Teams are starting to find out who they are through five weeks of the NFL season.
Cleveland Browns are 2-2 but must improve in some spots if they want to get over the hump. They have a roster that should be good enough to compete on paper, it’s about putting it all together.
One of the issues Cleveland has is that left tackle Jedrick Wills Jr. is playing the worst he has in the NFL. The fourth-year tackle is playing at a level that is not sustainable against some of the top-edge rushers. If the Browns are indeed all in, they should address the position and deal with the ramifications.
The Denver Broncos are 1-4. Last season many believe they needed a quarterback — they got Russell Wilson and were still bad. This season it was finally having a head coach so it would work out, Sean Payton does not look any better than Nathaniel Hackett did. It is time for the Broncos to face it, they’re a bad team. When they do accept that, they may begin offloading talent for the future.
Cleveland should be on the phone with Denver about tackle Garett Bolles. Bolles has two years on his contract remaining at $17 million APY. The Browns would have to tighten the spending through next season unless they could offload Wills before he’s a free agent, which is very possible with the tackle shortage around the NFL.
At 31 years old, Bolles was a first-round pick back in the 2017 NFL Draft. Bolles has played just outside of a Pro Bowl level for the duration of his career, except for 2020 when he was a second-team member on the All-Pro team.
If the Broncos are willing to trade Bolles, it would be for draft compensation. For the idea of it, we will start with a third and sixth-round pick in the future.
Cleveland doesn’t have time to keep saying it’ll happen next year. If the winning doesn’t come this season, jobs are likely to be on the line. When the left tackle is giving up the same amount of pressure as he did as a rookie through four games, it is not something that can keep going.
The Browns would be smart to kick the can around on Bolles. Andrew Berry has always been a general manager who checks all his boxes, so he very well could.
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