BUT on my weekly appearance to talk Browns with Ramon Malpica, (have I mentioned that yet?) last night, I stated that the Browns could stand pat because Andrew Berry's track record shows he usually loves the roster he has built and is willing to let the chips fall where they may.
Well, Andrew Berry did almost just that as the Browns didn't add a player at the deadline but they did move one as Cleveland traded wide receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones to the Detroit Lions for a sixth-round pick in the 2025 draft.
Yes, you read that correctly, in the supposed "All-In" season, a team that seemed a receiver short, traded one away for a low-round pick two years away.
Peoples-Jones caught eight passes for ninety-seven yards this season and was averaging six and a half yards on thirteen punt returns this season.
Now, before you think I'm being too harsh, I see the thinking on this from both sides.
Cleveland managed to receive three years and another half-year of use from Peoples-Jones, got back what they spent to draft him in 2020, a sixth-round pick, and Peoples-Jones was likely going to leave via free agency at the end of the season, so as little as the return was, it was still something.
On the other side, Peoples-Jones had played the highest percentage of snaps among the Browns wideouts this season, at eighty-two percent even more than Amari Cooper, and if Peoples-Jones's value is that low, why was he playing so often?
Peoples-Jones has taken thirteen of the Browns' nineteen punt returns this year and while he isn't an elite return man, he had served in that role several times in his Cleveland tenure.
I am interested to see who profits from the trade with increased playing time and I'd think it would be third-round draftee Cedric Tillman, who has caught one pass for five yards and has been inactive since the week four loss to Baltimore when he suffered a hip injury in garbage time.
Tillman has been a healthy inactive for the last two weeks, so it will be interesting to see what he does with the added snaps.
David Bell and Marquise Goodwin could also see a bump in their playing time as well.
I'd say I'm sorta "meh" on the deal.
Peoples-Jones may have been seeing lots of playing time but he wasn't doing much with it, although some of the blame should go to the chaos at the quarterback position as well.
The draft pick is something for a player who was likely to leave and while that is a tangible asset it's still not much to get excited for.
It will be interesting to see how Cedric Tillman and David Bell react with their increased role but if either was impressing the coaches in practice, shouldn't they have earned time over Peoples-Jones already since DPJ was expendable?
Of more interest to me than trading Peoples-Jones is the lack of interest by the Browns in doing anything to help a failing offense during a supposed "All-In" season.
Andrew Berry has traditionally been an executive that has been reluctant to make deals involving players that he drafted or acquired and he is staking the season on DeShaun Watson not only returning to the lineup but returning to his past level of play.
If Watson cannot do the former, Berry could be staking his job and that of Kevin Stefanski on either Dorian Thompson-Robinson or P.J. Walker guiding the Browns to success.
If Watson returns but doesn't perform well, Berry has a different problem because the Browns have no other option to replace him due to the cost of acquiring him and what seems now to be an incredibly bad decision to fully guarantee Watson's contract at sixty-three million dollars for each of the next three seasons.
Andrew Berry loves his roster and thinks it's good enough to make a long run without adding anyone to shore up the roster for the stretch run.
For his sake, I hope he made the right decision.
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