I know Frenchy posted this in another thread but this will need its own thread.

Could be a great trade.... worried about his knee...

Well, that's the other veteran edge rusher we needed!! Good trade AB !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WE got a good solid player for next to nothing!! A very good trade!!!!

His knee? What is wrong with it? I thought I read he missed 2021 due to a bulging disc in his back.

Even with the questionable injury risk, it seems like a low cost deal to make. The potential reward is worth the risk. Basically another Clowney type deal. Paying the 11 mil salary is the coast, and losing a few draft value points is the risk.

Well worth it. Like Clowney or not, he was probably the 2nd/3rd best player on our D last year. We had to do something to replace that. Now we have.

Oh man, forgot about the back injury.... you're right... 2021 he was out due to a back injury.... last year he was limited in the second half of the season due to a knee injury...

guess, I should edit my post that I think it could be a great trade, but worried a bit that he's had some injuries the last few years and could have a lot of wear and tear...

on the positive... he has double digit sacks 3 of the last 4 years...

He may not be a every down type guy anymore and will have to leverage him in when it makes sense.

The back issue seems to be behind him. The knee doesn't seem serious. One of those deals that it isn't going to heal up 100% until you stop playing football for a while. Ankle sprains, knee sprains, I don't think players get totally past those until the off season. All it takes is one little twist to keep it nagging on and on.

Low cost, potentially a nice reward. He knows how to disrupt the backfield, if he can just stay healthy he’ll be a nice fit on the edge. 30 is not young but it’s not old, either. Even though it might be just a one-year thing, it’s further proof that the FO is all-in on getting us deep in the playoffs.

The owners are, so the players, FO and coaching staff better be as well.

After reading some Minnesota message boards.....

- Many are not surprised by the trade
- Many don't think the return was that great for the Vikings--thought they would get more.
- Expected something like this to happen on the roster to allocate money towards JJ, Hockenson, or Hunter extensions.
- Smith only had one half of consistent production, but was really good doing so. Seemed to fall off in second half of the season.

His back appeared to be healthy.
Knee was a deep tissue bruise not a tweak.
He's sure, along w/ Onk, to take the pressure off of MG.

This looks like a great deal for the Browns if he can be the player he has been.

I tried to look at the injuries. It appears he recovered from back surgery and was playing great. Then he suffered a deep knee contusion and his play dropped off. The knee should be fine after an off season to heal up.

He should give us more than what we got from Clowney as a pass rusher.

We should have a good rotation of players now all along the DL. Schwartz has the pieces to put together a sound defense.

The areas we needed to address. Have been addressed.

We have added to the offense and defense. You never know till you play.

However, going into free agency I knew this was going to be a huge year for Berry. The draft more about developing depth. Free agency about contending now. I loved the Moore trade. Tomlinson and Ogbo and now Smith really changes the DL front. I like getting Thornhill and McLeod and letting JJ go. Akins should help in the red zone. Resigning Pocic provides depth at center with Harris returning.

Berry made the moves he could make. There may be a few surprises from UDFA but for the most part. We have our roster.

J/C We have a lot of pass rushers on this roster. Jimmy Schwartz is probably more excited than us to get his Ferrari's in gear. My guess is we will substitute a lot more than we have in the past to keep everyone fresh. I think with our division and the QB's in the AFC we cant have enough guys to chase them. Great trade, fresh pass rushers in the 4th quarter might just be the difference in the game. I love how this is shaping up.

You hit the nail on the head.

Fatigue can beat the best. It is really important when rushing the passer late in games that you can keep a fresh rusher in there.

The OL's leave their blockers in place. When you bring in fresh legs and strength. You can beat guys.

I am feeling good about Andrew Berry.

j/c:

I could envision a situation where, at times, they move Garrett inside and put Obo and Smith on the outside on obvious passing downs. That could be a lot of pressure!

No trade can make up for the Head Coaches' gameday mismanagement, especially on offense,
if they can't get points...
esp. with their offense,




and if they lose the game when the offense is on the field, again,

then a pass rusher won't matter,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Again.

