So which teams made trade offers for Andrew Luck?
3. Cleveland Browns
In their long-running (and to this point fruitless) search for a franchise quarterback, the Browns can’t be ruled out in any hypothetical trade rumors surrounding Luck. Even with a new, credible general manager in John Dorsey now, it would be a very “Browns move” to give up future assets in a trade for a quarterback with a murky health-related future.
Cleveland’s previous front office regime, which notably passed on drafting Carson Wentz and Deshaun Watson, would have probably seen Luck as an analytics star completely independent of his immediate health or slowly advancing age. After Irsay’s comments on Saturday, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network cited a trade inquiry regarding Luck from a year ago. A specific team is obviously not mentioned, but regardless of the appropriate label attached to it (offer, inquiry, etc.) the Browns are easy to point to as the team who made that call to the Colts.
About a year ago, a team did inquire about trading for Andrew Luck. The #Colts laughed at them and did not consider it, I’m told. They are confident in Luck’s health. https://t.co/6mKDOma3Xf
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 28, 2018
The Browns definitely had the draft pick capital to entice the Colts in trade talks, along with the cap space to take on the rest of Luck’s contract without issue if they wanted to. But if an offer was made, as with any others on this list, it was easy for Ballard to dismiss.