The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Browns should trade for OBJ if price is right
When the Browns finished 10-6 in 2007 after finishing 4-12 in 2006, playoff Fever spread like an epidemic the following winter. It was still raging when free agency and the draft arrived in 2008. Former Browns general manager Phil Savage had playoff fever bad – real bad. Savage had already traded the Browns’ first pick in 2008 to Dallas so he could draft quarterback Brady Quinn in 2007. On Feb. 29, 2008, Savage traded his second-round pick in 2008 to Green Bay for defensive lineman Corey Williams.
On March 4, he traded defensive back Leigh Bodden and a third-round pick to the Lions for defensive lineman Shaun Rogers. The moves by Savage were praised for being aggressive, even though he left his 2008 draft cupboard with only a can of peas on the shelf. The trades did not work out, as the Browns reverted to 4-12. Savage was fired and so was head coach Romeo Crennel. Now current Browns general manager John Dorsey is in a similar situation. The Browns made the biggest one-season jump in franchise history in 2018 to finish 7-8-1 after their historic 0-16 record in 2017. Dorsey made all the right moves a year ago when he got wide receiver Jarvis Landry, safety Damarious Randall and quarterback Tyrod Taylor in separate trades engineered before the 2018 league year officially began. The 2018 league year begins March 13 in the NFL. Fans and media members expect an encore from Dorsey. He was asked at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis last week about trading for Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. He said he couldn’t talk about players from other teams, but joked by holding his phone and saying Giants general manager David Gettleman could call him. Beckham, 26, caught 77 passes for 1,052 yards and six touchdowns with the Giants last season. He has 390 career catches in 59 games. He and Browns wide receiver Jarvis Landry were teammates at LSU and are good friends. Landry would like to be teammates with Beckham in Cleveland. There is no question Beckham would instantly make the Browns offense better. Beckham is under contract through 2023. The 2019 portion of his contract is for $16.75 million. He will make more than $2 million less in each of the four succeeding years, so his contract is attractive to a team like the Browns. Beckham might be a diva, but not a divisive diva as Antonio Brown has become in Pittsburgh. The question is, how much would the Browns have to give up to acquire Beckham? Two first-round picks? Two firsts and a third? That’s assuming Gettleman would even listen. “We didn’t sign Odell to trade him,” Gettleman told reporters last week at the Combine. “That’s all I need to say about that.” It would be silly for Gettleman to say he absolutely will not trade Beckham. If Dorsey (which he won’t) said “I’ll give you Baker Mayfield, Denzel Ward and two first-round picks for Beckham,” of course Gettleman would make that trade. Dorsey helped build the Kansas City Chiefs into the power they’ve become as their general manager from 2013 to 2017. He batted close to 1.000 in 2018 in his first full year as Browns general manager. Dorsey has been at the job long enough not to get swept up in all the excitement surrounding the 2019 Browns and overpay the Giants. He should jam on the brakes, not just pump them, if Gettleman asks for more than two first-round picks. Maybe Dorsey could add running back Duke Johnson to an offer and get Beckham plus a third-round pick from the Giants. Dorsey has one advantage Savage did not have: The Browns have more than $72 million in available salary cap room. That is more than enough to buy help at positions they would otherwise fill with draft picks traded for Beckham. Specifically, the Browns need to improve at defensive tackle, linebacker, cornerback and defensive end plus wide receiver. One more thing: The Browns have 10 picks in the 2019 draft. They have their own picks in rounds 1 through 6 plus an additional third, two fifths and a seventh-round pick via trades. The Browns should at least call the Giants to see what it would cost in draft picks to put Beckham in a Browns uniform. Dorsey would use his cell phone, so Browns owner Jimmy Haslam wouldn’t even have to pay long distance charges. It could be the trade that pushes the Browns to their first playoff appearance in 17 years, but only if the price is right.