Inside A GM’s Head: How The Browns Trade Up From 12 For Mitch Trubisky

Hall of Fame NFL executive Bill Polian appeared on ESPN’s Mike and Mike. He broke down what the Cleveland Browns may have to do to trade up for Mitchell Trubisky.

If the Cleveland Browns are going to come away with Mitch Trubisky, there’s only one way to get the Mentor High School product: Take him with the No. 1 overall pick.

Of course, that would mean the Browns would open themselves to ridicule for passing on what many perceive to be the best overall prospect in the 2017 NFL Draft, Myles Garrett.

Former NFL exec and Hall of Famer Bill Polian appeared on ESPN’s Mike and Mike show Monday morning, and offered some insight into what the Browns would have to do to trade up from 12, if they truly are enamored with Trubisky.

As Polian pointed out, team’s draft boards are complete and teams are basically dotting their I’s and crossing their T’s.

Realistically, Trubisky could fall all the way to No 12, and the public perception right now is that this scenario would be the Browns’ area. Cleveland would nab its edge rusher and franchise quarterback in the first round.

But the 49ers, Bears, and Jets could all select the UNC product. Each one of these teams signed bridge quarterbacks during the offseason. Are they punting for the 2018 class, or will they take a quarterback early in 2016, and have him sit behind a veteran in the early going.

The 49ers are thought to be willing to ride this year out with Hoyer, who had success with Kyle Shanahan during the 2014 season with the Browns. Everyone assumes Shanahan will jump on the chance to get his old buddy, Kirk Cousins a year from now.

With that said, the 49ers are at least smoke screening the prospect of taking Trubisky.

How do we know they are bluffing? Here’s what Polian said:

"“The odds tell you they probably are [bluffing] because you would call them and say, ‘Do you want to make a trade?’ If they say no, the odds are good that maybe they’ll take him, but you can’t affect that, you can’t force them to make a trade. So the only thing you can go is go to the logical place. Start at Chicago, and work your way down because you don’t know if the Jets are blowing smoke, you don’t know that."

Why would Lynch say no? So that he could ask for more the next time the Browns made an offer?

Not so fast. Polian said in the initial phone call, the Browns wouldn’t even make an offer.

"“First call you wouldn’t have offered anything. If [Lynch] says no in the first call he’s probably being correct. If he says, ‘Gee, I don’t know, we’re still talking that through,’ mark that down as a possible. You have a list, at least I did, of every team that I called and we had a ‘possible, no, yes,’ and you check that column.”"

If Lynch were to ask for an offer, the 49ers probably aren’t taking a quarterback. Polian said the best way to end the conversation be to tell the GM that you’ve got to think about the offer and you’d get back to them.

Let’s assume the 49ers pass on a quarterback. The team the Browns probably have to worry about are those pesky Jets. There’s no telling what they’ll do. So if New York is the team you’ve got to get in front of, what will it take to swap with the Titans, the team that picks before the Jets?

If the Browns move up from 12, everyone knows they’ll be gunning for a quarterback. With that being the case, teams such as the Jaguars at No. 4, and the Titans at No. 5 will ask for the moon, and then the galaxy, because they’d be delivering the Browns the first quarterback selected in the draft.

"“Here’s the interesting part. Let’s say you’re Jacksonville at No. 4, or Tennessee at No. 5 and Cleveland comes knocking on the door. If I’m in one of those buildings, I tell myself, they want the first quarterback in the draft, therefore, they are going to pay the same price or more that people paid in the last two years.”"

And what will it cost?

"“So, It’s a one this year and a one next year, and the two twos this year and probably a two next year,” Polian said."

Trading up and paying the ransom that will be asked would seem to go everything Browns’ fans have had to learn about analytics and the premium placed on draft picks during the past year.

But there’s on analytic the Browns can’t fix, and that’s the quarterback. Until they’ve got one, they’re going no where. At least with Trubisky in the fold, even if he’s not your choice, the team can start moving forward.

Next: Grading Tony Grossi's Latest Browns' Mock Draft

I thought trading up was impossible with this regime, but with rumors circulating that owner Jimmy Haslam wants the Browns to come away with a quarterback, the possibility may be more in play than you think.