If Browns Stay At No. 2, Some GMs Believe They’ll Take Laremy Tunsil & Try To Trade Joe Thomas

Since the Rams reached an agreement with the Titans for the No. 1 overall pick, the focus has shifted to the Browns and what they’ll do at No. 2 overall.

Several reports have now said that the Browns are “actively shopping” their No. 2 pick overall pick around the league. In fact, Jeff Darlington of NFL Media reports Browns VP of football operations Sashi Brown is actually the one making calls to teams drafting inside the Top 10 picks about possibly moving the pick.

However, should the Browns not find any deals worth taking, Tony Pauline has spoken to some NFL GMs who believe they’ll take Laremy Tunsil and then attempt to trade LT Joe Thomas.

Tunsil is widely considered to be one of the marquee players in this year’s draft class, and would come with a much more reasonable contract than what Thomas is currently making.

Some have wondered why the Browns haven’t already traded Thomas to another team, considering that they’ve lost both Alex Mack and Mitchell Schwartz on their offensive line in the past few months, and it’s become clear that they’re going to be rebuilding their roster.

Trading Thomas could net the Browns a premium pick, even if they trade out of the No. 2 spot.

Two speculative options for a potential Thomas trade could include the Seahawks and Lions, as they both showed interest in offensive tackles during free agency, but didn’t add any notable options.

The Browns were discussing a potential trade that would have sent Thomas to the Broncos in the days leading up to last year’s traded deadline. Although, the two sides couldn’t reach an agreement on compensation and the deadline passed without a deal being completed.

Thomas, 31, is a former first-round pick of the Browns back in 2007. He’s entering the sixth-year of his eight-year, $92 million contract that included $44 million guaranteed.

Thomas stands to make base salaries of $8.3 million (2016), $8.8 million (2017) and $8.8 million (2018) over the remainder of the contract.

In 2015, Thomas appeared in all 16 games for the Browns and was rated by Pro Football Focus as the No. 1 offensive tackle out of 77 qualifying players.