This is the 70th anniversary of the Browns’ first season in 1946.

That first Browns team, under head coach Paul Brown, conducted training camp at Bowling Green State University. Then it went on to finish the regular season 12-2 and won the championship in the inaugural season of the All-America Football Conference by defeating the New York Yankees 14-9.

In honor of all that, here are, in no particular order, 70 thoughts – one for each year that the franchise has been around in one form or another — about the current club as it begins training camp today at Browns Headquarters in Berea:

1. With head coach Hue Jackson and his veteran staff in charge, this camp should be a lot better organized and operate at a much faster and more efficient pace than it did the last two years under head coach Mike Pettine. As such, it should be a lot more entertaining to watch.

2. It will interesting to see what kind of reception running back Isaiah Crowell gets from the funs after his egregious social media posting about police recently.

3. My guess is that Crowell, who is a good guy, is sincere about his apologies and in trying to make things right, and as such will appease most people and go on to have a good season. But there will be those who will never forgive him, no matter what he says or does, and that’s just the way it is. That’s life. That’s the way the world works.

4. Hue Jackson will use the Crowell incident to stress to his players the danger of spending too much time on social media. It’s like going to the kind of place where bad things are known to occur. A pro athlete needs to stay out of those places, and take away that possibility.

5. Speaking of Jackson, he will do everything possible to minimize the Josh Gordon situation. He’s got enough things to worry about without getting involved in that circus, especially with the injured wide receiver not practicing for at least a couple of weeks and not being eligible to play the first four regular-season games after being suspended by the NFL.

6. You have to be impressed with Jackson so far. He’s had plenty thrown at him before camp even begins, but he has handled it fine thus far and I think he will continue to do so. Pettine would have imploded.

7. If you think I wasn’t a Pettine fan, you’re right. Merely by his absence and Jackson’s presence, the Browns are already better before their first practice in pads.

8. And with Ray Horton replacing Jim O’Neil, the defensive coordinator the last two years, the Browns have also made a big upgrade there.

9. Horton, who is starting his second tour of duty with the Browns, has a tremendously important role with the Browns this season. He will try to devise a scheme that puts pressure on the quarterback so as to cause turnovers and set up short fields for an offense that will struggle at least in the early going.

10. Horton is a real Renaissance man, extremely intelligent and well-spoken. Wonder how many words he will use in his weekly availability that reporters have never heard uttered by a football coach before? My guess is that it will be more than a few.

11. Horton, of course, was a cornerback for the Cincinnati Bengals from 1983-88 and as such had a lot of matchups against the Bernie Kosar era Browns. When he was here the first time in 2013, I always wanted to ask him in one of those weekly pressers, “Are you still chasing Reggie Langhorne?”

12. By the way, here’s hoping Horton stays longer than one season with the Browns. But he could be one-and-done again, not because the staff is fired at the end of the year, as was the case three years ago when he worked for head coach Rob Chudzinski. Instead, he could get some interviews as a head coach. Why he isn’t a head coach already is a mystery to me.

13. How strange it is that the Browns have such a Bengals connection with Horton, Jackson and volunteer wide receivers coach Chad Johnson, along with several former Cincinnatiplayers. Somewhere, Paul Brown is smiling, for even after all these years, the two teams he founded are still connected in a very pronounced way.

14. Wonder what Brown, who died 25 years ago, would say if he could see the NFL today? In some ways, I think he’d be thrilled. In others, I think he’d be sick to his stomach.

15. One more thing on Brown: The difference between that first camp he had in 1946 and the camps now is incredible. It mirrors the off-the-charts difference between pro football then and now.

16. Browns Headquarters is not a great place to hold camp. It never has been. It’s too small, and those close quarters in being surrounded by houses on three sides, causes it to get overly hot and humid in the dog days of August, which makes it very uncomfortable for the fans.

17. Now for the quarterback situation. We could do 70 thoughts on that topic alone. If you watch one thing at camp, whether it’s today, Saturday or whenever, watch the quarterbacks. And in particular, watch Robert Griffin III. As he goes, so, in many ways, will go the Browns offense.

