quarterback a good long look this offseason.

It’d be different, by the way, if the Browns were drafting a quarterback with the sixth overall pick, which would create a scenario where you’d want to clear the decks for the young guy. Based on the makeup of this year’s quarterback class, that isn’t happening. So instead, Todd Monken will try to do with Watson what Kevin Stefanski couldn’t.

And if it doesn’t work out, I don’t think you’ve lost much that wasn’t already gone. Which, I think, is why both Monken and GM Andrew Berry have left that door open this week.

• The Colts are in a fascinating spot with quarterback Daniel Jones and receiver Alec Pierce—and it’s not dissimilar to the place the Giants were with Jones three years ago.

Like Indy this year, New York went into the 2023 offseason with its quarterback and a high-profile skill guy, Saquon Barkley, both up. Jones’s camp deftly used the leverage at hand, knowing that the Giants had to tag one or the other, to push a four-year, $160 million deal for for the quarterback across the finish line that March. You know the rest. Jones didn’t wind up being the long-term answer. Barkley played on the tag and left.

So what can the Colts take from that? Perhaps the lesson is that they’d be better off letting Jones test the market and work off that then leverage the franchise tag number into a new contract. The quarterback number, by the way, will likely land around $48 million, and working off that, if Indy didn’t tag Jones, you’d be looking at a deal over $50 million per year.

Personally, I think that would be an overpay, all things considered. What I’d rather do, and this is just me, is try to get Jones done at around what Sam Darnold got in Seattle, and then tag Pierce at around $28 million and work with him on a new deal (which, for what it’s worth, would probably me saying goodbye to reliable slot receiver Josh Downs next year).

• Patriots coach Mike Vrabel’s comments on A.J. Brown as a person on Wednesday more or less confirmed what we already know—that the coach loves his former Titans receiver.

Would New England trade for him? There are a few things to consider. Brown turns 29 in June, has a lot of tread on the tires, saw his numbers dip in 202, and has an existing knee condition that is what led Vrabel’s Titans to deal him away in the first place, four years ago (though that one wasn’t really Vrabel’s call). Which is to say, yes, Brown is a really, really good player, but Vrabel knows the good and bad.

And that’s where Stefon Diggs comes in. It’s hard to imagine the Patriots having two aging, expensive star receivers with that level of injury history on the roster together. So then, the question is this: Would you rather give up draft picks and pay Brown $29 million? Or stand pat and give Diggs $22.5 million? And beyond that, how long will either guy last as a top-level receiver beyond 2026? It’ll be interesting to see how that plays out.

• While we’re on the trade market, one thing that should be noted is that Raiders star Maxx Crosby’s contract is very, very tradeable. He’s due, in cash, $30.8 million this year, $29.8 next year, $27.3 million in 2028 and $28.2 million in ‘29. In an environment where Micah Parsons just got $46 million per, that’d be an excellent price for some teams, presuming Crosby wouldn’t immediately demand contract correction upon a trade’s execution.

Crosby turns 29 in August, and is the type of worker and competitor that would fit into any program and defensive scheme, which is why I’d expect the market for him to be robust.

And that leads us to the other key here: The Raiders don’t even have to shop him, the calls should come in organically. It’d also be wise for them to be transparent with him on all that, after the way things blew up at the end of December over his knee injury.

• One of the more relevant developments of the combine to this point is what Ohio State star Arvell Reese said Wednesday—and more specifically how he sees himself going forward.

"Teams have pretty much been asking me what I want to do to see where my mind was at. I've been telling them I think I'm an outside linebacker/edge," Reese said. "I haven't even scratched the surface with really what I can do pass rushing."

He’s right, by the way. It’s probably where his greatest potential is, both in the impact he can make and earning power he’ll have as a pro, and he’s still very green at that spot—having filled a bigger need in the Buckeye defense the last couple years off the ball, first as a rotational player for the national champions in 2024, and then as a star this past fall.

• I gave you some names to watch in workouts this week at the combine, so here’s one more—South Carolina CB Brandon Cisse. The 6’ 0”, 190-pounder doesn’t turn 21 until July 3, and started for the Gamecocks last fall after transferring from N.C. State. His ceiling is high, and his athletic traits could push him to the top of the second tier of corners, behind top-tier guys Mansoor Delane (LSU) and Jermod McCoy (Tennessee).

• Finally, with all the noise about the idea of centralizing more of the officiating in New York, I really, really hope the NFL remembers how embarrassing the 2012 referee lockout was for everyone involved. The sport, of course, is way, way, way too big to fail. But going through something like that again would be a pretty bad look.

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