Cleveland Browns Botched A.J. McCarron Trade Through Sheer Incompetence

The Cleveland Browns are an absolute disaster. On Tuesday just before the NFL’s trade deadline, the Browns reportedly agreed to a deal to acquire Cincinnati Bengals quarterback A.J. McCarron. Then, through sheer incompetence, they botched it.

Bengals and Browns thought they beat the clock on AJ McCarron trade. Clock beat them. Close but no deal.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 31, 2017

The deal was reportedly consummated at 3:55 p.m. ET, just five minutes before the deadline. Great, right? Well, it is if you’re a competent organization. While the Bengals called the deal in to the NFL to approve it, the Browns somehow did not. They forgot to call the deal in to the league before the deadline, which nullified it.

Bengals and Browns actually agreed to AJ McCarron trade at 3:55 pm, per source involved. Bengals approved trade to NFL, Browns did not.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 31, 2017

It doesn’t get much worse than that as far as absolute incompetence goes. Here’s some more, as details on this seem to conflict from different sources:

Clarifying earlier tweet: properly executed paperwork for McCarron trade between #Browns & #Bengals wasn't filed by 4 p.m. More details soon
— Mary Kay Cabot (@MaryKayCabot) October 31, 2017

League source says that #Bengals sent in paperwork to #NFL that had only their signature on it and not the #Browns . Needed both
— Mary Kay Cabot (@MaryKayCabot) October 31, 2017

Try again: #Browns sent signed doc to #Bengals to sign and send to league, but #Bengals sent doc to #NFL only signed by them
— Mary Kay Cabot (@MaryKayCabot) October 31, 2017

This is unbelievable, in fact. Everyone who was involved with this deal should be fired immediately. It’s absolutely inexcusable. Even if the Browns weren’t solely at fault, they knew they were up against the clock, they wanted the player, and they should have made sure all the details were finished in time.