The Colts’ sudden sell-off has put two names on the table, and the Browns are in position to at least ask the question.
On Tuesday, Oct. 27, Indianapolis dealt future Hall of Fame offensive lineman Quenton Nelson to the Seattle Seahawks and standout defensive tackle DeForest Buckner to the San Francisco 49ers. Those moves signaled a clear shift toward draft capital and a rebuilding stretch, and now other teams around the league can start circling.
Cleveland should be one of them.
The Browns are 5-2 and firmly in the mix for a playoff spot in a few months, which makes this the kind of moment where front offices start weighing short-term upgrades against long-term costs. Up front, Cleveland already has a strong defensive line. Mason Graham and Maliek Collins are leading the team in sacks to start the year, while the edge group of Jared Verse, Isaiah McGuire, Sam Williams and Derek Barnett has been productive too.
Still, adding Stewart would make sense.
At 33, he’s nearing the end of his career, but he could still bring experience and more punch to the Browns’ line. He’s heading into the final year of his contract, and for a team trying to stay competitive in a loaded AFC North, that makes him a reasonable playoff-style addition.
He would also give Cleveland another layer of depth at a position that has already taken some hits, while helping guide a young room behind the scenes. If another Graham-type injury pops up, Stewart would give the Browns more flexibility to shuffle pieces around.
And when the season ends, Cleveland could simply let him leave and clear roughly $14 million in cap space. If they want, they could also try to keep him on a cheaper deal.
Because Buckner is going relatively cheap, Stewart would likely cost a third- or fourth-round pick, a price the Browns’ front office should be willing to consider if it makes the defensive front better.
The secondary could use some help, too.
Outside the hashes and down the field, Cleveland’s season has been uneven. Denzel Ward has stayed steady as ever, but Tyson Campbell, Mekhi Blackmon and Toriano Pride Jr. have all had their stretches of good and bad. With Martin Emerson Jr. having walked this past offseason, the Browns should think about adding another body to help settle the group.
That’s where Charvarius Ward comes in. The Colts could look to move him as well, since he carries a $24 million cap hit for the rest of the season and is set to become a free agent in 2027. In Indianapolis’ new reality, he looks like a player who could be on the move.
For Cleveland, a pairing of Ward with Ward and Campbell would help round out the defensive back room. The Browns have the draft capital to make something like that happen, and a fourth- and sixth-round pick could be enough to get a deal done. Dallas recently sent a second- and fourth-round pick to the Pittsburgh Steelers for Joey Porter Jr., which gives some sense of the market.
Ward hasn’t matched what he did with the 49ers, but he still brings solid intangibles. He’s 6-foot-1, 196 pounds, runs a 4.44 forty and has an 11-foot broad jump.
The Browns may decide to stay put, but if Stewart and Ward are still available when the trade deadline arrives, they ought to at least find out what it would take.
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Since landing in Dallas, though, Jones has been fighting for a foothold that has not come easily. He has not started a game for the Cowboys and has mostly been used as an extra offensive lineman, a tough spot for a player trying to prove he can handle a larger role at the NFL level and a development that makes the Steelers decision look pretty reasonable for now. [Read more 🡒]