Cleveland Browns general manager Sashi Brown says there is no truth to a report that the team tried to acquire Washington quarterback Kirk Cousins during the NFL Draft.
After the Chicago Bears made a surprise decision to trade up and select Mitchell Trubisky at No. 2 overall, NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport reported that the Browns were trying to trade for Cousins. In an interview with the “Ken Carmen Show with Anthony Lima” on 92.3 The Fan Tuesday, Brown was asked if he had any discussions with Washington.
“None. Zero,” he said, via Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com. “And nor ever have, so it’s just one of these stories that won’t die like many others.”
Rapoport seemed certain that his information was accurate, as he even ended his tweet with “this is real.”
“It came across the ticker and we just laughed about it the way we do most of these stories that get reported out there, so it was what it was,” Brown said. “It’s the world we live in and try not to take it too seriously.”
It’s no secret that the Browns need a starting quarterback, and they didn’t end up drafting a QB until they got former Notre Dame star DeShone Kizer at No. 52 overall. They apparently tried one last time to acquire the player they have been trying for months to get, but once again they had no luck.
Cousins is set to make roughly $24 million playing under the franchise tag in Washington next season, and the belief is that he is not going to sign a long-term extension with the team. A team like the Browns probably would not trade for him unless he agreed to an extension.
