Tribe Should Take a Shot at Shields.

In 2013, the Cleveland Indians surprised many people in baseball by signing OF Michael Bourn just before the start of spring training.

The surprise was mostly because the Tribe doesn’t go after a lot of high-priced free agents, and they had already signed Nick Swisher the prior December.

The Indians should shock the baseball world again with a late off-season signing. It makes all the sense in the world for them to ink James Shields to a contract before spring training opens in Goodyear in less than two weeks.

Shields figured to get a deal worth more the $100 million following last season when he helped the Central Division rivals, the Kansas City Royals, get to the World Series.

But, he hasn’t signed yet and you would think he might be willing to sign a shorter term deal at higher dollars per year.

GM Chris Antonetti could perhaps talk his superiors into going two years at $36 million total.

We know what you are thinking, the Wahoos have a set starting rotation with Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Trevor Bauer, newly inked Gavin Floyd, Danny Salazar, and southpaw T.J. House.

Our argument would be first that you can never have enough pitching and getting Big Game James would allow the Indians not to be so dependent on youngsters Bauer, Salazar, and House.

Plus Floyd is coming off a fractured elbow, and Carrasco dazzled over the last two months, but it was the first time he pitched well as a starter since coming off of Tommy John surgery.

Shields would fit nicely in the #2 or #3 spot in the rotation and last year his numbers away from Kansas City were tremendous, going 10-2 with a 2.97 ERA, compared to a 3.51 ERA at home.

Imagine combating Detroit’s lineup in a three game series by pitching Kluber, Carrasco, and Shields. Or going against the White Sox with Chris Sale and Jeff Samardjiza, not to mention taking a key cog from the American League champions.

It would stamp the Indians, not the Tigers and not the Royals, as the team to beat in the division.

It would also send a much needed signal to the ticket buying public that the Indians recognize they have a talented ballclub and are going for it, not hoping they can somehow nudge themselves into the playoffs.

And the best thing is Cleveland would be getting a good deal. They wouldn’t be paying the high-end deal the right-hander was thought to be getting.

They should be able to handle such a contract because their other starters are young and haven’t even reached arbitration as of yet, meaning there isn’t a lot of money concentrated in the starting rotation.

Don’t forget that Shields would also be a leader along with Kluber among the pitchers. The story in KC was that he told the others in the rotation that they needed to combine for 1000 innings amongst them.

Financially, when Antonetti decides the time is right to move OF David Murphy, that will allow $6 million to be moved off the payroll and the signing would make Josh Tomlin (approximately $1.7 million) expendable too.

We realize that this is never going to happen, but it makes all the sense in the world for the Indians to make this move. And it is fun to dream.

On the other hand, the Bourn signing came out of nowhere. It would be great if the front office would surprise us all once again.

Overreaction to Browns’ So-Called Mess.

A couple of years ago, the Cleveland media regarded pro football writer Jason La Canfora as a mouthpiece for Browns’ executive Michael Lombardi. These people never liked Lombardi from his days here in the Belichick regime, and so most of what La Canfora wasn’t taken seriously.

However, his column yesterday was treated like it was gospel judging by the conversation on sports talk radio yesterday.

This isn’t to say there isn’t some grain of truth in what he wrote yesterday, but it seems to have exploded throughout the city and fan base, and we think everyone should take a step back and ease up a bit.

First of all, there are no names mentioned, just unnamed sources or people within the organization. This probably means former team president Joe Banner or Lombardi or people who they know that still work there who may be disgruntled.

It is also likely that some stuff came from former offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, who was referred to as the “lone bright spot on offense” and a “talented assistant” within the article.

The decision to draft Johnny Manziel was also panned, with Brian Hoyer being praised. Remember that Hoyer’s biggest advocate within the organization was Lombardi. We have said this before, Brian Hoyer is a decent NFL passer, no better, no worse, and the Browns should still be working to upgrade at that position.

