Is John Johnson the best candidate on the Browns to be a future TV game analyst? No, he ranks second on our list. (Getty Images)
Which current Browns would make the best network game analyst?
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland.
Takeaways from the calm before the storm of the NFL schedule release on Thursday …
Tom Brady reportedly will earn $375 million over 10 years as the No. 1 FOX game analyst after his playing days are over. That $37.5 million per year average air-mailed the $18 million figure reportedly hauled in by quarterbacks-turned-analysts Troy Aikman of ESPN and Tony Romo of CBS.
According to figures provided by Spotrac, Brady never earned more than $25 million a year playing quarterback. In fact, the Website reported Brady’s career earnings in 23 years as a player amounted to just $333 million.
A few thoughts on this subject:
1. What a country.
2. What was Peyton Manning thinking eschewing a No. 1 analyst role for that ManningCast “alternative broadcast” deal with his brother Eli. The ManningCast seemed have run its course last year. Still, Manning signed on for 10 games a year through 2024. The dollar figures have never been reported, but suffice to say they don’t approach what Manning’s career quarterback rival received from FOX.
3. Whatever happened to Drew Brees as the next great QB-turned-analyst?
4. The big money awaiting Brady in broadcasting would seem to lock up 2022 as his last season as a player. Brady will be 45 when the season begins, which always was the age he targeted to reach as an active player. Even if Brady stretches another season out of his elastic body, Tampa Bay’s visit to FirstEnergy Stadium in 2022 figures to be Brady’s last appearance in Cleveland as a player. The date of that game will be revealed on Thursday. Brady has played only three games in Cleveland in his NFL career, winning two. He is arguably among the top four NFL players of all time with Jim Brown, Jerry Rice and Lawrence Taylor.
The best future analysts on the Browns
Credit to ESPN Cleveland’s Danny Cunningham for this question: Which Browns players would make the best TV game analysts?
Here’s my list of the top three:
3. Rookie defensive tackle Perrion Winfrey
Winfrey delivered an all-time, post-draft Zoom call, sounding like a WWE pro ‘rassler promoting his next bout. His energy was off the charts.
“This is me,” Winfrey assured, while pacing in his house and sweating from his brown while speaking into his smart phone. “100 percent concentrated. No smoke. This is how I wake up – juiced up. To be honest, I just woke up at 10:40 a.m. It is 11:30 a.m., and I am juiced. No coffee needed.”
2. John Johnson
Always insightful and never lacking opinions, Johnson established himself as a future analyst when, watching from home with a hamstring injury, he nailed the mindset of every Browns fans suffering through the Christmas Day, four-interception debacle in Green Bay with his all-caps tweet: RUN THE DAMN BALL.
1. Baker Mayfield
Never afraid to ruffle feathers, Mayfield in his four years in Cleveland: Called out teammate Duke Johnson for demanding a trade, eviscerated fired Browns coach Hue Jackson as “a fraud” when he joined the division rival Bengals in-season as an assistant coach, insulted New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones for being drafted in the first round, threw the Browns’ medical staff under the bus for “mis-diagnosing” a training camp injury to Odell Beckham Jr., criticized coach Kevin Stefanski for conservative play-calls and for not giving rookie offensive tackle James Hudson sufficient help in a game against the Steelers, and repeatedly confronted media who asked questions he didn’t like.
Handicapping Browns prime-time games
The uncertainty of a Deshaun Watson suspension to open the season may cause the NFL to delay the Browns’ appearance on prime-time games to Week 7 and beyond.
But there’s no debating the Browns have some attractive match-ups to warrant national attention.
These are:
* Division games against Cincinnati, Baltimore and Pittsburgh.
* Home games against the Patriots, Chargers and Brady’s Buccaneers.
* Road games against the Bills and, yes, the Texans (Watson’s return to Houston).
My prediction: The Browns will be tabbed for three prime-time games: Home v. Tampa Bay, Browns at Cincinnati, Browns at Houston.
