Browns: 4 players to trade for before the NFL Trade Deadline
By Chad Porto
Four moves the Browns should make before the NFL Trade Deadline.
The Browns have been exposed. The things we were worried about have in fact come to pass. The Browns’ secondary is not improved, the Browns receivers are not back to their Pro Bowl selfs, the offensive line has declined a bit (but not enough to go full sale on them) and the Browns as a whole are limping at 4-4 into the mid-way point.
Baker Mayfield is having a very defining season, with a torn labrum in his left shoulder, he’s been extremly accurate, save for the two games he played after he tore his labrum where he didn’t wear a brace. Since then, he’s been very efficient. Save for all the drops by his receivers. There is no real help around him. There isn’t. I’ve been saying this for a while but after the Pittsburgh game, people are now seeing that isn’t Mayfield who the issue is.
Sure, he’s not a $40 million quarterback, partly because no one is worth that much, but the Browns can win with him. They just can’t win with who’s around him. That’s beyond obvious. The running backs are good as a unit, the offensive line is still fine but the receivers aren’t running the correct routes, they’re dropping passes, and are making mental mistakes that are drive-killers.
Rashard Higgins doesn’t know the snap-counts, Anthony Schwartz knows so little of his routes that the Browns are afraid to put him in the game, the Browns three-big contracted Pro Bowlers (Odell Beckham, Jarvis Landry, Austin Hooper) are not making plays and Mayfield has to rely on his screen passes because of how little separation receivers end up getting on this team.
That’s just the offensive woes, somehow the Browns upgraded the safeties and they’re still worse than the crop Cleveland had last year. Want to know how bad? Andrew Sendejo has a PFF of 65.2 currently with the Colts. He’s actually playing very well and helped limit Derrick Henry to just 68 yards yesterday.
Sendejo is nearly 10 points ahead of the Browns‘ top safety John Johnson.
We need new safeties. So who’s available? That’s what we’re about to talk about. These are four players the Browns should consider trading for. It should be noted, because there’s always someone who doesn’t get it, *NO* the Browns should not trade for all four of these men. One, maybe two tops.
These are just options to pick from.