CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Browns’ front office reportedly tried to strike a deal with the Washington football team for left tackle Trent Williams, but such an agreement could not be reached ahead of Tuesday’s NFL Trade Deadline.
Not only did the Browns not land Williams, but they did not make any deals on the final day of trades in the National Football League for the 2019 season.
And the Browns were far from the only ones who backed away from potential deals because of high asking prices, as there was only one deal made Tuesday, with the Los Angeles Rams sending cornerback Aqib Talib and a draft pick to the Miami Dolphins to clear the necessary cap space to potentially make Jalen Ramsey the NFL’s highest-paid corner.
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Washington was open to dealing Williams, a multi-time Pro Bowl left tackle, but according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, front-office executives “are big-game hunting, asking for players like CB Denzel Ward in return.”
Rapoport further wrote that such a request “is a non-starter” for the Browns after Ward put together a Pro Bowl rookie season in 2018 and made his long-awaited return to the lineup in last week’s road game against the New England Patriots after missing four straight contests because of a hamstring injury suffered during a Week 3 practice.
In 16 career games with the Browns, Ward has registered 65 total tackles, including 49 solo stops and 16 assists, with 13 passes defended and three interceptions to go along with his contributions on special teams, where he has blocked multiple field goal tries.
A 10-year NFL veteran, the 31-year old Williams has become a seven-time Pro Bowl left tackle for Washington since being selected with the No. 4 overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft out of the University of Oklahoma.
Currently, Williams is holding out and demanding Washington trade or release him after an offseason in which he felt unsupported from the organization while going through a medical procedure. To this point, Washington has remained defiant against its left tackle’s request.
Although the Browns did not make a deal Tuesday, they were active ahead of the deadline, securing draft assets in exchange for two players.
On Monday, the Browns parted ways with second-year linebacker Genard Avery, sending the pass-rushing specialist to the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for an undisclosed pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.
That was the second deal made by the Browns in the last week, as general manager John Dorsey parted with another one of his selections when he sent offensive lineman Austin Corbett, the first pick in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft, to the Los Angeles Rams for an undisclosed 2021 pick.