NFL Free Agency: Cleveland Browns Punt on 2016

Brace yourselves, Cleveland Browns fans. A bad football team is probably going to be even worse in 2016. 

It was about two months ago when I suggested that the Cleveland Browns needed to blow things up and start over. All indications are that the Browns are doing just that at the start of free agency.

Related Story: 2016 NFL Mock Draft

The Browns losing players to other National Football League clubs at the start of free agency on Wednesday was not only a possibility. It was inevitable. That, of course, did not make Wednesday’s events any easier for long-suffering fans of the Browns who are seeing the writing on the wall as it pertains to the immediate future of a club that has been downright awful for the better part of 17 years.

All-Pro center Alex Mack opted out of his contract earlier this month, and he decided to link back up with former Cleveland offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan and the Atlanta Falcons. Travis Benjamin, statistically the best wide receiver on the Cleveland roster last season, signed with the San Diego Chargers. Safety Tashaun Gipson traded in northeast Ohio and the Browns for the up-and-coming Jacksonville Jaguars.

Last but not least is the case of offensive tackle Mitchell Schwartz. Schwartz apparently wanted to remain with the Browns. The Browns, obviously realizing that the tackle who turns 27-years-old this coming June can be a cornerstone of a solid offensive line up through the end of the decade, had extended an offer to Schwartz.

And then…

Schwartz came to terms on a deal with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Browns fans attempting to cling to any reason to be positive about the current state of the club took to websites such as Twitter to voice the always popular opinion that a player would just with a team if he really wanted to do so and didn’t want to leav. As piping hot as that take is, it ignores the reality that the NFL is a business, and that a team that, per Spotrac, still has over $40 million in available cap room space such as the Browns could have enticed Mack, Schwartz and the others to give Cleveland more than a waive of the hand.

Let’s say, for whatever reasons, that you are just fine with the Browns allowing all four of these players leave town. Maybe you think that Mack is not worth the money paid to him by the Falcons and that Gipson received what he was offered by the Jaguars all because he had one above-average season that occurred back in 2014. That’s fine.

It doesn’t erase the fact that the Browns did nothing to fill holes in the team’s roster on the first day of free agency, and also that the team was unable to stick to its original plan one day into the new NFL year.

Cleveland desperately needs a quarterback. Josh McCown may have the best of intentions, but the Browns can’t count on him to stay healthy for an entire season. Austin Davis obviously isn’t the answer. Johnny Manziel will probably be gone before the end of the week.

Didn’t want the Browns to overpay for the services of Brock Osweiler? Are you happy that the Browns didn’t make a move for Case Keenum, Nick Foles, Chase Daniel or Colin Kaepernick? Not a fan of Robert Griffin III? That’s all well and good, as the Browns could have used cap space on other positions.

Cleveland is still in need of a legitimate starting running back. The Browns did not do enough, if anything, to sign either Chris Ivory or Matt Forte. Mohamed Sanu, the only wide receiver on the free agency market that should cause Cleveland fans to raise their eyes, is being linked with the New York Giants (who, as explained by ESPN Staff Writer Dan Graziano, spent a ton of money on the first day of free agency), New England Patriots and Falcons.

The Browns began the offseason with one of the worst rosters in the NFL. Cleveland wouldn’t hold the second overallk pick of the 2016 NFL Draft if that wasn’t the case. Rather than take any step toward getting better, the Browns lost four starters with nothing to show for it other than fans and analysts wondering just what the heck is going on in Berea.

In short: The new Cleveland regime is not off to the hottest of starts, and new head coach Hue Jackson and his staff are going to be in for a long year.

The 2016 Browns were never winning the Super Bowl or even competing for a playoff spot. What fans were told, intentionally or not, by the team’s inactivity on Wednesday is that the club sees 2016 as a lost cause. Imagining trying to sell tickets for games at FirstEnergy Stadium next fall once the regular season schedules are released next month.

“Come see young members of the Browns who may help the team be good by 2020!”

Beat reporters, bloggers and optimistic fans can try to spin things all they want. A Browns team that wasn’t any good to begin with lost talent that cannot simply be replaced via what is left in free agency and via the upcoming NFL Draft. Even if this Cleveland front office is able to hit on draft picks, those players are going to need time to develop and to adapt to life in the league.

More nfl spin zone: Should the Indianapolis Colts Have Kept Peyton Manning?

The Browns are clearly in total rebuild mode, and so the time has come to go all-in on the process. Future Hall-of-Fame left tackle Joe Thomas should be put on the market before the upcoming draft. Thomas, 31-years-old, will be past his prime by the time the Browns are ready to possibly win something. Cleveland should also consider fielding offers for the not-yet-reinstated Josh Gordon, who may be trying to tell the Browns via his Twitter page and by hanging out with Manziel in Las Vegas that he, too, wants out.

As for you Browns fans who have already put deposits down on season tickets for 2016: Refunds are not offered per club policy, but asking for your money back couldn’t hurt.