Several Cleveland Browns fans are still scratching their heads over why the team opted to trade away their roster's best player when Trent Richardson was sent to the Indianapolis Colts in exchange for draft picks. While the ownership and coaches continue to stress that there is a long-term plan in place, some people still do not think it makes any sense. Former Browns president Mike Holmgren is really upset over the move and is letting the team know it.
Holmgren played a large part in getting Richardson to the Browns in the first plce. He traded up in the 2012 draft to get the Alabama running back with the No. 3 overall pick. Now that he was officially let go after new ownership took place, Holmgren is not holding back with what he believes.
"How do you make your team better by trading your best player?'' Holmgren said, via The Cleveland Plain Dealer. "He's the best offensive player. He's a valuable, valuable guy.''
Clearly Holmgren has a lot of confidence in Brandon Weeden. Holmgren believes that ultimately this trade falls on the coaching staff and instead of trading away the best player, the team should have just fired the person in charge. He believes the trade hurts the whole team as many believe the Browns are preparing to take the season in favor of top draft picks and a new quarterback.
"You can't tell me some of those players aren't asking some of the questions you and I are asking,'' Holmgren said."They were friends with (Richardson). It's too wild. This sort of thing doesn't happen, and it happened, so asking questions about it would be natural. To me, they're putting all their eggs for next season."
While Holmgren might be hating the future of the Browns in Cleveland, he is loving the new Indianapolis offense. Both Andrew Luck and Richardson were top draft picks and are now sharing the same backfield. That could make for an excellent one-two punch for the Colts. Holmgren even admits that he attempted to give away Cleveland's entire draft in order to get Luck when he was available. He talked to then general manager Ryan Grigson about giving up all the Browns' draft picks for the quarterback.
"I said, 'Ryan let's do the deal, right now, right here.' He said, 'We're taking Luck.' We were by the pool, I might've even had a lemonade in my hand. He didn't take me seriously, because I was ready to pull the trigger. They were going to take him, and they should've taken him," Holmgren said.
The future could have looked very different for the Browns if Holmgren had made that trade. Instead they drafted Richardson and Weeden and now look at Cleveland.