Grading the simple but smart trade the Cleveland Browns made by moving a surprise player at the NFL trade deadline
The Browns have made a move ahead of the trade deadline.
The Cleveland Browns were noted as a team that could be active on Tuesday ahead of the NFL trade deadline at 4 p.m. With a 2-6 record on the season, the Browns are clearly looking toward the future with no realistic chance of competing for the playoffs this year.
Knowing that, Cleveland just made a move that reinforces what we already knew — they’re continuing to build for the future.
Grading the trade the Cleveland Browns made with the Chicago Bears
The Browns traded defensive end Joe Tryon-Shoyinka and a seventh-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft to the Chicago Bears for a sixth-round pick in the same draft. Tryon-Shoyinka joined Cleveland in the offseason after spending the first four years of his career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The former first-round pick never quite developed into the player many expected, but he’ll now have an opportunity for a larger role in Chicago.
Signing Tryon-Shoyinka was a depth move by the Browns to strengthen their defensive front, which is a key element of Jim Schwartz’s defense. Cleveland has felt confident in its core pass rushers of Myles Garrett, Alex Wright, and Isaiah McGuire for most of the season. When they’ve turned to a fourth pass rusher, it’s often been Cameron Thomas instead of Tryon-Shoyinka.
Tryon-Shoyinka played just 32 defensive snaps for the Browns this season and recorded three pressures. The former Washington Huskies standout has primarily contributed on special teams, where he’s logged nine tackles across eight games. When he signed with Cleveland, there was hope he could carve out a larger role in the rotation, but that never materialized as a full-time pass rusher.
The Browns clearly didn’t see Tryon-Shoyinka as part of their long-term plans, and moving up a round late in the draft is solid value for a player they were unlikely to retain after the season. Flipping a soon-to-be free agent for draft capital is a win — the only lingering question is whether the signing itself was worthwhile, even at the modest $4.7 million cost.
Trade grade: B
Cleveland Browns News
Here are the Cleveland Browns players who could be traded ahead of today’s NFL trade deadline
It is a big day on the NFL calendar.
