The biggest story from a loaded trade deadline is looking like it was a deal that didn’t happen. Both of Ohio’s NFL teams are dealing with the fallout, one far more than the other.
A disconnect between the Browns’ front office and the coaching staff has long been reported, but now ownership has stepped in after the front office appears to have bungled a trade for Bengals backup quarterback A.J. McCarron. Specifically, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reports Dee Haslam went “nuclear” on the Browns’ front office on Wednesday.
The Bengals would have sent McCarron to Cleveland for second- and third-round draft choices, but several reports have noted the Browns did not send in the necessary paperwork in time. McCarron remains a Bengal, and this latest report lends further weight to the Browns having made a seminal mistake on Tuesday.
Katherine Terrell of ESPN.com reports the Browns contacted the Bengals on Tuesday morning about McCarron’s availability, and the Bengals lowered their asking price to second- and third-round picks. Mike Brown and Sashi Brown were on the phone at around 2:10pm CT, with the latter attempting to convince the Bengals boss to drop the asking price. Mike Brown, per Terrell, held firm by saying this was a good price for an intra-division trade. Terrell adds the Browns then pointed out the 49ers’ deal to acquire Jimmy Garoppolo — who was viewed as a higher-end Cleveland target than McCarron this offseason — only took a second-round pick, prompting Mike Brown to repeat his stance about not being in business of assisting a division rival.
Mike Brown, per Terrell, told Sashi Brown to call back in a few minutes after thinking over the deal. But a call from the Browns saying they would accept the deal didn’t come until 45 minutes later, with around five minutes to the deadline.
The Bengals scrambled to get the paperwork in but managed to send their documentation to the league, with Terrell adding an email coming from Sashi Brown’s assistant — the unfamiliar name on the email adding to the confusion — went unnoticed during this frenzy. Noting teams often check with each other to see if they receive pivotal emails of this sort, Terrell adds this did not happen during the accelerated process.
However, Terrell notes the Bengals having seen this email wouldn’t have mattered since the Browns needed to send signed documentation to the NFL as well.
“All you have to do is notify the league office you are making a deal. That’s an easy thing,” Marvin Lewis said, via Terrell, who reports the Bengals did have a league rep on the phone while they were completing the agreement. “We spoke to a person in there.”
A league source informed Terrell there’s uncertainty about the Browns’ intent on making this trade, adding that there might have been a disconnect between the front office and coaching staff regarding this transaction. The source pointed out how much time elapsed between Mike Brown-Sashi Brown phone conversations as evidence. This comes after cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot reported Hue Jackson was on board with this trade Tuesday.
Florio reports seven teams have told PFT the Browns and Bengals should have separately contacted the NFL about the terms of this trade.
“Only requirement is for both clubs to separately notify the league office via email of trade terms. If trade terms match, deal done,” a source emailed Florio. “No need to sign paperwork and submit prior. Have 15 days to submit trade papers (with terms that identically match emails).”
These latest revelations figure to add to what’s been one of the more dysfunctional setups in recent NFL memory. And with the 0-8 Browns (1-23 since this new regime began work) considering personnel changes, this will not help convince ownership this arrangement can continue as is.
Blessing in disguise. AJ is not worth a 2nd and a 3rd. You fools already have enough back-up superstars on your roster.
Agreed that it will be a blessing in disguise. Way too much to give up, when the Browns have so many holes on their team.
Not sure if it’s good or bad the trade didn’t go through, but that kind of miscommunication is terrible. You can’t run any business with those sorts of problems, never mind 1 of only 32 NFL teams.
Sashi Brown should be canned on the spot. Although the mistake is a blessing. Browns are a joke.
McCarron may not be worth it, but it sucks for Cincy. You make a deal to trade one of your guys, and the other team doesn’t follow through. So now you have no picks, and a disgruntled player. Lose/Lose for something not their fault.
When the Browns asked for the trade to go through after the deadline, the league should have said yes, and then penalized the Browns FO for not following through.
