Heading into the 2024 NFL season, it looked like this just might be the Cleveland Browns’ year.
Coming into the season with one of the deepest rosters in the NFL, very good coaches on both sides of the ball, and a ton of potential, fans were eager to see if Deshaun Watson could finally put everything together and build on the foundation Joe Flacco defined in 2023.
Oh, what a difference two months can make.
Since Week 1, the Browns have amassed a 1-6 record in large part thanks to a five-game losing streak, and it really doesn’t look like they are going to be representing the AFC North in the 2024 NFL playoffs, not unless the Browns get a winning streak going under a backup quarterback, this time the decidedly younger Jameis Winston, after Watson tore his ACL.
Will it work out? Only time will tell, but considering the hole Cleveland has dug over the last two months, it might make sense to embrace a lack of true sellers ahead of the 2024 NFL trade deadline and continue to shed older stars in the pursuit of future draft capital. Fortunately, there are a few interesting fits around the NFL that could facilitate such a move, including sending two defensive starters – but not their best one – to new teams for future assets.
1. Trade Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah to LA for a second-round pick
Over the past few days, there have been a few small, largely unsubstantiated rumors that the Los Angeles Rams could be interested in acquiring Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah to solve their pesky linebacker problem.
On paper, the addition makes perfect sense for the Rams; they traded away their best linebacker in Ernest Jones IV before the season and have struggled mightily both in coverage and against the run in the middle of their defense ever since. Adding a player like Owusu-Koramoah, who is not only one of the best all-around inside linebackers in the NFL today but also locked in on a long-term contract worth $37.5 million over the next three years, and what do you have? A guaranteed impact player or years to come, which simply wasn’t on the table when Jones IV was negotiating.
With that being said, the Browns would probably like to keep Owusu-Koramoah on their roster, too, what with their decision to give him a long-term extension, and if they did decide to place him on the proverbial trade block, you’d best believe they would likely earn a certified bidding war for his services.
So, if a team like the Rams offered up a second-round pick for Owusu-Koramoah’s services, would the Browns say no? Jim Schwartz has his Philadelphia middle linebacker back in Jordan Hicks, and while Owusu-Koramoah is an elite player, he’s a luxury in a scheme that doesn’t require elite talent behind an attacking 4-3 defensive line. That second-round pick could be used as ammo to trade up for a quarterback, a tradable asset to secure more talent down the line, or even an option to draft the next Owusu-Koramoah, as he did come off the board in the second round after an impressive career at Notre Dame.
Considering the (lack of) a premium most teams place on the inside linebacker position in the draft, the Browns could more-or-less get their pick of the litter in April in order to find an ideal fit for the team moving forward at either middle or weakside linebacker. And the Rams? Well, they would secure the services of a young star, which has always been a favorite strategy of Les Snead.
2. Trade Za’Darius Smith to the Lions for a fifth-round pick
If the Browns want to make a less drastic move but still leave the year with more draft capital than they began it with, trading away Za’Darius Smith to a rush-needy team like the Detroit Lions could be beneficial to both parties.
Originally acquired to serve as the perfect 1B to Myles Garrett‘s 1A, Smith has produced well for the Browns but now finds himself a 32-year-old on a team potentially looking to get younger with his replacement, 29-year-old Ogbo Okoronkwo, already signed to a three-year, $19 million contract this offseason.
Is Okoronkwo as accomplished as Smith? No, but he’s younger, has more long-term upside, and has played at a high level, as his run in Houston clearly proves; if the season is teetering on the brink of collapse, why not give him the starting snaps opposite Garrett and let Smith put in work for a Super Bowl contender like the Lions, who lost their defensive anchor, Aidan Hutchinson, to a potentially season-ending tibia and fibula injury.
Can Smith do what Hutchinson does for Detroit? No, most players can’t, but he is a veteran rusher who can produce against the run and the pass, and considering his contract, he doesn’t necessarily have to be a win-now player who leaves town at the end of the deal.
If the Browns can secure a mid-Day 3 pick for Smith’s services, they could take it, as regardless of how the season shakes out down the stretch, they need to see how players like Okoronkwo and Isaiah McGuire look in extended action.
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Browns Bonus: Please don’t trade Myles Garrett
While discussing a possible trade that could take the NFL by storm, Jacob Robinson of The Athletic proposed that Cleveland should send the Browns’ best player west to the fruitful plains of Chicago, Illinois, where he could form an elite offense-defense pairing with Caleb Williams long-term.
“Let’s say the Bears acquire DE Myles Garrett, sending the Browns two first-round picks (2025 and 2026) and rookie DE Austin Booker,” Robinson wrote. “Chicago has long needed help on its defensive line, missing on DE Matthew Judon this offseason, though in hindsight, last year’s trade for DE Montez Sweat (second-round pick) was a savvy move by GM Ryan Poles. There’s no help better than Garrett, a one-man wrecking crew.”
Now on paper, that isn’t the worst deal imaginable; the Browns get multiple first-round picks to build around moving forward, enough ammo to trade up for a quarterback this year, or simply load up on additional talent across the roster. Factor in the addition of Booker, a 2024 fifth-round pick out of Kansas, who does have one sack in 2024 but hasn’t really done much for the Bears yet, and Andrew Berry could certainly sell the Browns’ fanbase on taking a step back now in order to take two forward in the future.
And yet, what would trading Garrett be but an admission of guilt? A formal declaration that this era of Browns football is over, and that it’s time to blow everything up one year after looking like world beaters with Joe Flacco under center.
Either way, the Browns can’t let that happen.
While most players on the roster have to be considered trade neutral, as anyone from Jerry Jeudy to Grew Newsome II can be replaced either this season internally or in the spring, there are less than a handful of players who can do what Garrett can, and when you have one, you hold onto them with dear life. Unless Williams is on the deal, the Browns have to say no, as similar deals will certainly be on the table in April.