The Cleveland Browns were quiet at Tuesday’s trade deadline despite the fact that, as the cool people like to say, general manager Andrew Berry is “always open for a trade.”
Berry did pull off one trade,
sending little-used defensive end Joe Tryon-Shoyinka and a 2026 seventh-round draft pick to the Chicago Bears in exchange for a sixth-round selection in the same draft.
The lack of action from a two-win team needing help along the offensive line and wide receiver, as well as many future draft picks as possible to rebuild the roster, left some feeling disappointed.
That was also in stark contrast to the New York Jets, whom the Browns will face on Sunday at MetLife Stadium. With just one win to their name this season, the Jets punted and sent cornerback Sauce Gardner to the Indianapolis Colts and defensive tackle Quinnen Williams to the Dallas Cowboys.
So while the Browns will not see Gardner or Williams on Sunday, they will see a player that they tried to acquire before the trade deadline in Adonai Mitchell, who the Jets acquired from the Colts as part of the trade package for Gardner.
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the Browns were in discussion with the Colts about acquiring Mitchell for a late-round draft pick before Indianapolis sent him to the Jets.
A second-round selection by the Colts in the 2024 NFL Draft, Mitchell never caught his groove with the Colts. He played in all 17 games as a rookie, making seven starts, but had just 23 receptions for 312 yards and no touchdowns. And that was despite playing eight games with Joe Flacco at quarterback!
The situation did not get any better this season as Mitchell made just one start and had nine receptions for 152 yards and again failed to score a touchdown.
That no touchdown stat should maybe come with an asterisk, as Mitchell is probably most well-known for fumbling the ball just before crossing the goal line at the end of a 75-yard catch-and-run in Week 4 against the Los Angeles Rams.
A play like that would have surely gone over well in Cleveland, a “rough-and-tumble football town” that does not put up with shenanigans from its players.
In any event, Mitchell is now on the Jets, the Browns, who are at getting wide receiver Cedric Tillman back, will get a look at what might have been if Mitchell plays, and everyone will move on.
