Why Tank? To Save People’s Jobs

We say this all the time, but the easiest thing to do for a front office for a major sports league front office is to tear down the roster. Why? Because there are two things a team can sell its fans, winning or hope. And trading assets for draft picks provides the latter.

The toughest thing to do is trying to win. Because if you try and don’t succeed as a general manager, you lose your job. Which is where the Browns should be with their current front office. They opened a contention window with the tanking in 2016 and 2017, and all they have to show for it is two playoff appearances and one post-season victory.

Many people are praising the New York Jets for what they did at the NFL trade deadline, trading Sauce Gardner for two first-round picks and Quinnen Williams for another. Presumably, the Jets are looking for their “franchise” quarterback.

Apparently, everyone has forgotten they drafted one with the second overall pick just four years ago in Zach Wilson. How has that worked out?

Meanwhile, the Jets haven’t made the playoffs since 2010 and have had only one winning season (10-6 in 2015) since then.

We question whether the tanking method has worked for any team in recent years. Look at the best teams in the NFL over the last 10 or so years.

The Kansas City Chiefs have won three Super Bowls since 2019. Their worst record since 2010 was a 2-14 mark in 2012 after which they hired Andy Reid. They had the first pick in the ’13 draft and took OT Eric Fisher, not a quarterback.

Philadelphia has won two NFL titles since 2017. They had two seasons since 2010 where they won four games (’12 and ’20). They had the fourth overall pick in 2013 and took OT Lane Johnson, and with the 10th pick in ’21 they took DeVonta Smith.

Buffalo is a perennial contender in the AFC. Their lowest win total since 2010 was a 4-12 record that year. They didn’t draft a QB following that season. They had a 9-7 record the season before they drafted Josh Allen.

Another seemingly perpetual good team is the Baltimore Ravens. They went 5-11 in 2015, their worst record in the last 15 years. They took an offensive lineman, Ronnie Stanley with their top ten pick the following year.

Let’s do one more team, the San Francisco 49ers, who have lost three Super Bowls since 2012. They did finish 2-14 in ’16, drafted DE Solomon Thomas the following season and hired Kyle Shanahan to be the head coach. They did have a 4-12 record in 2018 and again took a DE, Nick Bosa, in the next draft.

We have discussed Joe Burrow being the only top QB taken with the first overall pick, but the Bengals didn’t really tank. Yes, their worst record was 2-14, the year prior to taking Burrow, but they were kind of stuck in mediocrity before that, finishing with six or seven wins the previous three seasons after five straight playoff appearances.

The point is people keep saying the Browns (and other teams) should tank to get their QB when there really isn’t any evidence that it works.

But why do teams keep doing it? To sell hope. To sell the fan base they are going to get the next Patrick Mahomes, Allen, Lamar Jackson, or Burrow. It’s the easiest way to bide time to keep their jobs.

Enjoy the process though!

Browns Claim To Have A Plan. Do They?

Change in the NFL can come quickly. Check out pretty much every season and a team that finished with a poor record the year prior will rise up and make the playoffs, while a playoff team a year before sinks to the basement.

Last season, it was the Washington Commanders going from 4-13 to 12-5 and ultimately the NFC Championship game, while the Browns went the other way, an 11-6 record in ’23 followed by the 3-14 disaster last season.

The year prior, the Houston Texans went from 3-13-1 to 10-7 while Minnesota went from 13-4 in 2022 to a 7-10 mark the next year.

Yes, many times, it’s about getting the quarterback as with Houston (C.J. Stroud) and Washington (Jayden Daniels) and while that’s true, neither of those teams got their QB with the first overall pick, and the other question is it sustainable.

Other times, you think you have the quarterback, and the fan base thinks they have the guy, but they are wrong. Look at the mess in Miami and Arizona. Both teams thought they had the guy, but it doesn’t appear they were correct.

Look at the Chargers. They drafted Justin Herbert in 2020, and he’s probably a top ten QB in the league, but they’ve gone 7-9, 9-8, 10-7, 5-12, and 11-6 with him under center, making the playoffs twice. So, it’s not just the QB.

