Good And Bad So Far From Browns

Thank goodness that half of the NFL’s preseason schedule is over for the Cleveland Browns.

After the first exhibition game against Green Bay, where the Packers stopped just short of bringing fans out of Lambeau Field to play against the Browns, last night we got to see the brown and orange play against legitimate players, at least for the first half.

Yes, Cleveland lost to Atlanta at First Energy Stadium last night, but at least now we can make some judgments on this football team, as they head into a week of practices against Tampa Bay next week, followed by the “dress rehearsal” a week from today in Florida.

Robert Griffin III has shown flashes of why he was the 2nd overall pick in the draft a few years ago. He has a big arm, has been accurate for the most part, and has learned how to slide when he runs with the football.

We said in the off-season that signing the former Heisman Trophy winner was the ultimate low risk, high reward gamble. After all, it’s not like Griffin is replacing Tom Brady, the alternative is veteran journeyman (and media favorite) Josh McCown.

The right move is finding out if Griffin can play, and so far, so good.

A year ago, Mike Pettine and his staff cut Terrelle Pryor right before the regular season started, then brought him back later in the season and virtually ignored him.

We realize that Pryor has greatly improved his wide receiver skills in the off-season, but you still have to wonder why the previous regime didn’t feel the need to work with him more. After all, the guy is a special athlete.

The running game looked good last night as well. Isaiah Crowell and Duke Johnson have been effective and Terrell Watson has looked good against second team defenders. We’d like to see him with the first unit next weekend. If the Browns are going move the ball effectively and try to shorten games, they must run the football.

And we would also like to see rookie Carl Nassib with the first team defense at times. You can’t help but notice the 6’7″ kid from Penn State, and not just because of his size. He’s all over the field when he’s in.

The problems on defense continue to be the inability to stop the running game and not being able to get off the field on third down. Those two issues have plagued this franchise since they returned to the NFL in 1999.

If you can’t run the ball and you can’t stop the run, you can’t win in the NFL despite it becoming a passing league. The Cleveland defense seems to be consistently in second and short situations, and if they do get to third down, it’s usually at a make able distance.

We would also like to see more of the young wide receivers. We still believe that Andrew Hawkins will not make the opening roster, but so far, we haven’t seen a lot of the rookie wide outs taken this spring. We know injuries play into that, but it’s still a problem.

We understand this is still pre-season and much of the game plans are very vanilla. However, it is easy to spot these trends.

On the other hand, we are halfway done in regards to the exhibition games. Based on the quality of these game, be very thankful for that.

Hue’s Decision At QB Was A Logical, Simple One

Imagine you are an NFL head coach and you are taking over a team that went 3-13 a year ago, and hasn’t had a winning season since 2007.

Your bosses have tried several way to build a successful franchise, and in the off-season, they traded away or cut several veterans, and let a few more leave via free agency.

So, there isn’t a lot of pressure on you to win immediately, but the owner, the front office, and the fan base would like to see some progress as the season goes on.

You have several candidates for the starting quarterback position–

One is the former second overall pick in the draft after winning the Heisman Trophy, and in his rookie year took his team to the NFL playoffs. He blew out his knee in that game, and hasn’t been the same since.

The second candidate is a 37-year-old journeyman with a career record as a starter of 18-39, and over the last two years, seasons in which he started 19 of 32 games, his record is 2-17.

He has started just 57 games in a 13 year career.

You also have on the roster a third year QB who started five games in his second year in the league and was pressed into service to start two more games with your team a season ago, both of which were losses.

And you have a rookie third round draft pick from one of the elite college programs in the country. He’s a guy you really like and you went out on a limb to take him where you did. Still, he’s a rookie and you don’t want to expose him to the NFL before he’s ready to play.

The team in question of course are the Cleveland Browns and the quarterbacks at Hue Jackson’s disposal are Robert Griffin III, Josh McCown, Austin Davis, and Cody Kessler.

Jackson picked Griffin, and really, didn’t have much of a decision. That’s the logical move.

