Browns Make Big Trade Right Before Draft (But It's Not for Kirk Cousins)

On Thursday night, all eyes will be on the Cleveland Browns, who hold the No. 2 overall pick and will look to add a game-changing player to their roster for the 2025 season and beyond. 

But before the Browns are on the clock later tonight, general manager Andrew Berry made a notable trade in the hours leading up to the draft, and it wasn’t for veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins.

According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, the Houston Texans traded a 2025 fifth-round pick (166 overall) and a 2027 fifth-round pick to the Browns for two 2025 sixth-round picks (179 and 216 overall) and a 2025 seventh-round pick (255 overall).

When the trade was announced, it caught fans off guard. It’s not often you see a deal before the draft that involves multiple day 3 picks, which can be hit or miss. However, Cleveland did not have a fifth-round pick in this year’s draft and instead had four in the sixth round.

Now, the Browns have a fifth-round selection and only two sixth-round picks. Cleveland isn’t guaranteed to keep these picks, as they could use them to move up the board in Day 3 or push them to the 2026 NFL Draft in another deal.

Last year, the Browns had four draft picks on Day 3 of the NFL draft. Cleveland took wide receiver Jamari Thrash in the fifth round and linebacker Nathaniel Watson in the sixth round. Then they used their two seventh-round picks on defensive back Myles Harden and defensive end Jowon Briggs.

Among those four picks, Watson played the most for the Browns last season, appearing in 14 games. Thrash appeared in nine games for the ball club, while Harden and Briggs played four and six games, respectively.

That said, we’ll see if the Browns use these picks on Saturday to build out the rest of their roster, or if these picks are potentially a part of a bigger move over the NFL’s three-day event.

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