This isn’t to say that the Browns’ organization is a well oiled machine, nor are we saying that Haslam isn’t making decisions that he shouldn’t be making, which would mostly be on personnel.

However, we are saying people need to consider the source of this blistering review of the entire organization.

On the other hand, it has been reported that Mike Pettine wanted to hire John DiFilippo as offensive coordinator last season, but was overruled because Shanahan had more experienced. If the head coach wanted him in the first place, then what is wrong with getting him now?

His hand-picked defensive coordinator, Jim O’Neil, looks like a keeper. So, let’s give Pettine the benefit of the doubt on DiFilippo.

As for the coach’s film review with Haslam and team president Alec Sheiner, perhaps those two simply want to learn what the coaching staff looks at, and asked Pettine if they could watch with him.

We understand that might be a stretch, but it is a plausible scenario.

La Canfora also referred to the Browns having a huge amount of high draft choices and significantly large salary cap space had they traded Josh Gordon and not signed the free agents brought in, and had a front office who loved Teddy Bridgewater and Odell Beckham Jr. Doesn’t anyone see that is a blatant endorsement of the Banner/Lombardi regime?

He pans Haslam for vetoing a possible Gordon deal. That’s probably because Gordon was one of the team’s best players and you can’t keep going down that road. Most of the fans and media alike were against making that deal at the time.

And Bridgewater’s stock took a huge hit after his terrible pro day, and he wound up being taken with the last pick in the first round.

It’s much easier to judge players after the fact.

Look, we aren’t saying the Browns’ front office is stable and doesn’t make puzzling moves. However, would you believe a story about a restaurant from someone who just got fired? You would have to view the tale with a jaundiced eye.

That’s all we are saying here.

The Delly Dilemma

Cleveland is a working class town and we love when we have an athlete who overcomes the odds and gets to the highest level with limited ability.

Players like Brian Brennan, John McDonald, and even Brian Hoyer quickly become fan favorites, although each of them have critics because they don’t possess the gifts of the true stars of their respective sports have.

The Cavaliers have one of these players now in reserve guard Matthew Dellavedova.

Delly is a grinder, the kind of player that coaches love. Mike Brown loved his grit, determination and fundamentally sound game as a rookie last year, and David Blatt has the same feeling toward the Australian.

Earlier this year, when the Cavs were ravaged with injuries, Dellavedova was forced to play a lot, getting around 30 minutes per game during a period from Christmas through the first week of January.

Unfortunately, the Cavaliers’ record during that period was 2-7. That wasn’t the second year player’s fault, but it does point out that if your team is playing him that much, they probably aren’t very good.

For the season, when Delly plays more than 25 minutes in a game this season, the wine and gold’s record is 3-6.

That doesn’t mean he has no place on the roster and should be cut. In fact, if the Cavs were to get rid of him, he would snapped up by several teams immediately.

Why? Because he does the things that most NBA players don’t do.

First, he works hard on defense, and doesn’t cower to anyone in the league. Last season, Brown had him guard Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant, who is a seven footer, because Dellavedova is going to bother him and make him work for every point he gets.

Second, he doesn’t need the ball in his hands. Look at the problems the team had with Dion Waiters, who needed touches and shots for him to be engaged.

The Aussie knows his role and isn’t out there looking to score. He’s had one game this season, a loss to Dallas at The Q, where he has taken as many as 10 shots.

However, if his minutes are kept in the 10-15 range, he can be a very effective player. In the Cavs’ current 11 game winning streak, Dellavedova has had a positive +/- rating in seven of them.

He is becoming a better shooter as well. Most of his opportunities come from spotting up from behind the three-point line, and he’s improved from last season’s 36.8% mark to a very good 42.4% in 2014-15, which by the way in tops on the Cavaliers.

He does need work at the free throw line, as his 64% shooting from there makes him a liability if Blatt is going to have him out there at crunch time.

We would rather see Iman Shumpert out there if Blatt wants defense or J.R. Smith if the Cavs need scoring in the fourth quarter, but Blatt has shown a tendency to stay with the hot guy, so if Delly has it going, he is going to get the opportunity.

