Browns trade Danny Shelton

The vapor trail out of Cleveland continued on Saturday as the Browns traded defensive lineman Danny Shelton to the New England Patriots as yet another former first-round draft pick is jettisoned from the station.

The Browns sent Shelton and their fifth-round pick in April's draft to New England in exchange for the Patriots 3rd round selection in 2019.
Shelton played in 14 games last year without a sack and was reported to have played on less than half of the defensive downs.
Shelton was the final Ray Farmer first rounder to leave after being the 12th overall pick in the 2012 draft and was drafted to be the run plugger in the two gap as the "Haloti Ngata" in the 3-4 then used by the Browns.

I've been reading that Danny Shelton was a bust and I think that is a somewhat harsh assessment.
It's true that Shelton may not have produced as much as the Browns would have hoped for a player selected in the first dozen picks, but I thought he had a pretty solid season in 2016 and seemed to be coming into his own.
However, Shelton's body type makes him suited to be the nose tackle/two-gap tackle in a 3-4 defense and ill-suited for the more athletic tackle position in the 4-3 that was installed before the 2017 season under defensive coordinator Gregg Williams.
The Browns defensive line is probably the strength of the defense and with two young defensive tackles better suited to the 4-3 in Larry Ogunjobi and Caleb Brantley impressing during their rookie seasons last year and deserving more playing time, it was probably a decision that made sense for the Browns and it'll help Shelton as well.
Yeah, going from the Browns to the Patriots is a given, but the Patriots play the 3-4, Shelton should be able to help the Patriots in a role that he is best suited for and it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest to look back in a year or two and having to add Danny Shelton to a list of players that didn't succeed at their full potential until they left Cleveland.

I know it seems like the Browns didn't get much for Shelton, a pick likely to be near the end of the third round and not being used until 2019.
However, the Browns really didn't plan on using all of these picks and bringing in 12 more rookies to an already young team wasn't going to add any experience, so moving a player that didn't fit the defensive scheme, sending him to a place that he does fit (that helps with players more than you know when talking about an organization) and getting a day two pick for 2019 is about as good of a return as you could expect.
I always liked Danny Shelton, but this makes sense for both parties.

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