In a span of less than two hours on Friday, the Browns completely retooled their offense and added a piece to their secondary by acquiring Jarvis Landry, Tyrod Taylor and Damarious Randall from the Dolphins, Bills and Packers respectively.
The flurry of moves drastically improves the teams offense and provides a veteran stopgap quarterback — assuming no longterm deal is made — that can bridge to the signal-caller the team is presumably going to tab with one of its two first-round picks.
Leaving Cleveland was 2017 second-round pick DeShone Kizer, who was sent to Green Bay in the Randall deal. The teams also agreed to swap fourth- and fifth-round picks in the upcoming draft. For Landry, the Browns only parted with a 2018 fourth-round pick (No. 123) and 2019 seventh-round selection. In the Taylor deal, Cleveland sent one of its third-round picks (No. 65) in exchange for the turnover-averse passer.
These deals can not be officially completed until Wednesday, the first day of the 2018 season.
Here’s more on Cleveland’s busy day:
- The Browns do not have a long-term deal in place for Landry at the moment but both sides are interested, the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson tweets. Jackson also notes (Twitter link) that Landry likes the situation in Cleveland and is excited to work with new offensive coordinator Todd Haley.
- Sticking with Landry, the Ravens, Titans and Jets were all involved in talks for the receiver late this week before the Browns landed him, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler tweets. The Ravens were widely reported as suitors for the dynamic slot receiver, but both the Jets and Titans flew under the radar.
- ESPN’s Pat McManamon believes the trade of Kizer and the acquisition of Taylor emphasizes the Browns believe in one of the quarterbacks in the upcoming draft. He writes the plan is for Taylor to hold the spot in 2018 and let the drafted passer take the role in 2019.
- Several other teams were interested in adding Taylor, including the Cardinals and Broncos, the Buffalo News’ Vic Carucci reports (Twitter link). Both teams were not willing to meet the Browns’ offer of a third-round pick. Kent Somers of AZ Central Sports, however, hears that the Cardinals were not involved in talks for the quarterback (Twitter link).
- Heavily linked with Cleveland due to his ties with head coach Hue Jackson, A.J. McCarron will have to find a new suitor. ESPN’s Adam Schefter (Twitter link) noted the obvious candidates — Arizona, Denver and now Buffalo — as potential landing spots for the former Alabama signal-caller.
Love
So are the Packers or the Browns getting the better pick in the swap?
Really? Browns went 0-16 last year which means they own the first pick of each round. So if they swap picks with the Packers, the Packers will have first pick of the 4th and 5th round.. aka the better pick. That help?
D*ck^
Packers getting the Browns licks at the beginning of rounds 4 & 5, so advantage GB
I’ve read this two ways— GB and Cleveland swap their 4th round picks and they also swap their 5th round picks so advantage GB.
Or
They swap 4th and 5th rounds picks mean in one gets a 5th for the other teams 4th. Not sure which teams gets what.
Most seem to think it’s the former, but I haven’t been able to verify.
Right, it’s not clearly defined what the actual swap was.
packers get the better of the picks browns have the 1st pick and the packers have the 14th pick in the 4th and 5th round picks
The 2 happiest guys here are kizer and mccaron
You never stop, do you?
I mean yeah Kizer has to be happy to a certain extent but that dude also cost the Browns atleast 3 wins on his own. He’s wildly inaccurate and his decision making skills are below average. As a Cleveland fan, Green Bay can have him.
With all these trades I didn’t realize Lebron James was the GM of the Browns now too?.. When did that happen?!
I’m actually… Impressed by these moves for the Browns. They got a go to pass catcher in his prime. A league average QB who can take pressure off the offense with his legs and doesn’t turn the ball over. Then they added a CB who I’m not overly familiar with but seems to get a ton of interceptions. Plus they’ve kept their picks so they can take their choice of the QBs they want in the draft plus the best available player at 4. Well done Browns.
your GM and Eleit wolf are both former packers front office people
What if the browns went Barkley, Fitzpatrick, and billy price fell to them in the 2nd. I know C or G isn’t a specific need but he can play both and would be a steal. Can draft D-line and LB with other picks
Entering this offseason, the front 7 was one of the few clearly defined strengths on the roster…they might get someone on the D-line for depth (or maybe even Chubb if they think he’s too good to pass up), but I don’t see much of a need there or at linebacker.
I agree on Fitzpatrick though. I can’t say enough how big of a fan of his I am.
But Joe Thomas has not confirmed he will be back. Rumors are that he has auditioned with Fox, Espn, and NFL Network for a new career.
