Cleveland Browns Have No Interest in Winning in 2016
By Peter Smith
The release of Paul Kruger is the latest indication the Cleveland Browns organization has zero interest in winning in 2016 as they look to maximize their war chest of draft picks for 2017.
To be fair, the Browns organization has been hinting at this since this regime was hired. The message was about emphasizing the long term, whether it was coming from head coach Hue Jackson, Executive Vice President Sashi Brown, Chief Strategy Officer Paul DePodesta or even the owner Jimmy Haslam.
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Paul Kruger was not going to last past this season as a member of the Cleveland Browns, but the decision to cut him before the 2016 season is a surprise. The assumption was that Kruger would hold down the spot pretty well before his replacement was drafted next year. A defense that is almost completely devoid of anything reliable has gotten even worse and the team might have lost its best pass rusher by choice.
Yes, Kruger only secured 2.5 sacks last season, but he was also utilized as ineffectively as possible by the Browns. He was put in a position to succeed this year, but more importantly, there’s really nothing behind him at this point. In 2014, he notched 11 sacks when he was maximized.
This move says several things about the direction of this team.
Along with the trade of Barkevious Mingo, releasing Karlos Dansby and letting Tashaun Gipson walk in free agency, this regime wants its own guys on defense. Desmond Bryant’s season-ending injury might have been the final straw to clean house of older players on the defensive side of the ball. Bryant was another player who is likely to be released after this season.
The cornerback position is in bad shape, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Browns release Tramon Williams to totally embrace the youth movement on defense. If they cut Williams, the elder statesman on the Browns defense is John Hughes in terms of age at 28 years old and Joe Haden in terms of experience as he enters his seventh year in the league.
This Browns defense is currently set up to be historically bad. In the front seven, Hughes might be their best player and their best pass rusher may be rookie Carl Nassib. Fellow rookie Joe Schobert may factor into the starting outside linebacker mix with the release of Kruger and he looks more suited to be an inside linebacker.
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Obviously, the Browns want their young players to improve over the course of the season as they learn by doing, but they are going to get killed in the process. The decisions and direction of the team suggests they are completely embracing both ends of this; player development and losing.
The team is entirely built on an offense that has been pieced together and has talent, but is a work in progress. They also have explosive ability which could produce some points, but would also force the defense right back out on the field. Between the problems on defense and the potential firepower on offense, this team could find itself losing games where it scores in the 30s and gives up around 50.
With the Mingo trade and compensatory picks they will receive for free agent losses for this season, the Browns are already at 13 draft picks for 2017. And they could still trade Josh McCown or Josh Gordon if a team wants to meet their price. And obviously, this will fuel more rumors with regarding the Browns trading Joe Thomas, even though it still doesn’t make any sense to move him.
The Browns own their own picks in the first six rounds of the draft, having traded this year’s seventh round pick to the San Francisco 49ers for Andy Lee. They also have a first round pick from the Philadelphia Eagles, a second round pick from the Tennessee Titans, a fifth round pick from the New England Patriots and a seventh round pick from the Indianapolis Colts. The Browns are also projected to receive three fourths and a fifth round pick as compensatory selections for their free agent losses.
The Browns owe the Eagles a fourth round pick as part of the trade. That might be the Browns’ fourth round pick, but the pick was listed as conditional when the trade was completed and actually might end up being one of the compensatory fourth round picks, since this is the first year they are trade-able assets as of this year.
The Browns appear poised to get every bit out of the picks they own in this draft. Whether it’s being in position for Clemson quarterback DeShaun Watson or someone like Texas A&M pass rusher Myles Garrett, the Browns are poised to be all in on being bad in 2016, so they can try to take this draft for all its worth.
The last piece of this puzzle is on the offensive side of the ball. This move suggests that no veteran is going to make the Browns simply because they are a veteran. They have to be too valuable to lose or they will go with youth. In other words, the writing may be on the wall for Andrew Hawkins and Marlon Moore.
There was a good amount of fanfare for the return of Ray Horton as defensive coordinator. He has young talent to build and develop, but even surpassing the incompetence of Jim O’Neil’s defense last year could prove a real challenge. Horton will have to perform enough miracles to qualify for sainthood to get this defense to play well this year.
Maybe the team has assured Horton that after so much of last year was spent on the offense, this coming offseason will be focused on infusing talent on the defensive side of the ball. That promise might be enough to keep Horton from considering retiring as he does press conferences all year trying to explain away the play of this defense.
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Hue Jackson and the Browns hope their offense lights up the scoreboard this season. They also are hoping the young players on defense improve over the course of the year. Just not enough to actually win games and hurt their draft position. The Browns are embracing tanking, which could be good for them in the long term, but there’s no indication the team is going to cut ticket prices as they deliberately put their fans through another losing season as opposed to just finding their way there naturally.