A potential deal that would have sent Cincinnati Bengals backup quarterback A.J. McCarron to the Cleveland Browns ultimately failed.

However, it didn’t fail to go through because one of the teams rejected it. After the trade deadline passed, reports emerged that it didn’t go through because the Browns didn’t file the paperwork in time.

Bengals and Browns actually agreed to AJ McCarron trade at 3:55 pm, per source involved. Bengals approved trade to NFL, Browns did not. — Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 31, 2017

Now, if you’re thinking that this the most Browns thing that could ever happen, know that according to later reports, it actually gets worse.

Grossi says that apparently the Browns were celebrating their trade and forgot to call in the deal before the deadline… — Aaron Goldhammer (@HammerNation19) October 31, 2017

The NFL was not in a sympathetic mood, either.

NFL rejected Browns request to overturn AJ McCarron trade. Even though Browns’ notification of trade arrived moments too late, NFL said no. — Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 31, 2017

It’s important to remember that things float around this time of the year and not all of them end up being completely true.

But whether the issue was the Browns prematurely celebrating or if they just failed to get the deal in for other reasons, this is bad. Filing the proper paperwork should be the easiest part of a trade, especially in the final minutes before the trade deadline.

If there’s any validity to these reports, Cleveland is more of a mess than we thought it was before Tuesday. That’s saying something.