The Cleveland Browns may have finally found their absolute bottom. All it took was losing four starting quarterbacks and their promising first round pick to injury in five weeks and the most talented player on the team checking in to rehab just days before being able to play again. But they found it.
The Browns’ 0-5 start have led to reports of Terrell Pryor Sr. being the only untradeable player on the roster and potentially next week’s starting quarterback if Charlie Whitehurst can’t go.
Rebuilds are hard, and nobody expected the Browns to be world beaters in 2016, but they have been competitive. Despite their dearth of talent, they have still been hanging around long enough to break Browns fans’ hearts, even if they had no business doing so.
With all the injuries and potential roster turnover, you have to worry if that will be able to continue. How can Hue Jackson install a winning culture without veterans to show the way and competitive results to build on?
While I think the Browns can get a ton of value for guys like Joe Thomas and Joe Haden, they would also potentially be setting the team further back than it already is.
Culture is a real factor in the NFL. It’s why the best teams rarely vary and why coaching is so important. If the Browns void their roster of the little veteran talent they have left, Sundays are going to look more like they did against the Patriots than they did in weeks one through four.
Losing repeatedly is bad for the psyche of a young team, especially one without much veteran leadership. Just ask anyone involved with the Philadelphia 76ers. Sure, the Browns might end up with some nice draft picks, but they’d be under intense pressure to nail them. People could get impatient (Again, see: Sixers).
Starting from the bottom, the best way to win a championship in any sport these days is to find as many good young players in the draft and leverage their rookie contracts with free agent veterans that fill the holes your draft picks can’t. From that standpoint, the Browns trading their productive veterans would make sense.
However, as many people who have attempted that model and failed can attest, it’s a difficult juggling routine to learn. Success is gradual and failure can be sudden and spectacular. One or two bets go against the front office, and ownership could blow it up. And of course, we all know how competent an owner Jimmy Haslam has been thus far. I’m sure he’ll be exceptionally patient with this careful rebuild.
The Browns are already feeling sorry for themselves after being the opening act in Tom Brady’s wrath of touchdowns tour. If the Browns blow things up even further, they better realize the effect it will have on the players still on roster and they better come prepared on draft night.
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