Mary Kay Cabot Says Browns Should Trade for Khalil Mack Before Nov. 10 Deadline

Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com posted a video on Friday calling for the Cleveland Browns to trade for Los Angeles Chargers edge rusher Khalil Mack before the Nov. 10 trade deadline.

She recorded it during Steelers week. Cleveland and Pittsburgh are both 5-2 and share first place in the AFC North going into Sunday's 1 p.m. ET kickoff at Pittsburgh. The Browns won the first meeting 27-24 on Oct. 1. They have won four of their last five, including a 13-10 win over Baltimore on Oct. 18 and a 27-24 win at Tennessee last Sunday.

Cabot wants another edge rusher lined up on the opposite side from Jared Verse.

"I've been crunching a bunch of numbers about the Browns' edge rush, and they really, really need some help," Cabot said. "They only have three sacks combined from their edge rushers this season, and all three came from Isaiah McGuire. Jared Verse is still looking for his first sack of the season, and we're almost at the midway point."

Through seven games, McGuire has three sacks. Verse has none. Cleveland has 20 sacks as a team. Defensive tackle Mason Graham leads the Browns with four, and fellow defensive tackle Maliek Collins has 3.5.

Verse came to Cleveland on June 1, when the Browns sent Myles Garrett to the Los Angeles Rams for Verse, a 2027 first-round pick, a 2028 second-round pick, and a 2029 third-round pick. The Rams had taken Verse 19th overall in 2024. He made the Pro Bowl in both of his seasons with the Rams. He had 12 sacks over those two years.

A Mack trade would be a rental, and Cabot is fine with that.

"I truly believe that the Browns should do everything they can to trade for Chargers edge rusher Khalil Mack," Cabot explained. "Of course, he's a future Hall of Famer. He's 35 years old, but he has nothing to play for anymore with the Chargers. They're 0-6. He's in the last year of his contract, and I think it would be a great acquisition for the Cleveland Browns."

"I think he would help Jared Verse kind of realize his potential this season, and I think he would provide that kind of pressure from the outside on the other side that they could really, really use," Cabot continued.

Mack is playing on a fully guaranteed one-year, $18 million contract he signed with the Chargers on March 7. It was his second straight one-year, $18 million deal with Los Angeles, which acquired him from the Chicago Bears in a March 2022 trade.

For the winless Chargers, he has three sacks through six games. He had 17 in 2023. His career total stands at 116 sacks across 13 seasons, and his résumé includes the 2016 Defensive Player of the Year award, nine Pro Bowl selections, and three first-team All-Pro nods.

Back on Oct. 11, in her cleveland.com mailbag, Cabot wrote that some speculated Mack could be acquired for as little as a fifth-round pick.

"I think they could probably do it for maybe a fourth-round pick, even though you're just renting him for the rest of the season with his contract being up," Cabot said. "I certainly think that a fourth-round pick would be worth it."

"And from a money standpoint, he would only cost the Browns about $4 million for the rest of this year," Cabot added. "That's an enormous bargain. You'd probably have to up the ante on that a little bit, but I think it would be worth it."

Cleveland holds two first-round picks in 2027, its own and the one from the Rams.

Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer reported this week that the Browns, "suddenly thrust into the 'buyer' category," are checking out options for another designated pass rusher and a blocking tight end. In the same notes, Breer reported that the Steelers have asked around on receivers.

Cabot first raised a Mack trade on Oct. 8 on 92.3 The Fan. She said then that she would give it a whirl, with Cleveland in the playoff hunt and in need of more edge rush help.

"If they can't get Khalil Mack, I really truly believe that they should try to get another edge rusher before that trade deadline on November 10th," Cabot said. "So we'll see how it goes. But if I'm the Cleveland Browns, I'm picking up the phone, I'm calling the Chargers, and I'm asking them for Khalil Mack."

After Sunday's game at Pittsburgh, the Browns visit the New Orleans Saints on Nov. 8. The Chargers play the Rams on Sunday and host the Houston Texans on Nov. 8. The deadline is 4 p.m. ET on Nov. 10.