18. Let’s settle this right now: Unless RG III falls flat on his face or gets hurt, he will be the starter when the Browns open the regular season in Philadelphia. There are no ifs, ands or buts about it. Hue Jackson didn’t recruit him to come here so he could sit on the bench.

19. Jackson comes to the Browns with a fire burning in his belly to revitalize his career. He is embarrassed, disappointed, frustrated and angry about how things ended in Washington. That’s what you want, a player whose pride – and career – is on the line and thus has something to prove.

20. But that doesn’t mean Griffin will have a great season. It just means – or at least it should mean – that he will give it everything he has.

21. If Griffin is going to jump-start his career, he couldn’t have found a better coach to do it under than Hue Jackson. He really understands quarterbacks and offense.

22. It will be fascinating to see what kind of offense Jackson has come up with. He no doubt wants to let Griffin do some of the things with his feet that he did as a rookie in 2012, but at the same time, he wants him to be a much better – and especially a more accurate – pocket passer.

23. What would have happened had the Browns been the ones to make a deal with the then St. Louis Rams, thus allowing them to take Griffin in the 2012 NFL Draft? Could it have turned out any worse than it did with the Redskins? I don’t think so.

24. If Griffin can be at least somewhat productive, it will be tremendous for the Browns in that Jackson won’t have to use Josh McCown, a nice guy who puts up good numbers from time to time but hardly ever makes a game-changing play, and rookie Cody Kessler, who needs some time to stand on the side and watch before getting into the line of fire.

25. I believe Griffin will be productive. He’s too good not to.

26. I don’t want to rip McCown, because he is a  great influence in the locker room, but he’s not the long-term answer – or even the short-term one – at quarterback by any stretch of the imagination.

27. As we’ve said here many times, quarterback is the most important position in team sports, so until the Browns find their guy, they’re not going to get where they eventually want to go. It just isn’t going to happen.

28. The Browns have been looking for their guy at quarterback not just since 1999, when they began the expansion era, but since midway through the 1993 season, when Bill Belichick unceremoniously cut Bernie Kosar.

29. It must be pointed out, though, that what’s unsettling about the chances for Griffin to be successful is that the Browns don’t have many proven skill-position players around him, and that their line situation is really unsettled at two spots.

30. That is why Horton’s defense will play such a big part.

31. Tight end Gary Barnidge is one of those proven skill-position players. In fact, he’s one of the top players at his position in the NFL.

32. Here’s hoping – for a lot of different reasons – that the Browns don’t trade left tackle Joe Thomas and that he’s able to play out the rest of his career with the club.

33. Thomas is a tremendous player and will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as the Browns’ 17th member not long after he becomes eligible five years after retiring.

34. With the mess that’s been the expansion era for the Browns, Thomas has been a joy to behold with his play on the field, his attitude and his ironman qualities in not have missed even as much as a snap in his nine seasons. That’s truly incredible.

35. The Browns – then General Manager Phil Savage – hit the target with the drafting of Thomas at No. 3 overall in 2007. But why haven’t they been able to strike gold more often with their drafting over the years? Ineptitude. Ineptitude. Ineptitude. Yikes!

36. The Browns will be fine at guard with Joel Bitonio and John Greco.

37. There is a big hole at right tackle after Mitchell Schwartz was allowed to walk away in free agency. I wasn’t a Schwartz fan at all. I think he was highly overrated. The previous coaching staff seemed to like him, but every time I focused on him, I saw him get beat. And on too many occasions, he was beaten badly. Still, the Browns have got to find someone credible to replace him. I think they will.

38. Now we come to center. I think the Browns erred – badly – in allowing two Pro Bowl players, center Alex Mack and safety Tashaun Gipson, to get away in free agency. Mack was the biggest loss of the two players. When healthy, he was a rock. But he got tired of the losing and felt he had to go elsewhere to win.

