The Cleveland Browns need to turn around their season and cashing in on a Carolina Panthers fire sale may do just that.
The Carolina Panthers are in a state of flux. They just fired Matt Rhule and have given the keys over to Steve Wilks. The team may be thinking of a long-term teardown and rebuild, so they are taking calls on running back Christian McCaffery. If the team trades McCaffery, they may be willing to trade others as well.
It’ll more likely be this offseason, as trades during the season aren’t that regular. Not like the NBA or MLB, so it’s unlikely that the team trades all of their big pieces. Unlikely, but possible.
The Panthers may not trade anyone, they’re just listening to offers to see what is out there. The thing is, the three most desired names they have are being floated around as trade bait. They’re also guys the Browns could and should get in on if they become available.
Those names are McCaffery, defensive end Brian Burns, and wide receiver D.J. Moore. Frankly, the Browns could and should consider all three of them as a group. As a trio, they would only cost the Browns less than $5 million this season. The Panthers would eat a whole lot of money in cap penalties, sure, but the cap is negotiable and I’m sure a deal could be struck that got the Panthers out of some owed money.
It would benefit the Browns greatly to get in on any potential firesale, especially considering these are either positions of need this year or next that need to be addressed.
WR D.J. Moore
D.J. Moore is the most obvious player the Browns should get from the Panthers. The Browns need a second guy on this team that they can rely on constantly and a real No. 1 option to throw to. Moore is, in theory, better than Amari Cooper. Putting Cooper in the second slot in the offense, and having him face lesser cornerback competition will give him more leeway to do his thing. Assuming Deshaun Watson hasn’t lost a step or two, he should make the most out of each wideout.
Moore is also a nice option long-term. Assuming the Browns don’t need to blow up the team in 2025 or 2026, Moore could be a good piece to transition from era to era, regardless of who the coach, quarterback, or general manager is.
He’s shown to have tremendous game-breaking abilities and the Browns need a guy like Moore in their offense. The Browns are mortgaging their future to win now, so the idea of sending yet another first-round pick shouldn’t bother anyone, as this isn’t a team looking to be a dynasty. They just want that one ring and trophy.
So if that’s the mindset the team has, this is the perfect situation for the Browns to give up future draft picks for Moore. Plus, with the shotty record of team GM Andrew Berry, why not just trade for good, young players instead?
DE Brian Burns
We’ve talked about Brian Burns before. He’s a 4-3 end and a 3-4 linebacker, and either way, that gives the Browns flexibility with the player. The Browns have Myles Garrett and Jadeveon Clowney so the team isn’t hurting for pass-rushing ends, but they are in fact hurting for pass-rushing players. The Browns have not created any real, tangible pressure on the opposing teams’ offense.
They rank near the bottom in all major categories when it comes to getting after the quarterback so even if you have two defensive ends already, you need someone, anyone who can help the defense. Burns can play linebacker in a 3-4, and he’s fast enough to likely play linebacker in a 4-2/4-2. That is if he’s just used primarily as a blitzer.
Burns could also for the Browns to either get creative on defense and move past Joe Woods’ simple five-cornerback scheme or give the scheme enough pop to actually be effective. In most situations, this trade wouldn’t make much sense, but even if Burns doesn’t work as an outside linebacker, the fact that Clowney and Garrett lineup as a defensive tackle on passing downs on occasion means that there’d be room for Burns on the squad regardless.
So his arrival makes way more sense than one would think upon first thought.
RB Christian McCaffery
This one may make people scratch their heads at first and wonder why. Firstly, Kareem Hunt is declining as a player. It’s time to move on from him. He wants to be traded and he’s not likely to fetch the Browns more than a fifth-round pick (if that) if he were to leave in free agency. So there’s really no reason to keep him.
The Browns, even with a change at quarterback, will likely still rely heavily on a two-running-back system and Christian McCaffery is an obvious upgrade over Hunt. Not only is he more in line with how Nick Chubb runs (shifty), but he’s also a much more reliable presence out of the backfield as a receiver.
Not only can he be a better pass-catching running back than Hunt, but he can also actually line up as a receiver and catch a pass that way. Giving the Browns a reliable third receiver. You’d actually have to be a tiny bit creative but if you are, you can easily run an offense where McCaffery is on the field 75% to 90% of the time in various roles and positions. Having that type of asset is huge.
Plus if you limit how many rushes he gets and throw to him more often, you may also limit how many injuries he could suffer.
What would a trade package look like?
Let’s just get the financial elephant out of the way. The Browns and Panthers would have to game the system and do a lot of negotiation to get this deal done with as few cap penalties as possible. The Browns would have to give back some of the cap-savings and rework contracts on both sides of the trade package.
So what would a deal need to include to get this done? Well, let’s consider that despite Deshaun Watson having a five-year contract, the Browns only really have two or three years before guys age out or get too expensive to win a Super Bowl. So let’s just say that the team needs to stop worrying about the future because they don’t have one. This is it, these next two or three seasons are it. Then it’s going to be an ugly and long rebuild.
So go for it. Push all the chips in and give it your best shot. So to get Christian McCaffrey, D.J. Moore, and Brian Burns, what do you have to give up? Well, Devonte Adams went for 2022 first and second.
Moore is worth at least a second, if not two. McCaffery is worth a third or second on his own and Brian Burns is worth a second and a third. So we’re looking at six draft picks. This may seem like a lot, but the idea is that if the trade does happen, Kareem Hunt will be traded in the second batch of trades, as would maybe a handful of other guys. So you’d get some compensation back in other trades.
To help alleviate the salary cap damage the Panthers would have to handle and to help lessen the draft picks given up, some key players will need to be in this trade. So what are we looking at?
Browns get:
RB/WR Christian McCaffery, WR DJ Moore, DE/OLB Brian Burns
Panthers get:
Five Draft Picks (2025 First Round, 2023 Second Round, 2024 Second Round, 2025 Fourth Round, 2026 Fifth Round), WR Donovan Peoples-Jones, WR David Bell, WR Anthony Schwartz, RB Jerome Ford.
Getting McCafferly and Moore will give Deshaun Watson some more targets to throw to that are established, while Burns can help the Browns’ defense find a new identity and maybe even a new base scheme in 2023.
The Browns have $35 million currently in cap space, so guys are going to have to restructure their deals to fit under the cap in 2023 and beyond, but it’s possible. Especially with names like Deion Jones being a candidate to restructure his contract, Jadevoen Clowney not likely to return, and Jack Conklin either going to sign for less money in 2023 or not return. So there is money to use to pay these guys without going over the cap.
It’s big, it’s bold, and it’s just what this team needs.