Matthew Dellavedova is a guy who can get minutes on a good NBA team, but his coaches have to be aware that he is best served with limited minutes. It’s a talent based league, and players like him can be exposed if they play too much.

Hopefully, David Blatt will grow to understand that. Grit and determination only go so far in the professional basketball.

But fans who think he shouldn’t get minutes are wrong. He’s fine if he plays around 10-15 minutes per night.

Why Is Tribe So Bad at Selling Themselves?

Last weekend, the Cleveland Indians held their annual fanfest, bringing in former and current players, along with manager Terry Francona to meet and mingle with the fans.

Once again, it was a very crowded place to be, indicating once again that there is plenty of interest in the Tribe, but unfortunately it doesn’t translate into larger crowds filling Progressive Field.

Let’s face it, for all of success on the field the Indians have had over the last two seasons with Francona at the helm, they are a boring franchise in terms of making news.

With all of the wheeling and dealing that occurred within major league baseball this winter, the Indians made one trade, bringing Brandon Moss from Oakland for minor league infielder Joe Wendle.

And while watching MLB Network last week, they showed a list of least money spent on free agents during the off-season, and there were the Indians sitting in the top five, with only Gavin Floyd’s $4 million deal as of right now.

That really isn’t moving the fan base to dig into their pockets and buy tickets, which by the way, aren’t even for sale yet in terms of single game purchases.

So, even if there were a reason to buy tickets, you can’t unless you are interested in a season ticket program.

And the biggest thing the front office has been promoting this winter is the renovations to the ballpark, which will not seat approximately 10-15% fewer fans come April.

So we can add not very good at promoting itself to being boring in terms of making news.

We asked the people at the website, MLB Trade Rumors, if they even had someone monitoring the Indians since not only do they not make any moves, they also aren’t really involved in any rumors either.

By the way, they laughed at our question, and said in their opinion, Cleveland can look forward to a very good season.

We agree, that’s why it’s a shame more people can’t see that, and why the organization has such a hard time promoting itself.

We wrote an article a few weeks ago that gave nine things about the team that the front office should be pointing out, instead of saying how the team has limited money to spend, and talking about market size.

That lack of self-promotion is probably the biggest problem with the Cleveland Indians.

Because there is interest in this team. We know that because the local ratings for the games is very high. If you are on Twitter during a game, there is plenty of comments, both pro and con during the contest, the same as there is for a Browns’ or Cavaliers’ game.

And some of the players, particularly the young core of talent, are starting to be recognized by the fan base. You can see allegiances being formed with Michael Brantley, Corey Kluber, and Yan Gomes.

Many people are looking forward to this season so they can finally see one of the sports’ top prospects in SS Francisco Lindor.

We don’t know why the Indians are so bad about this aspect of the game, and along with the appraisals they do in regards to the men who are playing, they should examine why they cannot connect with the people who buy tickets.

They are like the terrible sales person who has a great product to sell, but because their spiel is so poor, they can’t get folks to try it.

That makes it a priority for the team to get off to a fast start so people will sit up and take notice. It will be especially difficult this spring because it is likely the Cavaliers will be in the midst of a playoff run, and that will consume the fan’s interest.

Here’s hoping the message can be received some how, because it appears the Cleveland Indians will be in the middle of a playoff race again in 2015.

Cavs Are Improvising in Blatt’s Offense.

It has been said that basketball is to sports as jazz is to music.

The game has structure, but the players improvise, and they have to in order to be successful at it.

That’s why we think it is funny when we hear the Cleveland Cavaliers aren’t running the offense that coach David Blatt wants to run.

The wine and gold are getting more confident with Blatt’s system, which is designed to move the ball without a lot of dribbling, because we are seeing the passing game more and more each game. But the players still go back to one-on-one play from time to time.

Of course, that may be the coach’s compromise to the players, especially guys like LeBron James and Kyrie Irving who can probably break down the player guarding them at any point in the game.

