The New England Patriots’ first acquisition of an outside player this free agency week came via trade. The team sent Chase Winovich to the Cleveland Browns in exchange for another linebacker, Mack Wilson.
ESPN’s Dan Graziano graded the move after it happened, and declared Cleveland the winners: while the Patriots were given a “C” grade, the Browns received a “B.”
This is an eye-of-the-beholder situation. Winovich saw his playing time decrease last year in New England and was falling out of favor there, so the Patriots send him to a Browns team looking for edge-rush help in exchange for Wilson, a linebacker who’d also seen his role decrease in Cleveland’s system of late.