Cleveland Browns hope to unload newly-acquired QB Brock Osweiler

The Cleveland Browns may have traded for quarterback Brock Osweiler with his $16 million guaranteed salary on the first day of free agency, but he is expected to be dealt again or released.

Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported Saturday that the Browns are shopping the 26-year-old Osweiler after they acquired him Thursday in a trade with the Houston Texans, along with a 2018 second-round pick and a 2017 sixth-rounder (188).

In exchange, the Browns gave up their fourth-round compensatory pick in this year's draft (No. 142 overall) and took Osweiler's guaranteed contract off the Texans' books.

Osweiler is not in the Browns' plans and he will be gone before long, sources told the newspaper. The Browns are willing to send Osweiler and a fifth-round pick for a third-round pick, according to the report.

The Browns would be willing to absorb a portion of Osweiler's $16 million contract, as much as half, sources told the newspaper.

Houston signed Osweiler to a four-year contract worth $72 million with $37 million guaranteed last year, but he was benched and replaced by Tom Savage during the season only to get his job back when Savage was injured.

For the season, Osweiler completed just 59 percent of his passes, for 2,957 yards, 15 touchdowns, 16 interceptions and a passer rating of 72.2.

Osweiler's guaranteed salary for 2017 now belongs to the Browns, and Houston will take a $9 million cap hit for the remainder of his prorated signing bonus for a net cap savings of $7 million.

The Browns released quarterback Robert Griffin III on Friday, giving Cody Kessler a chance to be the starting quarterback in 2017.

Griffin was released on the eve of the Browns having to pay the six-year veteran a $750,000 roster bonus on Saturday. Griffin was due to make more than $6 million in the 2017 season.