Late on the afternoon of March 9, the Cleveland Browns surprised everyone by completing a trade with the Houston Texans for quarterback Brock Osweiler and a second-round selection in the 2018 NFL Draft.
About 20 minutes after the shock of the deal wore off everyone – except for executive vice president of football operations Sashi Brown and head coach Hue Jackson – determined that Osweiler was simply passing through town and would never do so much as even step foot on the practice field in Berea, let alone start a game for the Browns.
But a strange sequence of events have happened in the ensuing five months.