3 Trades Cleveland Browns could make with the New York Giants

#2 D’Ernest Johnson to the Giants

The Giants brought in a new regime this offseason and the rumors started swirling about trying to unload Saquon Barkley.  From all accounts, his rehab is going well. But clearly, they are looking to the future without him.

Given his health problems the past few seasons it’s a prudent move.

This is where D’Ernest Johnson comes into the equation. He is an Alliance of American Football League success story who also showed in his limited action last season for the Browns he has what it takes to play in the NFL.

Through his three years in the league, he has averaged 5.3 yards per carry, and saw his snap count increase to 30% last season, though again this mostly came through injury to Kareem Hunt and Nick Chubb.

He’s third on the depth chart in Cleveland and will not see significant playing time without an injury above him. I can see teams who lose a key piece at running back early in camp or anytime before the deadline calling on the Browns to see if he is available.

Johnson is at least good enough to be a solid #2 back in the league and the recent trend of timeshare backfields helps his value.

For the Giants, they do not have much depth behind Barkley. HC Brian Daboll has brought Matt Breida and Antonio Williams with him from Buffalo, but neither of these two should be counted on as a go-to back.

If the Giants were to lose Barkley again for any significant length of time (or find a buyer) adding Johnson to a committee backfield would be a solid way to replace him.