49ers Trade Pitch Lands Elite Tight End from Browns After Joe Flacco Deal
The Cleveland Browns made the right decision by starting Dillon Gabriel, whether it should’ve been Shedeur Sanders or not. At least from the Browns’ perspective, they’re going the younger route and trying to figure things out for the long term.
For the San Francisco 49ers, that could be excellent news for them as they look to build a better roster heading into the trade deadline. The Browns have multiple players on their roster, mainly veteran talent, who could be dealt. Despite playing somewhat decent football at 1-4, but looking good in some of those losses, it’s obvious that the Browns aren’t Super Bowl contenders. That instantly makes someone like David Njoku possibly available, who Kristopher Knox of Bleacher Report believes would be a great fit for the 49ers for a conditional 2026 fourth-round pick.
“Tight end David Njoku continues to be one of Cleveland’s most reliable offensive players, but he is also one of the Browns’ most sensible trade chips. Harold Fannin Jr. has impressed and appears poised to take over as Cleveland’s long-term starting tight end. Through five weeks, the rookie has caught 21 passes for 173 yards and a touchdown…
“While there’s value in having two pass-catching tight ends—especially for a team trying to support a young signal-caller—the Browns have to be thinking long-term. Njoku is set to be a free agent in 2026, and Cleveland should be able to get, at worst, a middle-round pick for him,” he wrote.
Browns Should Double-Think About Trading Veteran Players
When looking at who the Cleveland Browns might move on from after already trading Joe Flacco earlier in the week, Moe Moton of Bleacher Report noted that Njoku might have the highest value. However, if the San Francisco 49ers could get him for just a fourth-round pick, especially with George Kittle dealing with an injury, it seems like something the team has to explore.
“Cleveland is a competitive 1-4 squad that only lost by one point to the [Cincinnati] Bengals, who had a healthy Joe Burrow in Week 1, beat the Green Bay Packers and nearly upset the [Minnesota] Vikings in London.
“However, the Browns must consider the long-term complexion of their roster. If they’re not going to extend veterans in the final year of their contracts, general manager Andrew Berry should put those players on the trade block. Among the skill players, tight end David Njoku and (running back) Jerome Ford would likely draw the most interest,” Moton wrote.
Should the Browns Have a Fire Sale?
While moving on from Flacco should be a sign that the Cleveland Browns want to continue this youth movement, it doesn’t guarantee that every player will be available. However, with rookie Harold Fannin Jr. needing opportunities, and Njoku possibly taking them away, the San Francisco 49ers should have a good enough chance to land somebody like Njoku.
“Teams that do selling at the trade deadline always have a variety of motivations for doing so, but for the Cleveland Browns, it’s become apparent that the youth movement is on, especially offensively. With the emergence of young players at almost every position group on that Cleveland offense, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Andrew Berry trade away David Njoku to pave the way for even more snaps for rookie Harold Fannin Jr,” FanSided’s Sayre Bedinger wrote.
It’ll likely come down to the price, but he’d be a decent addition if the Browns continue to go this way.
Flyers reportedly looking to trade for a defenseman
The season hasn’t even started yet, and the Philadelphia Flyers have already been named as a team that is looking to make a deal and bring in some help on the blue line.
On Tuesday’s written version of 32 Thoughts, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that while there might not be too many transactions with the 2025-26 NHL season getting going this week, the Flyers are one team who are certainly looking for a deal. And it just so happens that specifically, it’s for a defenseman.
“Not sure we’re going to see much trade action too early, but Philadelphia is definitely checking what’s out there on defence,” Friedman wrote Tuesday.
The Flyers don’t normally let things leak through in this new regime — typically, any trade that they have made came out of nowhere or was rumored just hours before it actually happened, like it was with the acquisition of Trevor Zegras. So, for this to be out there and written in a way that makes it so concrete and not even speculation or soft reporting from Friedman, must mean that general manager Danny Briere is hitting the phones hard.
And there’s good reason. If any conclusion could be had from the last month of Flyers training camp, it would be that this team is significantly weaker on the blue line than once thought. The roster hopefuls like Helge Grans and Emil Andrae were sent back to the AHL with haste due to either poor performance or not being six feet tall. Noah Juulsen and Dennis Gilbert made the roster, but not in any dominant way; more just because they’re the older veterans who are what they are. And out of everyone, Adam Ginning, who was once an afterthought in this pipeline and who Briere himself said wasn’t close to making this team at the start of camp, actually earned himself a roster spot. There’s a world where in a couple games, Egor Zamula is playing top-four minutes for this team.
While the Flyers don’t expect or promise a playoff appearance this season, they are still looking to take a step forward and that feels unlikely with that entire situation going on amongst their defenseman. Yes, Rasmus Ristolainen should be back in several weeks (hopefully), and Oliver Bonk could play very well for a month in the AHL after he recovers from his own injury and earns an easy call-up - but there would still be holes to fill.
It makes perfect sense that instead of scrambling to find some help on the blue line when they inevitably need it, to get that player as soon as possible and not waste some games coming down the stretch, where they’re icing all three of Noah Juulsen, Dennis Gilbert, and Egor Zamula.
Now, the only question that remains is just what defensemen they could be potentially targeting. Because, in the end, roughly 90 percent of blueliners in the entire NHL would make this back end better. The Flyers could be looking at a player who is good but not good enough to play regular minutes on a contending team. Or, Briere could have his eyes on a bigger splash and pounce on an opportunity when eventually a team with high hopes starts to fall back and in a month they’ve already lost their season.
Unfortunately, Friedman did not give any further details or specific players, but at least we know that Flyers management has the same qualms with the current roster as most of us do. It was almost painfully obvious throughout the entire preseason that there just needs to be some support and assistance from the blue line whenever Travis Sanheim, Cam York, or Jamie Drysdale aren’t out there.