Coaches want the players to be players, not robots. So, if a play is designed and the player sees someone open under the basket, good coaches want the man with the ball to make the right basketball play.

That was in evidence in the Cavs’ win over the Clippers a couple of weeks ago late in the game.

Blatt designed an inbound play late in overtime, with James as the inbounder. Apparently, the play was to get the ball to Kyrie Irving around the three-point line, so if someone was to be fouled, it would be the team’s best free throw shooter.

However, James saw Tristan Thompson break to the hoop, uncovered. So, we made the correct read and fired it to Thompson for a dunk, while being fouled. That’s what coaches want, break the play, especially if it leads to an easy hoop.

No coach wants to run set plays every time down the floor. It’s one way to get the players to carry a grudge against the guy in charge.

Of course, there are coaches who are control freaks and want to micro-manage everything their team does, but usually those coaches have a very short shelf life.

Most coaches probably don’t even want to call plays, because that would mean a lot of transition baskets, and their players would know where the ball should go and when it should move.

Take Wednesday’s win over Portland, which extended the Cavaliers’ winning streak to eight games. Irving was really the only player who had things going for Cleveland, and the coach and his teammates recognized that and got him the basketball.

The result was a 55 point night for the former first overall pick, and a win for the Cavs.

The previous game, only James and Irving were hitting shots vs. Detroit, so they carried the load.

To be sure, that wasn’t the coach’s design going into the game, but everyone adapted, and it led to a victory.

Blatt doesn’t want his team to have to depend on huge nights by his two all-stars to win every night, but right now, a few players are struggling to make shots (yes, Kevin Love is in a bit of a slump), so James and Irving are carrying the load. There is nothing wrong with that.

Tonight, perhaps J.R. Smith might get it going or Love can get hot, or Timofey Mozgov will be able to score inside, and the players will depend and feed off of them. That’s the kind of sport basketball is.

Early in the year, there was too much one on one play and too many players looking for their shots, and the offense struggled. That seems to be changing.

That means the Cavs are playing as a team, and selfishness is disappearing.

That’s a good thing and it could mean better things are yet to come.

Manziel’s Future? It’s Up to Him.

Last year, the Cleveland Browns excited the NFL and fans of the team by moving up a few spots in the draft to take former Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel.

The media swarmed training camp and Manziel’s progress in practice and the pre-season were closely monitored by everyone.

He didn’t win the job to start the season as Brian Hoyer led the Browns to a 7-4 record, but Hoyer started to show some warts and Johnny Football made his debut against Buffalo and led Cleveland to a touchdown on his first drive.

Unfortunately, that was the high point of his season.

However, after Hoyer struggled mightily at home against the Colts, a game the defense played magnificently, coach Mike Pettine named the rookie the starter against Cincinnati.

The Bengals led 14-0 after the Browns had the ball once, a three and out, and the myth of “Johnny Football” was gone.

What if Hoyer played well against Indianapolis, making the Browns 8-5, keeping them in playoff contention, and Manziel didn’t see any action after the Bills game?

Everyone connected to the Browns would be looking forward to the first round pick being the starter going into the 2015 season, and no one would be doing stories about how unprepared the kid was to be the starter in those games.

But the games against the Bengals and Panthers did happen and now there are serious questions as to whether or not Manziel has a future in the NFL.

Those games could show Manziel that he needs to put a lot of work into his profession or he will be out of the league fairly soon. Whether he does this or not, the proof will be during the spring mini camps and when the team convenes in Berea (or wherever) in July.

Right now, it doesn’t look like he is making it a priority in his life to be a starting signal caller in the NFL. He appears to be more interested in being a celebrity.

So, what should the Browns do?

We have already advocated that six quarters of action isn’t enough of a look to decide Manziel can’t be an effective player in the league, but he needs to show he has the dedication and he needs an offensive coordinator and quarterback coach who will tell him the style he played in college won’t work in the professional ranks, and teach him to be a pro passer.

