Browns: 3 trade options from all NFL teams under .500
By Chad Porto
The Cleveland Browns are in need of some help at various positions and these are the top three options from losing teams that could be available.
Let’s be clear, some of these trades will be hard to pull off. We’re not going to worry too much about contracts, dead cap hits, trade value, or anything of the like. If we’ve seen anything from other NFL teams it’s that no one is ever safe. Yannick Ngakoue and Everson Griffen just joined new teams to start the season before getting traded to different teams. We’ve seen the Raiders traded Khalil Mack for no real reason, other than Jon Gruden wanted to. So there’s no real reason to think that anyone on this list couldn’t get traded to Cleveland. The Browns can always find money but cutting or restructuring deals.
The only caveat is young players or rookies. It’s unlikely a team would move on from a young, talented player in the first few years of their rookie contracts so we’re not going to look at many of them unless it’s a certain situation.
So with that acknowledged, let’s get right into it.
Atlanta Falcons
WR Julio Jones
Julio Jones is a big nut to swallow but is under contract for several more years. If the team were to pursue Jones it would be as a permanent replacement for Odell Beckham Jr., not to add to the receivers as a whole. Jones is a future Hall of Famer and can still play at a high level. He’d fit in nicely with the Browns offense.
DT Grady Jarrett
Coming off of a Pro Bowl year, Grady Jarrett has an ideal contract as it comes with an opt-out after 2021. He’s great at getting depth and while the Falcons defense hasn’t been good, he has been. He’s known for his ability to get into the backfield and blow up the running game and the Browns have seen Sheldon Richardson fall off since Week 3. Jarrett would be an instant upgrade over Richardson and would give the team more depth and a good interior pass rusher.
CB Isaiah Oliver
It’s hard to gauge what the Falcons would want for someone as young as Isaiah Oliver. While we’re looking at older players, the reason Oliver makes the cut when others won’t is because of how far Atlanta has fallen and how likely it is they blow up the whole thing heading into the offseason. So they’ll be more motivated to move pieces no matter the age, presumably, to get draft picks.