The Opening Drive 11/5: The Browns and Jets Take Opposite Paths At Deadline
The Jets and Browns will be compared for their opposite approaches moving forward. How similar was their current state, and did the Browns have a another option?
The Cleveland Browns entered the trade deadline with a record of 2–6, a situation that usually prompts teams to sell off players. However, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that General Manager Andrew Berry was looking to be more of a buyer than a seller, with a focus on acquiring “young, controllable talent” instead of offloading veteran players. Core stars like Myles Garrett were declared untouchable. Although trade discussions involved names like David Njoku and Jerome Ford, the Browns ultimately chose to stand pat, making only one trade: sending EDGE Joe Tryon-Shoyinka and a 7th round pick to the Bears in exchange for a 6th round pick. This strategy has attracted criticism, with many questioning why the Browns did not take more action to sell off their assets before the deadline.
The Browns’ offense continues to sputter, and the team remains unsettled at quarterback. Yet Berry’s decision making suggests confidence that the current nucleus, bolstered by incremental key improvements in the offseason and the acquisition of a quarterback, armed with two first round picks, can lead to contention in 2026 and beyond. If it works, Cleveland will have threaded the needle, maintaining continuity while upgrading key areas. If not, the Berry’s approach may be viewed as a missed opportunity to reset and stockpile draft capital.
Meanwhile, across the AFC landscape, the New York Jets took the opposite stance. Sitting at 1–7, the Jets opted for decisive change and underwent a full-scale rebuild. General Manager Joe Douglas made two of the week’s most significant moves, sending cornerback Sauce Gardner to the Colts and defensive tackle Quinnen Williams to the Cowboys for multiple first-round picks. It’s a bold move that signals a complete philosophical reset. The Jets will build around young star Garrett Wilson, clear salary cap space, and refocus on the 2026 and 2027 drafts as the cornerstone of their future.
While some felt that the Jets where not that far away with some young talent on the roster, internal evaluations led them to undergo a full rebuild. The fans may endure more losing in the short term, but the message is clear that they are committing to a long-term plan instead of chasing quick fixes.
The Jets’ plan, by contrast, is refreshingly transparent: burn it down and start over. For Cleveland, the key question is whether Berry’s approach yields enough progress to justify the patience. If not, the franchise risks lingering in NFL purgatory, neither bad enough to rebuild nor good enough to contend. For the Jets, the future depends on how they convert their mountain of picks into foundational talent.
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WHY THE SITUATIONS ARE DIFFERENT
It’s true that both teams are rebuilding in their own ways and this will be framed as two completely different approaches from teams in the same place, one quietly and the other dramatically. The Browns are betting on their defensive core while trying to build up their offense over the offseason and the Jets betting on tomorrow. The truth is more complicated than that.
While the Browns have some expiring contracts that could have been sold at the deadline, I’m not sure that any of them really inspired much relevant return. The Browns’ offensive line has been poor, and teams have the same film the Browns do. Players like Rayshawn Jenkins and Jerome Ford are fine, but not necessarily hot commodities on the trade market.
The Jets trading away a a 25-year-old Sauce Gardner and 27-year-old Quinnen Williams is quite a bit different than the Browns trading away Denzel Ward(28) and Myles Garrett(29), partly because of their ages and mostly because of the way the Browns front office under Berry have structured their biggest contracts. The colossal amount of dead money that would roll up on the Browns if trading these pieces would push them back years and make it impossible to add competitive players around the quarterback they take at the top of next years draft.
In the end, the Browns are risking a great deal in trying to pull off the accelerated rebuild because if they stumble, they could end up where the Jets are, minus the assets. Meanwhile, I don’t know if trading away impact players the caliber of Gardner and Williams in hopes of hitting on players just as good with the picks recouped is the best plan either.
These things are decided on a case-by-case basis, and its possible neither team is able to get it right. However, when examining where the Browns are, I’m not sure they had much of a choice, given the way they have restructured contracts and pushed money into the future. Regardless, the way this all plays out for both teams will be fascinating and monitored closely around the NFL.
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