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Cleveland Browns reportedly shopping Thomas, Mack and others

By Thomas Moore

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Oct 4, 2015; San Diego, CA, USA; Cleveland Browns tackle Joe Thomas (73) jogs onto the field during the first quarter against the San Diego Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

With the Cleveland Browns guaranteed of hitting the midway point of the 2015 NFL season with a losing record, reports are starting to surface that the team will hold a fire sale in the run up to Tuesday’s trading deadline.

First up is NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, who cites unnamed sources in saying the Browns are in “discussions” to “potentially” trade future Hall of Fame left tackle Joe Thomas and Pro Bowl center Alex Mack.

Not to be outdone, Mary Kay Cabot at cleveland.com came through with another unnamed source saying the Browns have “made it known” they would be happy to move outside linebacker Barkevious Mingo.

Finally, ESPN’s Adam Schefter says (as always through unnamed sources) that the Browns may be discussing a trade for outside linebacker Paul Kruger.

Got all that?

As with anything relating to the Browns, it is pretty easy to believe anything that people say or write about the club. But ask yourself this: when was the last time an NFL team held a fire sale of its top players at the trade deadline? This isn’t baseball, where you can just plug a new player into the lineup. It seems pretty unrealistic that the Browns would be so active in a league where trades are pretty rare.

As for the rest of the details, Thomas has repeatedly said he is happy in Cleveland and showed that commitment when he signed a contract extension in 2011, a deal that keeps him with the Browns through 2018 but has no guaranteed money in it for 2016.

Mack has a no-trade clause that he can waive in the contract that he negotiated with Jacksonville and the Browns matched. The deal gives Mack the option to opt out of the contract and become a free agent after this season. While just about everyone assumes Mack will exercise the opt out clause so he can flee town, but it is worth pointing out that Mack and his agent negotiated that clause with the Jaguars, not the Browns.

Isn’t it more likely that Mack wanted that in the contract so he wouldn’t be stuck in Jacksonville on the off chance the Browns did not match the offer?

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Kruger is in the third year of a five-year deal and has struggled this season while being asked to play as a cover linebacker (not his strong suit) rather than a pass rusher. (Yeah, we’re not sure we understand that one either.)

As for Mingo, he is in the third year of his four-year rookie contract  and has been a polarizing figure since being selected sixth overall in the 2013 NFL Draft. Sold by the previous regime as a pass rusher, Mingo has been better utilized by the current Browns staff as a coverage linebacker, something that many media members and fans have struggled to accept.

While it might be easy to make an argument for trading Mingo or Kruger – it’s not as if the defense can play any worse than it has been this year, especially against the run – trading away two key members off one of the best offensive lines in the league doesn’t make much sense.

It is possible that rookie Cameron Erving could step in for Mack at center, but who is going to replace Thomas at the left tackle position? And even though it seems as if they have been around forever, Thomas is only 30 and Mack is only 29, and it is not as if offensive lineman go downhill once they hit 30 the way running backs do.

Nothing should probably come as a surprise when it comes to the Browns, and there are plenty of people who are going to easily jump on the idea of the team quitting on the season, but these rumors seem to be nothing more than people looking to fill up the endless hours of pregame coverage on a Sunday morning.

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