Cincy got hosed big time for someone’s else’s poor judgement
Jackson is a coach not in management so no need for him to be on board with trade but can’t hurt. He never said he wasn’t on board with Kizer until now when he’s throwing others under bus saying was not his Qb of choice
Jackson has like no say in player personal it seems just like Pettine and the coaches that went before him. Pettine should have been kept around. Tabor should be gone. The Browns still need a Competent O-line coach and I think Lecharles Bentley would fit. Hue was forced into the GM Role in Oakland after the death of Al Davis gave up too much for Carson Palmer and got fired because of it. Then the Raiders scrapped his Offensive Scheme especially his Run Game and failed Miserably under Greg Knapp as OC and Dennis Allen as HC. Hue has less talent to work with by far then that Raiders team he coached. Hue should give up being the Playcaller at least. The Best QB currently on the roster is probably Hogan. The Problem is the QB whoever it is has no one to throw to on a consistent basis except for Duke Johnson.
You know LeCharles Bentley hates the browns right? He sued them for a ton of money because he got a staph infection that ended his career after he tore his knee up first practice after signing a huge deal with the browns. But yes you’re right on everything else you stated. I think Kizer just doesn’t have anyone at all to make any plays.
There was a famous Quote by Bill Parcells. If they want you to cook the dinner
at least they out to let you shop
for some of the groceries
The Coach should have final Say on the Roster
not a GM who knows Nothing about FOOTBALL!!!!!!!!!!
You would not want Bill Belicheck as your Defense Attorney would you????? Plus he was Lousy as Coach for the Browns and did a horrible job drafting. So flustered by not being able to get Kyle Brady he freefalled the team in the draft making it easy for the Baltimore Ravens to become a good team. Because they had someone intelligent running their draft room Ozzie Newsome. That pick by the Browns Craig Powell, that is probably still why the Browns are afraid of taking Elite Ohio State players in the draft.
“Nuclear”? Maybe “knucklehead”
It would have been a bad trade anyway. They need to get Sashi, Depodesto, and Grigson and kick them to the Curb. I know I would do a better job along with my older brother. They need someone who knows Football like a Scott McCloughan, or Bobby Beathard. Ray Farmer made things bad for Hue Jackson because of how he mismanaged the team and the Draft. Sashi is doing the same thing. Sashi should be gone for not taking Deshaun Watson, Goff, Wentz, Kareem Hunt, Ezekial Elliott, Joey Bosa, or Pat Elflein just to name a few. Plus for Shopping at the Bargain store. Lets sign a center with only 10 Starts. The Browns need a LT, a Center, and a RT. Plus another RB. So they can move Duke Johnson to Slot Receiver. You don’t go into a season with no Real Veteran QB as even a Backup, and basically no veterans on the team to Tutor the younger players. The Defense has a few veterans yes. The Offense really has no one. No security blanket for the young QBs. Such as Gary Barnidge. Signing Britt was like the signing of Dwayne Bowe. and what is with this total ineptness in taking the wrong guys in the State of Ohio and not going after guys from a Proven School like OHIO STATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Total Ineptitude. All Sashi has done with the Baseball Analytics guy is Draft Potential over Production every time and fallen on his Face. Kizer should have stayed at Notre Dame and the man who fails in the Clutch should have stayed at North Carolina Mitch Trubisky. The Browns need someone who knows WTF they are doing as the GM. Someone with a Football background that watches game tape and studies. McCloughan does that and did a great deal in Washington and even more to build the team in Seattle.
Haslam, the stupidity of the Browns starts with you!
If the Browns owners wanted to go ‘Nuclear,’ they should have gone ‘Nuclear’ when the front office chose not to trade up to get Deshaun Watson!
#BalloonHeads
Although the sentiment is true that the browns have no general idea of what they are doing. Please be aware of the situations that you are commenting on. For instance there was no need for the browns to trade up for Watson due to the fact they could have drafted him at 12 and still got Garrett with the top pick instead of trading back with the Texans. If your gonna talk about people not knowing what’s going on you should probably know what’s going on.
Very well put ksucats. How about the Patriots being clueless?? They likely could have gotten more from Cleveland than they did from SF. But then again, maybe it was wise to take the SF offer, they might still be stuck with Jimmy if they went the Cleveland route.
Lol!
At least he didn’t do a Wilmer Flores and ball his eyes out
In this article there’s a Cleveland Browns, a Mike Brown, and a Sashi Brown. I’m lost.