Bengals overlooked Browns’ trade email
The mystery of the missing email has been solved in the Cleveland Browns’ failed attempt to trade for Cincinnati Bengals backup quarterback AJ McCarron.
The Bengals were able to locate an emailed trade agreement from the Browns that Cleveland sent Cincinnati shortly before Tuesday’s NFL trade deadline, a Bengals spokeswoman said Wednesday.
The email was sent by a member of the Browns front office who works closely with head of football operations Sashi Brown. The Bengals were unfamiliar with the person who sent the email, and although it was sent at 3:54 p.m., they were busy filing their trade paperwork to the league office, so the email was missed.
The Bengals had contended on Tuesday that they never received the email from the Browns, but they were mistaken.
None of this changes that the trade the AFC North rivals agreed on could not be completed because the NFL never received a signed agreement from the Browns before the 4 p.m. deadline.
Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said Wednesday during a news conference that he doesn’t know if he’s “ever really heard of” a trade being derailed because paperwork wasn’t filed on time.
“All you have to do is notify the league office you’re making a deal, and that’s an easy thing,” Lewis said. “We spoke to a person in (the league office) that (said) our (paperwork was) there.”
The Bengals reportedly would have received a second-round selection and a third-round pick in next year’s draft for McCarron, who played for Browns coach Hue Jackson when Jackson was the Bengals’ offensive coordinator.
“It’s not a good situation,” Lewis said. “AJ’s a very valuable member of this team, and I told him that. Frankly, I was relieved (we didn’t trade him). He’s a great kid. He’s a true team player. He’s a leader on this football team, and that’s why we felt like he’s such a valuable asset.”
To recap this convoluted mess:
A league source said the deal came together close to the deadline, and, while scrambling, the Browns emailed a signed trade agreement to the Bengals under the impression that Cincinnati would sign the same document and send it to the league office. However, the Browns did not send the agreement to the NFL.
The Bengals sent a trade agreement in time to the NFL and copied the Browns on the email, but the document had been signed only by Cincinnati, the source said.
The NFL confirmed that it received paperwork from the Bengals before the deadline but did not hear from the Browns until after 4 p.m., another league source said. Both teams are required to notify the NFL in writing of a trade before the deadline for it to be approved.
The Browns pleaded with the NFL to allow the trade, but the league rejected the request, a source said.
Jackson’s interest in McCarron and fellow quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, whom the New England Patriots traded Monday to the San Francisco 49ers for a 2018 second-round pick, has been well-known in league circles since early in the offseason. But a disconnect between the Browns coaching staff and player personnel department regarding the value of McCarron hindered trade talks dating to the spring, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported.
All this has given rise to speculation about whether someone in the Browns front office sabotaged the trade, which would represent a new level of dysfunction, even for the Browns. Since gaining control of all roster decisions last year, Sashi Brown has made 17 trades, so it’s not as if he doesn’t know the protocol for completing a deal.
McCarron said he was enthusiastic when he heard about the trade because “I’m a big competitor, and you want to play, and you want your opportunity.”
He looked forward to reuniting with Jackson, only to be told nevermind.
“It would have been really exciting,” McCarron said. “But it didn’t happen.”