What does that have to do with the defensive line?
I doubt they go price, he tore his pectoral muscle at the combine!
Browns should not take a QB at all in the draft this year. Use the top picks to round out the team. If they do that they actually have nice nucleus and can finally get a QB that can be successful
I wish I could agree but Taylor is very likely just a short-term placeholder (albeit a good one). They still need a long-term answer.
Love the browns making legitimate moves to contend finally. All 3 deals make sense and all help the team leaving them all there first and second round picks.
Contend? The browns? I’ll go with making an improvement, but without the word contend.
Barkley is the clear choice now at #1 and I would honestly think long and hard about taking Edmunds over Fitzpatrick at 4. Then you’ve got to look at drafting a WR in 2 or 3.
Edmunds? Not at #4.
WR? No way
Bc they have Landry and Gordon? Gordon is 1 drink away from being out of the league.
Don’t give up on Coleman yet.
Taylor is the most over rated QB in the league. Browns got a game manager and an upgrade over Kizer. They are taking a QB #1 overall if they like a guy enough to take him there. Not sure who that is… what front office would pass on a potential franchise QB because Taylor is on the roster? haha, yea right.. hopefully Barkley is still there at 4, but if not, they can always get a RB in round 2.
I don’t disagree that Taylor is overrated or just a game manager, but a game manager is better than the Browns have had the past few years.
How is Taylor overrated? He’s not going to win you games with his arm, but if fans are expecting that then that’s their fault for having unrealistic expectations. I think GMs know exactly what Taylor is and this deal represents that (a stopgap option, for comparison, Bradford got a 1st and a 3rd rounder because he’s starter material when healthy). Taylor is solid, if unspectacular, and can move out of the pocket when it collapses. He also does a decent job at not turning the ball over, which is the most important thing for a QB to do. A good defense is more than capable of carrying a game manager QB. And imo, there are definitely more overrated QBs than Taylor.
I don’t understand either of the comments here. Taylor is a game manager, nothing more, a top tier backup. Upgrade to Kizer. He will probably win some games next year because he won’t turn the ball over. Which is what Kizer struggled with. If he was a guy who could lead the team to a playoff birth, and succeed in the playoffs, Taylor would still be in buffalo.. dude is a bridge QB on a reasonable 1 year contract… so we’ve all said the same thing in different ways… he’s overrated because he shouldn’t be a starting QB, I think there are many in the media that disagree with that. There are probably 32 better QBs in the league either starting, backing up or free agents.
JT19 – “doesn’t turn the ball over.” Really? Int #’s are low but then he doesn’t throw the ball that often, instead he runs & fumbles
I feel like this puts them in line to take Allen and plan to let him take a year to learn. Other QBS have been talked about as more pro-ready but Allen has more of a Wentz feel to him and the best case scenario for Cleveland would be their drafted QB beating out their vet like Wentz did to Bradford/Daniel.
This is the same exact situation with Dorsey went out and got Alex Smith. 5 years, playoffs, and some good seasons later…
This team is Cursed every year they get a new QB
Agree. They have used numerous early picks in last few years at QB spot. I think the value here for either side is GB moves up to picking first in rounds 4 and 5. This is usually where the many little trades occur during draft where teams trade to move up in the mid to late rounds so GB has already done that. They’ve gone for picking in the middle of the round to first so this is where your scouting pays off or is exposed which happens often in draft that is why there are always a few Undrafted free agents that make a splash and a career in NFL
Knowing that the Browns and Bills have a history of trading picks, and that the Bills only have Nathan Peterman as a QB on their roster, I see the Browns trading their #4 pick to the Bills and receiving their #21, #22 and a pick from next years draft. Probably discussed over the Taylor trade, to allow the opportunity to get a QB.
Also wondering if Cordy Glenn could possibly be included in that scenario. Could be a replacement should Joe Thomas decide to retire. If Thomas returns, Glenn could upgrade RT and then move to LT when Thomas does retire.
let me know when they finish above .500. beat the Steelers or ravens twice. tyrod doesn’t exactly heat up the field. they go through qbs all the time. plus they have the worst luck.
I mean yes they could prove me wrong but I highly doubt it
browns will sign an McCarran then draft Berkley at 1 and draft Nelson at 4 the 2 best players in this draft not a browns fan
Why would they trade for Taylor just to sign McCarron immediately afterward? That makes no sense at all
Chubb at 1, Allen at 4.
Kareem Hunt was picked late just last year.
Where was the NO back picked?
Don’t waste a top pick on a RB.
However these are the brownstains and so expect a RB – Barkley- at no.1