Amen, really money for player. No free lunches on DL now. Work and be focused or you're GONE- Perrion!!

from search look up. what did they trade, page one,

The Minnesota Vikings have traded three-time Pro Bowl pass rusher Za'Darius Smith to the Cleveland Browns, according to NFL Media. Along with Smith, the Browns received a 2025 sixth and seventh-round pick. The Vikings received 2024 and 2025 fifth-round picks

edit from Wikipedia,
Smith was the 17th defensive end drafted in 2015. The pick used to draft him was acquired during a trade with the Detroit Lions in exchange for Haloti Ngata.[13]
<will we ever get Ngata in our past for good,

also, Wikipedia has a legal troubles section,
... never touch the stuff, mary jane, even one little traffic stop and it's in his Wikipedia page all these years later.

Excellent trade we now have
Garrett, Ogbo Okanora, Maguire, Smith in a good rotation giving Smith a chance to not play every rep including Garrett and the drop off not being great. In passing downs we can have all 4 on the field or any assembly of players playing the DL.

This team is starting to look awesome on the D which is what I wanted. Pressure also helps the DBs jump routes I think we will have an overall increase in Sacks, Presssure and INTs. Looking more and more like the Shottenhimer Defenses. Go special teams also!!!

Getting to love it - won't lament about not having draft picks but we are getting close to not missing them.

jmho

I hope at the end of the season we can find the money to keep him another 3. Perfect compliment fir Garrett and we have the rookie to steal some reps. Effort and skill was added for nadda. Saw this trade thought we gave up a 3rd.

"Is he that slow?? No wonder they traded him!"

We desperately needed an upgraded DL and we’ve certainly tried to improve that area. Probably still need a 3t but this is a good addition.

He doesn't have to play every down. We have acquired enough talent this off season where he can be a solid rotational guy especially in obvious passing downs. Very good trade for us!!!!

https://247sports.com/nfl/cleveland...arius-smith-film-room-210155772/#2167883

That's the way I see it too Peen. This is the type of move I felt they needed to make and now they have. And from what I saw posted in the updates in this thread, the Browns are covering less than 8 million of that contract and the Vikings are covering the rest of the cost according to MKC. That makes the deal even better.

Who is going to play cornerback,
If they only have seven db's, of safeties and corners, that can make the fifty three man roster because they added too many DL that are being paid huge contracts making cutting them cost prohibitive,
then,
with only seven db's, they won't be able to field a nickel defense, with everyday injuries,
so how could they possibly still need a 3t DL.

Thank You for the film clips, Holy Crap this guy has some of the best hand placement I have seen. He uses those mits to set up his moves extremely well. I believe we have the makings of a defense that will excel at rushing the passer. It seems he has experience rushing from the inside also. Great Trade Mr Berry.

j/c

This is from a much longer article but brings up a point I hadn't seen posted. So I only posted the Browns grade on the trade and the part regarding the compensatory pick if he leaves after the 2023 season....

Browns: A+

Cleveland needed to bolster its pass rush after having just 34 quarterback takedowns in 2022. Take away Garrett's sack total, and the Browns averaged just over one sack a game last season. That's not going to cut it in an AFC that has a wealth of elite quarterback play.

Sure, the Browns could lose Smith after a year, but they'd get a compensatory pick for next year's draft should Smith sign elsewhere. Regardless of what happens next year, the Browns gave up little to get a Pro Bowl caliber player who can help them win now.

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/..._WKgZKQxK5Ajju4MuqjF3KgdfWPP7d81WRL_bzkM

This is a good trade. The Browns upgraded the DL.

Myles Garrett is a great player. I mean really great.

However, his entire time while playing for the Browns; the defensive front has been sub par. Lots of one year contract guys.

Sheldon probably played the best DT we have had and he was not a all pro.

Getting Smith is more about the unit than just a single added player. IMO Berry with the help of Schwartz made a plan and worked the plan.

Get a good run stuffing DT. Enter Tomlinson. Back that up with depth at DT Hurst and Sika. Have guys who can play 3 tech. Winfrey and Trysten Hill. Create competition at DT for Elliott and Togiai who need to improve or be cut.

Make sure you have a strong four man rotation at DE so in the fourth quarter your best player will be fresh.

Myles, Smith, Ogbo, Alex Wright, Isaiah Thomas, McGuire. Have competition so the best plays.