If Manziel comes to camp in July and doesn’t put the work in, then the Browns have a big decision, and we wouldn’t have any complaint if they let him go at that point.

Until then, GM Ray Farmer can’t put all his eggs in Manziel’s basket, nor should he settle for Brian Hoyer. The Browns need to attempt to upgrade the position if they want to get to the post-season.

In the meantime, the people who want to “send a message” to the locker room by cutting the rookie aren’t thinking clearly. They view him as a punk who will never amount to anything.

That’s short-sighted. He has some ability and the Browns owe it to themselves to find out if he has the determination and drive to be successful in the league. However, they can’t wait too long.

Six quarters isn’t enough of a sample size. What they really need to see is the level of commitment from the player himself.

Maybe Browns Need to Stop Chasing QBs

In Cleveland, football season consists of two parts: The regular season, when games are actually played, and the draft season, which sometimes starts in the middle of the fall, because the Browns are usually struggling.

Part of the draft season is the constant search for the “franchise quarterback”, something the brown and orange have lacked since the days of Bernie Kosar.

This winter, with Brian Hoyer a free agent and Johnny Manziel teetering on the edge of his professional career, the search for the quarterback is in full bloom.

As GM Ray Farmer said after the season ended, most teams don’t have elite QBs, so most team have to figure out a way to win without one. That’s the boat the Browns are in today.

It is ridiculous to listen to some of the theories espoused by fans in this regard.

Some are willing to suffer through a 1-15 season in order to get “the guy”.

First, it doesn’t appear that an Andrew Luck type (and that’s the type of guy you are looking at) will be available in the 2016 draft.

Others are willing to overpay for a veteran, even an injured one like Sam Bradford of the Rams. Yesterday, we heard 92.3’s Dustin Fox talk about giving up the 19th overall pick for Bradford, who has played seven games in the last two seasons combined.

That’s crazy in our books. Would we give up a third or fourth round pick for the former first overall pick? Yes, but dealing a first rounder (not to say Farmer would consider this) is typical of what the Browns have down over the years.

They are talking themselves into bad decisions. Remember that two of our elite passers, Ben Roethlisburger and Aaron Rodgers, fell to their respective teams. They didn’t trade up to get them.

On the other hand, the Browns seemed to talk themselves into Brady Quinn, Brandon Weeden, and Manziel. They were intrigued, but not “in love” with any of them, meaning there wasn’t a consensus within the organization that these were the guys to make Cleveland a winning team.

So, what should the Browns do this off-season? Well, we would look to upgrade the spot by bringing in a veteran, trying to find someone better than Hoyer.

Maybe Jake Locker or Matt Moore, or perhaps work a deal for Philadelphia’s Nick Foles or Bradford. However, we wouldn’t give up a first rounder in either deal, nor would we think their current teams would expect one.

As for Hoyer, remember that despite all of Manziel’s unpreparedness to play in the NFL, at least some in the organization thought they were better off with the rookie than Hoyer going into the Cincinnati game. That’s how bad Hoyer played in the weeks leading up to that contest.

It is up to the coaching staff and personnel department to figure out a way to win with average quarterback play. Want a role model? Look within your own state, where the Bengals do it on a year in, year out basis.

A strong running game and a solid defense can win you many football games, just look at Seattle, who has a chance to defend its Super Bowl title next week.

Yes, Russell Wilson is a very good QB, but he is at least third on the list of reasons as to why the Seahawks win.

Do the Browns need to upgrade at quarterback? Of course, but it’s time they stopped passing on better players to pick people just to take them. It’s like they are a desperate high school senior right before prom.

Farmer and Mike Pettine has accumulated a lot of solid players at other positions. Maybe they should be dominant at other spots to cover for the weakness behind center.

The K in Kipnis Should Be For Key

The Cleveland Indians’ offense was inconsistent at best last season. They finished in the top half of the American League in runs scored (7th), but they scored three runs or less in exactly half of their games, going 25-56 when that occurred.

