Very rarely can you judge or evaluate major decisions within a season in the NFL. That is true for both the Cleveland Browns and Jacksonville Jaguars when it comes to the Travis Hunter trade. You can never account for injuries in football, but Hunter being out for the final 10 games of the Jaguars season, most likely, gives the early advantage to Browns GM Andrew Berry.
DT Mason Graham has continued to develop into more of a force throughout his rookie year while RB Quinshon Judkins is the driving
force on Cleveland’s offense. The Browns still have Jacksonville’s first-round pick in 2026 to add to their side of the ledger.
The Jaguars are still winning games and pushing the Browns extra pick down a few spots despite Hunter’s injury.
And, despite CB Greg Newsome II’s poor play.
Newsome was benched, on defense at least, after the first quarter of Jacksonville’s latest victory:
After getting over 90% of the defensive snaps in Weeks 9 and 10, Newsome was reduced to 13% and 32% in Weeks 11 and 12. As noted, Newsome has struggled with some injuries since the trade, but Pro Football Focus has only given the fifth-year cornerback a grade of over 50 once since arriving in Jacksonville, with low grades of 41.7, 39.8, and 27.9 among the six games he played in.
For reference, CB Tyson Campbell, acquired in the Newsome trade, has only had one game graded below 61, in his Cleveland debut (59.2) while playing in 85% or more of the team’s snaps in five of the six games with his new team.
With the Hunter trade, it is still early. The Shohei Ohtani of football is still likely to be a great player, potentially on both sides of the ball. With the Newsome trade, the verdict is all but official, and Jaguars GM James Gladstone might hesitate to pick up the phone when his Browns counterpart makes a call.
How would you grade these two trades as of now for the Browns?
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