Browns sign RB Hyde, trade CB McCourty amid flurry of moves

Since the start of the new league year, the Cleveland Browns have been among the most active teams in the NFL.

Wednesday saw the Browns officially acquire quarterback Tyrod Taylor, wide receiver Jarvis Landry and cornerback Damarious Randall in three separate deals while sending QB DeShone Kizer to the Green Bay Packers in the Randall deal and shipping defensive tackle Danny Shelton to the New England Patriots.

Cleveland continued its roster shake-up Thursday, announcing deals with free agent running back Carlos Hyde (three years, reportedly worth more than $15 million), cornerback T.J. Carrie (four years, reportedly $31 million), offensive lineman Chris Hubbard (five years, reportedly $37.5 million), defensive end Chris Smith (three years, reportedly $14 million), tight end Darren Fells (three years, reportedly $12 million), cornerback Terrance Mitchell (three years, reportedly $12 million) and offensive tackle Donald Stephenson (one year, reportedly $2.5 million).

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The Browns also traded cornerback Jason McCourty and a 2018 seventh-round pick to the New England Patriots for a 2018 sixth-rounder and released nine players, terminating the contract of cornerback B.W. Webb and waiving wide receiver Sammie Coates, running back Josh Rounds, linebacker Jeremy Cash, safety Trevon Hartfield, defensive linemen Ricky Ali'ifua and Collin Bevins and offensive linemen Zach Banner and Joseph Cheek.

"The overall goal was to stick to the plan," Browns general manager John Dorsey said in a team release. "I give everybody in football operations credit for all the hard work they did within that plan. Anytime you can hit 80 percent of your mark you've done a pretty good job.

"I think we did a pretty good job of identifying talent and then when we had a chance to sit and talk with the representatives of those players in the three-day window, I thought we did a nice job in terms of negotiations by staying prudent, staying fair, acquiring players at the right price but still getting those players you know can help you moving forward."

The Browns finished last season 0-16. They entered the offseason with one of the highest amounts of available cap space.

"We have some holes and we'll continue to address them," Dorsey said. "The more good football players you have on your team, you're creating competition and we always talk about creating competition in training camp. We will continue to add players to create competition."

--Field Level Media