Dawgs By Nature
The NFL trade deadline is a stressful time for teams and players.
On the team side, the question of whether to be a “buyer or a seller” is an important one as general managers keep one eye on the standings and the other on the upcoming schedule.
For players, there can be daily reports that you are a trade candidate, which, if it happens, means uprooting in the middle of a season and then working to quickly fit in with a new team. Plus, there is the emotional side of having to quickly process that your current team no longer wants your services.
There are also times when the move comes as a surprise, and a player is forced to leave a team and a community that they called home. That was the case with current Cleveland defensive tackle Shelby Harris, who was part of the trade the Denver Broncos made with the Seattle Seahawks for quarterback Russell Wilson in 2022.
Harris had signed an extension with the Broncos, had a child in high school, and had family living close by. But heading to Seattle sent Harris into a bit of a downward spiral, as he told The Athletic:
“I was in a full-on depressed state because if I’m going to be honest, there were so many real emotions that went through my head when I got traded. Like, one, ‘I’m going to this team, they’re about to suck.’ They’re trading Russell Wilson and I’m about to go to the depths of hell pretty much to play for this crappy team in Seattle. And after all the work I put in all these years, now Denver is going to be this good team.
“It was so frustrating and sad, and honestly, I can even say my time in Seattle was stained by that trade because I didn’t want to be there. I was miserable the whole year. I let it affect my relationship with coaches, players. I was not the same person that I pride myself on. That year in Seattle, I became a different person. That trade really changed a lot for me.”
One player who fell into the speculation category this year was Cleveland tight end David Njoku, who is in the final year of his contract. With Cleveland’s season going nowhere, Njoku’s name was tied to trade rumors, especially after the Green Bay Packers lost tight end Tucker Kraft to a torn ACL during Sunday’s loss to the Carolina Panthers.
The Browns resisted the urge to trade their starting tight end, and on Wednesday, Njoku expressed his enthusiasm for staying in town:
“It is always a possibility in the NFL (to be traded). But I’m in Cleveland, baby, and I’m not going anywhere. I am not leaving ever. I am so happy for real, and I am not leaving.”
It is refreshing to hear Njoku say he wants to stay with the Browns, the only team he has played for in his nine-year...
