Browns: Trading Olivier Vernon makes sense to improve the team

The Cleveland Browns are thinking about trading Olivier Vernon at the trade deadline in hopes of acquiring something of value for the aging vet.

The Browns have a terrible defensive pass rush. It’s true, don’t get mad at the author, he’s just telling you the truth. Larry Ogunjobi, Sheldon Richardson, Olivier Vernon and Adrian Clayborn are all very bad at that job. Hell, they’re all pretty bad at stopping the run too. The Browns defensive front four (three) is awful. Myles Garrett, the only saving grace, has half of the teams 18 sacks. Only three players, Garrett, Rirchardson and Clayborn, have more than one sack. Richardson and Clayborn haven’t had a sack since Week 4.

The Browns need to improve the defensive front, so trading Vernon makes sense.

It doesn’t make sense to trade Vernon for a J.J. Watt, as the Browns will have to eat the dead-cap hit anyway, and Watt’s deal will make the Texans eat some money as well. Beyond that, the Browns don’t need to dump Vernon to acquire a Watt-type. They have more than enough money to take on anyone’s contract this year, and contracts like Vernon’s expire in the offseason regardless.

So everything owed and any penalties against the Browns for trading Vernon are off the books. So there’s no reason to use Vernon in a trade to upgrade the position. This isn’t the NBA.

The sense in trading Vernon is to suppliment the loss in acquiring a better player. Say you land Watt, that’s going to be a second, and possibly a third or fourth-round draft pick to get him. You might be able to flip Vernon for a fourth or fifth-round pick to help lessen the hit against the draft captial or you could trade Vernon for another position of need. Granted, Vernon won’t bring back an NFL All Pro type, but he could possibly be used to flip for depth at a position of need.

Vernon isn’t coming back next year, and while not signing Jadeveon Clowny was the right move in hindsight, bringing back Vernon and not Joe Schobert is a sign that Andrew Berry still has a lot to prove as a GM.