Cleveland Browns Could Be Trading For A Young Star Quarterback Who Has Not Had A Chance To Shine In The NFL(Report)

Last weekend, the Cleveland Browns saw quarterback Deshaun Watson end his season and, most likely, his Browns career when he tore his Achilles. Now, the team will have to make some sort of trade or draft his replacement next season.

There is no way Watson will even be ready to play at the start of next year since it usually takes a full year to recover from an Achilles injury, and why would the Browns even want him back with how bad he was playing?

Cleveland Browns Could Trade For A Nice Young Player

The Browns and Watson are heading for a divorce, and there is a good chance the Browns will make a trade for a young quarterback who hasn’t had much playing time in his NFL career and see what they can do if they don’t want to draft a rookie.

Kristopher Knox from Bleacher Report published an article with quarterback trades he would like to see happen and have the Browns trading for Detroit Lions backup quarterback Hendon Hooker. 

The Detroit Lions likely won’t actively shop quarterback Hendon Hooker. The 2023 third-round pick earned the backup job this offseason, and the Lions have realistic Super Bowl aspirations. They would be wise to hang onto their top insurance policy behind center.

However, the Lions might be persuaded to part with Hooker after signing starter Jared Goff to a four-year extension in the offseason. Hooker is purely depth for Detroit, but his untapped potential could interest teams without a long-term quarterback plan.

“.Tennessee’s offense often made the reads simple and clear as day, but Hooker executed with good velocity and ball placement,” Derrik Klassen of the Bleacher Report Scouting Department wrote before last year’s draft. “He has enough juice to fit tight windows, as well as the careful placement to lead receivers smoothly for yards after the catch.”

It’s also worth noting that Hooker won’t carry a cap hit above $2 million in either of the next two seasons. That could make the 26-year-old an ideal flyer for the Cleveland Browns.

Deshaun Watson hasn’t panned out for Cleveland and is now out for the year with a torn Achilles. The Browns need to start over at quarterback, but Watson’s contract makes that a massive challenge. He’ll carry a cap hit of $72.9 million in each of the next two years.

The Browns may—and should—target a quarterback prospect in the 2025 draft. However, acquiring Hooker would give them another quarterback on a rookie contract to compete with Dorian Thompson-Robinson and the prospect-to-be-named.

The sinking Browns could also offer a veteran pass-rusher like Za’Darius Smith in a trade. That should interest the Lions, who recently lost Aidan Hutchinson to a fractured leg.

Hooker would be a nice piece to add to the quarterback room at this trade deadline, and maybe they even give him a chance to start for the rest of the year.

The Browns need to do everything they can to find a replacement for Watson, and if it is trading for a second-year backup who had a lot of talent in college, then that’s what they have to do.

The Browns are just in a bad spot right now with their limited talent on their roster and hardly any cap space, and it would be nice for them to be able to use their draft picks on players to put around a quarterback they get in a trade.