Recapping the Browns’ big Friday

This is a San Francisco 49ers site, first and foremost. You know that if we’re going to talk about the Cleveland Browns here, that means something either awful or awesome happened—in this case both. Whether it was practice or merely a stunt to prove to the NFL they are more than capable of the act, the Cleveland Browns had their own supplemental draft before the draft, making three trades. And yes, they filed all the paperwork in time.

Jarvis Landry

Browns Get: Jarvis Landry
Miami Dolphins Get: 2018 fourth rounder and 2019 seventh rounder

To start things off, the Browns made a deal for newly franchised Miami Dolphins wide receiver Jarvis Landry. The deal involved a 2018 fourth round pick and a 2019 seventh round pick. At the moment, Cleveland will be on the hook for the $15.982 million franchise tag that was slapped onto Landry by the Dolphins. At first, NFL Network reporter Ian Rapoport reported that Landry went to Cleveland because they would work on a new deal, but it seems like there is no deal yet and Landry is fine playing this season in Cleveland as a one-off.

Tyrod Taylor

Browns Get: Tyrod Taylor
Buffalo Bills Get: 2018 3rd rounder

The Tyrod Taylor era in Buffalo is officially over. The Browns initiated a trade with the Buffalo Bills for their starting quarterback. Cleveland sends a 3rd round pick (No. 65 overall) to secure Taylor’s services. If you’re wondering why, it’s simple: the Browns don’t want their shiny new rookie quarterback to take a beating their first season if they don’t need it to. Taylor provides veteran leadership and also gets a fresh start. This deal also provides the Bills some ammunition to trade with a possible team to draft their quarterback of the future. Perhaps a certain team picking 9th in the draft? That team?

DeShone Kizer/Damarious Randall

Browns Get: Damarious Randall and a swap of 4th and 5th round picks with the Packers (move up with both)
Green Bay Packers Get: DeShone Kizer and a swap of 4th and 5th round picks with the Browns (move down with both)

The DeShone Kizer era in Cleveland is officially over. All the hope Cleveland had for him as the answer at quarterback only led to one season in and out of the starting line resulting in him being jettisoned at the end of the season. Kizer will be going to the Green Bay Packers where he’ll be no longer competing for a starting job, but a job in general with Packers backup Brett Hundley. Meanwhile the Packers send cornerback Damarious Randall to the Browns. Randall has won the starting job two out of his three years with the Packers, but has failed to play a full season due to injury. In his three years with Green Bay, he’s averaged 3 interceptions and 46 tackles.

Oh...and the meeting between him and Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon should go very well:

No longer number 1

The deals today have cost the browns over 33 million in cap space (the majority from Taylor and Landry’s contracts). This puts them at roughly $80.346 million and dropping a spot. The New York Jets now have the most cap space with $89 million according to overthecap.com

What does this mean for the 49ers?

Of all these deals, it means two things: The Browns no longer have a ridiculously unfair amount of cap room and just have a ridiculous amount of cap room which means they can’t go absolutely crazy with a bid for a player’s services (well, not as much as before).

The other thing: Buffalo is going to need a quarterback after dealing Taylor and they are picking at the tail-end of the draft. Trading into the top 5 is going to cost them their entire cache of picks and the top 10 isn’t going to be cheap either. The 49ers hold pick number nine and would be the best option to get into the top-10. Perhaps the Chicago Bears (picking 8th) could swing a deal, but the 49ers at 9th could maybe make things a little less crippling. We can only speculate on what John Lynch can do—and if the 49ers even want to trade out.

Oh and here’s your Adam Schefter recap:

What a day.