5 teams that need to think about trading for Philip Rivers

Cleveland Browns

So your choices are Josh McCown, Johnny Manziel, Connor Shaw or Thad Lewis.

While the jury is still out on both Manziel and Shaw, chances are that Shaw is going to be what we saw on film prior to the draft—average—or at least take quite a while to be starter worthy. Meanwhile, Manziel remains in rehab and we really don’t know when he’ll come out or what the future holds for him. He also is a work in progress on the field.

McCown is aggressively mediocre and Lewis is below that.

Not all that pretty for the Browns, huh?

There are some big holes on this team beyond quarterback, including wide receiver, though it’s possible Dwayne Bowe starts playing well again, Andrew Hawkins builds on last year, Brian Hartline carries his success in Miami to Cleveland and Taylor Gabriel takes his game up a notch.

There are a lot of bodies there, though I remain dubious as to the effectiveness of said players.

So why does adding Philip Rivers help?

Well, this is another team with a solid offensive line (once Alex Mack is back) and while Rivers is not Tom Brady, able to almost make any player look good, he will be able to achieve more with Bowe, Hawkins and company than anyone else there.

This team isn’t that far from competing and last season perhaps they might have been in the playoffs with one more receiver, minus a few injuries, a little better defense and better quarterback play.

Rivers could really be a huge piece of making this team contender in the AFC North.

There are some issues beyond Rivers to deal with—the secondary for one—but this team isn’t that far from competing. I felt that way last year before the draft and I feel that way now.

The biggest hurdle remains wide receiver (which seems at least mitigated and could be removed in the draft) and under center.

Next: Houston Texans