Jimmy Garoppolo option no. 2: Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are understandably all-in on this season and, of course, the coming seasons.
They invested a million draft picks and $230 million in Deshaun Watson this offseason, but there’s no guarantee that Watson is going to be available to the team this coming season.
Regardless of whether or not Watson gets suspended (or maybe it’s a matter of how long he’s suspended), the Browns have only Jacoby Brissett as a contingency plan.
After trading Baker Mayfield and eating $10.5 million, the Browns really don’t have much options.
They could go for a more financially favorable route and sign someone like Cam Newton, but after eating salary in the Baker Mayfield trade, perhaps the Browns could get the 49ers to eat a bit more of Garoppolo’s salary in order to facilitate this kind of trade.
Again, Garoppolo is not all-world at the quarterback position. He’s not going anywhere and winning MVP in all likelihood.
What he could do is go to another team and keep them stable, get them to the playoffs, and maybe help them make some noise in the postseason.
A team like the Cleveland Browns could really benefit from Garoppolo under center as a veteran who has played in a lot of big games, but would they be willing to make a trade like this without a final verdict on Deshaun Watson?
Both of those clocks are ticking.