RESOLVING THE LEDGER
This is one outlet's own report from Yahoo Sports — the article as it was filed. Other outlets are covering the same event; open the full story to compare every source side by side.
See the full story · 1 sourcesAnyone here grasp what the Cleveland Browns are up to? Bueller? Anyone?
Admittedly, it's an ages-old question for one of the NFL 's historically inept franchises − one that's never reached the Super Bowl. But the past two months have just added more layers of confusion, at least in my judgment.
I was following along earlier this spring, when Cleveland utilized free agency and the draft to reload an offensive line that had aged out − a stratagem that should also provide an eminently fair evaluation of this summer's (this season's?) quarterback battle. And after what appears to be a sterling 2025 NFL draft , including what seemed to be a cagey decision to move out of the No. 2 spot and forego selecting Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter , GM Andrew Berry positioned himself to choose four players in the top 58 spots this year. Nicely done, sir.
But then ...
Why wait to trade Myles Garrett? Or pay him?
Yes, then came the shocking June 1 trade of two-time Defensive Player of the Year − plus five-time All-Pro, newly minted single-season sack record holder and team legend − Myles Garrett, whom Berry had previously vowed to never deal and locked into a four-year extension just a year ago ... shortly after Garrett had asked out of Cleveland.
Stunning as it was − and we can argue about whether or not the Browns got market value for one of the greatest players in their history and one still squarely in his prime (even at 30) − Berry felt he was getting a sufficient bounty (a first-, second- and third-round pick plus 25-year-old defensive end Jared Verse) to reverse course on Garrett . Yet it immediately called into question Berry's earlier proclamation and makes you wonder why he didn't trade him a year earlier, after Garrett had already begged out of Cleveland and theoretically might have fetched more had the Browns invited a bidding war ... not to mention the decision to sign him to a four-year, $160 million extension with nearly $89 million guaranteed at signing.
Moving forward? The Browns are without their best player and top gate attraction. They're also eating $47 million in dead Garrett salary cap charges over the next two seasons. But fine, Garrett's championship window didn't align with the Browns' − to the degree they've ever had one since their 1999 rebirth − so embrace the youth movement, get something at least sizable in return for Garrett, including Verse , who was the key to the trade all along according to Berry.
But then ...
Why extend Denzel Ward and Grant Delpit?
Five minutes after Garrett's nameplate was taken off his locker, Berry turned around and extended DBs Denzel Ward and Grant Delpit − Ward getting two years and $62.2 million ($49.8 million guaratneed), making him the league's top-paid cornerback ... for the second time.
Say what now?
I don't want to take anything away from Ward, a five-time Pro Bowler who grew up in Ohio and was drafted out of Ohio State eight years ago, making him quite the local hero who's done well in this NFL wasteland. Delpit (3 years, $48 million, $35 million guaranteed) isn't nearly as decorated, though has been a reliable starter for the past four seasons. But both are on their third contracts. Neither has played in a playoff win. Neither has had to play without the benefit of Garrett wrecking shop in front of them. Jim Schwartz, who did such an exceptional job deploying them while running this defense for the past three seasons, is also gone. So why pay premium prices for a pair of aging veterans when your team seems to be at least a year away from being a year away and they don't project as championship cornerstones, either? And neither Ward nor Delpit will have nearly Garrett's trade market down the line.
“The big thing, going back to the Myles decision, is that wasn’t plan A going into the offseason," Berry said last week. "I’d categorize that as, ‘Hey, this is a unique opportunity that we didn’t necessarily anticipate doing or being available to us.’ So, making that trade didn’t fundamentally alter our approach to team-building from that point forward.
"Denzel and Grant are in the primes of their careers − they’re high-level players, they’re high-level people. Those are the types we want to continually make investments in.”
Berry also likes to note they're home-grown ... (kinda like his former superstar).
But what now after divesting Garrett, who will literally cost this franchise for the next two seasons − and while staring at the prospect of $86 million in cap charges for quarterback Deshaun Watson ... once he's presumably off the roster next spring ? Oh yeah, next spring − which would be the first opportunity to extend Verse, which would be early but would likely also mean a discount. Oh yeah, next spring − which would also be the time to pursue other free agents given the fairly obvious signal that owner Jimmy Haslam expects to have a winning product on the field by 2027. And, don't forget, the spring of 2028 could be when emerging youngsters like linebacker Carson Schwesinger, last season's Defensive Rookie of the Year, running back Quinshon Judkins, tight end Harold Fannin Jr. and perhaps even quarterback Shedeur Sanders will be sniffing around for new money.
"(N)ext year might be the time to dip into free agency," Haslam said last week. "You have to realize that when you go into free agency, you’re going to overpay − you just are. So, you’ve got to keep that in mind and balance that with the value of draft picks.”
Sure seems like Berry's making that potential balancing act increasingly precarious.
Especially given ...
The muddy quarterback situation
Watson and Sanders are currently locked in a battle for the QB1 role , each alternating snaps with the first team every other day of training camp − in a duel that may largely be performative for both. (However, it is amusing that both Watso...
AIPROPX is an independent multi-source news index — we track, compare, and connect coverage from across the web into one place you won't find anywhere else.