Among the two proposed rule NFL's owners to vote on in the weeks ahead, is a pitch from the Cleveland Browns to change how far out team's can trade their draft picks
The Cleveland Browns are forever linked to what is arguably the worst trade in NFL history after sending a package of picks that included three first-rounders to the Houston Texans in 2022 for veteran quarterback Deshaun Watson, as the former first-round pick himself faced an onslaught of sexual assault allegations.
Now, Cleveland is leading the charge of a unique rule change that would allow teams to offer even more future picks in trades.
On Wednesday, the NFL released the official list of club rule proposals that will be voted on at the league's annual meetings in two weeks. The Browns proposal, one of just two rule changes submitted for 2026, would allow teams to trade draft selections up to five seasons into the future.
As things stand, teams can only trade picks up to three years in advance, just as Cleveland did in that infamous Watson deal. It's unclear at this stage what type of support the proposal has from other teams around the league.
CBS Sports' NFL insider Jonathan Jones called the change "radical" by NFL standards, though and noted that proposals that extreme have a hard time passing on the first go around.
It's notable that this isn't the first time the Browns have been at the forefront of pitching rule changes that center around driving more potential action on the trade market.
Back in 2024, they made a pitch to push the trade deadline back from Week 8 to Week 10. The idea was that with the league adding a 17th regular game several years prior, the trade deadline was no longer proportionately positioned to the length of the schedule.
While their version of the rule wasn't accepted, the league's owners did ultimately approve moving the traded deadline back one week. For each of the last two seasons, the Tuesday after Week 9 has now served as the league's deadline.
Perhaps something similar can happen with this new Browns proposal, where the league could decide five years out is a bit too aggressive, but four years is more reasonable. In order for Cleveland's rule to pass, it needs to be approved by at least 24 of the 32 teams.
Any change would certainly fall into a similar umbrella as the trade deadline adjustment, encouraging teams to be more aggressive via the trade market as a whole.
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