Why Losing Free Agents Isn’t That Big Of A Deal For Browns

Since the NFL calendar year started a week ago, the Cleveland Browns have once again become the butt of jokes in the national media because five of their six free agents have left the team.

Included in those five players are four starters, including Pro Bowl offensive lineman Alex Mack and RT Mitchell Schwartz.

In our eyes, the latter was the biggest and really only loss from a team that went 3-13 a year ago. Schwartz showed he was one of the best right tackles in the league, and he would have entered this season at 27 years old.

And apparently, according to some reports, he left because Sashi Brown and the new regime showed stubbornness in the negotiations, telling the lineman the offer they had made went away if he left the room.

While many football writers are hammering the Browns for losing the four players, although we would have kept Schwartz, we can see the front office’s thinking.

In losing the two starting lineman, you can be sure Hue Jackson’s team will be near the bottom of the NFL in running the ball and in protecting the passer.

Oh wait, that’s where Cleveland ranked in 2015 with Mack and Schwartz. So, how big of a loss is the duo?

It could be that the front office thinks there is a losing attitude within the entire roster and they are going to have to start from scratch to establish a winning culture.

If that’s true, then we can definitely see the Browns trading their All Pro left tackle, Joe Thomas, as well. We have often said that although Thomas is undoubtedly going to the Hall of Fame, he seems to accept defeat easily.

He doesn’t think losing is unacceptable, he thinks it just stinks. We always say that everyone likes winning, but we would rather have players who hate to lose.

We aren’t sure the Browns have enough players who have become sick of what has gone on here over the last five years, let alone since 1999.

We would not be opposed to trading Thomas, but only if the Browns can get a first round pick this year in return. As we have advocated before, if you are going to start over, then get rid of all players over 30 years old (outside of perhaps punter Andy Lee), and accumulate as many draft picks as possible.

That will accelerate the process.

As for the pursuit of Colin Kaepernick, we believe it does not change the Browns’ intention to get a quarterback early in the draft, but it may allow them to wait until the 32nd pick to do so.

Kaepernick has struggled over the past year and a half, but the guess here is the front office views him as an upgrade to 37 year old Josh McCown.

Really, the Browns are saying if we are going to have a mediocre veteran at the position, we would rather have him be 29 years old instead of 37.

However, we believe a third round pick is way too high for a player who was benched a year ago. We wouldn’t give up anything more than a fourth rounder to San Francisco.

After over 15 years of terrible football, it looks like the Cleveland Browns are basically starting over, and that starts by getting rid of players who aren’t still in improving mode.

That might hurt for now, but it’s really the only thing they haven’t tried.

Why not give it a shot?

Browns Start Dumping Vets, Who Should Be Next?

The reshaping of the Cleveland Browns roster started last week with the release of DL Randy Starks, now 32 years old, and TE Jim Dray, who is 29.

We would anticipate the roster being pared of many more players in the same situation over the coming weeks.

As we have said for a long time, the only thing worse than being a bad team, which the Browns were in 2015, it’s being a bad, old team.

It appears that Sashi Brown, Paul DePodesta, and Hue Jackson think the same thing.

If you aren’t going to be good, you should at least do it with young players, guys who will get better over the next few years.

Here is a list of the players 30 years old and over currently on the Cleveland roster–

Josh McCown           36
Karlos Dansby         34
Andy Lee                   33
Tramon Williams    32
Dwayne Bowe           31
Joe Thomas               31
Gary Barnidge          30
Desmond Bryant     30
John Greco                30
Paul Kruger               30
Alex Mack                 30
Donte Whitner         30

Out of those dozen players, we can see perhaps 8-10 being elsewhere in 2016. And we could make a good argument it would be a good idea to replace all of them.

We were surprised at the age on the offensive line, where three of the five starters are on the wrong side of 30 years old.

Especially, since the unit didn’t play well last season. Mack can opt out of his contract and become a free agent, and the age involved with the entire unit makes it imperative that Brown and company sign RT Mitchell Schwartz, who is a free agent.

Of the players listed above, the only players who could be considered to have a better than average season would be Dansby, Lee (the punter!), Thomas, and Barnidge, with the latter two going to the Pro Bowl.

Mack went as well, but that seems to be a reputation selection.

When the league year starts on March 9th, it would not be a shock if Williams, Bowe, and Whitner were released. Bowe rarely saw the field in ’15, while Williams got burned more and more as the season went on, and Whitner’s play declined from his first year with the Browns.

We understand that new/old defensive coordinator Ray Horton talked up Kruger in a press conference last week, but the reality is Kruger has a high salary and low production. Does anyone really think he’s an elite edge rusher?

And although Joe Thomas is the best player on the Browns, a future Hall of Fame player, if the front office could get a first round draft choice in this year’s draft, we would think very, very hard about making a deal for him.

Again, the collective age of the offensive line plays into this decision, especially if the Browns are drafting a quarterback in the first round.

That QB should take a couple of years to be fully ready, and by then, Thomas will be 33 or 34. Will he still be the same player?

And would getting an additional first round pick this year speed up the rebuilding process?

If Brown, DePodesta, and Jackson see progress in Cam Erving in the off-season, do they make he and Joel Bitonio the anchors of the line going forward, and make a move with Thomas.

The Browns may decide to keep the All Pro, and even if they do, the rest of the veterans listed above could have shaky futures here.

There is no reason to keep these players if you are going to rebuild from the ground up.

And really, that’s what the Browns should be doing this spring.

We Have Some Questions For You, Coach Pettine.

Only the Cleveland Browns could have a situation where they knock the opposing quarterback out of a game, and have him replaced by a future Hall of Famer, who throws for 379 yards and three touchdowns.

