Cleveland Browns: Checking on the moves that have not worked at the bye
By Randy Gurzi
Trading away Danny Shelton, Josh Gordon, and Jason McCourty to the Patriots
Some of the players that were sent away by John Dorsey haven’t done much. Guys like Corey Coleman can’t find a job. He also traded away the entire 2017 quarterback room, but they’ve been relatively quiet. However, there were three guys he sent to the New England Patriots that maybe shouldn’t have been dealt.
Defensive tackle Danny Shelton was traded and in return, the Browns will get a third-round pick in 2019 (they also surrendered a fifth this season in the deal with New England). Shelton was a former first-round pick and while he wasn’t threatening teams with his pass rushing skills, he could stuff the run. Without him this season, the Browns are 27th in the NFL is stopping the run according to NFL.com. He may not have cured all that ailed them, but Shelton could have helped tremendously in this area.
Another defender the Browns shipped off to the Pats was Jason McCourty. He joined his twin brother, Devin McCourty, and has been playing lights out. Pro Football Focus rates Jason as the No. 9 corner in the NFL at this point in the year.
And last, but not least, the Browns gave up on Josh Gordon and sent the wideout to New England. While this one made sense, it still is hard to see Gordon playing well. After years of him being suspended, Cleveland finally traded Gordon away and he has 26 receptions for 477 yards in seven games for New England.
Yes, it made sense that they stopped trying with Gordon because it wasn’t working in Cleveland with him. However, it’s not like they got enough in return for what he is bringing to New England.
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