It happens every single offseason, but this year appears to be worse than normal. Cleveland Browns fans continue to think every player linked to a possible trade should come to this organization.
General manager Andrew Berry hasn’t been extremely flashy this offseason, but he continues to be extremely efficient with his signings. Many experts have the Browns in the top three as far as the best offseason thus far but fans still want splashier moves.
Brandin Cooks and DeAndre Hopkins are not exempt from the list mentioned above. For months there has been chatter from the fans that they both would make sense, but I can tell you that neither one was likely on Cleveland's radar.
With Cooks now traded to the Cowboys I’m sure all the attention will move to Hopkins. Here are three reasons that neither was ever a possibility.
Reason No. 3 – Deshaun Watson isn’t the Browns General Manager
No matter what you read in the media, you have a franchise quarterback and a general manager for a reason. And while Berry may very well ask Deshaun Watson for his input, he’s not ever going to be a decision-maker in this organization. If you haven’t learned that by now about Berry, you’re only fooling yourself.
Yes, Watson has a history with both Cooks and Hopkins, I’m sure they all three think highly of each other. Watson also had a great relationship with Will Fuller, and when that deal made all the sense in the world on the outside, it still didn’t happen.
I’m not saying a player doesn’t ever follow a coach to a new team, or a free agent won’t follow their old quarterback, it certainly happens. But at the end of the day, Berry is the one driving this ship.
Reason No. 2 – The fit was never right with the Browns
Don’t read into this the wrong way, the Cleveland Browns are always in the business of adding talented players to their roster. But even if Berry was interested in either of these wide receivers and the contracts made sense, the fit wasn’t great.
Remember, wide receivers are typically the most dramatic guys in the NFL. Yes, the Browns need help at the receiver position, but they don’t necessarily need a No. 1 or No. 2 guy.
Even Cooks who has bounced around the league a bit has had over 1,000 yards receiving in six of his eight seasons in the NFL.
Hopkins has had over 1,000 yards in six of ten NFL seasons, and if you take out the last two years where he had a suspension and some injuries, he has had over 800 yards in every single season and 950 plus yards in seven out of eight. Let’s not forget from 2017-2019 he was an all-pro and one of the most dominant receivers in the league.
My point is, the Browns don’t have enough touches for either of these guys. With Amari Cooper, Donovan Peoples-Jones, and David Njoku this team is truly in the third wide receiver market.
Don’t take it as me saying there isn’t a hole, because there certainly is on this roster. David Bell is still very young and Anthony Schwartz has been a major bust, but a mid-tier free agent is all this team needs now.
Reason No. 3 – The Browns cap was never realistic
The biggest reason the Cleveland Browns were never a realistic trade partner for either Cooks or Hopkins, they don’t have the cap space or the assets to make it happen.
Everyone looks at the fifth and sixth-round picks that the Cowboys gave up for Cooks. That’s fantastic, but this is an NBA trade, meaning the real value for the Texans is the Cowboys taking on $12 million of cap hit in 2023 and $16.5 million in 2024.
Wide receiver Brandin Cooks restructured his contract Saturday so that Houston will pay $6 million of his salary this season and the Cowboys now will pay the remaining $12 million, per source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 19, 2023
Cooks is a strong player, but trading for him would have been like keeping Jarvis Landry around in 2022. An average player on an elite contract doesn’t make sense when you’re trying to get to the next level.
The Hopkins contract is similar to Cooks. You won’t hear me argue that he's a next-level talent compared to Cooks, but the team will still be taking on a base salary of more than $19 million in 2023 and $14.9 million in 2024 and it will take an early-round pick which the Browns don' have a lot of.
Yes, the Browns have more than $10 million of cap space now and there are plenty of moves that could be made to create more space, but do you really want to go off a ledge at a position where you don’t need a player of that caliber?
Cooks may have a ton of success in Dallas, and whoever trades for Hopkins may get that all-pro caliber back out of him, but the Browns need help at other positions that will cost money and could add wins for 2023.
I’d rather spend $15 million on another defensive tackle, linebacker, and third wide receiver for 2023 compared to just one player.