Could Amari Cooper head back to the Las Vegas Raiders, the franchise where his NFL career began in a potential wide receiver swap that would send Davante Adams to the Cleveland Browns?
Cooper is in the last year of his contract, and the Browns are set to be in a terrible situation with their wide receiver room beyond 2024. The sturdy wide receiver is also off to the worst start of his career at the age of 30 and has been floated as a potential trade target for the Kansas City Chiefs.
What if, however, the Browns worked out a deal with the Raiders for Adams? Reports are now that the Raiders are engaging teams in trade talks for Adams, and with how cheap the rest of Cooper’s deal is, it could help the Raiders clear a ton in cap space as they head into a rebuild.
For the Browns then, they would retain a WR1 who is still under roster control through 2026 with no guaranteed money. The issue, however, is that his base salary is $35.6 million in 2025 and $36.6 million in 2026. This means the acquisition on Adams is likely a rental for the rest of 2025 before he is cut and potentially re-signed to a more cost-effective deal for a then 33-year-old wide receiver.
The terms of this contract extension were likely a trigger anyway between the two sides to up the guarantees in the present with the ability for the two sides to part ways after the season.
This also means that a new contract would likely need to be worked out between Adams and the new team before a trade agreement would come to fruition. The Browns saw this with Brandon Aiyuk this offseason, who refused to agree to a new deal even though Cleveland had a deal in place.
Would Adams agree to a new deal with the Browns before a trade? This seems like what a new deal would come down to. If they can, then the Browns have their answer to having a WR1 under contract beyond this season.