The Dallas Cowboys agreed to trade wide receiver Amari Cooper and a sixth-round pick to the Cleveland Browns for a 2022 fifth-round pick and a sixth-round pick, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Saturday.
The Browns entered this offseason on the hunt to rebuild Baker Mayfield‘s wide receiving corps, which was a massive disappointment last year.
The Browns had high hopes that Odell Beckham Jr. could return to being a No. 1 wide receiver after suffering a season-ending injury in 2020. Instead, he was released by the team in early November. OBJ went on to win a Super Bowl with the Los Angeles Rams, while Cleveland’s passing game cratered on the way to a disappointing 8-9 finish.
The Browns, in fact, didn’t have a single wideout top 600 receiving yards, and only Jarvis Landry had more than 35 receptions. Mayfield, who struggled while playing through a torn labrum in his non-throwing left shoulder in Week 2, finished 27th in the league in QBR (35.1).
Before the Browns landed Cooper, Landry already was a question to return. He has a $16.6 million cap hit with no guaranteed money left on the final year of his deal, and seemed unlikely to be back, barring a drastic restructuring of his contract.
Cooper, however, gives the Browns a proven No. 1 receiver they so desperately needed after the Beckham debacle.
Cooper, who turns 28 in June, ranked eighth in the league during his time in Dallas in targets (428) among receivers, seventh in receptions (292), ninth in receiving yards (3,893) and ninth in receiving touchdowns (27), according to ESPN Stats & Information.
ESPN’s Kimberley Martin reported that Cleveland has inquired about trading for Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson. A grand jury in Houston voted Friday not to indict Watson on the criminal charges, leaving only the 22 civil lawsuits with accusations of sexual assault and inappropriate conduct during massage sessions against him.
But, according to sources, Browns general manager Andrew Berry continues to indicate he doesn’t view any of the other quarterbacks who could be had via trade or free agency as worthwhile upgrades over Mayfield, when healthy. That list includes Kirk Cousins, Jimmy Garoppolo and free agent Mitchell Trubisky.
According to sources, Berry met with Mayfield’s agent during the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis to reaffirm privately what both he and coach Kevin Stefanski have repeatedly said publicly since the end of the season – they’re committed to Mayfield as their starting quarterback.
Source : ESPN
