Browns looking to trade Alex Mack and Joe Thomas

[beach tribe]

Browns looking to trade Alex Mack and Joe Thomas

The news is rather surprising given that Thomas is under contract through 2018 -- he has no guaranteed money for 2016 -- and Mack, who was almost lost in free agency to the Jacksonville Jaguars a season ago, has a no-trade clause. Mack -- who was listed by our Marc Sessler as a prime trade candidate earlier this week -- can opt out of his long-term deal after this season, though, which could be a motivating factor.

Still, this is an interesting and rather unorthodox approach to the trade deadline. The team likely feels they can replace Mack with 2015 first-round pick Cam Erving and slot one of their other highly-regarded offensive linemen in for Thomas.

Rapoport added that the team is also open to dealing former high-priced free agent acquisition Paul Kruger and Barkevious Mingo, the No. 6 overall pick from the 2013 draft. This, after already dealing Trent Richardson, their No. 3 overall pick from the 2012 draft. If you're just now sensing a pattern here, catch up. This is Browns football.

This would be the ultimate white flag raised on the 2015 season considering the Browns were going to hang their hat on the run game. Thomas has been one of the franchise's greatest players and, in a way, a trade to a contending opponent would be bittersweet. On one hand, he could finally put his skills to better use, but on the other, he would be departing a team that hinged on his professionalism for years.

Many of these talks often break down but scars from certain names leaking remain. So if general manager Ray Farmer is interested in getting it done, the clock is ticking. Nov. 3, 4 p.m. ET is coming quite soon.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300...and-joe-thomas

[Amnorix]

And, as usual, the NFL trade deadline triggers many gigabytes of talk and basically no trades.

[Mile High Mania]

Acquiring Thomas would have been great, but making it fit in the cap had to be a nightmare at this point... likely would have cost a bit of their depth.

[Mile High Mania]

Klis is reporting it was all about a disagreement on comp for Thomas, not the cap.

[Amnorix]

Originally Posted by Mile High Mania

Acquiring Thomas would have been great, but making it fit in the cap had to be a nightmare at this point... likely would have cost a bit of their depth.

More likely it would have cost cap room next year, but yes, to get the gain there must be some pain somewhere.

[Mile High Mania]

Sounds like the reports and the rush by 247 "news" outlets and twitter heads made it more real than it was...

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by Amnorix

I don't understand this "the cap is crap" nonsense. Sure, you can massage it and maneuver within it etc. etc., but it's very real, and today's gain is tomorrow's pain, OR VICE VERSA.

Pats took a bunch of dead money onto this year's cap to help free up room for next year, so we can extend Jones/Hightower/Collins (or some of them at least). The cap is all about choices.

People who insist this have no idea what they're talking about. The Patriots are dodging the cap because they have a qb who has consistently made average pieces look terrific. The Broncos have done it mostly through excellent drafting. The recent Patriots and Broncos spending runs are due to both teams realizing they need to go all in now while they are lucky enough to have a HOF QB.

And much as we drool over the Patriots going on spending runs, for most of bradys career, the Pats had 1 or 2 quiet off seasons followed by a spending splurge.

[The Franchise]

It helps that Tom Brady has cap hits of $14M, $15M and $16M.

[Amnorix]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

People who insist this have no idea what they're talking about. The Patriots are dodging the cap because they have a qb who has consistently made average pieces look terrific. The Broncos have done it mostly through excellent drafting. The recent Patriots and Broncos spending runs are due to both teams realizing they need to go all in now while they are lucky enough to have a HOF QB.

And much as we drool over the Patriots going on spending runs, for most of bradys career, the Pats had 1 or 2 quiet off seasons followed by a spending splurge.

Pats rarely go on spending "runs", IMHO. They are I think one of the best at managing the cap over the long term, and have frequently cut or traded players who they would prefer to keep because the cap number for the player doesn't line up with perceived "value". From Lawyer Milloy to Richard Seymour to Logan Mankins, the Pats have repeatedly bitten the bullet on tough choices.

Partly as a result, they actually have a reputation here for being cheap. Ask most Pats fans and they think the Pats are ridiculous in letting those guys go for cap reasons, and they argue that the Pats don't go "all in" because they don't sign a Suh, or whatever big name FA is avaialble. I disagree with that also. Although the Pats almost never "set the market" at any given position, at one point Brady had signed the most lucrative deal for a QB ever. They also signed Adalius Thomas, Rosevelt Colvin and Revis for deals that were very, very lucrative.

Eh, whatever. Nobody here wants a lengthy dissertation on Pats cap management style so I will stop now.

[Hog's Gone Fishin]

Originally Posted by OctoberFart

You guys should send that crappy #1 pick Fisher, Smith, Reid and your #1 for Thomas. While your at it sweeten the deal with Dee "runaway" Ford.

You should send your MOM, she'd create a HUGE gap for that offensive Line !

[Chiefs=Champions]

Originally Posted by OctoberFart

You guys should send that crappy #1 pick Fisher, Smith, Reid and your #1 for Thomas. While your at it sweeten the deal with Dee "runaway" Ford.

*You're*

[King_Chief_Fan]

Originally Posted by Mile High Mania

Acquiring Thomas would have been great, but making it fit in the cap had to be a nightmare at this point... likely would have cost a bit of their depth.

yup
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/14...e-thomas-trade
The Broncos would have had to make some salary cap adjustments to add Thomas and still keep enough cap space for players who will be moved to injured reserve over the remainder of the season as well as replacements they sign. With Ty Sambrailo headed to injured reserve, the Broncos will have $12.1 million worth of salary cap charges from players on injured reserve, including $10.6 million from Ryan Clady.

The Broncos had about $5 million worth of cap space after adding Davis, and the pro-rated cap charge for the rest of 2016 for Thomas would have been more than $5 million. To get Thomas on the roster and still have enough room to make future moves, the Broncos would have had to rework some current contracts or potentially release players.

Thomas also has three more years, beyond this season, remaining on his contract. He has salary cap figures of $9.5 million in 2016, $10 million in 2017 and $10 million in 2018. His acquisition likely would have affected Clady's future as well.

Clady, who has had three major surgeries in recent years, including this year's ACL repair, is scheduled to count $10.1 million against the salary cap in 2016 and $10.6 million in 2017.