The Cleveland Browns looked to make some serious splash on Tuesday’s NFL trade deadline, but their trade talks with Cincinnati Bengals for quarterback A.J McCarron encountered a last-minute snag.

According to Michael Lombardi of the Ringer, that wasn’t the first time the Browns fumbled on their attempt to get a reliable quarterback. The NFL insider disclosed that Cleveland had previous discussions with the New England Patriots for Jimmy Garoppolo before he was traded to the San Francisco 49ers on Monday.

Failed Garropolo deal

The Browns had been viewed as the front-runners for Garoppolo before the 49ers snatched the young QB away at minimum cost (2018 second-round pick) on the eve of the NFL trade deadline.

Lombardi confirmed that the Browns had a series of dialogues with the Patriots for a possible deal centered on the 26-year-old signal-caller this season, but they had surprisingly gone passive in the final days leading up to the trade deadline.

“The Browns made “small offers” for ex-Patriots quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo this season, but weren’t involved in talks for the New England backup before Bill Belichick & Co. traded him to the 49ers,” Lombardi writes via Profootball Rumors.

By sending Garoppolo to San Francisco, the Patriots have decided to live and die with the 40-year-old Tom Brady, who is still putting up historic numbers through the first eight games of the 2017-18 NFL season.

The 49ers, on the other hand, made a gamble on a quarterback with 94 career passes and two victories around his belt, though a small sample size (42-of-59 passing with four TDs and zero interceptions in two starts last season) showed that he could be a pretty special player in a right situation.

All in all, Cleveland.com writer Terry Pluto still believes the biggest losers in the “Jimmy G” sweepstakes are the Browns, who once again failed to seize the opportunity of acquiring a potential franchise-changing quarterback despite their stash of high draft picks.

“We don't know a lot about the 6-foot-2, 225-pound Garoppolo.

But I'd love seeing him in an orange helmet for eight games to learn about him. If the Browns had traded their 2018 second-round pick and a third-rounder, I'd be raving about the trade,” Pluto stressed in his article.

No McCarron deal

As for the failed attempt to acquire McCarron, the Browns reportedly had the former Alabama Crimson Tide in the bag after reaching an agreement with the Bengals at 3:55 p.m.

However, NFL officials denied the trade because the Browns were unable to send their approval of the trade to the NFL before the 4 p.m deadline. Cleveland appealed to the league to reverse their decision but was denied the second time.

NFL insider Aaron Goldhammer of ESPN revealed the botch McCarron deal happened because Browns executives were too busy celebrating the trade that they forgot to inform the NFL of their approval before the deadline. Cleveland would have sent the 2018 second-round, and third-round picks to the Bengals in exchange for McCarron.
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