In many ways, the key play of today’s 30-9 thumping by the Pittsburgh Steelers over the Browns was the one where Desmond Bryant forced the offensive tackle to step on Landry Jones’ foot early in the first quarter, because that brought Ben Roethlisberger into the contest.

Big Ben threw three touchdown passes and drew several pass interference penalties by the Browns’ secondary, as the Cleveland defense allowed 30 or more points for the sixth time in 10 games this season.

But, we are sure we will be again talking about who should start at quarterback two weeks from tomorrow when the Ravens visit First Energy Stadium.

Mike Pettine gave the media the “I have to review the film” spiel after the game, and bristled when someone (we think it was Tom Reed) asked if it looked bad that the defensive backfield was terrible and last year’s first round pick Justin Gilbert was inactive for the game.

The coach didn’t really answer the inquiry.

Here are some other questions we would like Pettine to answer.

…Who on the coaching staff thought it would be a good idea to have special teams standout Johnson Bademosi matched up with Steelers’ all pro wide receiver Antonio Brown?

Brown caught 10 pass for 139 yards and two touchdown and drew two interference calls.

Bademosi wasn’t on Brown all the time, but too often, it was either he or raw rookie (first NFL game) Charles Gaines. That’s a ridiculously bad match up.

…Why wasn’t Gilbert active?

He leads the Browns in kickoff return average, and made some nice special teams plays in punt coverage over the last few weeks. And he didn’t seem to be excessively targeted in the Thursday night loss to the Bengals when he did play cornerback.

He is in the same spot as Johnny Manziel. The organization needs to see if Gilbert can be a decent NFL corner.

…Why can’t this team run the football?

Cleveland had 15 rushing and the leader was Manziel, who gained 17 on three scrambles. The Browns have two Pro Bowl players on the line in Joe Thomas and Alex Mack, and John Greco and Mitchell Schwartz are solid. Joel Bitonio was out today, but last year was on the all-rookie team.

The Browns had a couple of decent runs early going straight ahead with Duke Johnson and Isaiah Crowell. They spent the rest of the game trying to run wide and losing yardage.

Why not stick with what was working, at least a little?

…What is the coaching staff doing about the penalties?

Cleveland had 12 flags thrown against them for a whopping 188 yards.

Late in the third quarter, the Browns had the ball with a first down inside the one. They had consecutive penalties (holding on Cameron Erving, illegal formation) to take them out of a scoring opportunity.

That kind of sloppy play points to the coaching staff.

Manziel played well (33 of 45 for 372 yards with a TD toss and a pick). After fumbling on the first play, he showed that he can play and deserves to start the rest of the season, especially with the Browns sitting at 2-8.

He certainly isn’t looking like the bust everyone says he is. And really, there isn’t much evidence that Gilbert is either because he doesn’t play.

Maybe, just maybe, there is some talent on this football team, but it isn’t used properly.

Hopefully, however is coaching next year, and we are confident someone else will be, can put those players in a position where they can contribute.

After all, that is kind of the definition of coaching, isn’t it?

Browns Need to Win Now

As expected by virtually everyone on the planet, the Cleveland Browns made it official this morning, firing coach Pat Shurmur and GM Tom Heckert.

The chief reason was the team’s poor record over the last two seasons, winning just nine games and losing 23, the same mark achieved in the two years under the previous head coach, Eric Mangini.

However, there is a major difference between the end of the Mangini era and the current group of Browns who finished the season with three straight losses after a three game winning streak prior.

There is certainly more talent here right now, mostly due to the efforts of Heckert, who should get credit for the talent he’s brought into the organization.

When Mangini was let go after the 2010 season, here are the players on the roster who still remained contributors in 2012: On offense, T Joe Thomas, TE Benjamin Watson, TE Alex Smith, C Alex Mack. On defense: NT Ahtyba Rubin, CB Joe Haden, CB Sheldon Brown, and S T. J. Ward.

Of that group, Haden and Ward were drafted by Heckert and Brown was brought in via a trade with Philadelphia engineered by the general manager. Watson was brought in as a free agent during the off-season as well.

That means only Thomas, Mack, and Rubin were here before Heckert arrived.

Most NFL people believe the Browns are close to being a playoff contender in the AFC. Their primary needs going into the draft next April are help in the secondary, a pass rusher, and another outside linebacker. That’s a far cry from several years ago, when Tony Grossi referred to the roster as a group of special team players.

What this means for whoever will be the new coach and head of player personnel (Joe Banner wants to run things, so the new guy will not be the GM) is there is no grace period. Immediate results will be expected, so a one or two game improvement will not be tolerated by a fan base that has watched more than its share of losing football since 1999.

That is why people are concerned with Banner, that and the unflattering personality traits people here about from his days in Philadelphia. He seems like a guy who wants things done his way, and to the Cleveland football fans, that sounds like starting over once again, something seen five times since ’99.

It is time to build on what is already here and enhance it, getting the Browns back to the post-season. Of the teams with the top four choices in last year’s draft, only the Browns are packing up their lockers today. The other three (Indianapolis, Washington, and Minnesota) are all preparing for the playoffs.

That kind of turn around needs to take place in Cleveland.

One of the things new owner Jimmy Haslam and Banner have to seek in a coach is the ability to make adjustments according to the talent at hand. No more guys with the attitude of this is what I run, so we will try to fit a square peg into a round hole. Let’s try putting Weeden in an offense where he is more comfortable, so he can just play.

Let’s try to utilize Trent Richardson better, and not just have him run up the middle continuously.

It has been said many times that based on the cash Haslam put up for the team, he should get to put his own people in place. That is absolutely true. However, the Cleveland Browns need to start winning in 2013. A 6-10 or 7-9 record is going to get himself and Banner off to a bad start along the shores of Lake Erie.