It’s not uncommon to see a team give up on a season. It happens all the time. Things aren’t going well and the team decides to pack it in and start prepping for next year. This process usually entails trading away big name players for prospects or in extreme cases, purposely losing games. These are usually things that take place during the middle and ends of seasons. Well, it looks like the Cleveland Browns are setting a new standard.
After the team decided to trade its first round draft pick from a season ago, Trent Richardson, it’s pretty dang clear that they’re giving up on 2013 and starting to focus on the future. Sure, the Browns haven’t looked good this season, but no one saw this coming. No one.
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In all the years I’ve followed sports, I can never recall an NFL team trading such a high draft pick so early into the following season. Richardson was the third overall pick in 2012 and they even traded up to get him. It’s really just mind blowing. But maybe they know something we don’t? Richardson does have a reputation of being injury-prone, but thus far, he’s been able to stay on the field in his young career.
Richardson will now undergo a physical before joining the Colts, so any hidden issues will most certainly be exposed. But I highly doubt anything new will come to light.
The Browns now have two first round picks at their disposal for 2014 and who knows, they might just keep dealing players and stock piling more picks. It’s not the worst thing for a franchise to look towards the future, but for Browns’ fans, this trade has to be a rough one.
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