This means when they reached four runs, their record was 60-21, an outstanding mark. So, if the Tribe can cut back on some of those games where they score under four runs, their record should improve.

As a comparison, the Indians’ main rivals in the Central Division, the Detroit Tigers, scored three runs or less in 63 games, 18 less than Cleveland. The AL West champs, the Angels had this occur 65 times.

Kansas City, who most think have a mediocre offense, couldn’t get to the four run mark 79 times.

How do the Indians improve the scoring? Well, we are sure they are hoping for Brandon Moss, acquired from Oakland this winter, will help by providing more pop, having hit 25 home runs in ’14 and 30 dingers in ’13.

However, the key to the Tribe scoring more runs in 2015 is Jason Kipnis.

In 2013, Kipnis made his first all-star game appearance, hitting .284 with 17 homers and an 818 OPS. Last year, he got off to a slow start and battled injuries, his numbers dropped to just .240 with six home runs, none after the end of July.

In fact, in the season’s last two months, Kipnis batted a paltry .235 with only five runs batted in. Despite that, Terry Francona showed a lot of confidence in him by continuing to put him in the middle of the lineup.

Obviously, the Indians need the soon to be 28-year-old to be more like the guy who played in 2013 if the offense is to improve. And at that age, he should be in the prime of his career, plus his new six-year, $52 million contract kicks in this season, so Cleveland owes him a lot of cash over the next five seasons.

To make it simple, if Kipnis isn’t an above average offensive player over the next three to four seasons, the Indians will be in a lot of trouble.

He got paid off of the ’13 season, but his second season in the big leagues (2012) wasn’t outstanding either, as his OPS was just 714. His average was .257 and although he did bang 14 long balls, he only had 40 extra base hits. He accumulated 57 in 2013.

So, there should be some concern that last year wasn’t a total fluke.

Kipnis walked 76 times in ’13, but just 50 times last season, and the injuries shouldn’t be an excuse there, unless something was wrong with his eyes. He swung at a lot of pitches out of the strike zone and struggled with men on base, hitting just .221 with runners on. He hit .300 in this situation the prior year.

He also struggled at Progressive Field, batting just .218 there last season, compared to .288 in ’13.

Many fans talk about Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn as players the Indians need to be productive to make a run in 2015, but the simpler answer is a return by Kipnis to something close to his 2013 numbers.

If he can, Francona’s lineup should be much more productive. If he can’t, the Tribe will need to do something about a guy they owe a lot of cash to in the coming years.

Remaining Schedule Should Help Cavaliers

There is no question that the Western Conference of the NBA is much stronger than the East.

Currently, the Brooklyn Nets are the 8th seed in the East with a 17-24 record, a mark that would rank them 12th in the West. The Cavs, who sit in the fifth spot in on the right half of the NBA grid at 22-20, would be on the outside looking in if they played out west.

And there is no question the wine and gold have struggled this season, especially in the first couple of weeks in January, when they lost six in a row before winning the last three.

However, right now the Cavs have played the most games against the tougher conference in the NBA, and they are 6-11 in those games.

The team with the best record in the East, Atlanta, has played 30 of their 42 games in their own conference, a difference of five contests. They are 10-2 in those dozen games, but they will no doubt have a tougher slate in front of them.

Washington has the conference’s second best record and they’ve played 28 games in the East, going 9-5 vs. the West.

Toronto, the third seed, is the only team ahead of the Cavs in the standings that have played a similar amount of games as the wine and gold, having played 26 inter-conference games. The Raptors are 9-6 against the west.

Now, it is most definitely true that a 6-11 mark against the Western Conference is nothing to be proud of, especially compared to the top three teams, but the point is, the Cavaliers have fewer games against the tougher teams, and they don’t have to make any more west coast trips.

Which brings us back to the Wizards and Raptors, who have played four and five more home games than road games so far this season. Of course, this means they will play more on the road in the second half of the season, another advantage for the Cavaliers, who have split their 42 games right down the middle.

