In February, the Browns unveiled a proposal to delay the trade deadline, in order to give teams more time to realize that a fork has been stuck in them.
In the first year of the new deadline, the Browns didn’t need the new nine-week window. Or the prior deadline of eight weeks.
The Browns realize they’re cooked for 2024, with a record of 1-5 and a ball-and-chain contract given in 2022 to quarterback Deshaun Watson, whom the team won’t bench even though anyone not connected to the team believes it should.
(More than a few connected to the team likely believe it should, too. But they can’t say anything.)
The decision to trade receiver Amari Cooper says it all. If they believed they were going to contend this year, they would have kept him.
Given the $92 million in remaining salary guarantees for Watson, the Browns should have a full-blown fire sale. As to anyone who won’t be there after 2026, when they finally are able to shed Watson’s contract, see if there’s a trade market. Dump the cash and cap space, add a draft pick or two, and begin reloading the roster with young, cheap players whose contracts offset the albatross that is the Deshaun Watson deal.
Should anyone be safe? Probably not. If the trade offer is right and the cap consequences don’t make things significantly worse, why not move on?
For the players who get traded, it will feel like getting sprung from prison. Cooper surely feels that way. As his former teammates see him thrive elsewhere, they might want the same thing.
And they have nearly three full weeks to ask for it.
