The Browns and Jaguars again made a deal five months after their blockbuster trade on draft night. This time around, the two teams swapped standout cornerbacks, along with draft picks, in a late Wednesday night trade.
Cleveland acquired Tyson Campbell and a 2026 seventh-round draft pick and sent Greg Newsome II and a ’26 sixth-round selection to Jacksonville.
Newsome, a 2021 first-round pick, will now join the Jaguars’ secondary that features two-way playmaker Travis Hunter, who surprisingly ended up in Jacksonville after the team traded up from No. 5 to take Cleveland’s No. 2 pick.
Campbell, who signed a four-year, $76.5 million contract extension before the 2024 season, will now get a fresh start playing opposite of Denzel Ward and the rest of the Browns’ stout defense.
Here are the grades and analyses from this rare swap involving starting cornerbacks still in their prime.
Browns
After years of getting mixed results, the Browns finally cut ties with Newsome, 25, who’s scheduled to be a free agent in the offseason after the fifth year on his rookie deal expires.
Newsome has been inconsistent as an outside cornerback and wasn’t happy when the team moved him to the inside to accommodate Martin Emerson Jr. last season. With Emerson sustaining a season-ending Achilles injury in training camp, that allowed Newsome to return to the outside, but the results weren’t much different from previous seasons.
The Browns were wise to get ahead of a looming problem knowing that Newsome wasn’t going to receive another deal from the team. Now, they don’t have to scramble in free agency and gained a talented player in Campbell, who’s under contract for a few more seasons.
If Campbell can’t recapture his 2022 form, the last time he played a full season, the Browns will have the option to cut him after the 2026 season when he’s no longer owed guaranteed money. Campbell is only 25 and has an affordable contract compared to what the top cornerbacks are getting paid. Also, free agency can be a crapshoot and the Browns might have needed to pay north of $20 million per year to sign a quality cornerback. And they don’t have to reach for a cornerback in the draft, which might still be a need because Ward will be 29 next season.
Cleveland (1–4) is probably thinking more about 2026 with this move, but Campbell can help the team now, especially with the Bengals and Ravens struggling in the AFC North. The playoffs likely won’t happen this season, but at least the team will get to see what they have in Campbell.
Grade: B
Jaguars
Looking back, the Jaguars were wise to plan early and pay Campbell before the cornerback market shot up in the past year. Campbell, a 2021 second-round pick, ranks 11th when it comes to average annual salary at the position, with Sauce Gardner and Derek Stingley Jr. both at the top making about $30 million per year.
But Campbell hasn’t played up to expectations and has battled injuries the past two seasons. He was also paid by the previous regime.
Campbell might not have been the right fit for the scheme of defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile and new GM James Gladstone saw an opportunity to move his contract without hindering this year’s team.
But the 4–1 Jaguars risk the possibility of disrupting a unit that has taken off this season with a league-high 14 takeaways. On the other hand, Jacksonville has struggled in coverage, allowing 250.4 passing yards per game, sixth-worst in the league. The versatile Newsome will likely play on the outside, creating a rotation with Hunter and Jarrian Jones. There’s also slot cornerback Jourdan Lewis, who left the Cowboys in free agency to join the Jaguars.
This move is a bit of a gamble, but there are many benefits here, including keeping Hunter fresh while he finds his footing on both sides of the ball. There’s also the possibility of getting Newsome’s best before he becomes a free agent.
Gladstone has made savvy moves since being hired as GM, repairing the team’s salary cap without hurting coach Liam Coen’s current roster. This appears to be another shrewd move.
Grade: A-
