‘All-In’ Trade Pitch Nets Browns $140 Million All-Pro WR

Getty Head coach Kevin Stefanski of the Cleveland Browns.

The Cleveland Browns continue their trend of clearing cap space, opening up a wide range of possibilities with the most money to spend in the entire NFL.

Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com cited a source on August 21 who said the Browns aren’t looking to make any splashy moves with their now approximately $37 million in cap room and will use the dough to take care of extensions for players already on the roster. However, the Browns can make waves if they wish, and one way to do that would be to pursue an elite-level playmaker for the offense.

Cleveland is already heavy on wide receivers and appears to have found something potentially special in Austin Watkins Jr., who may not have ever landed on the roster had Marquise Goodwin not been laid up by blood clots. But regardless of how talented Watkins proves to be, there is no one on the Browns’ depth chart in the same stratosphere as All-Pro wide receiver Davante Adams, currently of the Las Vegas Raiders.

Davante Adams May Ask Raiders for Trade Considering Circumstances in Las Vegas

GettyLas Vegas Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams may be looking for an exit strategy this season.

Jared Mueller of SB Nation’s Dawgs By Nature on Tuesday authored an “all-in” trade pitch that would see the Browns deal for Adams, partnering him with Amari Cooper and Elijah Moore on the front lines of the franchise’s passing attack.

At one point, [Raiders head coach] Josh McDaniels was seen as the savior Cleveland needed. Now, he looks to be trying to salvage his second head coaching position with Jimmy Garoppolo taking over for Derek Carr. Adams pushed for a trade to the Las Vegas Raiders to team with Carr and could be looking for his way out if the season doesn’t start well.

While Adams reuniting with Aaron Rodgers will be discussed, joining the Browns would give the team a much better version of DeAndre Hopkins, [whom] fans wanted this offseason. Adams is a precise, talented route runner [who] would create perfection in Cleveland’s passing attack.

The Raiders play in the brutal AFC West, which sent two teams to the playoffs last year — the Los Angeles Chargers and the Kansas City Chiefs, the latter of which won the Super Bowl.

Garoppolo has been injury-prone over the last several years and the Raiders finished with a 6-11 record last season to boot. Beyond that, Carr was Adams’ college teammate at Fresno State, one of his best friends and a significant factor in the receiver’s choice to push for a trade to Las Vegas in the first place. All that is to say it is entirely plausible that Adams would ask out of town.

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Browns Have the Cash to Add Davante Adams but Not the Draft Assets to Trade for Him

GettyLas Vegas Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams.

The Browns currently have plenty of cash to pay Adams. The question is whether the organization can/would meet the Raiders’ asking price if a deal for Adams ever actually ended up on the table? The answer is probably no.

Adams, currently entering the second season of a five-year contract worth $140 million in total, has been a first-team All-Pro in each of the past three seasons and a Pro Bowler for the previous six. He caught 100 balls for the third straight year in 2022, surpassing 1,500 yards receiving for the second season in a row and led the NFL with 14 touchdowns.

It is unlikely Adams can be had for anything less than a first-round pick, if that, even though he is entering his 10th season and turning 31 years old in December. Cleveland has just two draft picks inside the first four rounds in 2024, their own second-rounder and third-rounder. The Browns also have two fifths, two sixths and two sevenths, per the team’s official website.