5 things you need to know for Wednesday

Hey there football fans! Here are five things from yesterday that you need to know to start out your Wednesdays:

The Browns are trying to trade Joe Haden. Cleveland is, “aggressively trying to trade,” their cornerback.

Haden signed a new deal prior to the 2015 season after a promising two years of play. In 2013 and 2014, Haden earned PFF coverage grades of 83.7 and 79.0, ranking 18th and 24th among the league’s corners, respectively. Over the two seasons, he allowed a passer rating of just 75.4 on throws into his primary coverage, the seventh-lowest mark among cornerbacks with at least 900 coverage snaps over that time.

However, since signing the deal, Haden’s play has declined and nagging injuries have kept him from consistent play. 2016 was Haden’s worst year as a pro. He gave up a league-high six touchdowns, and allowed 1.48 yards per coverage snap, the league’s 12th-highest mark among cornerbacks.

Haden’s performance this preseason has continued the downward trend. Through three preseason games, Haden has allowed 1.61 yards per coverage snap, and a passer rating of 104.6, both the highest marks among Browns cornerbacks with at least 30 coverage snaps.

The Bengals traded Marquis Flowers to the Patriots. In return, they got a seventh-round draft pick.

Flowers has seen significant preseason action in each year of his NFL career, but his grades have been up and down. He currently has a solid overall PFF grade of 74.9 for this preseason, but he has played under 20 snaps in each of the past two outings working with the backups.

Run defense has been the better-graded area of his game. This preseason he has been targeted five times in coverage, allowing a reception on all give passes for 42 yards and a touchdown, yielding a passer rating of 141.3 when thrown at. A 2018 seventh-round pick is about the lowest form of trade compensation you can find, so Flowers is very much a long shot to make the team.

The 49ers traded Vance McDonald to the Steelers. The Steelers will send a fourth-round pick for a fifth-round pick and McDonald.

McDonald finished last season with a very respectable 73.5 overall grade, higher than any returning Steelers tight end a year ago. His 74.3 receiving grade (22nd out of 52 tight ends) also topped any returning Steelers tight end, including incumbent starter Jesse James’46.9 receiving grade (44th of 52).

McDonald’s preseason with San Francisco hasn’t gone to plan, as he has dropped 1-of-3 targeted passes, and the emergence of rookie TE George Kittle relegated his need too much. The move gives the Steelers a solid core of tight ends including James, Xavier Grimble and David Johnson.

The Lions waived Cyrus Kouandjio. The young veteran tackle was competing for a starting tackle position previously.

Injuries have hampered him in his NFL career, which is just 639 regular season snaps old, 405 of which came last season for the Bills. He has flashed ability, and ended the year with three impressive games of pass protection.

This preseason with the Lions, he has only seen 20 snaps of game time, all coming against the Jets, and that saw him surrender a sack and a hurry. Kouandjio clearly has NFL talent, but he has ceased to be a reliable option for multiple teams now, and will be seen only as a reclamation project for anyone interested in picking him up now.

The Saints released defensive end Jason Jones. Jones' play in the preseason this year has been solid.

Jones has had some periods of excellent play in the NFL, with his best season coming back in 2010, where he posted an overall PFF grade of 85.0 when playing for the Tennessee Titans. His most recent game action has not been nearly as impressive, with his 2016 overall grade of 44.5 being a career-low.

He has played in two games this preseason, totaling 40 snaps for the Saints before his release and earning a solid PFF grade of 73.6 thanks to recording a pair of hurries and some solid plays in the run game. Jones likely doesn’t have much left beyond a situational role somewhere, and even with that he would need to bounce back from his 2016 form.