When the Cleveland Browns open the season against the Jaguars on Sunday in Jacksonville, they will be hefty underdogs, by an 8.5-point spread in some sports books, and a 7.5-point spread in others. That’s reasonable. The Browns won just five games last season, and the Jags were 13-4, the franchise’s best record in 26 years.
But Cleveland will enter the game with promising second-year tackle Mason Graham on the defensive line. They will have Quinshon Judkins as the starting running back and Dylan Sampson working out of the backfield behind him. One of their starting receivers–and arguably their best–will be rookie KC Concepcion.
Those four players are not only set up to be key contributors for the Browns, they have something else in common: They were all brought in as part of a doozy of a trade with the Jaguars during the 2025 draft, a trade that, so far, the Browns have won by a mile.
Browns Won Tyson Campbell Trade
We’ll get back to that significant move in a moment, but it is worth noting that the Browns also made a trade with the Jaguars 11 months ago, an odd player-for-player swap at cornerback that saw the Browns take on Tyson Campbell for former Browns first-rounder Greg Newsome.
Campbell was nudged right into a starting job, and he is still in that job now. Not only that, but because of his contract structure, the Jaguars had already paid most of his salary (four years, $76.5 million) for 2025-27, with the Browns looking at a $19 million cap hit in 2028. Campbell is a big, instinctual corner who had 18 passes broken up last season and allowed passers a rating of 84.8 after the trade.
Newsome, meanwhile, collapsed in Jacksonville, allowing passers a 107.5 rating. The Jaguars did not want him back even on a one-year deal–he signed a one-year, $8 million contract with the Giants. Pro Football Focus wrote of newsome: “Greg Newsome II (is) now on his third franchise in four years, Newsome is badly out of form. No cornerback in the league allowed more receptions in coverage between Week 14 and Jacksonville’s wild-card round exit.”
2025 Draft Deal Heavily in Cleveland’s Favor
There is plenty that can be said about Browns GM Andrew Berry, but clearly, when he calls the Jaguars, good things happen.
Of course, the Jaguars made the draft-day trade because they wanted Heisman Award winning two-way star Travis Hunter. Unfortunately, Hunter’s season ended after seven games with a torn ACL, but he will be back for this season. If he can play up to the ability the Jags saw when they picked him, that will narrow the gap on the 2025 trade.
The play of running back Bhayshul Tuten, who was drafted No. 104 overall with one of the picks the Browns sent back to Jacksonville, could tighten the gap, too.
But that gap could widen, especially if Graham continues to improve (he was rated the No. 34 defensive lineman in the league by PFF) and Concepcion is as good as he has looked in training camp. Already, the Browns have established their RB1 and RB2 from the 2025 Jags package, but they could get two more stalwarts out of it.
It’s a longshot that the Browns can pull off the upset over the Jaguars. But they have already scored two pretty big recent wins.
Browns Have Already Crushed Jaguars–Twice–Before Week 1