On paper this is by far the best defensive front we have had with Myles.

Schwartz now has the ability to adjust his scheme and game plan each week.

I am really curious to see this defense play under Schwartz.

I think what I meant to convey is between Trysten Hill, Maurice Hurst, and sigh, the improving one Jordan Elliott, that
even if you do a fifty three projection, with Tomlinson and Itka on the inside, and Garrett ahead of Wright, and McGuire, and THOMAS
that with Ogbo, and this guy Smith, taking the takk McKinley position, and that Jacob Phillips and A, Walker are stout enough to also align on the line on the outside of a 4 or five man line,
that the 3t you're looking for probably is already on the roster and it's probably Trysten Hill. I think.
edit: this is supposed to be in response to Dawgs4life again, but... computers

I’d say our secondary is pretty good: Ward, Newsome, Emerson, Mitchell, Green .. Thornhill, McLeod, Delpit

My feelings as well, EO. This group on DL should be tougher front. If our DB's aren't lining up with 12 yard cushions, and aren't giving away outrageous long yardage conversions, we should see all three categories increase. And I replied to add a fourth: Scoring on defense! Game changing indeed. First, shut down the run; then, bring best pressure. Our secondary should benefit with an aggressive defense. I am practically excited and getting interested in seeing it all on the field. Once again, clear wins on paper. I have had a triple=shunt Kool-Aid bypass in this offseason, so I don't get stupidly optimistic. Hope it holds. So far, so good!

Go, Browns!

j/c:

I was listening to sports radio this morning so this thought isn't my own, but an analyst guest came on the radio and said this trade was the Browns being smart. "Smart" in the sense that they knew of a team/player situation where MIN couldn't keep Smith on the roster either because he was disgruntled or not in the future plans and they wanted to maneuver money. Granted, it helped that the Browns FO has a good relationship with current MIN GM , Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, but this was another example of Berry knowing, and exploiting, another team's current situation--kinda like he did with Amari Cooper.

Agreed Memphis. It’s a smart move by us and executed in a smart way. It’s not a 100% home run given his age and couple of injuries of late, but he’s the best chance we have to grab an impact guy

Probably the best defensive front we've had since the late 60's.

Our original hope with drafting Courtney brown and Gerard Warren was to have a dominant DL. Let’s hope this one is

Seems like our new DC Schwartz is more willing to rely on older, more experienced talent to build his defense...rather than follow the guardrails that were established a few years ago (2016).

As I have mentioned in the past...there is no trophy for the team with the most cap space.

I think guardrails are still in place.

The difference is we aren't building any longer. We are finishing...and you finish with experienced players who are on 1-2 year deals.

Guardrails can be moved.

Exactly Ball and those players will mentor our younger guys. May I dare say our FO seems to know what they're doing.

I agree. A one year deal with a 30 year old? That's the exact same age as Clowney. No guardrails were moved here.

Peen...yes, some guardrails might still be in place but this year we see a Browns franchise that is more aggressive in the free agent market.

Every year (since 2016) I've tried to remind everyone that there is "NO Lombardi Trophy" for the team that leads the NFL in most "cap space available".

Since 2016, the Browns have either led the NFL (or been near the top of the NFL) with the most cap space available. In 2 of the last 3 yrs, the Browns have been #1 in cap space available...

2022...#1...31.1m
2021...#6...9.4m
2020...#1...29.5m


This year is different than in past years as the Browns have used their cap dollars help build a roster that should be able to compete for a playoff birth and a shot at the real Lombardi Trophy.

We agree. We aren't in "building" mode. We are in win mode. When you are in win mode, you aren't trying to accumulate draft picks and bring in a lot of young players for the future. You want more vets who can step in a help day one, whatever their role. The guardrails can widen at this point..

You do what we are now doing. Spending as much cash that makes sense to bring in vets on 1-2 year deals to supplement the starting core..

I am sure this process will repeat over and over as long as we still have the same FO.

We have seen how they operate building up to this point, and are now seeing what they are going to do once they reach a certain point.

Agreed. We clearly have guide rails for when we are building our team. But when we are closer to a finished product those go out the window a little bit