3 Attention grabbing Cleveland Browns trade proposals in 2023 offseason
By John Suchan
Cleveland Browns trade No. 2: Jedrick Wills to the Chicago Bears
Jedrick Wills, the former Alabama star was selected by the Browns at No. 10 overall in the 2020 NFL Draft. He primarily played at right tackle when he was in college and made the switch to the left tackle position when he was drafted by Cleveland.
That was a hot topic back then as some questioned if he could be successful in this role. While he’s had his share of good moments, there have been far too many times, especially this season where Wills has made mistakes and played with a lack of effort.
He’ll be entering his fourth season and while this potential trade option isn’t the most serious yet, it could become one if the Browns find a player in free agency or in the draft that they could replace Wills with. The Browns have to take about $2.8 million in dead cap money, but they would create about $3.3 million in cap savings.
Left tackles are always in high demand in the NFL and Cleveland could potentially get back some good value in a trade if they did something with Wills. Similar left tackles in their prime, like veterans Trent Williams of the San Francisco 49ers and Duane Brown have been traded for 2nd and 3rd-round picks in the past so getting that back with Wills could be likely.
The Chicago Bears are looking for help along their offensive line and if they were to make a trade with Cleveland, they would have plenty of cap money to do it as they have north of $100 million. Wills would be relatively inexpensive to them now. Wills becomes an unrestricted free agent in 2025 and by then, the Bears could evaluate his worth.
While the Bears may spend more on an experienced lineman in free agency, it wouldn’t surprise me if, come draft time, the Browns dangle Wills trade out there. Many teams have a need to improve their offensive lines, but because the Bears have so many options going into the draft this year, as they have the No. 1 pick and a ton of cap space, this type of deal could be made.