The Hawks, currently in another stratosphere, have actually played more on the road through 42 contests.

Milwaukee, immediately behind Cleveland in the standings, will get to play more at home than on the road for the balance of the season, having played just 18 of their 41 games in Beer Town.

On the other hand, they’ve only played 14 games out of conference, meaning they will see a steady diet of western squads for the balance of the campaign.

All this means that the Cavs have a solid chance to improve their lot in the standings if they stay healthy going forward and continue to play together. And obviously, if they can make up the ground between themselves and the Bulls (currently Cleveland is 4-1/2 games behind), they would get home court advantage for the first round of the playoffs.

With two more games vs. Philadelphia (yes, we know they lost the first game between the two teams), three more games against the Celtics, and two more with the depleted Pacers, they are opportunities for the Cavaliers to make up some ground.

And it is a big advantage not having to travel further than the central time zone again.

It’s no excuse, but David Blatt’s team hasn’t had the easiest schedule thus far, there has been a lot of travelling. Now comes the payoff for that slate, the wine and gold won’t go far from home the rest of the year.

Here’s Our Rating of NFL’s Top QBs

Recently, Browns’ GM Ray Farmer made the comment that most teams in the NFL play without elite quarterbacks, so they have to figure out a way to win.

We agree with that statement because we don’t think there are that many elite passers in the game today, although many fans and media alike would disagree.

During the playoffs, we’ve seen the following players described as being in that class: Tony Romo and Cam Newton. Guess what? They aren’t “elite”.

This is different from the term “franchise quarterbacks”, because which Romo and Newton are a part of because their teams aren’t looking for a new passer. Those teams have put their future in the hands of players like Romo, Newton, Joe Flacco, etc.

And another thing, winning a Super Bowl doesn’t make you an elite quarterback either. Yes, we are well aware Flacco did just that with the Ravens, but Eli Manning has won two championship rings, and of course, we can point to Brad Johnson and Trent Dilfer doing the same thing.

And at this point with just three seasons under his belt, one winning a title, we can’t put Russell Wilson there just yet.

In order to be at the top of the heap at this position, the most important position in team sports, you have to be a player who can win a game, basically by yourself, and demonstrate it on a regular basis.

For our money, the top five quarterbacks in the NFL are as follows, in no particular order–

Tom Brady
Peyton Manning
Andrew Luck
Ben Roethlisberger
Aaron Rodgers

Yes, we understand Manning is fading and it’s been since the 2008 season since Big Ben won his second, but those are the elite guys in the NFL.

Brady and Rodgers are playing today to get another chance at a Super Bowl ring, and Luck is trying to make it for the first time.

The next five based on the totality of their careers would be, once again in no particular order–

Drew Brees
Russell Wilson
Philip Rivers
Eli Manning
Matt Ryan

First of all, see what we mean about not being that many “elite” QBs. Two of the players on this list (Rivers and Ryan) have never been to a Super Bowl, and have only been to the conference championship game once each.

Now, we are sure one of the questions will be about the omission of Flacco, who is a solid NFL quarterback.

First, we’ve witnessed too many “blah” games against the Browns over the years.

Second, in the seven years Flacco has been the starter, the Ravens have never ranked in the top ten in yardage, and has only been in the top ten in points scored twice.

Romo? His history shows he makes too many key mistakes at the wrong time. Newton? Not enough of a track record, and the Panthers’ offense has regressed since his rookie season.

So, that’s why we agree with Farmer. Many people around Cleveland just think if we don’t have the quarterback, the Browns should either tank the season to get one, or our perpetually doomed.

The coaching staff and front office can’t think that way. They need to figure out another way to get it done. Guys like Manning and Luck don’t come around too often, and as we are all aware, Brady was a 6th round pick.

Roethlisberger and Rodgers feel into their team respective laps.

The Browns made progress in the win column in 2014, the organization has to keep moving in the right direction, elite quarterback or not.