Peyton Hillis Rumors: Browns Have Every Reason To Trade Hillis

Has the Madden cover curse ever taken the form of a midseason trade?

Not that I can recall. But given the vibes coming out of Cleveland, it sounds like Browns running back Peyton Hillis could be the one who blazes the trail.

It's been something of a tough season for Hillis so far, and things have been even more complicated thanks to his contract status. Hillis is in the final year of his current deal, and he's looking for an extension. Various reports have claimed that the talks between Hillis and the Browns have not been productive.

According a report from the Associated Press, that has Hillis worried.

“Whenever something’s not set in stone, then I guess anything is possible, which means your career’s not here,” Hillis said on Monday. “So, yeah, that definitely worries me.”

The possibility exists that Hillis' career will be elsewhere very soon. The NFL's trade deadline is October 18th, and Hillis could very well request a trade. In fact, Tony Grossi of The Cleveland Plain-Dealer predicted last week that this is exactly what Hillis will end up doing.

Now, it should be acknowledged that making trades in the NFL is much trickier than making them in the NBA, NHL or MLB. There are only so many players to go around, and it generally doesn't make sense to get rid of a good running back like Hillis.

But the idea of the Browns trading Hillis is not all that far-fetched. Thanks to the deals signed by DeAngelo Williams and Chris Johnson, signing Hillis to a long-term extension means making a pretty significant financial commitment. Presumably, the Browns will only do that if they think Hillis is worth it.

Whether or not Hillis is worth it is debatable. He had a great season in 2010, but it had an awfully fluky feel to it. Hillis hasn't done much to dispel that feeling this season, as he has just 197 yards rushing in three games. He has yet to rush for 100 yards in a game.

And then there was that whole strep throat fiasco. Hillis was suffering from the illness during Week 3, and he ended up missing Cleveland's win against the Miami Dolphins. The popular conspiracy theory is that Hillis didn't want to risk making his condition worse, which would have had an adverse effect on his money-grubbing.

Which may or may not be bogus. What isn't bogus is the fact that Montario Hardesty, Hillis' backup, was pretty decent in the Miami game. With Hillis out, Hardesty rushed for 67 yards on 14 carries, an average of 4.8 yards per game.

Those aren't great numbers, but they're good enough given the nature of Cleveland's offense. Colt McCoy has been a lock for more than 30 throws a game, and that signals a change in the winds seeing as how McCoy topped 30 throws just three times in eight games last season.

Long story short, Hillis may not be as vital to Cleveland's offense as he thinks he is. That doesn't mean the Browns will trade him, but it's going to be easy to decipher their thinking if and when they do.