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One year ago this week, two grand juries in Texas declined to prosecute Deshaun Watson on any charges relating to the several women who said Watson committed sexual assault or sexual misconduct while attempting to give them massages.
Many clubs, including the Carolina Panthers, Atlanta Falcons, and New Orleans Saints, leaped at the chance to trade for and sign Watson, who hadn't played in a complete season and was 28-25 as the Texans' starter with one postseason win at the time. The Cleveland Browns outbid everyone else, signing Watson to a five-year, $230 million contract with three first-round draft selections in exchange.
And yet, a year later, two of the three clubs who were after Watson and are still without a long-term quarterback are telling reporters, including Yahoo! Sports' Jori Epstein, that they've passed on Lamar Jackson. This comes only hours after the Baltimore Ravens applied a non-exclusive franchise tag to the quarterback, allowing any other club to make an offer and potentially sign him if the Ravens do not match.
When he was 23, Jackson became the NFL's second-ever unanimous MVP. In 45 of his 61 career starts, the Ravens have won. He turned 26 eight weeks ago and is widely regarded as a cornerstone in both his South Florida community and Baltimore. He is available for two first-round selections rather than the three Houston requested, and he has not been accused of sexual misconduct by more than two dozen women. So... he's not enticing to these QB-needy clubs, unlike Watson was?
If he has convinced Bisciotti and general manager Eric DeCosta that he deserves the same, if not a slightly better, deal than Watson as a league MVP with none of the baggage, he is 100% accurate. If the owner class is irritated with Haslam, don't invite him to whatever crazy Michelin-chef-catered-yacht-party-in-St. Tropez they have planned for April, and stop picking on Jackson and other players.
Of course, all of this was to be expected: the writing has long been on the wall, but if last week's eye-opening NFLPA player poll revealed anything, it's that a sizable proportion of these club owners don't care about winning, at least not on the field. They are just concerned about their own fortune.
Nothing in the collective bargaining agreement states that all contracts must be fully guaranteed. Team owners just refuse to do that, and appear to go to great lengths to ensure that it does not become the standard. There's also nothing preventing them from repealing the present law requiring teams to deposit all guaranteed contract funds in cash into an escrow account (though the structure of the Kansas City Chiefs' contract with Patrick Mahomes demonstrates that there are ways around that). They will not stop the practice because it would allow franchise owners with less capital to execute more agreements like the one Watson received.
Daniel Weinman was crowned winner of the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event on Monday, taking home a record breaking $12.1 million in winnings. Weinman had to outlast the other 10,043 entrants to take home the prize and get his hands on his share of live poker’s largest ever prize pool – a staggering $93,399,900. As well as taking home the prize money, 35-year-old Weinman also got his hands on the WSOP Main Event bracelet. The huge bracelet contains 500 grams of 10-karat yellow gold, as well as 2,352 various precious gemstones.
Daniel Weinman won the World Series of Poker's main event world championship on Monday in Las Vegas, earning $12.1 million along the way. Playing in the tournament for a 16th year, Weinman was tops in a deep pool of 10,043 players vying for $93.39 million. His victory came after just 164 hands at the final table. "I was honestly on the fence about even coming back and playing this tournament," the 35-year-old Atlanta native told reporters afterward. Weinman's final table featured Jan-Peter Jachtmann, who landed in fourth place and took home $3 million, as well as Toby Lewis, who finished seventh and secured $1.42 million. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the main event's entry pool far outpaced the previous record of 8,773 set in 2006. "I've always kind of felt that poker was kind of going in a dying direction, but to see the numbers at the World Series this year has been incredible," Weinman said. "And to win this main event, it doesn't feel real. I mean, [there's] so much luck in a poker tournament. I thought I played very well." Steven Jones finished second, securing $6.5 million. And Adam Walton settled for third and a $4 million prize.
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