Why Jimmy Garoppolo is Still in Play for Cleveland

Today's free agent action has been pretty crazy. And the free agent period has just been open for about 2 hours now. Perhaps the most crazy of the transactions that have happened so far is the Cleveland Browns trading for Brock Osweiler. Houston basically gave Osweiler and a 2nd round draft pick in this years draft to Cleveland to swap compensatory picks (4th round CLEA turns into 6th round HOU). Cleveland in principle paid Houston 16 million (Osweiler's 2017 salary) for a 2nd round pick. There has been some skepticism in the air regarding whether or not Osweiler is Cleveland's quarterback moving forward, and I'm here to tell you- he's definitely not their guy.

Osweiler was awful in his first year with Houston. So awful he was traded to Cleveland as a result just so Houston wouldn't have to pay him. This isn't a joke, I wish it was considering how handsome Osweiler is but unfortunately it's not. Osweiler is slated to be owed 16 million this year, and it would create 16 million in dead cap if Cleveland decided to cut him after trading for him. This wouldn't be a problem for Cleveland however, as even after trading for Osweiler they still have around 83 million in free cap space. This is also after Cleveland made a few splashy offensive line free agent moves earlier in the day, so Cleveland wouldn't be in any financial trouble by just cutting bait with Osweiler.

This is where the 2nd round pick Cleveland acquired from Houston comes into play though. Shortly after the Osweiler trade, it was reported by several sources that Cleveland was considering to cut Osweiler anyway in an NBA stye salary dump. Assuming Cleveland took on Osweiler's salary only to acquire the 2nd round pick from Houston, it would make sense if Jimmy Garoppolo was still in play. The Osweiler deal could just have been Cleveland acquiring more ammunition to pry away Jimmy G from the hoodie that is Belichick. It was reported that New England wasn't willing to part ways with Jimmy G for Cleveland's 12th overall pick alone, so Cleveland after acquiring Houston's 2nd rounder is in prime position to test the limits of Belichick's stinginess.

Going after Garoppolo still makes sense for Cleveland. Osweiler is clearly not the answer at quarterback for any team, and Houston learned that the hard way. Cleveland is in search of a franchise quarterback to turn things around for the unstable franchise, not a stop gap below average quarterback. In fact, with the moves that Cleveland made in free agency today, it seems as though they were already preparing to court Jimmy G to sign a long term extension if they could get him away from New England.

My gut tells me that this move for Osweiler was one step in Cleveland's grand scheme to land Jimmy Garoppolo, and it actuality this trade was actually quite a good move by Cleveland which I can't believe I'm saying. If Cleveland presents the right deal to New England, I'm sure they'll be able to swipe Jimmy G away and it'll allow them to build around him during this year's draft. I'm not sure if this is going to happen though being as Belichick is driving a pretty high price for Jimmy G, but only further time will tell whether or not we'll see a blockbuster deal.