The 2016 NFL Draft is shaping up to be a wild one before the first round even begins.
That's because for the second week in a row, a major trade is going down that sees one of the top two picks changing hands. Last week, it was the Tennessee Titans sending the No. 1 overall pick to the St. Louis Rams.
Now, the Cleveland Browns are sending the No. 2 pick to the Philadelphia Eagles.
#Eagles have agreed to a trade with the Cleveland Browns to acquire the second-overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft. pic.twitter.com/SdJSegMy4m
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) April 20, 2016
This move has been in the works for awhile now, at least the part where Cleveland moves back as they're not sold on either of the top quarterbacks in this draft. They'd rather move back and take the best players available at No. 8 that is more likely to help them immediately, whereas a quarterback like Cal's Jared Goff or North Dakota State's Carson Wentz may have had to sit and learn for a year.
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It's a similar type of deal that we saw last week between the Rams and Titans. The big difference there was St. Louis previously held the 15th-overall pick, so moving up to the top spot cost them quite a bit. Both St. Louis and Philly are looking to move up and take quarterbacks with the No. 1 and 2 picks, which figure to be Goff and Wentz in some order.
It's not quite as costly for Philly to move up from No. 8 to No. 2. We actually saw a similar deal back in 2014 when the Buffalo Bills moved up from the No. 9 pick to swap with Cleveland at No. 4 before taking Sammy Watkins. That trade cost the Bills an extra first-round pick in the 2015 draft, but that still appears to have been worth it as good as Watkins has been.
This is probably good news for new Browns head coach Hue Jackson, who now isn't being forced to hitch his wagon to a risky quarterback prospect with a top-two draft pick. He's probably more confident going with either Josh McCown or Robert Griffin III as his starter this year and taking a player more likely to make a big impact in 2016 with the No. 8 pick.