As Florio suggested early Saturday, Friday night’s Cleveland Plain Dealer report of the Eagles’ alleged interest in trading up to the No. 4 overall pick reeked of pre-draft misinformation spread by a bad Browns team looking to trade down and accumulate more picks.
A Saturday report from CSN Philadelphia agrees.
Citing a high-level Eagles source, CSN Philly’s Reuben Frank reports that the report of Philly’s interest in trading up to the fourth selection was “just another pre-draft rumor,” and there is “little chance” the Eagles would jump 11 spots in the draft’s first round.
Frank’s Eagles source did concede that Philadelphia and Cleveland have “spoken several times,” but that could have just as much to do with Browns G.M. Tom Heckert and Eagles coach Andy Reid’s longstanding relationship as it may with Philly’s intentions to make a costly draft-day maneuver. Heckert and Reid worked together for nine years with the Eagles, before Heckert took the Browns’ General Manager job in 2009.
The Browns and Eagles have done business before. The teams swapped running backs Mike Bell and Jerome Harrison before the 2010 trade deadline, and the Eagles sent linebacker Chris Gocong and cornerback Sheldon Brown to the Browns in exchange for two picks and linebacker Alex Hall two Aprils ago. And although the deal was later rescinded, the sides had an agreement in place last July that would have shipped defensive tackle Brodrick Bunkley to Cleveland for a fifth-round pick.
A draft-day trade between Cleveland and Philadelphia would be unsurprising, but it’s more likely to happen in the later rounds.
Per Frank, a trade sending the No. 4 overall pick to Philly is “not going to happen.”