Jimmy Garoppolo, against all odds, is still employed by the New England Patriots. The highly intriguing backup quarterback has been "on the market" for quite some time with the realization that Tom Brady is still playing at an obscenely high level and, from a Patriots standpoint, there are real questions about the team's willingness to pay starting QB money to a backup with no firm end date.
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With that in mind, the Cleveland Browns remain theoretically in the mix for a Garoppolo trade and Tony Grossi of ESPN outlines the thinking behind Cleveland potentially angling for a deal at this particular time:
Several teams thought to be interested in pursuing Garoppolo have turned the page and added other veteran quarterbacks instead — either convinced Garoppolo is unavailable or conceding they can't compete with the well-fortified Browns to make a deal. San Francisco signed Brian Hoyer and Matt Barkley, Chicago signed Mike Glennon and the Jets signed Josh McCown.
But the Browns have not made such a move.
On the contrary, they have made accommodations seemingly to step up a pursuit of Garoppolo. They released McCown and Robert Griffin, and then made a controversial trade to acquire an additional second-round pick in 2018, giving them three in that draft to go along with two second-round picks in the 2017 draft.
Beyond that, Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk weighs in on the possibility that Cleveland could acquire Garoppolo, simply because "every player in the league is available" if you trade enough to get them:
So is Garoppolo available in a trade? Sure he is, at the right price. Every player in the league is available for the right price. If the Browns offered the first overall pick, the 12th overall pick and the 33rd overall pick in this year's draft, plus left tackle Joe Thomas, the rights to suspended wide receiver Josh Gordon and Kessler to take Garoppolo's place on the Patriots' roster, does anyone seriously think the Patriots would turn all of that down, just to keep a player who might not play for years if Brady stays healthy?
But the Browns aren't going to make that offer. The question is whether there's any realistic trade package that the Browns would be willing to give up, and the Patriots would be willing to accept. And most indications out of New England are that the Patriots aren't willing to give up Garoppolo for anything but an over-the-top offer.
The offer above is, of course, preposterous and the writer seems to realize that. Still, it is tough to find common ground between a deal that is juicy enough to entice New England while simultaneously being reasonable enough to justify from Cleveland's standpoint.
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Negotiating with Bill Belichick is an adventure in itself and the Browns aren't exactly operating from a position of strength. It will be interesting to see if a deal gets done but, if it does, the smart money is on New England "winning" the trade on paper.
