Browns swap corners with Jaguars

    The Cleveland Browns are either selling the 2025 season early, or Andrew Berry feels very secure in his future, as the Browns and Berry made another trade with the Jacksonville Jaguars, with Cleveland sending cornerback Greg Newsome and a sixth rounder previously acquired from the Jets for cornerback Tyson Campbell and the seventh rounder of the Philadelphia Eagles.

Both players are twenty-five years old, and both were selected in the 2021 draft.

Greg Newsome was the Browns' first-rounder in 2021 from Northwestern and was playing well this season after a few rocky seasons that had seen him pass Martin Emerson on the depth chart after Emerson's arrival in 2022.

Newsome had taken advantage of Emerson's training camp injury to re-establish him as a starter, and while I could do without some of Newsome's histronics (it seemed like after every play, Newsome was dancing around like he won the Super Bowl), he's playing as well as he has since his promising rookie season.

Newsome would have been a free agent at the end of the season, and the Browns could have received a compensation draft pick had Newsome departed Cleveland.

Tyson Campbell was the first player taken in the second round in the 2021 draft from Georgia, and played well in his first two seasons, earning an extension last summer for four seasons.

Campbell's play had dipped last season and early in 2025, but with his size (6'1, 195 pounds) and physical skills, Campbell might be a candidate for immediate improvement under an elite defensive coordinator in Cleveland's Jim Schwartz.

Cleveland gains two and a half years of control of Campbell with his extension, while Newsome could leave the Browns with nothing following the season.

Plus, Jacksonville picks up the "Dead Money" of Campbell's contract for being traded, and since Newsome is a free agent at the end of the season, there will be no dead money for him, saving Cleveland valuable space.

The draft picks aren't really a wash, as the Jets' sixth-rounder should be near the top of the round and the Eagles' seventh is likely to be near the bottom of that round.

If this trade had been made last summer, the Browns would seem to be receiving the better player.

At this time, the Browns appear to be getting a player who might have the better upside if he can return to his past form, and a player who might improve from a change of scenery, plus he's under contract for longer than the player they are giving up.

However, that's not a guarantee, and it's fair to consider a potential return if the team had waited until closer to the trade deadline to move Greg Newsome.

I'm not in love with the trade, but I don't hate it either.

I see the advantages of the cap number, and Tyson Campbell could turn his career around.

Still, I'm not sure that happens.

What I am sure of is that the Cleveland Browns are punting another season, and Andrew Berry might be safer than many think- or deserve.