What is wrong with Danny Salazar?
May 22, 2017Revisiting the 1992 AL Rookie of the Year Race
May 22, 2017Since 1999, the Cleveland Browns have shuffled eight different general managers through Berea in just 18 years, which means front office regimes barely last two seasons on the Northcoast. The “Harvard group”, Vice President of Football Operations Sashi Brown, Chief Strategy Officer Paul DePodesta, and Vice President of Player Personnel Andrew Berry, hope to add some permanence to the position- though it is doubtful the men before them took the appointments as temporary positions.
The front office went about their second offseason by obtaining talent in both free agency and in the draft, while acquiring future draft capital as well. Obtaining some of those assets even included taking a page from other sport leagues by absorbing a bad contract (Brock Osweiler) to gain more high picks (Houston Texans 2018 second round selection). After all the moves, CBS Sports’ Sean Wagner-McGough has ranked the Browns’ front office has been ranked as the fourth-best in the NFL.
Here’s what he had to say about both the Browns and the front office. Keep in mind, these rankings are only based on what each team has done this offseason:
The Browns had another smart offseason. They didn’t overthink the draft, choosing the consensus top pick in Myles Garrett. Getting a quarterback like DeShone Kizer at No. 52 overall could end up being the steal of the draft.
The Browns’ success goes beyond the draft. In free agency, they signed guard Joel Bitonio to a contract extension and signed two additional offensive linemen in JC Tretter and Kevin Zeitler. So, expect improved offensive line play. Meanwhile, they acquired an extra second-round pick from Houston — and all they have to do is pay Brock Osweiler’s contract. For a team with tons of cap space, that’s a great move.The Browns are functioning like a smart franchise. Weird.
That last statement shows just how bad previous front offices have been on the shores of Lake Erie. People in and around the NFL expect the Browns to make stupid moves, no matter who is at the helm. When they do something smart, people are surprised and even confused. Luckily for the Dawg Pound and Cleveland alike, the current men leading the Browns seem to know what they are doing though the results have not yet born fruit in the win column.
The front office has received frustration from Browns fans, but, rather than attempt to make quick fixes to create a .500 team, the movement has been to create the foundation for a consistent contender. To do so, a franchise quarterback will need to be found (and/or developed), which something that the team has been unable to do since Bernie Kosar rigged the supplemental draft to come to his hometown team.
For now, Browns fans can watch as the front office carefully puts together a full roster of talent that should show consistent improvement moving forward. If Cody Kessler or DeShone Kizer wind up proving capable under the tutelage of head coach Hue Jackson, then perhaps the team will be something more and the front office will be highly ranked by more in the media.
Full rankings:
- New England Patriots
- San Francisco 49ers
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Cleveland Browns
- Philadelphia Eagles
- Atltanta Falcons
- New York Giants
- Minnesota Vikings
- Pittsburgh Steelers
- Carolina Panthers
- Dallas Cowboys
- New York Jets
- Green Bay Packers
- Indianapolis Colts
- Tennessee Titans
- Oakland Raiders
- Detroit Lions
- Miami Dolphins
- Baltimore Ravens
- Buffalo Bills
- Jacksonsville Jaguars
- Seattle Seahawks
- Los Angeles Chargers
- Denver Broncos
- Arizona Cardinals
- Los Angeles Rams
- New Orleans Saints
- Kansas City Chiefs
- Houston Texans
- Cincinnati Bengals
90 Comments
I would have come out of this draft with Garrett, Allen, Foster and Kizer
if Kizer is a 10 year starter the rest of this draft – and the previous one and the next one – doesn’t matter
thanks for puttin’ up with me … i know that sometimes you probably cringe at the the prospect of answering one of my posts , not knowing what you’re getting yourself into … it’s all good.
Unless it just means that he’s the starter at a single position on a very, very bad team of notional “starters.” We don’t want that.
On our first few and last few years on Earth, we wear diapers to catch our droppings without interrupting whatever it is we are doing at the time. It is the middle years where we are tricked by an unjust society into thinking we need to pause our existence to utilize a toilet. Stay woke, my friend.
With the smell of the world you’re promoting, it will be very difficult indeed to not be constantly woke.
I’m besties with the HBT!
