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Browns trade QB Colt McCoy to the San Francisco 49ers for late-round picks

By Jon Stinchcomb
Ezra Shaw

The Cleveland Browns are closing the book on yet another one-time starting quarterback.

The Browns have traded McCoy and a sixth-round pick to the San Francisco 49ers for a fifth and seventh-round pick, according to reports.

Jason La Canfora of CBS first broke the story on Twitter.

The specific details on the draft picks exchanged in the trade came about an hour later.

The 2010 third-round pick, now entering his fourth year in the league, leaves the Browns with 21 starts, all of which came in his first two seasons, and a 74.8 passer rating. McCoy attempted only 17 passes in 2012 when he came in for an injured Brandon Weeden in Week 16 against the Denver Broncos, before he was injured himself. Though, one of those passes went for a touchdown, making his final TD-INT tally a positive 21-20.

Despite coming into the league as a third-round QB, when he was catapulted into the starting role in 2010, the glimpses of potential made for perhaps irrationally high expectations. Regardless of his up and mostly down performance, McCoy built quite a large and vocal following in Cleveland.

The beginning of the end for his time with the Browns was when the Mike Holmgren-Tom Heckert regime elected to draft then 28-year-old Weeden with their second first-round pick last offseason. Many immediately speculated that a trade was imminent, but the market for his services never shored up. Not until a year later.

A fifth and seventh-round pick may not seem like much, but as Browns beat writer Scott Petrak points out on Twitter, the team is getting something in return for a move that saves money. With Campbell and Weeden competing for the starting role, a $2.3 million third-stringer simply isn't worth it.

What do you think of the move sending McCoy to San Francisco and the swap of late-round picks?

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