The Cleveland Browns are 1-3 entering Week 5, and despite having a good defense, they have been held back by an inept offense. That’s why the team recently named rookie quarterback Dillon Gabriel the starter. If Gabriel can’t provide the team a spark, and Cleveland continues to lose games, the Browns will likely be sellers at the November 4 trade deadline.
Cleveland has a ton of players contending teams would love to acquire, and a couple of those players were named in trade proposals in a recent Sports Illustrated piece. Matt Verderame named one trade every NFL team should make before the deadline, and one of the hypotheticals had Cleveland sending Denzel Ward to the Seattle Seahawks.
Browns send Denzel Ward to Seahawks in hypothetical trade
In this proposal, Seattle sends a second-round pick back to Cleveland for the star corner. While this would be a great move for the Seahawks, significantly boosting an already promising defense, it’d be a terrible idea for the Browns. Ward is still playing elite football, and is a big part of what Cleveland is currently accomplishing defensively.
The move would be somewhat reasonable if the elite corner was in the final year of his contract, but he’s not. Ward isn’t set to enter free agency until 2028; that means the Browns have him for two additional years after this season. With the level he’s playing at, there’s no reason to let him go make another team elite.
Things are rough in Cleveland right now, but they could get turned around quickly if the offense get things figured out. Understanding that, it would be counterproductive for the Browns to start moving players on the side of the ball keeping them afloat. Denzel Ward is right where he belongs, in Cleveland, and that should remain the case.