Nobody knows for sure. But I agree supafly, there was quite a bit of media noise on this to suggest that maybe Cleveland did offer a first rounder. For example:
Browns still trying to acquire Patriots QB Jimmy Garoppolo
"Cabot reports that “the Browns may have offered” the #12 pick to the Patriots, but the Patriots weren’t interested." (Note: "Cabot" is Mary Kay Cabot, who writes for cleveland.com, not a Boston media site)
So yeah, speculation, not known fact. But BB does seem to like JG quite a bit. Schefter has been all over this (
Adam Schefter thinks Patriots will try to keep Jimmy Garoppolo):
"The New England Patriots may have big plans for Jimmy Garoppolo. At the very least, they seem to be interested in keeping the 25-year-old signal-caller in the organization for the next two seasons.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter appeared
on Bleacher Report’s “Stick to Football” podcast on Thursday. Schefter said the Patriots “were never trading Jimmy Garoppolo,” which is something he reported time and time again leading up to the 2017 NFL Draft. Schefter thinks the decision not to move the quarterback shows they have plans to keep Garoppolo around beyond his rookie deal which expires after the 2017 season.
“Now, again, going forward, how is that going to operate and how is that going to work? Are the Patriots going risk losing Jimmy Garoppolo? My own sense is no,” Schefter said. “
They are going to figure out a way one way or another to keep him there whether that means signing him to an extension, or franchising him, or making it work. We’ll see how that plays out, but I don’t think they are going to lose him. I don’t think they want to lose him. I think they recognize how good they think he is — many of us don’t know that right now, because we haven’t seen him play on a consistent basis. But they have. They’ve watched him practice. They’ve seen him in practice. They know what he is and isn’t capable of.
They are big believers in him.”"