The Browns’ players and coaching staff will no doubt try to win every game, but there is little expectation going into the regular season of the playoffs.

Let’s face it, the only QBs currently on the roster who have a chance to be a quality NFL signal caller are Griffin and Kessler, and once again, the latter is a rookie.

The organization knows what McCown is. He’s a terrific teammate, a hard worker, and a guy you can put into a game without your franchise being embarrassed.

They also know what he isn’t, and that’s a quality NFL starter, and a guy with a history of winning football games. McCown is good enough to give you a decent performance and he will keep you in a game, but likely you won’t win.

Heck, the guy who started two of the three victories by the Browns a year ago, isn’t even in the NFL right now.

We have no idea if Griffin can become a successful passer from the pocket, because his success in Washington was with a hybrid offense. But in a rebuilding season? Why not find out.

If Griffin can make the transformation, the Browns have caught lightning in a bottle. If he doesn’t, you still have Kessler and a likely a high draft pick in next year’s draft.

But this is a year to experiment. That’s why Jackson’s decision was just the logical move.

Right Now? No Complaints

The month of June was certainly a wonderful month for the city of Cleveland.

The Cleveland Cavaliers broke the 52 year drought for the city without a major league sports championship. The whole area partied like never before, and citizens still have a collective smile on their face that may not be wiped off for a long time.

Or at least until the Browns start playing.

And the Indians have gone 21-6 during the month, and currently are riding a 12 game winning streak, one game away from tying the franchise record.

They have stamped themselves as one of the best teams in the American League.

So, right now, there is nothing to complain about with the Cleveland sports scene, and if you can come up with something, you are probably nit-picking.

Sure, some people continue to bring up the Cavaliers possibly trading Kevin Love, but that seems to be more about those people not understanding that Love has sacrificed his scoring for the good of the team.

Also, if you are going to move Love, don’t you have to get somebody better than him? We understand the usual mentality here is a bunch of average players is greater than one all-star player, but for the most part, the players who are better than Kevin Love in the NBA, aren’t being traded by their teams.

There isn’t even any angst about LeBron James leaving the Cavs after opting out of his contract this week. James has publicly stated he is returning to defend the championship, and his agent told people a year ago that he would be opting out of his contracts in 2015 and 2016 to maximize his earning capabilities.

We feel confident also, that the front office will do everything it can do to keep JR Smith on the roster, and Matthew Dellavedova too, unless another team breaks the bank for him.

Do we have concerns about the Indians’ bullpen? Yes, but we’ve discussed this before and with the starting pitchers giving Terry Francona at least seven innings on most nights recently, it’s become less of a factor.

Dead roster spots for the Tribe? Outside of Tito’s obsession with having eight relievers, many of whom sit around in the bullpen eating sunflower seeds, getting paid to watch games, you really can’t complain about someone being on the roster who shouldn’t be.

The club’s 25th man, Michael Martinez, has proved very useful and has actually mixed in some key hits and supplied good defense at several positions. He’s a lifetime .200 hitter, but is hitting .290 with the Indians in limited at bats.

The Browns are a month away from opening training camp and OTA’s are over, so there isn’t anything to worry about there for the time being. Hue Jackson seems to be giving young players, who Mike Pettine seemed to ignore, a new life.

There actually seems like the new front office has a plan in place to get better using young guys, instead of mixing in fading veterans in an attempt to win a few games to stay relevant into November.

It’s good to be a Cleveland sports fan right now. Today.

We are sure something will irritate us soon. That’s the nature of sports.

A Life With The Cleveland Curse

We grew up in the 60’s, but weren’t aware of sports until 1965, meaning we missed the last major league championship in this city by a year.

At that time, the Browns were the hallmark franchise, not just in the city, but in the NFL. They had best overall record in league history since entering the NFL in 1950.

They pretty much were a contender every year. They played and lost the NFL title to Green Bay in 1965, but were in the playoffs in 1968 and 1969 when they lost a chance to go to the Super Bowl in both years, losing to Baltimore and Minnesota respectively.