I don’t know, if he managed to be terrible and start for us for 10 years, then I’d be even more impressed.
hi PAUL … i really liked Allen , so i like your scenario. think of that D-line with Collins , Foster & Kirksey playing LB !!!!
Increased productivity is just one of the benefits.
Well, you do see the world the same way.
https://media.tenor.co/images/7f7f2882899755a705a2953b6fcfc263/tenor.gif
Anyone that goldfishes his way through life gets a lot of credit.
Dude! There are children who frequent these pages. Sheesh.
Sorry. I’m like the Jersey boy who gets a Chinese character tattooed on my (seriously ripped and totally fake tanned) shoulder just because I think it looks siiiiick, not realizing that it’s probably the most offensive thing ever uttered in either Mandarin or Cantonese.
Mandarin, Shanghei dialect
Allen and Foster will be studs if Allen’s shoulders allow him to play a full career and Foster can stay out of trouble. The idea of going big and winning big at the blackjack table is really exciting, but it hurts pretty bad when you bust. Also, I think we saw Foster slide because true middle linebackers are becoming a thing of the past. The Browns will be in their nickel/dime defensive packages 60% of the time, and the Browns would be forced to sit Foster, Kirksey, or Collins on those downs.
Well, I have to re-think my theories then. I had been trying to guilt my wife into starting to cheer for me.
Are you getting sucked in yet? Look deep into my eyes! You will believe the Browns are going to be good this season, and that their FO is the best thing since sliced bread! The previous 18 seasons of disappointment and false hope will not affect your thinking! You will give all your spending money to the Cleveland Browns!
When you hear me snap my fingers, you will wake up and not remember anything I told you…/snap!
It is almost exclusively because no one is playing football right now, yet there are thousands and thousands of people whose job it is to talk about football. All those people have to write about something, right?
An articles with rankings in the headline are irresistible for all of us suffering from football withdrawal. They could have done a top ten of alternative shapes a football could have and we’d read it.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5df2e01aa09200c85438ddcc3fadb8d0ab13c4a14492a66b73385b37e42d3c44.gif
1. Spheroid
2. Peach
3. Pear
4. Cylinder
5. Sphere
6. Hexagonal Pyramid
7. Ellipsoid
8. Dodecahedron
9. Icosohedron
10. Triangular Prism
“So winning games doesn’t count”
Should be No 1 then.
Better chance of Wentz and Watson in the playoffs with Kizer riding the pines behind Kessler.
I read that as if you are saying the Browns make the playoffs with Kessler as the starter. I’m good with that and won’t really care about Watson/Wentz if it happens 😉
Um, ok. This will likely be the last time I use Browns and playoffs in the same sentence for a while.
If I cannot intentionally misread your statements about the Browns making the playoffs in May, then when can I?
At least the Browns made the list, unlike the Bears and Redskins.
I would like to see a game played with a triangular football myself.
No love for the Dodecahedron?
I think the Bucs have had the best offseason of all, if you include FA and the draft.
as would I. I think Allen was the BPA.
trapezoid!
So, the NFL relegated both the Chicago Bears and the Washington Redskins, eh? About damn time! Good riddance.
Curious, though, how often past criticism of BB’s moves has soured in the mouths of his critics. Best to confine the snipes at New England to areas which cannot be so easily exposed as mistaken on the field of play. I guess even journalists can learn from their errors.
Still, Pats fans will never be so obnoxious as those old Dolphins players who annually toast the Final Loser.
Let’s all shed a tear for Johnny Moss.
Applies nearly equally to healthy guys, though, the NFL being the NFL. They’re ALL one play away from disaster.
Hahahahaha they’re by far the worst front office in all of sports, not just the NFL. They passed on Wentz. They passed on Watson. They passed on Trubisky, I hope I’m spelling that right. They let several receivers walk, but picked up one of the worst receivers in the league in Kenny Britt who is flat out bad. They picked up Osweiler’s steep tab only to get rid of him for basically nothing. They let Haden go, which I don’t have an issue with because he was always getting toasted for big plays, but they him go for NOTHING. They let Gipson go who was a young, but good player. So I ask You, what makes them a top 5 front offices? Nothing….zero…..zip
The Osweiler deal was possibly the dumbest move they made.