Browns trade Jason McCourty to New England

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The Cleveland Browns didn't add any new players on day two of the official NFL year, but they did jettison one player as the Browns traded defensive back Jason McCourty to the Patriots.

The Browns included a seventh-round pick in this year's draft in the deal and received the sixth-rounder of New England in return for McCourty, who will turn 31 during training camp.

I was mildly surprised with the move, mainly because even with the signings yesterday in the secondary of T.J. Carrie and Terrance Mitchell, the Browns still seemed to need further help and I thought McCourty was arguably the team's best player among the defensive backs last season with 54 solo tackles and three interceptions.
I thought McCourty might be moved to safety with his age and ball skills, I think he has a good chance of making that transition with New England, should they decide to try that move and I thought he would have been a decent option for the Browns there, but when the Browns decided that Damarious Randall was going to play safety and not cornerback after being brought in from Green Bay that McCourty was expendable.

Initially, McCourty was announced as released with a wave of other players, but that was amended to this trade, which moves a pick up one round when New England had interest in acquiring McCourty,
The Patriots have the other McCourty twin (Devin) and the Browns likely decided to do a favor to a hardworking veteran and traded him to the Patriots.
New England may have acted quickly to make a trade before a release as perhaps another team would have claimed him off waivers (New England is next to last in waiver claims).

There were several players released by the Browns today, but only one of note as the team released wide receiver Sammie Coates.
Coates was obtained from Pittsburgh just before the opener with a 2019 seventh rounder for a 2018 sixth-rounder in a trade similar to the McCourty trade in which Pittsburgh received something for a player that they may have released anyway.
Coates never seemed to get on track with Cleveland (He wasn't alone in that) and often seemed listless and finished with only six catches for seventy yards...