CINCINNATI, Ohio — The Bengals and Browns made a trade on Tuesday for the first time in their history when Cleveland sent Joe Flacco to Cincinnati.
But this wasn’t the first time the Bengals and Browns were involved in a trade involving a quarterback.
Tuesday’s trade was the first successful deal between the two Ohio franchises.
Back in 2017, the Bengals and Browns very nearly came to another deal involving a quarterback.
The deal collapsed, and the way in which it did makes it a story in and of itself.
What was the proposed deal?
The near trade occurred at the 2017 NFL trade deadline. The Browns, then 0-8, were desperate for a veteran quarterback after losing out on acquiring Jimmy Garoppolo from the Patriots. Browns coach Hue Jackson, who had previously coached A.J. McCarron in Cincinnati, had pushed hard for the acquisition. Browns owner Jimmy Haslam eventually signed off on the deal, recognizing Jackson’s need for a talent upgrade on the struggling team.
McCarron had been the backup to Andy Dalton and started a playoff game for the Bengals in 2015. He completed 23 of 41 passes in that game for 212 yards, a touchdown and an interception in an 18-16 loss at home to the Steelers in the wild card round.
McCarron threw a go-ahead touchdown to A.J. Green with 1:50 to play, but a lost fumble by Jeremy Hill and two defensive penalties ultimately led to Pittsburgh’s Chris Boswell hitting a 35-yard field goal with 14 seconds to go to win the game for the Steelers.
The Bengals were only entertaining the idea because of the strong working relationship between Cincinnati owner Mike Brown and Jackson. Brown was the driving force behind Cincinnati’s willingness to send McCarron to a division rival, also wanting to give McCarron a chance to play.
The agreed compensation was steep: the Browns would send a second-round pick and a third-round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft for McCarron, a 2014 fifth-round pick out of Alabama. The compensation was settled between 3:40 and 3:50 p.m., dangerously close to the 4 p.m. trade deadline.
The paperwork blunder
The deal fell through at the last minute because the Browns failed to file their signed paperwork with the NFL office by the 4 p.m. deadline.
Key details regarding the botched transaction:
• The Bengals successfully emailed their signed paperwork to the NFL office at about 3:55 p.m.
• The Browns emailed their signed trade agreement to the Bengals at 3:54 p.m. but did not copy the NFL. They expected the Bengals to sign the document and then send the finalized copy to the league.
• The email from the Browns, sent by Executive Vice President Sashi Brown’s assistant, Chris Cooper, went unnoticed by Bengals Director of Player Personnel Duke Tobin until the following morning.
• NFL rules state that upon agreeing to a trade, both clubs are required to notify the Commissioner in writing of the terms and conditions before the deadline. Many league personnel sources insisted that the Browns only needed to send their signed document to the league to consummate the deal, since the Bengals had already sent theirs.
• To further complicate matters, a source with knowledge claimed that the paperwork the Bengals submitted and the document the Browns prepared contained different language or conditions, even if the draft pick compensation was identical.
When the Browns received a copy of the Bengals’ paperwork at 3:59 p.m. and realized the discrepancy, they called the league to appeal, but it was too late. Bengals coach Marvin Lewis stated he had “never really heard of one (blowing up like this),” noting that “All you have to do is notify the league office you’re making a deal. And that’s an easy thing”.
The fiasco was seen as an example of discord between the Browns’ coaching staff and front office, which owner Jimmy Haslam found exasperating. It also led to questions of whether Brown intentionally sabotaged the deal, which he denied.
“That’s wholly untrue,’’ Brown said at the time. “We were all in there together - Hue, myself and a couple other staff members that work on these things at the time we were trying to get the trade done so I’m not worried about that internally. Externally, I can just put it to bed that is just not the case. To sabotage a trade just wouldn’t make any sense.”
Irony of the failed trade
Ultimately, the failure of the McCarron trade proved beneficial for the Browns. Under a new regime (led by General Manager John Dorsey), the draft capital intended for McCarron was used for other purposes.
The second-round pick was used to select running back Nick Chubb.
The third-round pick was used in a trade to acquire quarterback Tyrod Taylor.
Meanwhile, McCarron signed with the Bills but was eventually traded to the Raiders for only a fifth-round pick in 2018, less than a year after the Browns were willing to give up a second- and third-round pick for him.
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