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

[milkman]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

A new OL isn't going to make Alex more aggressive. His style will always be to stare down a primary read and only throw if the guy is wide open. If that's not available either check down or run the ball with no intention of throwing on the run. Buying him more time will limit the sacks which is good, but it's not going to stop Alex from being Alex. The only thing I've seen that changes Alex is the quality of the defense. When the defense sucks, Alex attacks. When the defense plays well, he goes into a shell.

He's had more time the last two weeks, and he has been more aggressive downfield.

[milkman]

I firmly believe the Chiefs will, for the first time in decades, draft a QB in the first two rounds in this next draft.

[BryanBusby]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

If that's the case, I'm very supportive of the trade.

But... Chiefs. Their history suggests otherwise.

If they love Alex they will stick with him regardless of moves they make.

[Mother****erJones]

Originally Posted by milkman

I firmly believe the Chiefs will, for the first time in decades, draft a QB in the first two rounds in this next draft.

Me too. I can't believe it but for the first time in my life they will.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by milkman

He's had more time the last two weeks, and he has been more aggressive downfield.

I don't care about being more aggressive downfield as much as I am him being more aggressive in general. We have a huge short field problem and that's because Alex won't throw into tight spots. We have a huge third down problem... some of that is drops, but we still see our QB throw well short of the sticks in most cases.

If we don't fix these problems, we aien't beating good teams. Hell, I thought Alex played brilliant against CIncy between the 20's. But he was absolutely terrible in scoring range. And the tough part we all see is, when this team is up or down by 14 points, we see Alex make the throws we wish he'd make in close games.

[BryanBusby]

I mean I can't ****ing stand Alex Smith and Joe Thomas probably makes him look better and more healthy....but no way you sure turndown a sure thing HoF player in a firesale.

They need a LT and making thr move stops a team like Denver from doing this and getting better.

The concept is to get better as a team. Going from a pussy brokedick to Thomas is a no brainer. Our future QB needs blocking too.

[kccrow]

This is for Discuss... This is the reason KC was devoid of talent when Dick Vermeil left. It isn't because of 1 trade. Its because KC traded top picks every single year he was involved. They then whiffed on several of the remaining picks. I blame King Carl more than anyone.

2001: Traded 1st for Trent Green (QB), Traded 2nd and 3rd for Dick Vermeil (HC)
2002: Traded 3rd to move up in Round 1 for Ryan Sims (DT)
2003: Traded 3rd for Willie Roaf (OT) that was conditional 4th
2004: Traded out of Round 1 to Detroit (picked DT Junior Siavii Round 2)
2005: Traded 2nd for Patrick Surtain, Traded 3rd for John Welbourn

[ChiefsCountry]

Chiefs aren't drafting a QB. They build towards 8-8 to 10-6 type team. Might as well see what the Browns want for Thomas and Mack. It would make the line very solid at least. The excuses would keep getting smaller and smaller for Alex Smith.

[O.city]

The whole throwing short of the sticks on third down crowd is maddening.

The defense is playing to the first down marker. It's not an abysmal thing throwing short

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by BryanBusby

I mean I can't ****ing stand Alex Smith and Joe Thomas probably makes him look better and more healthy....but no way you sure turndown a sure thing HoF player in a firesale.

They need a LT and making thr move stops a team like Denver from doing this and getting better.

The concept is to get better as a team. Going from a pussy brokedick to Thomas is a no brainer. Our future QB needs blocking too.

Again, if we're building around a future QB, I LOVE the idea of surrounding this team with weapons.

But if this team is going to stubbornly stick behind Alex Smith, I've always contended that you need to build a top 5 defense, running game, and have elite tight ends. And spending $10M on a LT makes that really difficult when you have guys like Poe, Berry, and Kelce due huge pay days... not to mention you have to add guys on top of those guys on defense since we're still not good enough on defense.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by O.city

The whole throwing short of the sticks on third down crowd is maddening.

The defense is playing to the first down marker. It's not an abysmal thing throwing short

Except that we statistically do this at a significantly higher rate than most teams do. And our 3rd down conversion rate has, apart from our 7-1 stretch last year, been a horrific 30% or lower.

[Mother****erJones]

I'm in on the Joe Thomas trade but wonder what they want.

[-King-]

This is idiotic. Getting Joe Thomas doesn't stop us from getting anybody or, hell, even drafting a quarterback any year. I don't understand why you wouldn't improve an important position for the next 4-5 years and work on the rest of the team including a QB in the meantime.

If this team is going to stick with Smith, ok, lets try to get him all the help we can cause he needs it. If this team is going to get a new QB next year or 2 years from now, cool, then he doesn't come in to a team that allows 60 sacks per year. What's the problem?

[Dave Lane]

Originally Posted by Mother****erJones

Me too. I can't believe it but for the first time in my life they will.

Not one chance in seven hells

[milkman]

Originally Posted by Mother****erJones

I'm in on the Joe Thomas trade but wonder what they want.

Alex Smith.














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A man can dream.