No Rush To Make A Move With Myles

There’s an old adage sports reporters use when they are asked who they want to win in a specific game or series. Most times they say “I’m rooting for the story”.

We think that where several sports media people in Cleveland are on the Myles Garrett situation.

Many of these folks say the Browns have to make a decision on Garrett as soon as possible, hopefully when the new league year starts in March.

We say what’s the hurry, other than it provides conversation for sports talk stations.

First, we are not salary cap experts, but we have read several articles from people who understand it and the Browns would take an enormous cap hit by trading Garrett. Factor in the consequences of Deshaun Watson contract and any move involving a trade is very difficult for the franchise.

Second, no doubt the Browns don’t want the situation to get contentious with their All-Pro defensive end, but Garrett really doesn’t have much leverage. He’s under contract for two more years, so if the Browns don’t trade him and he still wants to play football in 2025, he’s playing in Cleveland.

Again, neither side wants it to go that way.

However, there is no reason to rush to make a move with Myles Garrett.

Many people suggest the draft is a good time for a move but think about it from the team trading for the pass rusher’s point of view. Do you think they would rather deal a pick in this year’s selection process or next year’s draft?

Because if you wait until after the draft, you can’t deal a 2025 selection, you’ve pushed it out to ’26. Tell us what team wouldn’t prefer that.

After the draft is kind of a dead period for the NFL. There are the optional and mandatory mini camps, but no football is being played at that time. No wins and no losses.

So, from our viewpoint there is no rush to do anything with Garrett until training camps open in late July. That gives the Browns five months to discuss their plans for the next two or three years with Garrett and get him back on board with the franchise.

And that’s what we would do. We heard David Njoku and Denzel Ward talk last week about how much they wanted Garrett in brown and orange, and the Browns should encourage more of those conversations.

In that time period, you could have a great draft adding a lot of pieces Garrett might find interesting. The Browns could upgrade the quarterback position and Kevin Stefanski could show him how the team can return to the record they had just a little over a year ago when they made the playoffs.

The point is there is no rush to make a move. We’ve all heard the expression that time heals all wounds, and time is the one thing Jimmy Haslam, Andrew Berry, and Stefanski have.

Whatever happens with Garrett will alter the future of the Cleveland Browns. Being patient for that reason alone is the smartest decision.

After A Great Season, Guards’ Ownership Cuts Spending

Regular readers of this site can figure out our age by when we started following sports in northeast Ohio. The starting point for us was 1965, and we recently were thinking about our relationship with the Cleveland baseball team in that period.

From 1965-1990, the Indians were poorly financed and poorly run. The ownership and front office wanted to win, but they had no money, forcing management to trade many young players because they couldn’t afford them.

Think about players like Chris Chambliss and Graig Nettles, who became mainstays of a couple Yankee World Championship clubs. They had Dennis Eckersley, Buddy Bell, and Julio Franco who were all either great (Eck is in the Hall of Fame) or very good, but were traded for prospects or the dreaded “we’ll get three average players for one real good one” move.

From 1991-2001 were the halcyon days. Jacobs Field opened in 1994, and attendance was at a franchise peak for a sustained time. The Indians were well run, well financed, and ownership was motivated to break the at the time 40-year drought between post-season appearances.

Cleveland was in the top ten (some years top five) in payroll. Big name free agents signed here, first veterans like Eddie Murray, Dennis Martinez, and Orel Hershiser, and later coveted ones like Jack McDowell, Kenny Lofton, and Roberto Alomar.

And then we have from 2002 to the present. There is no question the team is well run. The front office, especially with Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff is charge does a solid job. Financially, in spite of the constant whining and moaning about the lack of money, they are solid, the biggest difference between now and the previous two eras is this ownership doesn’t seem to have an overwhelming desire to win.

One of our tried-and-true theories is the everyone likes to win. Who wouldn’t? It’s fun. However, there is a huge difference between liking to win and hating to lose. Our favorite athletes are the one who will do anything to avoid a loss.

As owners, the Dolans are the former, they like to win. However, we don’t think they are obsessed with ending the franchise’s World Series drought, which has now reached 76 years.

This comes up again because of a report that the Guardians payroll being reduced from the beginning of the 2024 season, after a season where the team won a playoff series and got to the AL Championship Series, baseball’s Final Four, if you will.

Also, attendance was up. After years of the ownership saying they would spend when the fans showed up (that’s not the way it works in business by the way), slightly over 222,000 folks went to Progressive Field in ’24, the 6th highest increase in the majors.

