The most surprising move of this NFL offseason wasn’t surprising to everyone. Weeks ago, one Reddit user had the whole Brock-Osweiler-to-Cleveland thing mapped out.
Redditor Crossfire912 noted that the Browns have a ton of cap space and are always trying to add to their stash of draft picks. They can use that cap space to essentially by more draft picks through trades, and then either stock up on young talent or trade them for players the franchise actually sees use for.
Not only did Crossfire912 have the concept, but he nearly foresaw the exact terms of the trade. The prediction had Houston sending a third round and conditional seventh round pick to Cleveland. The actual trade included second rounder and a sixth rounder in exchange for a fourth round pick from the Browns.
Now we’ll see if Tony Romo actually winds up in Houston, as Crossfire912 also predicted.
To the NFL reddit community’s credit, most of the top comments on the post recognized how plausible the scenario was while everyone else, including ESPN’s Adam Schefter, was stunned by the trade.
Interestingly, ESPN’s Bill Barnwell says the trade’s legality is unclear. The NFL does not allow teams to trade for cash, and that’s more or less what happened here. But with the yet-to-be-determined value of future draft picks, that could be what gives the Browns the wiggle room they need to get this trade through.
