Running back Carlos Hyde signed a three-year, $15 million contract with the Cleveland Browns this past offseason. Hyde won’t see the end of his first year of that contract with the Browns, however. That’s because the Jacksonville Jaguars have acquired Hyde (and the rest of his contract) in exchange for a 2019 fifth-round draft pick.
Cleveland could trade from a position of strength because of the emergence of rookie Nick Chubb.
Browns now have their picks in rounds 1-6, plus a 3rd-round pick from New England (DL Danny Shelton), a 5th-round pick from Jacksonville (RB Carlos Hyde), a 5th-round pick from New England (WR Josh Gordon) and a conditional 7th-round pick from Jacksonville (QB Cody Kessler).
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 19, 2018
Jacksonville had an obvious need given that Leonard Fournette’s health in up in the air due to injury (hamstring). Fournette’s backup, T.J. Yeldon, has also been banged up while nursing an ankle injury.
The Jaguars clearly weren’t happy with their situation and found a trade partner in the Browns. Hyde is a serviceable (at worst) to good (at best) back that comes at a reasonable price.
Hyde spent his first year out of Ohio St. backing up Frank Gore in San Francisco. Then he got his chance to start and was pretty productive for the 49ers. Despite never eclipsing the 1,000-yard mark in a season, Hyde has accumulated 3,111 yards on 769 carries (four-yards per carry) for his career.
Jacksonville has been pretty active recently as they also signed offensive tackle Ereck Flowers after the New York Giants released the former starting lineman.
At this point, the Jaguars haven’t announced a corresponding move to keep their roster at the league-mandated 53 players. Though it isn’t expected that Leonard Fournette will land on injured reserve, it’s not out of the question. Especially since the NFL has allowed teams to activate two players from the IR each season. Should they place Fournette on IR, he could hypothetically be activated before the playoffs since he’d only be required to miss eight weeks.
Whatever happens in the coming hours and days, it’s clear that Jacksonville thought they needed more production from the running back position. And they should feel like they made a significant stride in the right direction by picking up Carlos Hyde.
