Tuesday, Aug. 11 AM – If you follow the Browns, then Phil Dawson had to be the first name to come to mind when you head about the San Francisco 49ers’ decision the other day to part ways with elite pass rusher Aldon Smith after his latest arrest. It is just another in a long line of negative – really negative — things that have happened to the 49ers since the end of last season. Highlighting that, of course, was the parting of ways with head coach Jim Harbaugh, who built the 49ers into a power but was allowed to leave for the Michigan. The 49ers will rue the day they did that. Dawson, who played with the Browns from their expansion season of 1999 through 2012, is the best kicker in team history – better than Matt Bahr, Matt Stover, Don Cockroft and even the great Lou Groza, a Pro Football Hall of Famer and the man for whom college football’s top kicking award is named. He’s also one of the best kickers in NFL history. With all the things that were broken with the Browns following a 5-11 finish in 2012, Dawson certainly wasn’t one of them. On the contrary, he might have been the biggest bright spot in coming off a year in which he hit 29 of 31 field goals. He was a free agent and desperately wanted to re-sign with the Browns, but CEO Joe Banner, in his infinite ignorance, allowed him to walk without even talking to Dawson or his agent. The Browns had plenty of money to spend in free agency, but they chose to waste it on players who are long gone. Banner and his buddy, General Manager Mike Lombardi, did a lot of ill-advised things in their short stay in Cleveland to set the franchise back a few years, and this might be at the head of the list. What were they thinking?! While the Browns have never really found ihis replacement, Dawson has continued to kick well for his new team, the 49ers, who jumped at the chance to sign him and solve the team’s biggest hole, its lack of someone it could depend on to hit field goals. It was thought to be the final piece to the puzzle to winning a Super Bowl. As tough as it was to see Dawson go, people in Cleveland were delighted for him. He is a great guy and was going to a team that would likely win him the Super Bowl for which he longed. Time after time after time while in Cleveland, Dawson would say he’d trade all his accomplishments for wins and championships. But the more he talked about it, the more distant he was from it as the Browns bungled their way through season after season. It seemed fitting, then, in a real slice of gallows humor for Browns fans, that he exited through a colossal bungle of a decision. Thanks, Joe. Thanks a lot. But the 49ers have never gotten to the Super Bowl since Dawson arrived, and it doesn’t appear now that they’ll make it anytime soon. With the loss of so many key components of the team, the 49ers appear to be a shell of their former selves and in far worse shape than the Browns. In fact, the 49ers would love to be in the Browns’ situation, if you can believe that. Before all this happened, it looked as if Dawson’s first trip back to Cleveland since he left, a Dec. 13 visit by the 49ers this year, would be a grand homecoming for him and the club. As it turns out, it may well be just another meaningless late-season game between two clubs long removed from playoff contention. At least the 49ers will be playing out the string. That much appears certain. The more things change for Dawson, the more thay have remained the same. And with the fact he’s nearly 40 years old, his career may wind down before he gets there. Dawson deserves better than this. Come to think of it, so do Browns fans.