Browns GM Makes Cryptic Remark About QB Trade Offers Amid Shedeur Sanders, Dillon Gabriel Buzz

Cleveland Browns assistant general manager Catherine Hickman declined to provide any insight when asked whether the team received trade offers for its quarterbacks.

"Not that I will comment on," she told reporters Wednesday while deferring to GM Andrew Berry:

Hickman's follow-up could be an important distinction.

Her initial remark on its own would lead some fans to assume the Browns did get offers for one or more of Deshaun Watson, Shedeur Sanders, Dillon Gabriel or Taylen Green. The fact they're all four still on the roster would elicit its own conclusions.

But Hickman may have intended to avoid saying yes or no, leaving the topic for her boss to address at a later date.

It's safe to assume Watson's contract made him untradeable. The Browns would've had to carry a lot of dead money to make that happen, and his $40.2 million salary cap hit is a sizable sum to absorb for a quarterback who hasn't played in a year and a half.

Sanders battled Watson for the starting job and is the closest thing Cleveland has to a viable long-term solution. He threw for 1,400 yards, seven touchdowns and 10 interceptions in his eight appearances as a rookie. Trading him right now wouldn't make a lot of sense.

That leaves Gabriel, whom ESPN's Jeremy Fowler suggested could've had a market. But now the southpaw is on injured reserve and ineligible to suit up for the first four games.

With Gabriel on IR, the Browns are heading into the regular season with three active QBs: Watson, Sanders and Green. Once Gabriel is healthy and they're facing the prospect of adding one more to the mix, something might give.

For now, the front office is probably tuning out any outside trade chatter, if it exists in the first place.