Could Baker have grown into the player he is now with the Browns? I don't think the answer is a firm, irreparable "NO" the way our fans are trying to make it out to be.
I agree -- at least until where Baker said he wouldn't come back. Bottom line is that we handled the 2021 season poorly with respect to Baker, and put ourselves in a position where he had to be moved.
Usually things have to go right across the board for a team to win a Super Bowl. Baker always struck me as a guy who could have that type of year. Not a consistently great quarterback, but an
occasionally great one. With the kind of defense we had, and with Chubb and our OL...yeah, I thought that team could win one. Maybe just needed an actual No. 1 WR.
My only concern with the FO with respect to Watson was that I think they put on rose-colored glasses with respect to the potential downsides, of which there were really two:
1) The unknown of the allegations, what the punishment would be, and how Watson would react/respond to all that additional pressure, and
2) Whether they could successfully convert Watson from a guy who needed to be in the shotgun to a guy who would be more comfortable under center.
That seemed like too much of a risk to me to give up what we did. That being said, I thought our initial offer wasn't enough, and we didn't offer the godfather deal we did until after the relationship with Baker was irreparable.