And they are spending less on players.

This is not to suggest the Guardians can spend like the Dodgers, Yankees, Mets, and a few other big market teams. But reducing the payroll after a wildly successful season is a slap in the face to the fans.

It’s not like this Guards’ roster doesn’t have holes. Impartial observers see problems with both the everyday lineup and the starting rotation.

Even the staunchest defender the Guardians’ owners should be appalled by this development. We’ve already heard the excuse about the television broadcast deal, but it should not stop them from trying to get to another World Series.

We don’t know what will happen during the ’25 baseball season, and we have been a fan of this baseball team for 60 years. We want them to win. We’ve said it before, but wishing and hoping isn’t a plan. Get the payroll to the level of other teams of this size market, like Milwaukee or Kansas City.

Do something to make another team have the longest span since winning a World Series.

Cavs Get Hunter, Hunting A Title

We have said many times over the last couple of years that the Cleveland Cavaliers needed more size, and they addressed it on Thursday getting De’Andre Hunter from Atlanta for Caris LeVert, Georges Niang, some second-round draft picks and some pick swaps.

Hunter stands out because he’s a 6’8″ wing and most of Cleveland’s wing are in the 6’5″/6’6″ range. When you pair that with two smaller starting guards, it’s a problem against long, athletic teams.

Hunter is having his best year in a sixth man role with the Hawks, averaging 19.0 points per night on 46% shooting and is making 39.3% of his threes. That latter figure is trending up over the last two seasons, hitting 38.5% last year.

Now, Kenny Atkinson has two tall wings in Hunter and Dean Wade, when he gets back and hopefully can stay healthy.

The loss of LeVert will be underrated by some who only judge basketball on numbers, but he was one of the few Cavs who can create his own shot and gave the wine and gold some size in the backcourt. To us, he was Cleveland’s fifth best player, a spot now taken by Hunter.

However, Ty Jerome can pick up the slack in the shot creation department, he is very creative around the basket and is a very good passer as well.

And Niang was a solid three-point shooter at 40% and Atkinson was using him at power forward at time, albeit he was undersized. His locker room presence will be missed.

There was a lot of discussion about chemistry with the Cavs, but remember Hunter played with Ty Jerome at Virginia, so there is a locker room connection there, and both played for Tony Bennett at UVA, and Bennett was one of college hoops’ finest teachers. In our opinion, playing for him means you know how to play.

And that’s one of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ strengths.

We would still like to see team president Koby Altman need some more size in the buyout market. There were rumors the Cavs were interested in 6’10” Ben Simmons, but he signed with the Clippers.

But Simmons is more of a wing defender and the Cavaliers need another post presence. The thought that keeps going through our head is if Jarrett Allen and/or Evan Mobley get hurt (hopefully nothing long term), Atkinson’s only alternative is Tristan Thompson, and that’s an issue.

If Atkinson wants, he can go with Mitchell or Garland and Jerome in the backcourt (6’2″ and 6’5″) with Hunter, Mobley and Allen up front. That’s more of what most NBA teams do in terms of height.

He can also use Max Strus or Isaac Okoro (6’5″) in the backcourt as well.

Cleveland still has an open roster spot, so we would expect Altman to find another player with size who is bought out or perhaps in the G-League.

Again, this player wouldn’t be expected to be a rotation piece, more like some insurance in case of injuries or foul issues.

We wrote the other day that the Cavs did have tremendous chemistry but were also in a unique situation because of their record. Altman decided to push the chips to the middle of the table, something we wish another team in the city would do.

Cleveland should be better vs. long, athletic teams, and it is clear the goal is to now get to the NBA Finals and win it.

Just an excellent move.

Garrett Requests A Trade. Browns Need To Fix It

Only the Cleveland Browns could have a 3-14 season and have the off-season be worse than the actual season. But that’s where it seems we are after the franchise’s best player; Myles Garrett requested a trade.

We guess it is semantics, but Garrett asked to be moved, he didn’t demand it. People who know this stuff better than us feel it would be another huge hit on the salary cap to trade the All-Pro defensive end, which may preclude making the move.

Garrett has two years left on his current contract, so if push comes to shove, the Browns could play hard ball and refuse to trade him, making Garrett decide whether or not he is going to sit out a season.

It would also be stupid for it to come to that.

Our advice to the Browns’ front office? Put together your collaborative process (sarcasm intended) and fix this. And the sooner, the better.

