Browns trade kicker Cade York to Washington Commanders for conditional 7th-round pick

The Browns have traded kicker Cade York to the Washington Commanders in exchange for a conditional seventh-round pick, a source confirms for the Beacon Journal.

MMQB's Albert Breer was the first to report.

Washington has been in need of a kicker all preseason. Among the Commanders' previous candidates was Riley Patterson, who kicked for the Browns last December and January after Dustin Hopkins suffered a hamstring injury on Dec. 24.

Patterson was released by the Commanders shortly after they acquired York.

York, the 2022 fourth-round pick of the Browns out of LSU, had retuned to Cleveland in March on a futures deal in an attempt to restart his career. He had previously been waived by the Browns last August after just his second preseason in the league.

The second go-around in Cleveland saw York basically handle all of the kicking chores in the preseason while Hopkins nursed what coach Kevin Stefanski termed a minor injury. York was 2 of 2 on field goal, including a 55-yarder in the preseason opener against the Green Bay Packers, and 2 of 2 on point-after kicks.

York's first go-around with the Browns started with a game-winning 58-yard field goal in the 2022 season opener at the Carolina Panthers, which earned him AFC Special Teams Player of the Week honors. He set franchise rookie records for points (107) and point-after kicks (35), while finishing second for field goals made (24) that season.

However, York also had wild bouts of inconsistency at times, which bubbled over into the preseason in 2023. That culminated in the preseason finale at the Kansas City Chiefs, when a potential game-winning field goal was blocked, his final kick before being cut.

After being released by the Browns, York spent time on the practice squads of the Tennessee Titans and New York Giants. He was signed to the Giants' active roster, but did not make an appearance and finished the season on injured reserve with a quad injury.

York spoke of that injury, and the disappointment of the way last season ended, leading to a spiritual change within him after the Packers preseason game.

"I was supposed to play, and it was all on the TV and I made my mom turn it off," York said on Aug. 10. "I was like, I don't want to watch this crap. And then that whole week I was just pretty dark and gloomy, just kind of wallowing in my own self pity. And then had this moment in my hotel room where I was eating, and the food did not taste good. It wasn't a bad food. I was just in such a bad mood, and I got so angry that I actually just like started kind of trashing my room."

Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Browns trade kicker Cade York to Washington Commanders for conditional 7th-round pick