Pro Football Rumors
The Browns are not expected to compete in 2025 and will likely look to trade players on expiring contracts as they load up on 2026 draft picks.
One of the team’s most prominent trade candidates is veteran cornerback Greg Newsome, according to The Athletic’s Zac Jackson, a 2020 first-round pick entering the final year of his rookie contract. The Browns picked up his fifth-year option last offseason, but he has been trending downwards since then and could find himself on the trade block for the second year in a row.
Newsome was a full-time starter when healthy across his first three years, but lost his job to Martin Emerson early in the 2024 season. He continued to see plenty of snaps in the slot until a hamstring injury in December landed him on injured reserve to close the year. 2024 was Newsome’s worst season by far, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required). His 52.2 overall grade and 54.0 coverage grade were well below the standard he set between 2021 and 2023.
In February, Newsome expressed frustration with his rotational role and will likely be pushing to regain his starting job in training camp. If he is unsuccessful, he could request a trade before the regular season in the hopes of carving out a higher snap share elsewhere.
Even if Newsome does start for the Browns to open the season, he’ll still be a trade candidate closer to the November trade deadline. The Browns reportedly shopped him twice in the last year, and combined with their precarious cap situation, he seems destined to play elsewhere next year one way or another. Cleveland would likely prefer to recoup 2026 draft capital in a trade rather than hoping that Newsome can qualify for a 2027 compensatory pick in free agency next offseason.
Interested teams will be looking for Newsome to avoid the minor injuries that have limited him to just 13.5 games per season in his career. A bigger factor will be his fully guaranteed $13.4MM salary. The cap hit for an acquiring team will go down as the season progresses, but Newsome will still be owed $6.7MM for the second half of the year. That could be too much for another team to absorb, so Browns may have to eat some money to facilitate a deal.
