Browns, Baker, OBJ: It Just Didn’t Fit

The knee-jerk reaction to the events that occurred this week with the Cleveland Browns is to declare the age old saying “same ol’ Browns”. That’s not entirely fair.

The old Browns, the ones led by Hue Jackson, Joe Banner, etc. seemed different. The head coach and the GM usually seemed like they were on different pages and many times one sabotaged the other.

This current group, with Paul DePodesta, GM Andrew Berry, and coach Kevin Stefanski, seem to be on the same page. They come to decisions together, they don’t seem to be running to owner Jimmy Haslam to point out a mistake made by one of the others in order to gain more power within the organization.

We don’t know what brought the situation with Odell Beckham Jr. to a head, but in our viewpoint, the front office dealt with it swiftly and decisively.

Our opinion was the video put out by Beckham’s dad, released a day before the trading deadline, was a move to force the front office to trade the wide receiver. Perhaps Beckham, if frustration, went to Stefanski and requested a quarterback change, and was told there would not be one.

But when Berry couldn’t reach a deal that made sense for the Browns, Stefanski, Berry, and DePodesta decided it was time to cut ties with the wide out. The reason Beckham was told to stay away from practice on Wednesday and Thursday was the negotiations were taking place with his agent to release him or put him on waivers.

Whatever, the situation was didn’t work out in Cleveland. First, OBJ has the reputation and carries himself like an elite pass catcher, but the fact is he hasn’t been one since 2016, when he caught 101 passes for 1367 yards with the Giants.

The following season, the injuries started, ironically in a pre-season game against the Browns, when a hit by Briean Boddy-Calhoun caused a sprained ankle. Beckham and the Giants claimed it was a dirty hit, but in our view at the time, it looked perfectly legal.

OBJ missed most of the 2017 season, playing just four games, and the following year, his numbers dropped to 77 catches for 1052 yards, and was traded to the Browns following that season.

He played through a core injury in ’19, but barely had 1000 yards receiving (1035), catching 74 passes. Last year, it was the torn ACL, and this year a shoulder injury.

There is no evidence he was a bad guy in the locker room, but did he have the same priority as the other players? As former Steelers’ coach Bill Cowher said yesterday, would OBJ rather catch eight passes in a Browns’ loss than catch one pass in a Cleveland victory?

We have been on teams with players like that, and it makes one roll their eyes.

You also have to think about the fact (and it isn’t anecdotal, the numbers are real) that Baker Mayfield has better numbers with Beckham not on the field than with him on the field. Now, we don’t have empirical evidence as to why that’s true, but if Baker has a good game today, it will be brought up again.

In football, sometimes a player isn’t a good fit in a particular offense.

History gives us a similar situation, ironically involving the same teams. After the Browns traded Paul Warfield to get Mike Phipps prior to the 1970 draft, feeling they needed to replace Warfield, Cleveland traded for Giants’ WR Homer Jones, who made two Pro Bowls, and averaged over 20 yards per catch with New York.

Jones had those gaudy numbers in part, because he found open spots while Fran Tarkenton, a scrambler, ran away from pressure. With the Browns, and a regular drop back passer in Bill Nelsen, Jones caught just 10 passes for 141 yards and a single touchdown.

He was out of the league the next season.

Sometimes, it just doesn’t fit. That seems to sum up Odell Beckham Jr.’s time with the Browns.

Is Haslam the New Snyder?

Just when you think the Cleveland Browns are acting as a normal, professional football team, they throw a huge wrench into the mix.

They announced today that Joe Banner and Mike Lombardi are out as CEO and GM, with Ray Farmer replacing the latter as general manager.

The obvious point to be made is owner Jimmy Haslam was so disgusted by the season and seemingly bungled coaching search, that he couldn’t take the Banner/Lombardi combination for one more day.

Still want to tell everyone that these aren’t the same old Browns?

Look, this is not to say we thought Banner and Lombardi were doing a great job, in fact, we feel quite the contrary.

Banner seemed to be a “me-first” guy, a person who really wanted to coach the team as well as run it, and he didn’t seem to be satisfied with any person who wasn’t Joe Banner.

However, remember that the league recommended Banner to Haslam, the owner didn’t seem to seek him out.

Lombardi comes across as someone who still wants to sit on the lap of Bill Belichick, waiting with anticipation for every word that drips off of the Patriots’ coach’s tongue.

It seemed his solution to every problem was to go back to the Belichick tree.

Farmer helped put together a Kansas City team that had a bushel of Pro Bowlers on a 2-14 team in 2012 and made a major leap forward to the playoffs last season. The fact that Miami was very interested in him shows how respected he is throughout the NFL.

