The Nov. 10 trade deadline is approaching for the NFL, and the Cleveland Browns are surprisingly in a position to be buyers.
Every year for the trade deadline, the league is typically split into two categories: buyers (good teams) and sellers (bad teams). The good teams are looking for new additions to help with a playoff push, while the bad teams are offloading players as they turn their attention to the future.
The Browns enter Week 8 with a 5-2 record, making them one of the better teams in the league, so they are expected to be buyers at the deadline. However, Cleveland must still be strategic.
While the team’s turnaround happened quicker than expected, the Browns are still a young team at the start of a rebuild. That means the franchise doesn’t need to sacrifice a ton of future draft picks on an aging, half-year rental.
Cleveland should still get involved in the deadline frenzy; it just needs to be strategic about who it goes after. The Browns should target young players at positions of need who can contribute now, but also be a part of the team’s promising future.
With those criteria in mind, here are four trade candidates who make sense for Cleveland.
Spoiler alert: all four players are edge defenders, as that is still Cleveland’s biggest need despite the team’s 20 sacks on the season — one less than the league lead.
Trade candidates who the Browns should explore adding ahead of the trade deadline
Outside linebacker Tuli Tuipulotu, Los Angeles Chargers
For as surprisingly good as the year has been for the Browns, it has been as surprisingly bad for the Los Angeles Chargers. At 0-6, L.A. is the only winless team in the NFL entering Week 8. For whatever reason, the Chargers haven’t been able to live up to expectations, so offloading their talented players is a possibility.
One of those talented players is Tuli Tuipulotu. A 2025 Pro Bowler, the edge defender has 28 sacks in his career and he’s only in his fourth season. That also means that it’s a contract year for him, which could incentivize the Chargers to move him since he could potentially leave the team during 2027 free agency.
At just 24 years old, he makes a ton of sense for the Browns. Cleveland could acquire him ahead of the deadline and sign him to an extension, making him a valuable part of what’s already a talented young core.
Outside linebacker YaYa Diaby, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The same goes for Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ edge defender YaYa Diaby. Currently in his fourth season, Diaby has 22 sacks in his career, including three this season. Those three all came in Week 7, so Diaby is heating up.
The Buccaneers are now 2-5 and coming off a dominant victory against the Carolina Panthers, who lead their division. With Baker Mayfield healthy, Tampa Bay could be inclined to hold on to its players. But with Diaby set to be a free agent in the offseason, Cleveland may be able to convince the Bucs to make a trade.
Defensive end Shemar Stewart, Cincinnati Bengals
This would definitely be an interesting move, because Shemar Stewart is just one year removed from being a first-round pick, and the Cincinnati Bengals are division rivals with the Browns. However, considering Stewart’s role in Cincinnati, business could be done.
That role is essentially no role at all. Stewart has played just 8% of the Bengals’ defensive snaps, and he’s coming off a week where he was a healthy scratch. Only 23 years old, the Browns could take a gamble on the young edge defender.
Edge Jermaine Johnson II, Tennessee Titans
Cleveland just faced off against Jermaine Johnson II in their win over the Tennessee Titans, giving the team a good look at the edge defender. With the Titans now 1-6, it’d be understandable if they started to move players like Johnson who could be valuable to winning teams.
However, Johnson just joined Tennessee this offseason via trade, and he has a great relationship with Titans’ head coach Robert Saleh, playing under him with the New York Jets.
That relationship could make a trade unlikely, but the Browns should still give Tennessee a call.
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