39. The Browns will go with Cam Erving as Mack’s replacement. You have to cross your fingers on that one. He was awful last year as a rookie. I don’t care how many positions the Browns played him at and how it may have negatively affected him. You need more than that from the No. 19 overall draft pick in 2015. You just do. Period. End of statement.

40. The center can’t allow the middle of the pocket to collapse. Can the Browns really expect Erving to be solid in that respect, or in any aspect of play? I’m dubious of that. I hope they have a plan B in case this doesn’t work. Perhaps they can re-sign Mike Baab.

41. Which one of the rookie wide receivers – of whom there are many – will step up first? That’s a great question. It might not necessarily be Corey Coleman, the No. 15 overall pick in the draft. He’s probably going to be the best when it’s all said and done, but there’s a lot of pressure in being the first-round draft choice and he’s going to have to work through that. Along the way, he may have what could be called jittery drops. Don’t panic when that happens. Hopefully he won’t, either.

42. But it’s just good to see so many young receivers after The Genius, former General Manager Ray Farmer, refused to draft any the last couple of years. Who knows what that was all about. Farmer must have been living in a cave the last 20 years as the passing game became the thing for offenses at all levels of play.

43. As for the veteran wideouts, I think Andrew Hawkins will have a big year for the Browns – again. In his first season in Cleveland in 2014 after signing in free agency from the Bengals, he led the club with 63 receptions for 824 yards. But injuries limited him to only eight games last year, as he had but 27 catches for 276 yards. Now he’s reunited with Jackson, who was Cincinnati’s running backs coach in 2013. Jackson knows what Hawkins – all 5-foot-7 and 175 pounds of him – can do, and he will find ways to get him the ball.

44. Now for the defense. Even before camp started, this group suffered a big blow when end Desmond Bryant was lost for the year with a torn pectoral muscle. He was one of the few established players in the front seven. In his absence, a number of rookies, especially third-round draft pick Carl Nassib, will be asked to step up. There are rookies everywhere on this roster.

45. Danny Shelton is to the defense what Erving is to the offense – that is, he’s a  lineman taken high in the draft, in his case at No. 12 overall in 2015, who struggled mightily as a rookie last year. So for him, like Erving, the only place to go is up.

46. During camp, you should be able to see a lot of Erving going against Shelton. That’s not really going to help either one of them. They both need to practice against better players.

47. Paul Kruger may be the player who will benefit most from Horton’s return to the Browns. He can really get after the passer, but he was grossly misused last season by O’Neil. Horton desperately needs pass rushers. That’s Horton calling card. Kruger is a pass rusher. That’s his calling card. He desperately needs an opportunity, and Horton will be more than happy to give it to him.

48. Ladies and gentlemen, coaching isn’t brain surgery. It’s about putting players in the best position to succeed. Horton gets that. O’Neil did not.

49. As such, look for Kruger to have a good season. He could end up being the best player on the entire defense, depending upon what happens with cornerback Joe Haden. He should at least be the best player in the front seven.

50. Ah, yes, Haden. Last year was a washout for him with the injuries, and he’s beginning camp on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) List. When he’s healthy, he’s one of the best cover corners in the league. But he’s got to get healthy. The Browns really need him, and he needs it for himself because he is a very prideful man and that pride took a cataclysmic jolt last season. He needs to fix that, and the only way to do it is to play well.

51. Haden, who has a great, friendly smile, is the face of the franchise. But it’s hard to smile when you’re not playing. If Haden is back smiling this year, then it’s an indication that he’s feeling well and playing well. That would be a real plus for everybody involved.

52. With the injuries, Haden hit rock-bottom last year, just like the Browns overall. It was a miserable season for both, one to throw into the dumpster and forget. Haden and the Browns will get that much-needed fresh start with Hue Jackson.

53. I’m going to keep mentioning Jackson. I believe his hiring is the best thing to happen to the Browns in a long, long time, and signals the beginning of the long climb back up the mountain toward respectability.