There was no “Cleveland Curse” then, it was only five years since the Browns ruled the football world when they lost to the Vikings in’69.

At that time, there was no professional basketball in town, as the Cavaliers just entered the NBA in 1970. They slowly built the franchise into a winner drafting Austin Carr, Jim Brewer, and Campy Russell, trading for Jimmy Cleamons, Jim Chones, and Nate Thurmond, and soon they were in the playoffs.

The “Miracle of Richfield” was the first taste of playoff basketball here and we loved it, selling out the old Coliseum, with crowd so loud, those players still talk about it today.

The Cavs won their first round series against the Bullets, and lost the Eastern Conference finals in six games to Boston, despite not having Chones, who broke his foot in practice.

We were thrilled the wine and gold made it that far, and heck, it was just 12 years since the Browns won a title. Surely, a championship would come soon.

The Kardiac Kids gave us all a thrill in 1980, 16 years since a professional sports championship, but it was the Browns of the late 80’s, 1985-1990, that felt like our best chance to bring a title to Cleveland.

John Elway got in their way all three times, but it had still been just a little over 20 years since a championship in Cleveland. Still, the most heart breaking loss was “The Drive”, an AFC Championship on our home field.

There was no doubt in our mind when Brian Brennan caught the touchdown pass from Bernie Kosar late in the fourth quarter that the Cleveland Browns were going to their first Super Bowl. But you know what happened.

In the 90’s, the Cavaliers were good again, but the best player in the sport, Michael Jordan, got in their way.

By the mid-90’s, the Indians were finally one of baseball’s best teams, and in 1995, they reached their first World Series since 1954. We were just happy to have that streak end, so it wasn’t too disappointing when they didn’t win.

They got back in 1997, and were leading game seven going into the 9th inning before Jose Mesa couldn’t slam the door. It was now 33 years at that time, and that night, we were angry at the gods for taking that chance away. It had become a curse.

It seemed like a long time until 2007 for our next chance. The Cavs drafted LeBron James, one of us, a northeast Ohioan, and he single handedly won the wine and gold their first Eastern Conference title, their first trip to The NBA Finals.

They were swept, but we were sure there would be more trip to come.

That same year, the Tribe had a 3-1 lead in the American League Championship Series, only to drop the final three to Boston, who won the World Series piloted by Terry Francona.

The curse was now at 43 years and counting. This morning, it is now 52 years since a Cleveland major league team has won a title.

By tonight, it may be over. Or it might not be. But this is the closest any of our teams have been in 19 years, and we have the best player in the sport.

We will be on the edge of our chairs tonight, hoping, imploring, and maybe begging that this curse ends.

We won’t know how to act if it does, although we are sure plenty of tears of joy will be shed.

That’s how much we love our sports teams in northeast Ohio.

Grading Browns Draft? Stupid To Do Now

No one can evaluate how the Cleveland Browns did in the NFL draft for several years. Anyone who wants to tell you differently is insane.

All of the analysts who rank the drafts for each team are doing so based on how they ranked each player prior to the selection process.

For example, if the writer/analyst liked Corey Coleman and let’s say, Carl Nassib, then they would probably say the Browns had a very good draft.

If they didn’t like those guys, then they are panning Sashi Brown and Paul DePodesta for not taking Laquon Treadwell with the 15th overall pick.

It really is that simple.

That’s why you see a large disparity of grade on the Browns’ draft. Pro Football Focus gave them an “A”. Mel Kiper gave them a “C”. Pete Prisco gave them a “C-“.

Lord knows what famous Browns critic Jason LaCanfora gave them. Is there a grade lower than F?

One thing we can say is Brown and company are trying to make this team younger, and with 14 picks and the acquisition of CB Jamar Taylor from Miami, the roster will have a drastic turnover from a year ago.

We have written several times about the players over 30 years of age on this roster. The choices Cleveland made indicate more of this group will be gone by the time training camp starts in July.

Paul Kruger said a lot of good things at OTA’s a few weeks ago, but with the drafting of Emmanuel Ogbah, Nassib, and Joe Schobert, there doesn’t seem to be room for him to play.