We would even go as far as to say this. In his public statement requesting a deal, the former first overall pick gave a little tweak to GM Andrew Berry using the latter’s “Cleveland to Canton” comment. If Garrett’s issue is with Berry, it’s an easy solution for us, hire a new general manager.

Berry is easily more replaceable than the best defensive player the franchise has had over the last 65 years.

We understand that Garrett’s request got all of the football fans in northeast Ohio who crave and worship draft picks all excited. That’s what they love. But the reality is anyone you draft with one of the picks you get will not be as good as Myles Garrett.

And that’s not a slap at the front office either. Garrett has already won the Defensive Player of the Year last season and is up for the award this season. He’s arguably the best defensive player in the NFL.

The Browns could get 20 first round picks in return and not get anyone as good as Myles Garrett.

As for Garrett’s desire to play important games, let’s be honest about this, how many games would the Browns have won in 2024 with competent quarterback play? They certainly wouldn’t have been 3-14. Cleveland started 10 contests with Deshaun Watson, Dorian Thompson-Robinson, and Bailey Zappe behind center.

They were 2-5 with Jameis Winston, so is it out of the realm of possibility to think they could have gone 6-11 with Winston starting the whole season? If you agree, then that makes to trip back to the playoffs in 2025 shorter.

We understand Browns’ fans and media alike love to play the “woe is us” card. But there is talent on this roster. Denzel Ward and Jerry Jeudy made the Pro Bowl (such that it is), and the offensive line needs some tweaks, but there are solid players there.

David Njoku is a good player too, and Mike Hall and Isaiah McGuire look like they have talent. And don’t forget, the Browns have a first-round pick for the first time in four years and four picks in the top 100 of this year’s draft.

And going back to the offense Kevin Stefanski likes to run should cause an improvement as well.

There is a long time between now and the beginning of training camp, so the front office is on the clock. Fix this issue with Myles Garrett. End of discussion.

Yes, Cavs Have Chemistry. They Also Have a Unique Opportunity.

There is no question the Cleveland Cavaliers have tremendous chemistry. They seem to share the ball, enjoy playing with each other and the results have shown this. They are sitting at 40-9, the best record in the NBA.

Their best player, Donovan Mitchell has accepted playing less minutes and taking less shots in order to get more people involved, allowing more players to play significant minutes.

This has allowed the wine and gold to survive when players have missed time due to injuries. Isaac Okoro has played just 28 games, Dean Wade has missed 14, Caris LeVert 13. Yet the Cavs continue to roll losing three in a row just once this season.

They are 24-3 at home, 16-6 on the road. They are 26-6 against the Eastern Conference, 14-3 vs. the West. There are probably three or four teams that can win an NBA title this season, and Cleveland is one of them.

One of the things we have praised team president Koby Altman for is he has brought in all these players, and they all have good character. There isn’t a knucklehead or a diva on the roster. And in today’s NBA, that is truly remarkable.

We have heard many pundits say because of the success Cleveland has had this season; Altman should stand pat at this week’s trading deadline. And there is certainly some merit to that. Don’t make a move just to make a move.

On the other hand, because character has mattered so much to the organization, shouldn’t we trust the front office to avoid bringing in someone who will upset the chemistry?

Look, the Cavaliers are having a tremendous season. No one, not even the most ardent supporter of the wine and gold would have imagined the team being 40-9 at this point of the season.

And you don’t know if the Cavs will ever be in this situation again. They could run it back next year with the same group and not have this kind of record. That’s the reality of sports.

We don’t believe the Cavaliers will make a huge splash at the deadline, and they may even wait for the buyout market or perhaps scour the G-League for what they need, but they should be pursuing another big man. And we aren’t talking about a stretch four either.

We mean a legitimate post presence. Tristan Thompson has been a great teammate, but if either Jarrett Allen or Evan Mobley have to miss any time during the rest of this season, Kenny Atkinson is going to have a problem.

The issue is Thompson’s offensive game which is severely limited. He cannot do the things within the offense that Allen and Mobley can do. The Cavs need someone who has to be guarded by the opponents.

We’ve felt Cleveland needed more size on the wing as well, and they probably still do for the playoffs, but getting a playable big man should now be the higher need.

And if a trade is out there, surely the Cavs have depth. As we said, they’ve kind of played without Okoro this year, and perhaps Jaylon Tyson could take his minutes in a pinch. A season like this may not come around again.

Where Are Runs Coming From For Guardians?

The Cleveland Guardians’ will start their defense of the American League Central Division title in a few weeks when spring training starts and frankly, it’s difficult to see where the team has improved.

