It’s one of the quietest times of the NFL calendar, with roughly a month until the NFL Draft, where the Cleveland Browns will have the sixth and 24th overall picks to help usher in the Todd Monken era. There’s a lot of pressure to get things headed in the right direction after winning just eight games over the past two years, as the criticism will get loud quickly if the losing continues.
In the meantime, this is also the time of year to cross some T’s and dot some I’s. With plenty of time to kill, the Browns recently decided it’s time to look into a potential NFL rule change, which Rich Eisen vehemently disagrees with.
The Browns recently proposed a rule change that would allow teams to trade draft picks up to five years in advance, which would be an increase from the current three-year limit. The proposal will be discussed at the annual league meetings from March 29th until April 1st, and Eisen believes this would significantly handcuff teams and potentially destroy teams’ futures.
“You should not allow a team to trade something so deep into the future. It’s just absurd. If you do something like this, you’re going to handcuff a team’s ability to actually replace the GM that needs to be replaced or the coach that needs to be replaced. That is an absolute fact. I think this is ridiculous. You can’t peg who you would be taking in the draft, and you’re just absolutely destroying any possibility of being better deep in the future for somebody right now. I’ll be honest with you, and I know this is going to be taken as a shot: It’s no surprise the Browns are the ones doing it. I think this fails,” Eisen said.
The dig he threw at the Browns toward the end of his rant was painful, but valid. This franchise has done a lot of things to shoot itself in the foot, and trading a first-round pick five years in the future would be an unfortunate thing to add to that list.
Eisen said he’d be surprised if the rule gets passed, and it would be tough to disagree with that notion. It’s not terribly common to even see teams trade draft picks three years in advance, and perhaps if we saw more of that, then it would be easier to see a rule change like this getting passed.
The upcoming draft is a critical one for the Browns, as they have a few glaring needs and a golden opportunity to fill them. Hopefully, the excitement about this upcoming class won’t be blanketed by the news that the Browns are looking to ship off picks in 2031.
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