To their credit, the Cleveland Browns - even as they are coming off a 3-14 year that the critics fear might repeat itself in 2025 - are not folding up the tents just yet
The re-signing of Myles Garrett fortifies the defense. And on offense? There are, at the very least, fresh names around here, with a crop of rookies that includes running backs Quinshon Judkins and Dylan Sampson, tight end Harold Fannin Jr., and of course a pair of guys at the quarterback position in Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders.
Oh, and Kenny Pickett and Joe Flacco are also in the QB room and in charge.
So how about another splash?
And how about following up with a second try toward that splash?
One NFL insider has revealed that the Browns showed interest in acquiring a top-tier wide receiver by placing a call to New Orleans on Chris Olave.
“The Saints got inquiries from the Browns and Steelers early in the offseason, and rebuffed them,'' writes Albert Breer.
We'd heard that speculation, and we never did understand - from the Saints' side - even bothering to take the call. Olave was their 2022 first-rounder and they picked up his fifth-year option at $15.5 million.
He's also arguably their best player.
Why would they give him away?
But good on Browns GM Andrew Berry for making the first call ... and now we would urge him to call again.
As Breer writes, "Maybe someone blows New Orleans away with an offer. But he’s not on the block, and I have a hard time thinking he’s going to be traded.”
That mirrors our thinking, and yet ...
Why, again, did the Saints take the call? And why (as is our best guess) did somebody in the Saints organization leak that they got calls at all?
Is it the new coaching staff in New Orleans? Somehow Kellen Moore isn't an "Olave guy''? We doubt that. Is it because somebody there views the 24-year-old wideout as having been exposed with his 400-yard season? We doubt that, too, given that he eclipsed 1,000 yards in each of his first two NFL seasons.
We can only take educated guesses at what the Saints - surely in rebuilding mode with Derek Carr's shocking retirement from the QB room - are planning.
But we absolutely see what the Browns were thinking: The real Olave is the Ohio State standout who in 2023 gave New Orleans 1,123 receiving yards and five touchdowns. Get him on the cheap after a down year, team him with Pickett and Jerry Jeudy and David Njoku ... and suddenly a lackluster team has ... well, luster.
Adding Olave would have given the Browns an elite playmaker with Pro Bowl appearances. That's why Cleveland called once.
It's why Cleveland should call again.
