Cleveland Browns: Little trade a big deal?

In a flurry of trades, the smallest deal will likely have the biggest impact on the direction of the Cleveland Browns in the draft and this season.

While media and fans were trying to get their heads around their new quarterback in Tyrod Taylor, receiver Jarvis Landry and saying goodbye to former first round pick Danny Shelton, the acquisition of Damarious Randall has the potential to make the biggest impact on the team.

Taylor is important, but it doesn’t change the reality the Browns are in the market for a quarterback with the top pick. Landry, they hope brings reliability and ups the level of play for the wide receiver group as a whole. And while the Shelton trade doesn’t bring back a player now — it in fact loses a pick this year and defers a higher pick to next year — it’s just another reflection on where this team has gone versus where it’s going.

Damarious Randall could impact the Browns on a few fronts. For the player they got in exchange in DeShone Kizer, the Browns may have signaled exactly what they hope to do in the upcoming NFL Draft.

Randall played free safety at Arizona State before being selected 30th overall in the 2015 NFL Draft. It was surprising at the time, because the Packers had a free safety. They had just taken HaHa Clinton-Dix the year before in the first round, 21st overall.

The Packers decided to move Randall to corner. He’s been alright, but hasn’t lived up to being a first round pick. Additionally, he’s had some issues with maturity. Combining that with a new front office, the Packers decided to move on and try to get something for him, which ended up being DeShone Kizer.

The Browns, now importing some of the front office that liked Randall in the first place, get the guy they liked enough to take 30th overall a few years ago. Randall could play corner, but the more pressing issue is at free safety. Save Kai Nacua, the Browns don’t have one. At all. Jabrill Peppers did as well as he possibly could for someone who didn’t know how to swim dropped into the deep end and told to figure it out. He got better in the second half of the year in particular, but they drafted him to play strong safety.

Randall has been somewhat of a gambler in his time in the NFL. He’ll take chances, which can backfire but he also finds the ball. Essentially, Gregg Williams’ defense in a nutshell. The hope is they have an effective enough pass rush where opposing quarterbacks are forced into bad decisions and players like Randall can cause turnovers, particularly interceptions. Last year, the Browns only had seven as a team.

The Browns are leaving it open, suggesting they’ll let the players get on the field before they decide where to put them in regards to the secondary, but it certainly makes the most sense to let Randall go back home to free safety. Perhaps a smoke screen in regards to the draft or maybe they aren’t done making moves and could bring in someone else to play free.

Should the Browns at least believe Randall can be their free safety, even if they don’t know if he’s the long term answer, it changes how they approach the draft. In particular, it impacts the fourth overall pick, seemingly ruling out the possibility that the team would select Minkah Fitzpatrick out of Alabama.

They don’t need to take a free safety anymore. If there’s one they love, they can take them, but it puts them in position to focus on adding more players they believe can most help the team rather than trying to chase needs and plug holes.. If Randall plays well, great. If not, they can look for a longer term replacement next year.

Assuming the Browns are targeting a quarterback with the top overall pick (because they want to be taken seriously as a franchise), this changes the landscape of the fourth pick. It really puts three possibilities to the forefront. Bradley Chubb, the pass rusher out of N.C. State, Saquon Barkley, the dual threat back out of Penn State and trading down.

Chubb appears to be the heavy favorite, given he’s the best player at the most premium position available and quickly transforms the defensive line into how Williams envisions. They’d have what they hope are three premium pass rushers in Chubb, Myles Garrett and Emmanuel Ogbah around Larry Ogunjobi to wreak havoc up front.

Should the Indianapolis Colts pick Chubb and Barkley be available, the Browns could certainly pull the trigger and bring in a stud running back to play with their rookie quarterback. This would easily be the most well received move in terms of media and fans.

Next: NFL Mock Draft: Unexpected first-round picks pre-FA

Trading down has gotten to be more and more attractive, especially with the Browns giving up draft picks to add veteran players. Their draft war chest is by no means empty, but they can keep the good times rolling by keeping premium assets coming and hopefully with their quarterback in tow. And the draft prospects in the ten to fifteen range are no worse than those in the top five this year, so there’s an added incentive to move.

It’s quite the domino effect for what really amounts to two teams trading players they no longer want. It’s a shame more of these don’t happen for this exact reason. Randall may finally get to play the position he is most suited while Kizer gets to start over with a new team after being grossly mishandled. The other moves may get more of the reaction and headlines, but this one may have the biggest impact as far as how the Cleveland Browns to choose to operate their team in the draft and this year as a whole.