4 Players Cleveland Browns should trade for ahead of training camp

Upgrade the right guard position with Joe Thuney

Andrew Berry inherited an offensive line that was simply offensive. Greg Robinson played well int he final eight games of 2018 but that didn’t carry over into 2019 and he was not retained. He was however detained by police later for trying to smuggle copious amounts of marijuana across the border.

Then there was right tackle Chris Hubbard who wasn’t living up to the big free-agent contract he signed in 2018. Hubbard did stick around after taking a pay cut and is much better suited as a swing tackle rather than an everyday starter.

Berry replaced them with No. 10 overall pick Jedrick Wills and former Tennessee Titans offensive tackle Jack Conklin. What he didn’t do was make any moves inside. While it’s understandable they stuck with Joel Bitonio at left guard and J.C. Tretter at center, there could be an argument made that they need to improve at right guard.

Wyatt Teller enters 2020 as the favorite for that position simply because he was the best they had last season. Still, there’s an argument to be made that they should have brought in more competition. There’s also a case to be made for making a trade for someone such as Joe Thuney from the New England Patriots.

It won’t be cheap but there’s been a belief that Thuney could be traded by New England. He enters 2020 on the franchise tag and head coach Bill Belichick never has a problem trading away expensive talent for future draft picks.

Trade compensation and the new contract Thuney would command in 2021 could be a deterrent. Then again, the Browns could also use Thuney as a one-year rental then allow him to leave in 2021 and land a compensatory pick the following year.

There could be an argument made either way for this move, but what isn’t debatable is saying landing Thuney would give the Browns a much better offensive line. And with how much head coach Kevins Stefanski wants to run the ball, that’s not the worst idea.