The Cleveland Browns have spent an inordinate amount of money and resources this offseason an in effort to improve their team for once. They have already made a trade for one big-money wide receiver in Jarvis Landry, for example. Could they really go after yet another?
That is the rumor swirling around lately, regarding New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham, Jr., who was injured last season. Apparently, he vows not to take the field again until he receives a contract extension—whether that is with the Giants or with another team.
Understandably, Cleveland is a logical dot to connect. For one thing, they have a need and an awful lot of cap space. They also have his college teammate in Landry, with whom he is very close. And as Browns General Manager Jon Dorsey conveniently noted while mentioning that he can’t talk about Beckham, they have Adam Henry, who coached him both in New York and at LSU.
They still have a ton of cap space left, as well, around $70 million, in spite of the significant amount of money that they have spent on somewhere around a dozen free-agent acquisitions of varying degrees of significance, as well as through trades.
They have the need, the ability, and probably the want to trade for Beckham. Imagine getting Beckham, Landry, and Josh Gordon, plus David Njoku, to surround your rookie quarterback with as he develops. While the Browns have not had much to work with at quarterback, they haven’t had many quality players among their skill positions, either, outside of Gordon’s second season half a decade ago.
Chances are nothing will come of this, as is the case for most trade rumors, but the Browns have already showed a willingness, even an eagerness, to be active on the trade market. After all, they already traded for Beckham, as well as for Tyrod Taylor and Damarious Randall just this offseason.
But would the Giants really have the proper level of motivation to move arguably their best player? I don’t think so. While Beckham manages to draw a lot of negative criticism in his own direction because of the way that he conducts himself both on and off the field, his absence greatly diminishes their on-field product, as seen last season.
Eli Manning, for one thing, would not be happy about the move, at least I would imagine, and if they plan on using their second-overall draft pick to find Manning’s successor, they are not doing that player any favors by dumping one of the most talented wide receivers in the game (even if that comes, for example, in a return for Corey Coleman).
Still, we are right in the middle of the season of silliness. This is the time of year in which crazy ideas are the norm, and some of those ideas do actually become reality. Beckham to the Browns? Crazier things have happened.