Grabbing Taylor in the deal with the Dolphins likely will mean that Tramon Williams will not be with the Browns for long.

And with four wide receivers being picked, one of them the first rounder, will Andrew Hawkins be in Berea by the end of summer?

If those players aren’t here, that will leave punter Andy Lee, Joe Thomas, John Greco, and Gary Barnidge as the only players on the wrong side of 30.

The lightning rod pick was taking QB Cody Kessler from USC on the third round. That’s what a lot of people want to talk about, with most of the objections being that he was a third round pick.

While that is true, he was picked 93rd, and Cleveland had (at the time) the 99th and 100th overall picks.

If Kessler were chosen with one of those selections, would that appease the critics? In the grand scheme of things, it really doesn’t mean much difference.

And for the people who wanted the Browns to take local boy Connor Cook? A bunch of teams passed on him multiple times. And to reiterate what we used to say about Brian Hoyer, just because a player is from here, doesn’t need they will be good quarterbacks.

Not everyone from northeast Ohio is Bernie Kosar.

Also, Kessler’s presence may mean another member of the over 30 set could be gone soon. It wouldn’t be a shock if Josh McCown is dealt before the beginning of the regular season.

We knew going into this off-season that the Browns were going to overhaul their roster, and by getting 15 new players last weekend, the process has started.

But judging the draft now, and putting a grade on it is based on bias and is out and out stupid. You also can’t pin the sins of past administrations on Sashi Brown and Paul DePodesta.

The Browns are sticking to a plan right now. Whether they can stick to the plan will probably determine how successful they will be.

Browns Finally Pick Someone

Several members of the media have criticized the Cleveland Browns over the years for not getting playmakers.

Tonight, they picked a guy in the first round who scores touchdowns in Baylor WR Corey Coleman, who scored 20 of them last season.

We doubt that Coleman is the guy who Sashi Brown was talking about as the guy they were targeting at the eighth overall pick, we figure that was Oregon DE DeForest Buckner, who was taken one spot ahead of Cleveland at #7 to the 49ers.

So, the front office traded down to #15, picking up another third round pick this year (the Browns now have five of the top 77 choices and seven of the top 100), and another second round pick in ’17, meaning they have two choices in that round.

You can make your Ray Farmer jokes about small wide receivers, because Coleman is just 5’10” and weighs 194 pounds. But the scouting report on Coleman is that he is a home run hitter, a deep threat, someone who can score from anywhere on the field.

That’s something the Browns have lacked for years.

Coleman’s weaknesses are his hands, which causes us to raise an eyebrow, and that he played in a spread offense, so he hasn’t been exposed to the different routes they run in professional football.

We do have confidence in this coaching staff that they will address a players’ weakness and get them to improve. We don’t know if we could have said that in the past.

However, we still feel that by moving down to #8, and then to #15, Cleveland missed out on an elite talent. Perhaps the best player in this draft, Buckner, went one pick ahead of their selection, and if he was the guy they wanted, they should have stayed at #2 and picked him.

That’s the point we have been making for the last three weeks or so. The Browns need elite talent. Why not start collecting it now.

Coleman looks like a good prospect, and he definitely fits an area of need, but is he potentially a dominant player? None of the scouting reports we have read reflects that.

We felt the Browns had an opportunity to get a dominant player, which Buckner could be. He was rated the best pass rusher in the draft and Cleveland could have had him if they just would have stood pat at #2.

That’s why we were thumbs down on trading out of that pick. And it kind of blew up in the Browns’ face when the Niners took Buckner.

It doesn’t mean that Coleman is a bad choice. Hopefully, he will give the Browns a player at the receiver position that other teams will have to game plan for. That’s been a need for a long, long time.

However, the question is he a difference maker? A player who will be a foundation for the building process this regime is putting together.

We don’t think we will be sitting here five years from now, with the Browns making their first playoff appearance since 2002, and saying that it all started with Corey Coleman.

Could you imagine that if they had picked Buckner, or Joey Bosa, or even Zeke Elliott?

