📵 How Deshaun Watson Could Lose $92M Because of a TikTok

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I don’t like to take victory laps (ok, yes, I do), but I was spot on with what would happen to TikTok. Also, I have a new prediction for you at the end.

In today’s newsletter:

🗞 The Big Story: How Deshaun Watson Could Lose $92M Because of a TikTok

📉 Biggest Loser: Solving the Mystery of the Vikings ‘Super Bowl Curse’

🏆 Winner’s Circle: The Injury That Led to a $6B Industry

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🗞 The Big Story

Deshaun Watson might lose $92 million because of one TikTok. Let’s break it down.

Background: On January 10th, it was reported that Watson had torn his right Achilles for the second time in less than three months.

Now, the Cleveland Browns only found out about this injury during Watson’s season-ending exit interview a few days before that report, when Watson complained about some discomfort after rolling his ankle in Miami.

But why is this timeline important?

Typically, when someone tears their Achilles, a doctor will require them to wear a walking boot for at least three months. This is so the ankle is stabilized during recovery to avoid a tweak that could cause re-injury.

But in this TikTok posted by Watson on December 26th (just 67 days after his first injury), he’s not wearing a walking boot:

@deshaunwatson

Vibes With Bae‼️

Why it Matters: It’s no secret that the Browns would love to get out of paying Watson the guaranteed $92 million he’s owed over the next two years, especially since it’s now unlikely he’ll play at all next season.

Luckily for the team, if they really wanted to use it, this one TikTok may have just provided them a way out of that deal.

Browns’ Ticket Out: Most NFL players have language in their contracts that prohibits them from doing anything dangerous outside of football that could result in an injury.

In Watson’s case, his contract states that he can’t do things like:

• Sky-diving

• Jet skiing

• Basketball

Otherwise, he’s at risk of forfeiting his salary.

However, there’s even more vague language included in his contract that says he could lose his guaranteed money if he’s found to have participated in actions deemed “detrimental to the team.”

At the time of signing this contract, we all assumed that this was put in there to protect the Browns against more allegations against Watson, but now it seems like the team could use that clause to get out of the next two years of this deal.

Potential Outcome: There haven’t been many reported instances of this, but if team medical professionals advised Watson to wear a walking boot during recovery and the team can prove with this TikTok that he wasn’t and went on to roll his ankle and re-tear his Achilles then it’s possible that they could use the existing language in his contract to void the final two years of his deal without paying him another cent.

I bet Deshaun wishes TikTok got banned a little sooner…

📉 Biggest Loser

This is the most iconic football game you’ve never heard about, but it resulted in a curse that’s still going on to this day.

Background: 1969 was the last year of the “NFL Championship” before the league merged with the AFL and crowned its title winner every year in a game dubbed “the Super Bowl.”

This NFL Championship game was between the 12-2 Minnesota Vikings and the 10-3-1 Cleveland Browns. It was hosted in Minnesota and would have been remembered as one of the coldest games in NFL history with a −6 °F windchill if it wasn’t for the Ice Bowl being played just two years prior.

Ice Box: The grounds crew at Metropolitan Stadium was forced to cover the field during the week leading up to the game with a 2-inch-thick fiberglass blanket and a big tarp so the grass wouldn’t freeze.

Once the field was uncovered, they also had to use flamethrowers throughout the game to keep the grass thawed out.

Cold Streak: Minnesota and Cleveland had actually already faced off during the regular season just two months prior when the Vikings stomped the Browns 51-3.

The Vikings' ferocious defense only gave up 9.5 points per game that year, and the NFL Championship was no different.

Minnesota cruised to an easy 27—7 victory but would go on to lose 23—7 to the AFL champion Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl IV.

The Vikings would make three more Super Bowls over the next 7 years, losing each one by at least two scores, but there might have been a reason why.

Missing Trophy: Starting in 1934, the Ed Thorp Memorial Trophy was awarded to the NFL Champion, meaning the 1969 Minnesota Vikings were the last team in NFL history to win it.

However, the following year, it was nowhere to be found, leading NFL fans to assume that the Vikings had lost the trophy, resulting in what many Minnesota fans thought was a “Super Bowl Curse.”

But then, in 2015, it was revealed that the Vikings never lost the trophy after all. In fact, it turns out they never even received it.

Instead, it was found in the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame, where it resides today, proving that the Packers never gave it up after winning it in 1967 and solving a 46-year-old mystery once and for all.

Now I wonder what Vikings fans blame everything after 2015 on?

🏆 Winner’s Circle

A wide receiver you’ve never heard of turned a freak injury into one of the most successful businesses in all of sports.

A Game-Changing Injury: In 1996, Jeff Beraznik was playing at the University of Ottawa when he hyperextended his finger and tore several tendons and skin during training camp.

The injury required surgery, but when he tried to return to the field, his doctor told him he would have to wear gloves.

Remember that during the 1990s, football players didn’t really wear gloves, and when they did, it was only to keep their hands warm.

Glass Cutters: This meant the only option for Beraznik were bulky rubber scuba diving gloves, but he knew there had to be a better option.

That’s when Beraznik remembered seeing a receiver at a different university wearing orange industrial gloves to catch punts the year prior, so he called the school’s equipment manager, who told him that they were actually glass-cutting gloves.

The benefit of wearing these gloves was that they were lighter and more breathable while also having a grippy coating on the palm.

Immediately, Beraznik called the distributor, bought a whole box, and started wearing them to play, which earned him a lot of ridicule from his teammates.

However, eventually, everyone on his team was asking for a pair because they were the perfect combination of warmth and grip.

Perfecting the Grip: This led Beraznik to travel to Pakistan after graduating college, where the original glass-cutting gloves were made. Here, he worked with a team of scientists for 18 months to develop a better material for the palm that would make their gloves even stickier.

And what he settled on is the formula that’s still used in Cutters gloves today, called C-Tack.

The patented formula allows Cutters gloves to be washed or wiped down with a damp towel to restore grip, helping them last longer than most gloves on the market.

Today, the football glove industry is estimated to be worth over $6 billion and wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for one doctor’s recommendation.

⏱️ In Other News

• The NFL WR with a $57M Side Hustle

• Wait, it’s illegal to gamble on planes?

• How Buffalo is harnessing the wind.

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👋🏻 Happy Friday!

Interesting news out of Meta’s camp this week, as they’re offering creators up to $50K to post exclusively on Reels. There’s also a second program for up to $5,000 if creators just post consistently on Reels.

Of course, I applied, but it’s clear the Zuck is so scared about the collateral backlash he’s getting over this ban that he has resorted to bribing creators to use his inferior app.

But it’s not going to work.

Unless he can find a way to compensate creators based on views (hint: it’s not that hard; TikTok and YouTube Shorts already do it), this is just going to be another underwhelming splash in the tone-deaf pond that is Meta’s product design department.

My prediction: Meta will move to CPM-based payments within the next six months, and they will go big.