Browns thinking trade up

April 19, 2017

Browns willing to trade up to land QB … One of the stories making the rounds of the NFL last week was that the Cleveland brain trust was split on whether to select Texas A&M DE Myles Garrett of North Carolina QB Mitch Trubisky with the #1 pick overall at next week’s draft. Turns out that it wasn’t all that much of a split as the Browns appear committed to taking Garrett with the top pick. However, according to VP of football operations Sashi Brown the Browns would willing to trade up from the 12th pick presumably to acquire Trubisky, a Cleveland-area native who is generally considered to be the top prospect at the position in this year’s draft and whom Brown described as a “positive young man, bright, very competitive, who brings a lunchbox, blue-collar mentality to the position.” The Browns, of course, have done nothing but acquire extra picks the past couple of years – they currently have a total of 8 first or second round picks over the next two drafts – but Brown admitted that they were open to trading up during his pre-draft press conference earlier today. “Generally, we value picks” said Brown who added that the team “doesn’t want to make a habit of turning two picks into one, but we’re positioned to do it.” And the Browns may not have trouble finding a trade partner as each of San Francisco, Chicago, Jacksonville, Tennessee and the Jets, who have the second through the 6th picks respectively, have all indicated a desire to trade down.  Stay tuned. At the same time, Brown threw cold water on the notion of the Browns pursuing a veteran QB such as Jimmy Garoppolo of New England or A.J. McCarron of Cincinnati, although he didn’t totally rule it out.