I don’t begrudge anybody for maximising their potential earnings. However, I’d expect sportspeople to be honest when they simply accept the most lucrative offer.
“Yeah, this team is shit but they’re paying me bucketloads of money”
Is it really that difficult?
You never know which team is going to be shit. There are 32 teams in the NFL, and the NFL, in particular, has the biggest amount of parity in every sport in the world. You don't know which teams are going to be good or bad from year to year, and the Browns actually have a solid secondary (and Baker Mayfield, at the time, was regarded as a young stud quarterback) so I can understand why he'd go there for more money.
Obviously, it didn't work out for JJ3; he played only two years of the contract before getting released. I do admittedly feel more for Kenny Young, getting dealt right at the deadline for Miller the year we won, and - especially - Michael Brockers, who was awesome for many years before being dealt to the Lions as well as Goff.
But sportspeople
are being honest when they say, "It's a business." Because it
is a business. They say that to not alienate fans who will think them "greedy" for leaving for more money. So, really, they aren't in a winning situation no matter what they do - so it really
is that difficult.