Browns trade for Za'Darius Smith

 Andrew Berry's tenure as the general manager of the Cleveland Browns has seen several misses in the draft (hopefully that changes this year) but one thing that Berry has been very good at doing has been keeping enough open cap space to acquire an excellent player from a team that may not have the room on their salary cap to keep them and get the player at a far cheaper cost than their talents should.

Last year, Berry was able to land Amari Cooper from the Cowboys for a fifth-rounder and swap sixth-rounders under those circumstances and Berry struck again today with a trade with the Minnesota Vikings to hopefully end the Browns' problems by finding a pass-rushing threat on the opposite end from Myles Garrett.

Cleveland traded fifth-round picks in 2024 and 2025 to the Vikings in exchange for defensive end/linebacker Za'Darius Smith and the Vikings' sixth and seventh-round selections in 2025 and Smith should give the Browns the rusher that they have been seeking through the off-season.

An eight-year veteran with three teams, Smith was signed to a three-year, forty-two million dollar contract before last season by Minnesota after Smith was released by Green Bay after missing all but one game in 2021.

Smith has reworked that contract and will be guaranteed 11.75 million for 2023.

Smith finished with ten sacks in sixteen games and was named to the Pro Bowl but slowed down as the season progressed as nine and a half of his ten sacks came in the first ten weeks of 2022.

Smith was drafted by Baltimore from Kentucky in the fourth round of the 2015 draft and Smith played well in his four seasons there but truly came into his own after signing with Green Bay before the 2019 season.

Smith's first two seasons in Green Bay saw him finish with 13.5 and then 12.5 sacks before a back injury that cost him most of the 2021 season.

Considering that was only two years again, it's fair to be at least a little concerned about the back but Smith did play in sixteen games last season for the Vikings, so that is reassuring for now.

Should Smith repeat his numbers from last season, the Browns could have an excellent pass rush opposite Myles Garrett with Smith, free agent signee Obonnia Okoronwko and fourth-round draft pick Isaiah McGuire.

Andrew Berry may have finally found the help for Myles Garrett that he has been looking for.

Earlier in the week, the Browns signed veteran free-agent safety Rodney McLeod to a one-year contract to be the primary third safety behind Juan Thornhill and Grant Delpit.

The thirty-two-year-old McLeod signed with the then-St. Louis Rams as an undrafted free agent in 2012 from Virginia and would play for four years with the Rams before moving to Philadelphia for six seasons where he would play under new Browns defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz.

McLeod spent last season with the Indianapolis Colts, where he played in every game, starting fifteen of those, finishing with two interceptions and a career-high 96 combined tackles.

McLeod has always been highly thought of by fantasy football owners that play in IDP (individual defensive player) and was rated as the eighth-best safety in the league by Pro Football Focus in 2022.

McLeod is a strong tackler, is known for his locker room presence, and will be a huge help in teaching the nuances of the defense that Jim Schwartz will be installing for the Browns.

I'm not sure that the Browns could have done any better for a reasonably priced veteran safety than Rodney McLeod.