Several fans have pointed out to us that the Guardians’ front office moves stealthily, so maybe something will happen in the next few weeks. However, we think it is safe to say the ownership really doesn’t want to spend money, so maybe not.

Last season, the average Major League team scored 4.39 runs per game. Cleveland scored 4.40, ranking 14th in the majors. The average OPS was 711, the Guardians were 16th with a 703 mark.

Let’s look at the 711 figure, again which is what the average major league player does. Among players with 100 or more plate appearances, the Guardians had five: Jose Ramirez at 872, David Fry, who will miss the first half of the season, at 804, Steven Kwan (793), Josh Naylor, since traded, at 776, and Jhonkensy Noel at 774.

They added Carlos Santana to replace Naylor, and he had a 749 OPS.

So, a look at the Guardians’ opening day lineup, assuming a right-hander starts probably looks like this–

LF Kwan (793)
DH Kyle Manzardo (703)
3B Ramirez (872)
1B Santana (749)
CF Lane Thomas (709)
2B Juan Brito (no MLB at bats, but 807 at AAA)
RF Will Brennan (697)
C Bo Naylor (614)
SS Brayan Rocchio (614)

Remember, that Santana last year vs. RHP had a 676 OPS, not good. So what you have is two solid bats in Ramirez and Kwan, Thomas is average, but another player with an extreme platoon split (878 vs. lefties, 647 vs. righties), and a bunch of guys who really have no track record.

We like Manzardo’s potential, he had a 946 OPS in AAA last season, but he has less than 200 MLB plate appearances. Brito has never stepped into the box in a big league game. Brennan has over 800 plate appearances and a career 685 OPS.

He’s the worst combination as a hitter thus far, a singles hitter who doesn’t walk. If you are going to be that, you have to hit .330. Brennan does not.

Naylor has had two seasons with Cleveland, one good with the bat, last season, not so good. And also, Rocchio had a very good post-season, that 614 OPS isn’t good.

We have always maintained that although pitching is king in the playoffs, you have to score runs to get there. If you look at the teams who score the most in the regular season, more likely than not, those teams get to play in October.

Our question for the Guardians is where will the runs come from? Yes, yes, the people who believe in every prospect will tell me Manzardo and Brito are going to be productive, and things will be just fine.

But what’s the alternative? If Brito doesn’t hit, the Guardians have to go back to the likes of Gabriel Arias (608), Tyler Freeman (626), and Daniel Schneemann (671). And if Manzardo isn’t hitting like he did in September and October, then who? Chase DeLauter? Noel? Johnathan Rodriguez?

And by the way, we like DeLauter, but he’s had 23 at bats at AAA. And Noel? We aren’t warm and fuzzy about a guy with a 63:13 K/BB ratio.

A bigger question is what if Santana doesn’t recover his stroke vs. RHP and becomes dead weight against those pitchers?

Front offices have to build teams, contending teams, with an eye on what if things don’t go right? We ask this question…where are the runs coming from?

When It Comes Down To It, Have To Find A QB

While the real Super Bowl will take place a week from Sunday, for Browns’ fans the crazy season has started, and because of the Deshaun Watson trade, it has been a long time coming.

The NFL Draft will be here in late April and Cleveland has the second overall pick, and of course, they need a quarterback.

The popular opinion among many fans and media people is to trade down because the next Andrew Luck, Peyton Manning or Joe Burrow is not in this selection cycle. Of course, both of these groups have no input in the process and they both love picks, and the more, the merrier.

And their jobs are not on the line. However, Andrew Berry and Kevin Stefanski’s probably are. Let’s say they don’t fix the quarterback situation for 2025 either by not getting a capable veteran or a young guy waiting in the wings for the future. Then they are likely on the unemployment line following next season.

Keep in mind, Berry and Stefanski have both been at the Shrine Game and the Senior Bowl and they aren’t there to watch wide receivers and/or linebackers. They are talking to the QB prospects at both All-Star games.

Because they have to get that position right.

Bill Belichick used to love when other teams reached for quarterbacks in the draft because it pushed good players down to where New England picked. Of course, he had Tom Brady, creating a perfect scenario.

When you don’t have a QB, you simply have to get one. The easy thing for many people is to wait for the generational talent to appear the year the Browns happen to have a high draft pick. But that’s not reality.

Cleveland has the opportunity to get one of the two best QB prospects coming into the NFL this season. It’s Berry’s and Stefanski’s job to find out who those players are and take one of them. Right now, the consensus is those passers are Shadeur Sanders and Cam Ward, but maybe going through the process, they like someone else.

