Based on recent history, the Cleveland Browns don’t deserve the benefit of the doubt on anything they do.
It’s been 12 seasons (2007) since the team finished over the .500 mark. Out of those dozen years, 10 of them have resulted in 10 or more losses, with only the 7-9 campaign in 2014, and 2018’s 7-8-1 mark being exceptions.
So, we can understand the feeling that no matter what the Browns do, it’s the wrong decision.
However, that shouldn’t be a reason to look at the new organization set up as bad either. While we get the cynicism, let’s all take a deep breath.
It seems most of the football fans in Cleveland got enamored with the prospect of Josh McDaniels being the head coach with one of his friends from New England becoming the general manager.
There were a ton of people who thought this was a done deal, and be the cure-all for what has been ailing the Browns for the past 20 years.
When that didn’t happen, anything Jimmy Haslam and Paul DePodesta did was going to be a failure. Again, we understand that those two are reaping what they sowed, but it isn’t fair to the people they did hire, coach Kevin Stefanski and GM Andrew Berry.
All the criticism is in the name of the feared word: ANALYTICS!!!
Forget that Berry was a scout for six years while working for the Indianapolis Colts and then was vice president of personnel for the Browns from 2016 to 2018. People act like he was some accountant crunching the cost of concessions at First Energy Stadium and the Browns put him in charge.
What the Browns really want is a group of people who can work together. DePodesta liked Stefanski during the interviews for the head coaching position a year ago, so apparently they get along.
Berry was still with the Browns when those interviews were going on last year, and it has been reported that the new GM and the new coach shared common ideas.
There shouldn’t be any butting heads among this trio, and when was the last time we heard about that in Berea.
Also, let’s also get rid of the notion that John Dorsey didn’t make any bad draft choices or questionable personnel decisions.
While he hit on Baker Mayfield, Denzel Ward, and Nick Chubb in 2018, he also picked Chad Thomas in round three, and Antonio Callaway in the 4th. And picking Austin Corbett with the 33rd overall selection was a big whiff.
Meanwhile, while Berry was here, Cleveland selected Larry Ogunjobi and Joe Schobert, while Emmanuel Ogbah (5.5 sacks with KC this season) and Carl Nassib (6 sacks with Tampa in ’19) are productive football players jettisoned by Dorsey.
And don’t forget WR Rashard Higgins was in the 2016 class as well.
The fear here is what happens if or when something doesn’t go as planned. For example, a 7-9 or worse season in 2020. Then what happens?
Hopefully, the ownership can control themselves from getting rid of this group and starting over again. Right now, that has to be a concern until proven otherwise.
Or what happens if someone outside the organization tells the Haslams something and they believe this is a better way to reach the playoffs. That’s another thing that has been a problem in the past.
Let this group do their job and stop pining for something or someone fans thought was going to be the fix to the problems of the Cleveland Browns. That’s not fear to DePodesta, Stefanski, and Berry.
MW
Cleveland Sports Perspective 