So, today the Browns have another chance to take the best player still remaining on their board. Our guess is they will trade down again.

This is not to say Brown and his crew will not be successful. We like their plan of starting over completely.

But passing on what could be elite talent needs to be questioned.

The gathering of extra picks will no doubt help the Browns develop the depth needed to compete in the NFL, but you need great players too.

Trading Down Just Means Passing On Talent

Based on our entry on Sunday, you can well imagine we were not happy with the Cleveland Browns’ decision to trade out of the second overall pick in next week’s NFL Draft.

To move down six spots, we feel you needed to get a second round pick this year, not two years from now.

The Browns are spinning this as having six picks in the top 100 players, however, two of those picks are #99 and #100. Really, they have four picks in the top 77 players, which is just one more pick than they would have if they had done nothing.

For this year, you received a third round pick and another in the fourth in order to move down six spots.

We feel the Browns need great players. Can they get one of the players we identified the other day with the 8th choice? Of course, there is a chance, but now they could lose a possibility of getting the guy they judged to have been the second best player.

Getting a first rounder next year is a given, and if the Eagles chose correctly, which means the Browns passed up a good quarterback, that pick will be in the lower half of the first round.

If the guy they pick doesn’t play well, then the Browns get another high first round pick, which is what they already had.

It just seems like the old philosophy is still in vogue at Berea…We’ll be good next year.

Look, we know the Browns are not going to be contending for a playoff spot for a few years, but it’s still not too early to start accumulating the foundation. So, unless another trade occurs, and it might, Cleveland still has just one first round pick, and one second pick this year.

That’s where you get starters. And the Browns aren’t any better than they were before the trade.

If they would have received a 2nd rounder this year and then had four of the top 65 players, to us, that’s better value.

And if you are in the camp where you believed both Jared Goff and Carson Wentz can be franchise quarterbacks, you have to be livid today.

The Browns were in a position to get one of them, and now they will get neither. Time will tell if Sashi Brown and Paul DePodesta are smarter than everyone or they acted like a teenager who just got paid and its Friday night.

If you trade down again on draft night, it’s just a repeat of what has been done time and again in Berea, accumulating picks. What you are really doing is delaying making a decision.

You are saying you don’t trust your draft board.

The gutsy move would have been to take whoever is the best player according to your rankings after the Rams made the first selection. It worries me that these guys aren’t trusting the scouting staff.

That, and the high picks they received will not help this team until the 2017 and 2018 seasons. It seems the whole process is being delayed, and Browns’ fans should be fed up with that thinking.

Not to mention you are also letting a team in your division, the Ravens, pick in front of you.

However, the people who love having picks will like this move.

We’d rather get the second best player in the draft. On the other hand, based on decisions like this, they may get another opportunity in April 2017.

Browns Should Keep #2, Trade Down Later

Many people think the Los Angeles Rams threw a wrench in the NFL draft plans of many teams when they moved up 14 spots to the first overall selection.

Now, there are many Browns’ fans and media alike advocating trading down to gain more picks, just like the Tennessee Titans did.

We are not in that category.

This is not to say the Browns have an awful lot of holes on the roster, and need plenty of help. However, we would not trade down from the second selection in the process.

Cleveland earned getting the second pick by virtue of their terrible 2015 season, and they should not forfeit the choice.

While we aren’t draft experts or scouts, there does seem to be some talented players, Pro Bowl type players in the top five guys coming into the league.

If the front office and coaching staff still want a quarterback after signing Robert Griffin III as a free agent, then they can still select whomever is left between Jared Goff and Carson Wentz.

If they want to add to the other areas of the team, most of which need help for sure, they can choose between DT DeForest Buckner of Oregon, CB/S Jalen Ramsey of Florida State, DE Joey Bosa of Ohio State, and LB Myles Jack of UCLA.

Notice all four of those guys are defensive players, and if you can recall last season (or still want to for that matter), the Browns defense resembled a sieve.

Whether it is on offense or defense, the Browns need a star, someone to build the unit around. That’s why we would keep the pick.

