TMQ: What 1983 Has to Do with 2024 in the NFL

And at last it can be told -- the hidden connection between the NFL and the Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty

The season-ending injury to Deshaun Watson saves face for the Cleveland Browns organization, getting Watson off the field without the team having to admit how badly it miscalculated.

In order to postpone that admission, the Browns front office has been subjecting the city, and sports faithful everywhere, to an embarrassing weekly display. Why not just come clean? Bureaucratic organizations are not good at that. Think of the phase of “Vietnamization,” when mistake after mistake was added to the Vietnam War in order to postpone the day the original mistake had to be admitted.

The Deshaun Watson trade was the NFL’s worst since the Herschel Walker trade of 1989. The latter transaction sent the Cowboys so many draft picks and players Dallas would become a dynasty team, winning three Super Bowls in the aftermath. Cleveland sent the Texans so many high draft picks for Watson that Houston may now be in line for a Lombardi Trophy.

Then there’s Watson’s contract -- $230 million fully guaranteed.

It’s the worst contract since the Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty of 1903 that gave the United States jurisdiction over the Panama Canal Zone. And in saying that, I don’t mean to take anything away from the 2000 contract by which America Online acquired Time Warner for $340 billion (stated in current dollars) in stock and debt.

The Browns made the trade, and offered the contract, despite knowing Watson was the subject of multiple lawsuits alleging sexual misconduct.

Why the crazy trade? The Forty Niners, one of the league’s prestige clubs, had just traded three first-round draft choices for quarterback Trey Lance. The Denver Broncos, another prestige club, had just traded three first-round draft choices for Russell Wilson.

Everybody who was anybody in the NFL was trading three first round draft picks for a quarterback! And the Browns longed to be seen as a prestige team.