5 Ex-Browns Playing in Super Bowl LI

The Cleveland Browns may be watching Super Bowl LI from home, but five of their old teammates will be in the game.

Alex Mack and Taylor Gabriel have each had great seasons in Atlanta by following different routes.

Jabaal Sheard and Dion Lewis are in their second season together in New England.

Barkevious Mingo got out of Cleveland before the team would go on to lose 15 of 16 games. He was traded to the team that won the AFC.

Talk about two extremes.

Kyle Shanahan is the offensive coordinator of the Falcons’ potent offense.

Julio Jones was drafted by the Falcons because of the Browns’ decision to move down from No. 6 to No. 27 in 2011. The Browns acquired five picks, none of whom are in Cleveland, today.

There are different ways to look at this, but as a regular Browns fan like most of you reading, I’m not as bothered by Mack and Sheard, who went for big contracts and a better chance to win, as I am by Lewis and Gabriel.

Those two were inexpensive steals that can’t be justified as long-term money savers.

Gabriel gained over 600 receiving yards as a rookie and had a sophomore slump with Johnny Manziel and Josh McCown under center.

The Browns drafted four wide receivers in 2016 and cut Gabriel.

Aside from Corey Coleman, none of those rookie receivers had a season worth noting at the WR position.

Gabriel landed in a good situation, but scored a career-high six touchdowns, amassing 579 receiving yards on 35 receptions.

Lewis was traded to the Browns in 2013 and missed the entire 2014 season due to a fractured fibula.

After a short-lived six day stint with the Colts, Bill Belichick and the Patriots scooped him up on December 31, 2014.

The rest is history, as the 26-year-old has fit perfectly into Tom Brady’s arsenal of weapons.

Lewis is making $1.3 Mil. for the 2016 season, while Gabriel is making $510,000.

Wonder what the analytics say about that?

Lewis had injury history and was the responsibility of a long-gone regime, but letting Gabriel slip through the Browns lies squarely on this current front office and coaching staff.

There’s still time for Cleveland’s other three rookie wide receivers to develop, and Browns fans can hope one of them becomes as good a player as Gabriel.