The trade chaos continues – and on Friday the Cleveland Browns kicked off the carousel! The Browns snatched up via Trade Jarvis Landry from Miami and Tyrod Taylor from Buffalo – and suddenly went into the Free Agency with a starting quarterback.
How the Brown’s would approach the quarterback question with all their cap space and the various draft picks was a central question of this off-season. Since late Friday evening it has become clear: Cleveland has at least found a very good interim solution.
Instead of the frequently traded A. J. McCarron and the Buffalo Bills agreed on a trade for Tyrod Taylor. In return, Buffalo receives the first pick of the third round, number 65 Overall. The trade makes sense for both sides: The Bills wanted to play an offense since last year’s change of coaching staff, which does not fit Taylor’s strengths at all. On the other hand, the 28-year-old has another year’s contract, and that with a relatively acceptable cap hit over $16 million.
Cleveland gets a very good game manager who makes few serious mistakes and gives the team the chance to win games. For the Browns, who are going into the coming season with a very good offensive and a very good defensive line, this should be enough to be much more successful than last year.
At the same time, Taylor offers Browns flexibility. Cleveland can still pick up a quarterback with the first pick in the draft and let it learn behind Taylor – contractually, Taylor has a natural “expiration date” with the browns. In addition, the decision in favor of Taylor provides further food for rumors that Cleveland will choose Saquon Barkley with the number 1 pick running back. Barkley and Taylor would form a dynamic backfield, both of which are at home in the shotgun formation.
With Jarvis Landry, Taylor has one of the best slot receivers in the league in his arsenal: Landry got the franchise day from the Miami Dolphins, but it was soon an open secret that this was only done to trade the wide receiver. Miami finally gave Landry permission to obtain trade offers – and the Dolphins received a good offer from Cleveland.
The Browns pay for Landry a four-round pick 2018 and a seven-round pick 2019. According to NFL network insider Ian Rapoport, the New Orleans Saints and the Baltimore Ravens were also said to have been interested in Cleveland.
According to Rapoport, a long-term deal will be negotiated directly with Landry. Cleveland has more than enough cap space and could keep the receiver under contract for one year during the day. According to Rapoport’s information, Landry will instead become one of the league’s better paid receivers.
Cleveland wasn’t finished with that, however: The Browns also invested in their Secondary, Cornerback Damarious Randall comes from the Green Bay Packers – in return, Quarterback DeShone Kizer changes to Green Bay. According to Rapoport, both teams will also be exchanging draft picks in the fourth and fifth rounds, so Green Bay will be twice the higher choice.
Cleveland had only signed Kizer in the second round of the last drama, but Hue Jackson didn’t make it easy for the young quarterback – on the one hand he let him play a complex, more than rookie-unfriendly scheme, on the other hand he robbed him of all self-confidence by abrupt changes of direction and degradations.
Now Kizer gets the chance to study behind Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay. Randall on the other side was probably Green Bay’s best Cornerback, but internally it should not have been true for a long time. According to several reports Randall had fallen out of favour with the team, even the team council is said to have insisted on a dismissal. Randall is now getting a fresh start in Cleveland himself, possibly on a free safety position that suits him better.