NFL Tickets
There’s no hiding the fact the Cleveland Browns aren’t winning over any new fans thanks to their offseason moves. Free agents have fled town, the signings the team has made have been severely underwhelming and yesterday the team began cutting veterans. While some of the moves have been met with local fanfare – cutting Johnny Manziel and Dwayne Bowe – overall the team has become significantly worse.
Naturally, this has led to two reactions, depending on your opinion of the team. If you’re a Browns fan, you’re less than thrilled, wondering why you’re watching a team that has done nothing but lose somehow make itself even more of a disaster. If you’re anyone else, the response is mostly “Lol Browns.”
It’s definitely easy to understand why everyone outside of Cleveland is laughing uncontrollably at what the Browns are doing. It also makes it tough to remember the fact the new front office is just following through with the plan it’s been telling us about since Day 1.
Cleveland’s new regime said from the get-go that this would be a rebuild in every sense of the word. Letting free agents walk and cutting vets is all part of the process. It may be a shock to see these moves take place now, but these are all occurring because they align with what the Browns want to do.
It’s likely even more shocking to believe the fact that this plan can actually work for Cleveland. It won’t be an overnight process by any means, but the moves being made now can make the Browns better in the long run.
There is, of course, once caveat when determining the success of this tear-down. Yes, this currently insane looking demolition can eventually lead to winning football. However, this will only happen if the new front office gets every move from here on out right.
Sure, this is quite an obvious statement. Something will work if you do it right. No kidding.
At the same time, this is the Browns we’re talking about. Name the last great decision this franchise has made outside of drafting Joe Thomas in 2007. Quite frankly, smart moves aren’t exactly something Cleveland is known for.
Instead, the Browns have made a history of swinging and missing on draft picks, making terrible hires and overpaying bad free agents. So, yes, it needs to be said that great decision-making is a necessity for this rebuild.
This means drafting smart, for once. Cleveland can’t afford to outsmart itself and select players nobody sees as a fit, solely for the purpose of trying to think outside the box. If there’s a consensus perfect fit for the Browns available, pick that guy. Not the one with glaring red flags and drinking problems.
It means maintaining the same gameplan no matter what happens. If the goal is to rebuild, keeping the idea of contending on the backburner, then the team has to stay on that path. There can’t be panic if – or, let’s face it, when – the Browns struggle mightily. The front office can’t make gut-check reactions based on an 0-8 start.
This, of course, means impatience has no place here. Owner Jimmy Haslam, known for his desperate need to clean house the second things go badly, has to stay the course no matter how bad it gets. He can’t change his mind once he inevitably sees how few people actually show up on Sundays this year. You can’t follow the “it’ll get worse before it gets better” mindset if you can’t handle the rough times.
This team is intentionally getting shoddier right now, doing so under the belief it will help in the long run. And, if the right calls are made and there aren’t any panic reactions when this subpar roster performs poorly, this can all come into fruition.
Anyone who’s followed this team knows that’s a huge if. Right now, it’s tough to see the light at the end of the tunnel for the Browns. But, that doesn’t mean the team can’t get there.
However, the only way to do so is to make sure every move made from here on out is the right call. Otherwise, this intentional destruction of a bad team is only going to make the climb back to contention that much longer.
Share 