If the latter is the case, perhaps they can trade down a couple of spots and still get their guy, but they better know what the other teams they drop behind in the process are going to do.

For us, we like Quinn Ewers out of Texas. He has started 36 games at the college level and has guided his team to the playoffs the past two seasons. He’s completed 65% of his passes at Texas in his three years as a starter.

But the question we can’t answer is how he reads defenses, the most important skill a QB can have. That’s what Berry and Stefanski need to find out.

All that said, the ideal situation would still be to find a veteran quarterback who can come in and start next season, while the rookie sits, learns, and maybe gets a start or two at the end of the season.

Trading down, getting a pass rusher to pair with Myles Garrett, getting another shutdown corner, all of those things are important. But the Browns have to find a QB and they need to keep taking swings until they find one.

That’s NFL reality.

Nothing To Worry About, Cavs Just Battling Some Depth Issues

The Cleveland Cavaliers have lost three of their last four games and some people are in panic mode. Did everyone really think this Cavs’ team was going to go 74-8 and have the greatest regular season in NBA history?

We didn’t. We would also feel differently about these past two weeks if A). the Cavs were being beaten soundly and B). they were completely healthy.

Let’s look at the second thing first. One reason for the wine and gold’s success this season is their depth, Kenny Atkinson plays 11 guys more than 10 minutes per game. When they have had individuals out for a game or two, that depth pays off because the other players fill in those minutes.

Over the past week or so, the Cavs have had three or four players out, forcing Jaylon Tyson, Craig Porter Jr., and Tristan Thompson to play significant minutes. Individually, when one of them has had to fill in, it has been done seamlessly but having to play all three of them out there, sometimes together, has taken a toll.

One of the four possible Cavaliers’ all-stars, Evan Mobley, missed four games in the last ten days, but the guy who is probably the fifth best player on the team, Caris LeVert, has also missed four contests, including the last three, all losses.

LeVert doesn’t get a lot of love from fans, who mostly look at scoring averages and three-point shooting. But he gives the Cavs some length in the backcourt and on the wing, can create his own shot, and is a solid defender. He’s a very important player, and that’s why we shake our head when we hear about possible deals for him.

Missing Dean Wade doesn’t help the cause either. He was already starting at the four for Mobley, and as soon as Mobley came back, Wade went down. We’ve talked about the lack of depth among the big men in the past and this injury highlights the problem.

Wade’s career high in games played is 63 back in 2020-21, his first full year with Cleveland, and since then, he consistently misses about a third of the regular season. His injury forces Thompson to play much more than we are sure Atkinson would prefer.

Losing the depth is a big issue. And it’s forcing the coaching staff to go deeper into the bench. That may pay dividends down the road, getting time for Tyson and Porter Jr., but in the short term, it has caused a problem.

However, it is not as though the wine and gold are getting blown out, despite the injuries. Two losses to the Rockets, who are 30-14, by one on the road and by four at home, is hardly anything to be upset about. The loss to an undermanned Sixers’ team wasn’t ideal, but that’s life in the NBA.

Look, the Cavs aren’t a perfect team and having several rotation pieces out of the lineup exposes some of their flaws. It also doesn’t mean they have hit the proverbial wall. They’ll be fine when they get these important players back.

It should also remind the front office to not stand pat at the trade deadline. Even a marginal improvement could be the difference between a conference finals appearance and an NBA Finals spot.

Guards’ Free Agent Signing Addresses A Strength?

The Cleveland Guardians dipped their toes into the free agent market this past week and suprisingly did not address what we consider to be their weaknesses.

Instead, they added to a strength, signing veteran reliever Paul Sewald, a right-hander to a deal. The Guardians have coveted Sewald for years. At one point while he was a young pitcher for the Mets, it was rumored Cleveland was interested in moving Jason Kipnis to get him.

That was probably around 2018 as Kipnis was starting to decline.

Sewald is solid, pitching in 42 games last season with a 4.31 ERA for Arizona, and he saved two games in the National League Championship Series for the Diamondbacks in ’23 as they went to the World Series.

He has saved 84 big league games, with his career high of 34 coming in that 2023 campaign.

He’s a proven solid reliever. But that’s the strength of the Guardians’ staff. They still need starting pitchers and unless the addition of Sewald means someone currently in the bullpen will be given a shot in the rotation (we would like to see Hunter Gaddis try it), it’s difficult to see where this makes sense.