Don’t forget that the brown and orange have the first pick in the second round too. Sashi Brown and Paul DePodesta will likely be inundated with teams wanting that pick from the end of the first round on Thursday to the time the second round starts on Friday.

If Cleveland wants to deal that choice to get more picks, then so be it. It is sound strategy. We aren’t disputing the Browns need a large influx of talent.

But they need great players to start the building process, and more often than not you get great players early in the first round.

Granted, Tennessee got a haul for moving down to #15, they should have. There is a big difference between picking first and in the middle of the round. The Browns would probably have to go down that many spots to get that type of bounty.

Dropping out of the top five or even the top ten choices, won’t get you as much as the Titans received. And is it really worth an extra pick or two this year to remove yourself from having the chance to pick one of the top five players in this year’s draft?

Besides, we feel the Browns will wind up with more picks this year anyway. It would not be surprising if Cleveland dealt players like Paul Kruger, Trammon Williams, Desmond Bryant, and yes, even Joe Thomas for more picks during the draft.

Remember, all of those guys are over 30 years old, and we believe the front office doesn’t want aging players on this roster.

The gutsy move is to make a decision at #2, and not defer it until later in the draft. Take the best player on your draft board, whether it’s a QB or not.

The Browns needs players, yes. However, they also need great players.

Why Not Take A Look At RGIII?

First, it was Colin Kaepernick, but it appears that has fallen through, and now the big rumor is the Cleveland Browns are close to signing former Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III as a free agent.

We have no idea if Griffin can regain the magic of his rookie season, when he completed 65.6% of his passes and had 20 touchdowns and just five interceptions as Washington went 10-6 and made the playoffs.

The former second overall pick in the 2012 NFL draft hurt his knee at the end of that campaign and never really has regained the magic.

Since he is only 26 years old, perhaps Hue Jackson wants to find out if he can rebuild Griffin’s career. It wouldn’t be unheard of.

Even with all of the injuries, the former Baylor standout has completed 63.9% of his throws.

For all of the people who think Josh McCown had a solid season for the Browns last season, he completed 63.7% of his passes last year.

What is pretty apparent to us is that Jackson simply doesn’t want to have McCown as his starting quarterback. That’s why he pursued both Kaepernick, whose price was way too high.

The combination of the San Francisco QB’s bloated salary and that the Niners wanted the Browns third round pick was too rich for Sashi Brown and the rest of the front office.

Look, McCown is a lot of things. He’s a great teammate, he has a huge heart, and did a good job being a steadying influence for Johnny Manziel. He took a great deal of punishment last season, even to the point of taking a couple of snaps with a broken collarbone.

However, there is one thing McCown isn’t, and that is a competent NFL starting quarterback. His lifetime record as a starter is 18-39 and is 8-27 since 2007.

He’s also going to be 37 years old, and that is a huge consideration for the Browns, who want to get younger.

We get that the local media likes McCown. He’s a stand up guy, a hard worker, and talks to reporters no matter the situation.

We are sure Jackson’s thought is if we are going to go with a question mark behind center, it would be better if that guy is 26 years old, not 37.

Quite simply, who has the better chance to improve?

We also aren’t saying that RGIII solves the Browns’ quarterbacking issues. We would still take a QB with the 2nd or 32nd overall picks (or if they trade for a late first round pick), and having Griffin would allow Jackson to have the rookie play when he’s ready and not a minute before.

If Griffin plays well, and the rookie develops, the Browns can move either one of the players, and since they are quarterbacks, they can get a king’s ransom.

And if Griffin’s career doesn’t bounce back to his rookie year level, all Cleveland lost was money, and they certainly have plenty of salary cap space.

RGIII has to have been humbled by what has happened to a promising career, and because of that, he should be a willing student for what Jackson is teaching.

That’s why it’s a no risk move for the Browns.

But don’t read the possible signing as Cleveland finding an answer at QB, but rather it’s they feel McCown has no upside and Jackson has no interest in the veteran being his signal caller this season.

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?