Cleveland Browns: The New Era

  The Browns might have finally done it.  Cleveland in one day managed to make 4 trades all using draft picks and players to help revamp their roster.  Their first move of business was picking up WR Jarvis Landry from the Dolphins. Landry signed the Franchise tag recently and then the Dolphins were adamant about moving Landry in hopes of gaining draft picks to help with a complete roster overhaul.  The Browns went right after that trade giving up only a 2018 4th round pick and a 2019 7th round pick. To me, that trade seemed phenomenal. They received a big time receiver who caught 100 passes last season and he will definitely be dominant alongside WR’s Josh Gordon and Corey Coleman. Landry caught 112 passes for 987 yards and 9 TD’s.  Those are great numbers for a guy who has just completed his 4th season in the league.

  For years the Browns have been plagued with the problem of securing a QB of the future.  They always seemed to keep hoping to draft a young quarterback through the draft, and have the QB fail to pan out.    They instead opted to trade a 2018 3rd round pick for Bills QB Tyrod Taylor. Taylor is an established QB who isn’t in the top percent of QB’s but is in the better half for sure.  His ability to pass and run with the football will help the Browns become more dynamic. Taylor passed for 2799 yards and 14 TD’s while only giving up 4 INT’s and held a great passer rating of 89.2.  He also rushed for 427 yards and 4 TD’s.

 They then decided to add some draft picks by trading away DT Danny Shelton to New England in exchange for a 2018 5th round pick and a 2019 3rd round pick.  This will help the Browns add through the draft while still making moves for players. They then went out and got some help for the secondary, trading for DB Damarious Randall from Green Bay in exchange for DeShone Kizer.  Randall had 4 INT’s last season and was the Packers #1 corner on the defense. He is a physical man to man corner who will definitely help out big time. He is also versatile at both free safety and corner so that could help out as well.  

  The Browns were not done there either.  They just recently added RB Carlos Hyde.  Hyde played for the 49ers last season, rushing for 938 yards and 8 TD’s.  He is also a big part in the passing game, catching 59 passes for 350 yards.  Hyde is a bigtime playmaker and at 27, still has tons of playing to do. A big positive was that Hyde, who has battled some injury troubles early in his career, played in all 16 games last season.

  The Browns still have tons of work to do but right now new GM John Dorsey came in and really made some moves and wants the Browns to trend in the right direction.  They are in a competitive division playing the Ravens, Bengals, and Steelers but have the ability to be a Wild Card team next season. They still hold both the #1 and #4 pick in the draft which could add two big time pieces to their roster.  They already added young talent in Jabrill Peppers and Myles Garrett last season. The Browns future’s looking bright. It is a good time to be a football fan in Cleveland.

Written by Nick Kazandjian