Of course the Browns tried and failed to trade for Alex Smith

If there’s a trade that happens, chances are the Browns were the first team to almost have made it.

Alex Smith was traded (finally) on Tuesday night to the Washington Redskins. Guess which team almost managed to pull off the trade first. Washington had to give up a third-round pick and cornerback Kendall Fuller, for what it’s worth.

John Dorsey might be the new sheriff in town, but you can change tides that quickly. Almost as soon as the Smith deal was announced, Mary Kay Cabot reported that Cleveland was trying to make the trade first but couldn’t get a deal done.

This isn’t to be compared to the hilarious A.J. McCarron saga from the trade deadline. In that scenario, the Browns Keystone Cop’d all over themselves and bungled a deal with the Bengals that would have landed them the apple of Hue Jackson’s eye. While not as egregious, this is yet another quarterback trade that the Browns somehow managed to be the team holding an empty bag on.

Cleveland was always a logical landing spot for Smith, specifically because of Dorsey. He brought Smith to Kansas City after San Francisco cast him away, and it looked like he might bring him along to reboot things in Cleveland. The Browns were armed with a pair of high second-round picks that could have been used to entice the Chiefs, but ultimately the Browns did what they always do — lose out.

Now the question becomes who will be the answer for Cleveland? DeShone Kizer was less than impressive in his audition, but how much of that is Hue Jackson’s fault? Will A.J. McCarron be acquired this offseason, or will one fo the Top-4 draft picks the Browns have be used on a quarterback like Baker Mayfield or Sam Darnold?

Missing out on Smith doesn’t really hurt the Browns because he was never going to be a fix for them. Instead, it’s just a reminder that even when the team tries to do the right thing it always ends up on the wrong side.