The Cleveland Browns are 5-3 heading into the back half of the 2026 season, and they have a clear identity. Cleveland leans on its defense and hopes the offense comes through late. All five of the Browns’ wins have come in comeback fashion, and that isn’t a sustainable formula for a team with surprise playoff hopes.

With the NFL trade deadline set for Nov. 10, the Browns’ quarterback situation is likely not going to change with Deshaun Watson. However, ESPN’s Benjamin Solak floated a trade idea that certainly shake things up if it were to ever happen.

Browns need more from Deshaun Watson

The Browns offense has to take a step forward if Cleveland wants to be a surprise team in the playoffs. That starts with quarterback Deshaun Watson playing better.

Watson is playing his best ball since arriving in Cleveland, but that’s a low bar to clear. In eight starts, he has 1,806 passing yards while completing 65 percent of his passes with seven touchdown passes and three interceptions. He’s also been sacked a whopping 33 times, and a lot of that falls on his own shoulders.

Watson is tied to the Browns through this season. Cleveland could bring him back on a new contract next year, but there’s also a chance the Browns go in a totally different direction at the position.

Benjamin Solak floats Justin Herbert to Cleveland

Solak brought up the idea of the Browns trading for Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert. Solak made sure to point out he doesn’t think the Chargers would actually trade Herbert, even with Los Angeles sitting at 0-7. 

Herbert is still the franchise quarterback for the Chargers. His big contract would force the Browns to take on over $13 million for the rest of this season alone, and he’s tied to that deal through the 2029 season.

Still, Solak made the case for Cleveland taking the swing:

“How about the Browns? The LHD, no matter how fervent, must admit that Herbert would be the best Browns quarterback since… Bernie Kosar in the ‘gos? The point here is that, for as far as Herbert’s stock has fallen this season, the steepness and suddenness of the decline smells fishy,” Solak wrote. “Either this is an unprecedented collapse of what was, at least, a good starting quarterback in his prime or a blip on the radar of an otherwise solid NFL career. Isn’t this the moment to take a chance?”

This would be quite the risk for the Browns. Cleveland already rolled the dice on a quarterback when it traded for Watson from the Houston Texans back in 2022.

Herbert hasn’t been good in a surprise 0-7 start for the Chargers. He has five touchdown passes to a whopping 10 interceptions, which is an uncharacteristic year for a two-time Pro Bowler and the 2020 Offensive Rookie of the Year.

Just a season ago, Herbert threw 26 touchdown passes to 13 interceptions while throwing for 3,727 yards. His best season came in 2021, when he had 38 touchdown passes to 15 interceptions with 5,014 yards in 17 starts. The former first-round pick in the 2020 NFL draft is still only 28 years old.

What a Herbert trade could look like for the Browns

If the Browns were to make such a move, which again is unlikely, it could look something like this. According to the A to Z Sports NFL trade simulator, Cleveland would need to send a 2027 first-round pick via the Los Angeles Rams and a 2028 fifth-round pick to Los Angeles for Herbert for it to be fair value.

That package brings similar value for both sides and gives the Browns a slight edge in the trade.

You can’t rule anything out when it comes to the Browns. General manager Andrew Berry has taken big swings no one expected before. However, the Chargers are probably not going to trade Herbert after one bad season, and they’ll likely hope he can regroup.

Still, what an idea this is for Cleveland.