Browns-Raiders Trade Proposal Sends Former First-Round Pick to Las Vegas

Could the Cleveland Browns and Las Vegas Raiders hook up on this potential trade before the 2025 NFL season?

Aug 23, 2024; Paradise, Nevada, USA; A Las Vegas Raiders Riddell speedflex helmet on the field at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The Cleveland Browns have a few players that represent very obvious trade candidates heading into 2025, and perhaps the most notable one is cornerback Greg Newsome II.

Newsome is entering the final year of his contract and has been involved in trade speculation for more than a year, and with fellow cornerback Martin Emerson Jr. also set to hit free agency, it seems hard to imagine the Browns keeping both.

As a result, Cleveland may consider dealing Newsome in the coming weeks or months, and Brandon Austin of Pro Football Network has identified a potential landing spot for the former first-round pick: the Las Vegas Raiders.

"Newsome allowed a 112.5 passer rating on 51 targets. Still, he’s just 25 years old and a former first-round pick with three solid seasons under his belt," Austin wrote. "While his future in Cleveland appears uncertain, quality cornerbacks are hard to come by, so the Raiders may be willing to take a flier on another young player with upside — and hope that a clean bill of health can help him regain form."

As Austin noted, Newsome was impressed over his first three years with the Browns, but he took a major step back in 2024, registering 27 tackles, an interception and five passes defended while posting a miserable 52.2 overall grade at Pro Football Focus.

The 25-year-old has definitely shown upside in the past, so perhaps last season was just a down year for him. But given Newsome's penchant for getting hurt, Cleveland may not want to wait around and find out.

On that same token, though, the Browns don't have a whole lot of cornerback depth, so they may want to at least head into the 2025 campaign with Newsome and maybe wait until the trade deadline before they make any concrete decisions.

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