3 Surprise moves remaining for the Cleveland Browns

Cleveland Browns Surprise Move No. 1 – Trading Kareem Hunt

There’s no doubt that the Cleveland Browns have the most expensive running back room in the NFL.

No one is severely overpaid, but with sizable contracts to Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt, the new deal with D’Ernest Johnson became that much more puzzling.

Right now, the Browns have Chubb, Hunt, Johnson, Demetric Felton who they drafted last year, and Jerome Ford who they drafted this year on the roster. Arguably five guys who could play at the NFL level, with really only three maybe four slots to fill.

There has been some chatter that Felton could move to wide receiver, but let’s be real, that is an extremely tough transition. He catches the ball extremely well out of the backfield, but there’s a big difference between that and lining up at receiver and I don’t see him being successful at that given his small stature.

And while I hate to say I think Hunt will be traded, once again, I think Berry may get hungry to replace his lost draft picks from the Watson trade.

The Browns currently have $40 million in cap (with Mayfield on the roster), so financially there’s no incentive to get rid of Hunt. But he could likely fetch a mid-round pick for his remaining year of service.

The Browns have no chance at retaining him after this year and could get a third or fourth-round pick in return. I see why Berry’s wheels will be spinning on this idea, but I truly hope it doesn’t happen.  Hunt was equally as effective as Chubb last year and just caught a few bad breaks with injuries.

What I want and what actually happens are two different things. I hope Hunt remains on the roster for one more year and they get a compensatory pick when he leaves, but if a team ponies up more before the start of the season, look for Hunt to be on his way out.