Browns Reportedly Looking at Another Bad Offensive Tackle as Trade Target

Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports is reporting the Cleveland Browns are looking at trade targets for the offensive tackle position. Like Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports did last night, he mentions Nate Solder of the New York Giants and adds Philadelphia Eagles backup offensive tackle Halapoulivaati Vaitai to the mix. Vaitai has also been mentioned by Brent Sobleski of Bleacher Report.

The Cleveland Browns are reportedly looking at every avenue to throw 300 pound bags of fertilizer on the questionable offensive line situation. Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports is following up a report from last night from Jason La Canfora in regards to New York Giants offensive tackle Nate Solder and adds the possibility of adding Halapoulivaati Vaitai of the Philadelphia Eagles to the mix. With Trent Williams of the Washington Redskins, the only team the Browns haven't been linked to in the NFC East is the Dallas Cowboys.

If Vaitai's name sounds familiar, there's a good reason.

The Eagles would be happy to net an asset for Halapoulivaati Vaitai since he's their fifth offensive tackle behind Jason Peters, Lane Johnson and Andre Hillard, plus Jordan Mailata who is currently on injured reserve. Rest assured, the Eagles fifth tackle is not going to come in and address the Browns starting offensive tackle woes. He's on the last year of his contract, so he'd likely be gone at the end of the season, unless the Browns opt to double down on a bad idea and extend him.

All of this, from Williams to Solder to Vaitai, if true, is an acknowledgement that their plan coming into the season was a failure. John Dorsey knew the offensive tackle position was bad and tried to muddle through it based on their success last year. Success is a relative term because the reality is both Greg Robinson and Chris Hubbard are playing at basically the same level. The results just aren't as good.

The only possible solution out there to the Browns tackle problem right now is Drew Forbes, who is on injured reserve for the Browns. If they designate him for return, he has the talent and upside to potentially be a meaningful solution to one of the tackle spots, likely right tackle. They will still need to address the other one and that won't happen until the offseason.  

If it's due diligence and seeing what's out there, so be it. If it's a genuine attempt to potentially add these players to the Browns, it's only going to make Dorsey look worse when it comes to addressing the offensive line, likely throwing away assets in the process.