According to the New York Daily News, a deal between the Giants and Browns involving wide receiver Braylon Edwards is all but dead at this point.

According to a source familiar with the situation, the Giants no longer see any hope of acquiring the Cleveland receiver and are moving forward with their plans to take a receiver early in the NFL draft. The sticking point still appears to be GM Jerry Reese’s refusal to part with the Giants’ first-round pick and the Browns’ refusal to take anything less.

It’s pretty much been that way since Reese and Browns GM George Kokinis first talked about Edwards in February, but until very recently there was at least some optimism inside the Giants’ organization that one of the two sides would blink. Reese has no plans to blink, the source said, and the Giants are now convinced that Kokinis won’t either.

So, barring a late drop in the Browns’ asking price – or a dramatic change of heart by Reese — the Giants will head into Day 1 of the draft focused on getting a receiver to help out a corps thinned by the losses of Plaxico Burress and Amani Toomer. Several sources have said they almost certainly will take a receiver in Round 1, though there’s at least a small chance they’ll draft a linebacker, depending on how the first 28 picks break.

If a deal with the Giants is in fact dead, it’ll be interesting to see if the Browns can move Edwards at all this weekend or sometime before the season starts. His contract is up at the end of the year and it’s doubtful that he’ll want to re-sign with Cleveland. Of course, that might not be such a bad thing either, considering he’s largely underachieved up to this point in his career. Still, Cleveland would surely love to get something for him before he bolts at the end of the year.

Have you heard the latest draft rumors on Mark Sanchez? Apparently only the Lions, Rams, Seahawks, Browns, Jaguars, 49ers, Jets, Redskins and Broncos are either in love, smitten or downright want to get in bed with the USC quarterback.

Is that all?

It seems every day rumors of a new team being interested in Sanchez emerge and while it’s easy to get caught up in all the pre-draft speculation, it would obviously be wise not to believe everything you hear. That said, with the draft quickly approaching, I’ve thoroughly convinced myself that Mark Sanchez will in fact be a Cleveland Brown.

Where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire and there’s a ton of smoke coming out of Cleveland that new head coach Eric Mangini isn’t a big Brady Quinn fan. Along with daily Sanchez-is-going-here speculation, there have been just as many Quinn-will-be-traded-here rumors. Maybe Mangini and new GM George Kokinis are just throwing up smokescreens to keep other teams guessing at what their draft day plans are. Or maybe (and this seems more logical by the day) Mangini and Kokinis want to blow up the entire roster and start over and that’s why Kellen Winslow was traded to the Bucs, Braylon Edwards will soon be dealt to the Giants and Quinn will be jettisoned to parts unknown.

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While the Cardinals are still trying to work on keeping Anquan Boldin in Arizona, head coach Ken Whisenhunt noted that the team is willing to field trade offers for the wide receiver.

“Before the draft, you know there is going to talk about Anquan and his situation and a trade,” Whisenhunt said. “Since not a whole lot has changed with his contractual situation, we know that will come back up.

“It would be foolish from our standpoint not to listen to those opportunities and see what actually exists. But I want to make the point … our goal is to re-sign him to a long-term deal. That hasn’t changed.”

Said general manager Rod Graves, “We just think it is prudent for us to evaluate all our options.”
The Cardinals have already talked some with other teams, although Graves declined to say which ones.

Boldin, who has been looking for a new contract, still has two years left on his current deal. Because of that, the Cardinals don’t feel a sense of urgency to deal Boldin. If a trade isn’t consummated before the first day of the draft April 25, it is unlikely Boldin is going anywhere.

The way this story has developed this offseason has been strange. First Boldin says that his situation with the Cardinals is “irreparable” and the next moment he says he’d like to stay in ‘Zona. Then the Cards say that they’re doing everything they can to retain him, yet now they’re willing to field offers.

My best guess is that the two teams most likely to come up with a decent trade package are still the Giants and Eagles. But it appears that the Giants are more likely to land Braylon Edwards at this point and the Eagles have more to offer the Cards in terms of trade value because they have two first round picks. But does Philly want to give up one of those first rounders for Boldin? General manager Tom Heckert has said all along that his receiving corps is set, but who knows if that’s just a smokescreen.

According to Yahoo Sports!, the Giants are expected to make a deal with the Browns to acquire wide receiver Braylon Edwards sometime before the NFL draft.

The Browns reportedly asked for a second- and fifth-round pick and receiver Steve Smith, but the Giants declined. New York countered by offering the two draft picks and receiver Domenik Hixon for Edwards.

Neither the Browns or Giants could be reached for this story, but both sources said the gap will be bridged before the draft.

“The Giants are motivated, they’re trying to win right now,” the aforementioned quoted source said. “Edwards is a bigger guy that [quarterback] Eli [Manning] wants to throw to, like he had with Plaxico. The Giants know they can’t leave Eli with no great receivers. They saw what happened last year.”

New York’s offense sputtered over the final five games of the season after Burress was suspended by the team after shooting himself at a New York nightclub.

If a trade similar to the one mentioned in the report goes down, it would be a good deal for both teams. Edwards’ contract is up at the end of the year and there’s no guarantee that the Browns would be able to re-sign him. Plus, the new regime in Cleveland clearly wants to rebuild the roster and this would allow them to recoup draft picks that were traded away last offseason by former GM Phil Savage.

The Giants would obviously get their replacement for Burress and might have more success re-signing Edwards to a long-term deal. Although he’s underachieved outside of his breakout 2007 campaign, Edwards is still young and could thrive in a new situation. It’ll be interesting to see if this deal gets done and what the final compensation would be.

According to a report by the National Football Post, the Browns have received offers for quarterback Brady Quinn and wideout Braylon Edwards and are likely to eventually move both players.

The Cleveland Browns have been engaging in talks to trade quarterback Brady Quinn and wide receiver Braylon Edwards, according to our own Michael Lombardi of the National Football Post.
Lombardi reports he is hearing from multiple league sources that the Browns have a first round pick on the table for Quinn, but may be looking for more. Two teams are currently interested in Quinn’s services.

In addition, Lombardi is hearing that the Browns have a first round pick on the table for wide receiver Braylon Edwards and will most likely trade him before the start of next season.

One other note: Lombardi is hearing the Browns are very interested in Texas Tech wide receiver Michael Crabtree.

What’s interesting about the speculation surrounding Cleveland trading Quinn and Edwards is that it isn’t dying down. Even though these are still only rumors, at this point you have to kind of buy into the notion that new head coach Eric Mangini and GM George Kokinis want to blow up the roster and start fresh. They want their own players and that means guys like Quinn, Edwards and Kellen Winslow (who was already dealt this offseason to the Bucs) will eventually be sold to the highest bidder. The Browns are going to be one of the most interesting teams to follow leading up to the draft.

For what it’s worth, I had the Browns taking Crabtree with their first round pick in my second mock, assuming that Edwards would be dealt on or around draft day. But they could also be looking at USC quarterback Mark Sanchez at No. 5 so he could groom under Derek Anderson for a year or two.