Should Browns Consider Trading DPJ
The Cleveland Browns have an abundance of talent at the wide receiver position. Should they consider a trade offer for fourth-year receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones? One writer who covers the Denver Broncos, believes they should.
The Broncos received bad news at practice today when wide receiver Jerry Jeudy was carted off the field with what is believed to be a hamstring injury. According to Sayre Bedinger of the Predominantly Orange website, the Browns should be the first team they call to inquire about trading for Peoples-Jones.
The full extent of Jeudy's injury is still unknown at this point but according to Bedinger the Broncos needs at wide receiver have reached emergency levels. Tim Patrick has already been lost for the year due to injury and now with Jeudy being expected to miss time, the burden would fall on rookie Marvin Mims to replace his production.
Peoples-Jones has been everything the team could ask for since picking him in the sixth-round of the 2020 draft. However, he is in the final year of his rookie contract and the team drafted Cedric Tillman in this year's draft. At the time, many speculated that drafting Tillman was done to replace Peoples-Jones as the team may not be able to afford resigning him.
Two significant trades involving talented players who are on the final year of their rookie deals happened today. Both involved the Arizona Cardinals trading away Isaiah Simmons, who heads to the Giants and Josh Jones, who is on his way to Houston.
Andrew Berry has always talked about the way he views his role as the GM of the team, often describing it as having one foot in the present and the other in the future. A decision to trade Peoples-Jones would be a bet on what you have behind him currently.
By all accounts, Tillman has impressed to date with what they have put on his plate and has made some head-turning plays in camp. In addition, the team also has last year's third-round pick David Bell, who may struggle to see the field this season. Finally, this year's Cinderella story has been the play of Austin Watkins Jr., who has good size and has played on the outside all preseason.
Ultimately, I believe that Berry would have to be blown away with an offer to move the talented wideout. I could see a scenario where he could trade Watkins Jr. for a future pick though if Denver was interested. There is too much invested in making sure that Watson returns to form and plays at an elite level. Taking away a weapon from his arsenal would be counter productive and I believe the Browns are more buyers rather than sellers for the foreseeable future.