We bring this up because our local team, the Cleveland Browns, come up with one excuse after another as to why they don’t/can’t win, despite teams taking big jumps up the standings every year.

First, the team seems to believe they can only win by getting a franchise quarterback, and while that has some merit, the notion you can only get that guy by tanking and having the league’s worst record is simply not true.

Yes, Joe Burrow was drafted first overall, but how many of the other top ten QBs in the sport were taken in that spot? Baker Mayfield and Jared Goff. So, the majority of the best QBs in the NFL were not taken first overall.

And if you do get a chance to take a quarterback early in the draft, wouldn’t you want to surround him with a solid offensive line and some other offensive weapons?

Let’s say the Browns identify a QB in next year’s draft as they will likely have a top ten pick. What are you bringing him into? Your offensive line is aging and not very good. You have no real good wide receivers.

Your best weapons on offense are two rookies, RB Quinshon Judkins and TE Harold Fannin Jr. That’s it. And knowing the franchise, they will feel the need to play the rookie QB before he is ready. Just like they have done with Dylan Gabriel.

For all the front office likes to plan for the future (free beer tomorrow!), the truth is they have set themselves up poorly if the plan is to get the QB with their multiple first round picks next spring.

Based on all the other stuff they have mucked up in the last six years, we guess that’s to be expected, right?

The bigger question we guess is do they think they are fooling fans with their non-sense? They are good at making excuses for not winning. It’s also what they have the most experience doing.

Adding Pitching Wouldn’t Be Bad For Guards Either

The Cleveland Guardians have made a reputation over the past 10 years or so as a pitching factory. They’ve pretty much always have had solid pitching.

Since 2007, Cleveland has had five Cy Young Award winners: C.C. Sabathia (’07), Cliff Lee (’08), Corey Kluber (’14 and ’17), and Shane Bieber (’20). This list doesn’t include some guys who had excellent seasons, like Carlos Carrasco, Roberto Hernandez (Fausto Carmona), and Trevor Bauer.

For most of the 2025 season, the pitching was floundering. Tanner Bibee was inconsistent for much of the first five months of the season. Ben Lively had to have Tommy John surgery in May. Luis Ortiz was suspended.

Slade Cecconi was a pleasant surprise, making 23 starts but still had a 4.30 ERA.

Only Gavin Williams, who finished the season 12-5 with a 3.06 ERA, could be counted on to provide solid starts, and he too, had some problems, leading the American League in walks, which led to game where he could only go five innings.

In September, everything gelled. The Guardians went to a six-man rotation with Joey Cantillo, who started the season in relief joining the rotation along with rookie Parker Messick, who compiled a 2.72 ERA in seven starts.

And Bibee started to pitch like we’ve seen him in the past.

So, what about 2025. We know the Guardians’ optimists will think everything is fine, but we (like a lot of baseball people) look at track records. We feel comfortable with Williams and Bibee right now, but we think the front office should still be in the market for pitching this winter.

Cantillo was a solid prospect for a long time, but he’s made just 21 big league starts and he also has issues with the strike zone. When he throws strikes consistently, he’s tough to beat, but he doesn’t do it enough.

We had some snide comments about Cecconi when he was traded to the Guardians (after all he was the return for a guy who hit 30 HRs the year before) and when he was activated, because of a 6.66 ERA in 77 innings for the Diamondbacks in 2024, but he’s kind of an old school pitcher. He induces weak contact and doesn’t have a high K rate.

He pitched a game in Sacramento where he went seven innings of two-hit ball and people on social media were incensed because he only had two strikeouts.

As we said Messick has seven big league starts. Lively likely won’t be back until middle of the year. And although we like Cecconi, he looks like a solid middle to back of the rotation guy.

Among the top prospects, Khal Stephen, the return for Shane Bieber, pitched in AA, and Doug Nikhazy, who made a couple of token appearances with the big club, and had a 5.02 ERA in AAA, are the closest to being ready.

We would like to see the front office add another proven veteran to the mix heading into 2026.

It doesn’t need to be a front of the rotation guy, more like a veteran who can provide innings to keep the bullpen fresh early in the season. That would serve Steven Vogt very well.

And it wouldn’t hurt to have Carl Willis work with him.