Sunday Dawg Chow (8/31): Watson plan, Bubba talks, and more!

Today is the final Sunday without NFL football until next February! Let’s kick off the day with the latest Cleveland Browns coverage from Dawgs By Nature, along with additional news from around the NFL, in today’s edition of the Sunday Dawg Chow.

Dawgs By Nature:

• What is the plan with Deshaun Watson? (Thomas Moore) – The Cleveland Browns will need to decide on quarterback Deshaun Watson at some point this fall. Here is one way they could/should deal with him.
• Browns coach Bubba Ventrone talks special teams changes, expectations with DBN (Barry Shuck) – The Cleveland Browns roster saw a lot of changes, which means a lot of changes for Bubba Ventrone’s special teams units.
• Browns fans express surprising outlook for 2025 season (Chris Pokorny) – If Joe Flacco gets hurt in Week 1, which quarterback should come in to save the day?

Cleveland Browns:

• After preseason game-winner, Browns’ Andre Szmyt ready to find out what real thing is like (Beacon Journal) – Andre Szmyt knows all about the weather in Cleveland. He’s heard all the horror stories of kicking along the shores of Lake Erie, especially as the temperatures drop and the winds rise. Szmyt hears all of those stories and says, I’ll do you one better.
• What I’m hearing about the Browns QB situation (Terry Pluto) – You don’t hear much about Joe Flacco because he’s not Shedeur Sanders. Talking about a 40-year-old starting QB is well … boring. Just like Flacco. But what about Flacco the QB … at age 40? Here’s what I hear the Browns saying about him, “He’s like Nolan Ryan. The arm is still great at 40. He can fling it.”
• Youth movement: Keeping 12 rookies shows a roster in transition (Browns Zone) – A dozen doughnuts — delicious. A dozen golf balls — the perfect allotment. A dozen rookies on the Week 1 roster — another reason to keep a coach up at night.
• How Myles Garrett helped this starvin’ undrafted rookie make the Browns’ 53-man roster (cleveland.com) – When the best defensive lineman in the world asks you to come work out with him in the offseason, you run, not walk.

NFL:

• How high can Derrick Henry climb on rushing list in 2025? (ESPN) – When Derrick Henry was growing up, the running back he loved the most wasn’t the one you’d expect for the burly Baltimore Ravens star.
• Bengals’ next challenge? Navigating NFL’s most top-heavy payroll after paying stars (The Athletic) – Joe Burrow laid the challenge out in February. He hopped from microphone to microphone to microphone at the Super Bowl in New Orleans and didn’t hide his agenda.
• Steelers’ T.J. Watt just misses top 10 on NFL Top 100 (Behind the Steel Curtain) – The NFL’s Top 100 Players of 2025 list has been slowly released over the summer, with Nos. 20-11 being announced this week. Outside linebacker T.J. Watt was the latest Steeler to...