Cleveland Browns rumors: Sashi Brown submarined the A.J. McCarron trade

In Cleveland Browns rumors, there’s a belief among some that incompetence didn’t blow up the A.J. McCarron trade. Rather, Sashi Brown did

In the un-freaking believable world of the Cleveland Browns, the organization cost themselves the shot at acquiring another quarterback by not getting the paperwork that would’ve brought A.J. McCarron to the Browns to the league office before the 4 p.m. NFL deadline.

We’re they too busy “celebrating” the pick as this tweet from ESPN Cleveland suggested, or was it something else?

ESPN Cleveland analyst Tony Grossi presented a theory that Cleveland’s vice president of football operations Sashi Brown submarined the pick–proof of the growing divide between the analytically driven front office, and coach Hue Jackson.

Grossi’s argument is based around Brown’s experience as a contract negotiator and team’s legal counsel. Sashi may not know football, but he should know the nuances of the rulebook.

Grossi is of the believe that the Browns offered a second and third round pick, and added that there was another pick included–coming in 2019.

Brown realized this was too much to give up to cover up the mistake of being in hibernation when the Jimmy Garoppolo trade went down.

So, Sashi submarined the trade by letting the clock run out.

"“Brown could easily submarine the trade by dawdling and missing the league deadline on purpose. Brown may not be a football guy, but his years as a club legal counsel required him to be up on all the league protocols. While it’s hard to believe he would sabotage his own trade, it’s equally unthinkable that he could slip on reporting it on time. He knows how anal the league is with deadlines,” Grossi wrote."

If you’re in the camp who loves hoarding draft picks, this move is right up your ally. Either way, it’s the second black eye in two days for the hapless Browns.

The Browns look incompetent, inexperienced and just down right stupid.

The line being towed out of the Browns’ Berea based headquarters is that the team sent Cincinnati the paperwork with the appropriate signature, and that the Bengals were to fill in their part and send the document into the league.

But that’s now how trades work, according to PFT’s Mike Florio, who cited league sources telling him that teams must independently send in their own paperwork.

With this in mind, Brown’s submarining of the trade looks a lot more plausible.

"“And so here are the potential explanations for what’s going on. One, the Browns are lying about what happened to cover up their incompetence. Two, the Browns are telling the truth and are genuinely incompetent. Three, the Browns deliberately sent the paperwork to the Bengals and not to the league office in order to keep the trade from happening, with a premeditated “did I do that?” already in place,”"

Not to rain on a good rumor, but there was this news from Adam Schefter.

If true, this could mean Sashi wasn’t submarining the trade, or it could just mean he was trying to save face, knowing full well the NFL wasn’t going to budge on on its strict rules.

Either way, the Browns look like idiots. They still don’t have a quarterback on their roster who owns an NFL win, and the rookie they’re trying develop just learned his organization tried to replace him.

Next: Irate coaches had to inform the front office about Jimmy G

Just another day around Browns Town for the worst organization in professional sports.