Conventional wisdom regarding the Browns’ decision to trade running back Trent Richardson for Indy’s first-round draft pick suggests that Cleveland plans to use those picks if necessary to trade up for a franchise quarterback.
For a change, conventional wisdom may be completely accurate.
Browns CEO Joe Banner acknowledged during Thursday’s PFT Live the legitimacy of the dot-connecting that would lead to the Browns drafting a quarterback early in May.
“We understand the speculation,” Banner said. “It’s obviously well founded in terms of what drives success in the NFL and you saw what [coach Rob Chudzinski] did in Carolina, New Orleans, and San Diego and myself in Philadelphia. Going any further and confirming the speculation, that could affect how we draft and at least someone certainly you would like to have out there, but that’s an important thing for us to solve. But this team has a number of needs right now. This will put us in position to either acquire a few really good players or acquire a number of players with a lot of potential. We’ll have to make a decision on what makes the most sense when we get there.”
What makes the most sense in the interim could be even more trades. During a separate appearance on PFT Live, Tony Grossi of ESPN Cleveland suggested that other players acquired before Jimmy Haslam bought the team could be available, including receiver Josh Gordon, receiver Greg Little, and left tackle Joe Thomas.
Thomas acknowledged that to Mike Silver of NFL Network, saying that everyone is currently on the trading block.
That’s obvious import of trading one of the team’s best players. If that guy is expendable, anyone is.