On the other hand, there is an adage that if you can’t fix a weak spot, bolster your strength, so maybe that’s what the plan is here.

There are still plenty of starting pitchers out there who seemingly could be had on a one- or two-year contract. We say this because right now the Guards’ rotation consists of Tanner Bibee and a whole lot of ifs. Gavin Williams and newcomer Luis Ortiz should (should) fill two spots, but the rest of the starters are question marks.

Ben Lively has had one good season and is 33. Can Triston McKenzie find the strike zone?Can Logan Allen be effective? Signing a veteran who can soak up innings, like a Lance Lynn, Jose Quintana, or even Kyle Gibson would make us feel better about the starting staff.

And we haven’t even mentioned the offense, which struggled in the second half of the season and since then has traded their third best bat (and second-best power bat) in Josh Naylor.

Yes, we remembered Cleveland also signed 39-year-old Carlos Santana. Let’s just say that doesn’t have visions of October celebrations dancing in our heads.

There aren’t a lot of appealing bats still available in free agency, but we don’t feel real comfortable about a lineup that has two tough outs in Jose Ramirez and Steven Kwan, and frankly little else that has proven anything at the major league level.

As it stands right now, the Guardians will have two players with less than one year experience in the bigs in their everyday lineup in Kyle Manzardo and Juan Brito. Brayan Rocchio has a solid post-season, but still had a 614 OPS in 2024.

Lane Thomas is better as a platoon piece but will probably be in there every day in centerfield. And of course, Santana will be playing, trying to find the fountain of youth.

Someone in the front office said the organization feels confident in their young players. We would guess most organizations do. However, the job of the executives should be to find alternatives in case something doesn’t work out. Because they never do.

Spring training starts in a few weeks. It’s hard to see the Guardians being better than they were when they were eliminated by the Yankees in the ALCS just three short months ago.

Browns Should Make Note. Running The Ball Is Getting Back In Vogue

Today’s NFL is a quarterback driven league. The stars of football are the guys who throw the football…Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, C.J. Stroud, Brock Purdy, etc.

They are in commercials and are recognized on a first name basis.

However, we saw over the weekend in the playoff’s divisional round that the running game is still important too. The Eagles beat the Rams behind 285 yards on the ground, led by Saquon Barkley, who gained 205 yards, while the Bills and Ravens played another “old school” game.

Buffalo ran for 147 yards (Josh Allen had just 127 yards through the air), while the Ravens ground it out for 176 running the ball.

As we all know, the Cleveland Browns need a quarterback, but perhaps they can lessen the reliance for getting their guy if they can develop an elite running game.

It is interesting to note of the top ten teams in running the football this past season, many made the playoffs: Baltimore was 1st, the Eagles and Commanders, who play in the NFC Championship game this Sunday, rank 2nd and 3rd.

Out of the balance of the top ten, all but three teams (Cardinals, Colts, and Falcons) made the post season, and even those teams all finished at 8-9. Running the ball keeps you competitive.

The year before, the Ravens (13-4) led the NFL in rushing, and five of the top ten teams in running the ball made the playoffs.

Makes it even more curious the Browns got away from running the football in 2024.

We still agree the Browns should use the second overall pick in this spring’s draft on a quarterback. Why? Primarily because the rest of the Cleveland roster is talented enough that the likelihood of the franchise picking this high again isn’t probably great. You have a chance to take one of the two best QBs coming into the league, so do it.

But there is no question Kevin Stefanski and the front office can lessen the burden on the rookie or preferably the veteran they will bring in as a stop gap until the rookie is ready but getting back to his offensive roots and running the football.

Besides, and we have said this before, running the ball is in the franchise’s DNA, the legacy of the franchise starts with Marion Motley, Jim Brown, Leroy Kelly and leads all the way to Nick Chubb.

Use the Eagles as the model. They ranked 29th in passing yards this season and are playing Sunday with a chance to go to the Super Bowl. Is that model sustainable? Probably not, but it does buy time for whoever Cleveland drafts to get used to the NFL game and become a productive NFL QB.

While the Browns’ defense may not be at the level of the 2023 season, that side of the football is still pretty good. Rebuilding the offensive line and drafting a solid running back so you move the football and protect the quarterback isn’t the worst idea.

And it might just speed up the clock to getting back to being a playoff team. We would all love to have Mahomes, Joe Burrow, Jackson, etc. at the helm for the Browns. That doesn’t mean the organization should just give up if they don’t have one of those guys.