So do we assume things are better in Berea because Farmer and team president Alec Scheiner are more likeable to the fans and media alike?

As with the new coach and his staff, we can’t evaluate how the newest new regime will perform until the Cleveland Browns start playing football games that count in September.

The more disturbing aspect of all this is the growing Snyderization of Jimmy Haslam.

We felt all along that it was Haslam who pulled the trigger on Rob Chudzinski after one season in charge. Could it be that part of the reason Banner and Lombardi aren’t employed here anymore is they told the owner he was being impetuous?

Now, Haslam just fired two people he claimed were part of the solution just 18 months ago.

The Browns’ owner is looking more and more like his counterpart in Washington, Redskins’ owner Daniel Snyder.

Does anyone think that organization is well run?

Since 2000, Washington has gone through six coaches and have amassed three playoff appearances, a boatload compared to Cleveland.

He’s brought in college coaches (Steve Spurrier), veteran coaches with histories of winning (Marty Schottenheimer, Joe Gibbs, and Mike Shanahan), and offensive coordinators (Jim Zorn and new coach Jay Gruden).

They’ve gone 86-122 in that span. While that’s better than Cleveland’s record (72 wins) over the same time period, it’s hardly a winning franchise or something to be aspiring to.

If the Browns go 6-10 this season and Haslam keeps Farmer and Mike Pettine in place seeing some progress, then we can ease off on the Daniel Snyder comparisons.

Until that happens, he appears to be another owner who wants success, but either doesn’t know how to get it, or doesn’t have the patience to attain a winning team.

Either way, no matter how they spin it, it just looks like more chaos at Browns’ headquarters.

Are These Browns Any Different?

The Cleveland Browns appear to be headed to another 10 loss season, their sixth consecutive campaign losing in double figures.

Therefore, the question needs to be asked…what is different with the new regime, headed by Jimmy Haslam, Joe Banner, and Michael Lombardi? The results are the same from the last group, headed by Mike Holmgren and Tom Heckert.

These Browns have three possible Pro Bowl players, which would be their most in several years. OT Joe Thomas is perennial, making the all-star team every year he has been in the league. He could be bound for Canton someday.

CB Joe Haden has been outstanding all season long, highlighted by shutting down Cincinnati WR A. J. Green in both meetings between the teams, and he has started to intercept passes this year as well, with four on the season.

Those two have been the best players on the squad the past few years, but this year they are joined by WR Josh Gordon, who may be the NFL’s best wideout who isn’t named Calvin Johnson. He may be the Browns’ best wideout since Paul Warfield wore the orange and brown.

There are several other players who can be considered building blocks for a playoff team, such as C Alex Mack, TE Jordan Cameron, DT Phil Taylor, DEs Ahtyba Rubin and Billy Winn, OLBs Barkevious Mingo, Jabaal Sheard, and Paul Kruger, and ILB D’Qwell Jackson.

All of those players, save for Mingo, were brought in by the prior regimes.

So while Holmgren and Heckert take a lot of criticism for the first round of the 2012 draft (Richardson and Weeden) and deservedly so, they are responsible for putting together the foundation for the future.

Certainly, the prior president and GM also have to be faulted for the hiring of Pat Shurmur, who was a public relations disaster. Rob Chudzinski doesn’t really say anything in his press conferences either (call this the Belichick method), but fans and media can see he has a passion for the city and the game, and the players play like they respect him.

It would have been easy for the team to give a lackluster effort after the Jacksonville game, but the Browns went to New England and fought, and almost knocked off the Patriots.

Chudzinski and his staff do draw negatives with the handling of the quarterback situation, going with Brandon Weeden to start the season when it’s pretty clear he is the least effective of the trio that were on the Opening Day roster.

The front office should be lauded for the Trent Richardson trade, but at the same time should be questioned for not having another decent running back on the roster to replace him, nor did they get another passer after Brian Hoyer was injured.

That left the coaching staff without a running game, putting more pressure on Weeden, Hoyer, and Jason Campbell.

Think about how many more wins this team would have had Hoyer or Campbell started the year and the Browns had even an average running game.

Ultimately, the Banner/Lombardi group will be judged on this season’s draft, which they have spent time accumulating picks for. The fear is they will force a quarterback pick too high (see, Ponder and Gabbert) and will pass on players who can impact the team in 2014.

If they wait for the passer to come to them, perhaps with the Colts’ pick, and instead upgrade the football team at several spots, they will be remembered as the group that turned this franchise around.

Bill Parcells once said you are what your record says it is. And right now, Joe Banner and Michael Lombardi are just like everyone else who sat in their chairs.