54. Can Jackson and Horton get Justin Gilbert turned around? That would be asking a lot. Drafted No. 8 overall in 2014, he is a worse draft bust than quarterback Johnny Manziel, who was taken at No. 22. At least Manziel had some brief moments of good play. Gilbert has done absolutely, positively nothing.

55. With that in mind, then, this is a critical year for him. Because Gilbert was drafted so high – because at one time, he was rated as a top pro prospect – Jackson will give him every opportunity to prove himself. In fact, with the Browns having so many issues on defense, including in the secondary, he will be given extra time to show what he’s got.

56. However, there is a limit on all things, including how patient Jackson will be. Eventually if Gilbert hasn’t shown anything and the coach is convinced he won’t show him anything in the foreseeable future, he will be released.

57. The worst part – the most troubling part – is that it seems as if Gilbert doesn’t want to be a professional football player. There is no drive, no determination, no passion and no enthusiasm. Can that fire somehow be stoked inside of him? We’ll see, but I’m not real optimistic.

58. Just as in thinking that Josh Gordon will never become the player he could be, but hoping that I’m wrong, I hope I’m wrong about Gilbert.

59. If Gilbert can’t make it here, with this rebuilding team, this crying need, this wide-open opportunity and this coaching staff, then when, where, how and with whom will he make it?

60. The Browns’ place-kicking is a mess. Who knows what – if anything – will happen in this camp to fix it.

61. But it has to get repaired. The Browns are already going to struggle to score touchdowns, so to be competitive in these games, they are going to need every field goal – every point – they can get.

62. It didn’t have to be this way. If only Joe Banner, who did more to destroy this team than we’ll every know, did not let Phil Dawson walk away in free agency following the 2012 season in which he hit 29 of 31 field-goal tries. Since then, the kicking game, which had always been not just reliable, but great, in the entire history of the franchise from Lou Groza to Don Cockroft to Matt Bahr to Matt Stover to Dawson, has been an unmitigated disaster.

63. The situation with Andy Lee is just the opposite. He’s a tremendous punter, one of the best in the game, in fact. Thank goodness he’s here. He’s one part of this team that is not broken. If only there were more parts. Perhaps in time.

64. Have you noticed how quiet and out of the spotlight Browns owner Jimmy Haslam has been recently? He’s been neither seen nor heard.

65. Not to be disparaging against Haslam, but that’s a good thing. He didn’t know the business in the early going and did not help himself with the things he said and did. As such, he set himself – and the team – back. That, plus the losing, the constant changeover in coaches and regimes and the embarrassing investigation into him and his Pilot Flying J travel center business, was a horrific look.

66. He can afford to step into the background now that he has a good front-office team and a good coaching staff, the members of which are all on the same page with one another even though they come from diverse backgrounds. That’s a great look.

67. When Haslam chooses to make public appearances, either with the fans or media (and he certainly needs to continue doing that from time to time because, after all, he is the owner), he should be able to get in and out rather seamlessly. Other people in the organization are doing the heavy lifting. That’s a great look. Less is more for Haslam in this regard.

68. Is it just a coincidence that ownership is perceived in a much more positive light, and appears to be working much more efficiently, now that Haslam’s wife, Dee, has taken on a more active role? I think not.

69. Sorry, guys, but things always improve when a women rolls up her sleeves and jumps into the fray. They’re smarter than us.

70. And finally, here’s one last thing to chew on as you watch Jackson’s team practice, play preseason games and get ready for the start of the regular season over the next six weeks. It’s an interesting thing and one of which you were probably not aware. That is, the Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers enter the season with exactly the same all-time winning percentage. That’s right. They are tied at .527. The Browns are 508-455-13, and the Steelers, who came into existence 13 years before the Browns, in 1933, as the Pirates, are 590-530-20. For the record, the former Browns, the Baltimore Ravens are ahead of both Cleveland and Pittsburgh in a short existence that began 20 years ago in 1996. They are at .542 with a 173-146-1 mark. The Bengals, born in 1968, are in last place in the AFC North at .459 (338-399-3). As an aside to all that, the Browns will play their 1,000th all-time game halfway through the 2017 season.