Cleveland Browns: 3 trade targets in the event of a Minnesota Vikings fire sale

LB Eric Kendricks

The Browns clearly didn’t value the linebacker position very highly this offseason, letting former Pro Bowler Joe Schobert walk and signing B.J. Goodson to a one-year deal. The position group has been weak, as expected. There is a good argument to be made that letting Schobert go was the correct decision, but the lack of talent in that room has been evident this season. Defenses know that none of Goodson, Malcolm Smith, Mack Wilson, or Jacob Phillips has proven to be good in coverage, and that weakness has been exposed on a consistent basis. The amount of splash plays from that corps is also low; the unit has two tackles for loss combined.

The Browns already tried one of the Kendricks brothers, so if this trade were to happen, hopefully, things go better this time. Kendricks was an All-Pro last season, earning a fantastic 87.5 coverage grade from Pro Football Focus. That seems to be an outlier at this point, but it’s not like Kendricks has been bad in that area in other years.

Kendricks is a smart and physical player with good range who would solidify the linebacker spot. He’d be the LB that remains on the field in Joe Woods’ dime base utopia, and Phillips can learn behind him. Kendricks would bring a cap hit of around $8.5 million in 2021 and $9.5 million in 2022 and 2023. That’s a reasonable price; he makes less than Schobert and is a better player.

Perhaps the Vikings aren’t actually in fire sale mode, and just made a savvy trade to recoup assets in a lost year. Or maybe they won’t part with any of these players for reasonable compensation. But the Browns should at least do their due diligence on the situation; general manager Andrew Berry has proven to be more than willing to swing a trade at the right cost.