Tuesday, Aug. 25 (AM) – So at least for the time being, the Browns are going to eschew signing a veteran and instead try to select their kicker from among youngsters Travis Coons and Carey Spear.

Whether the candidates have been veterans or raw rookies, the Browns have been trying to find their “franchise” kicker, as it were, since they allowed the great Phil Dawson, the best kicker in team history (even better than Pro Football Hall of Famer Lou “The Toe” Groza), to walk following the 2012 season.

In choosing not to re-sign Dawson – or even negotiate with him, which was a real slap in the face and a poor move from a football standpoint – the Browns threw a monkey wrench into one of the few parts of the team that was not broken at that time.

Since then, the team’s kicking has been broken. Oh, yes, it has definitely been broken.

We’re going to give the current Browns coaches – head coach Mike Pettine and special teams coordinator Chris Tabor – the benefit of the doubt in this process. They’re football men, so it is their business to evaluate players. We hold them up to the expectation that they’re good at their craft.

But at the same time, we would be remiss if we failed to point out how much the Browns have been hurt by their inability to make field goals the last two years in Dawson’s absence, and how vitally important it will be to find the right man this season.

Let’s face facts. This offense isn’t going to score many touchdowns. It just isn’t. The Browns want to run the ball, play good defense and special teams and flip the field position by creating turnovers, thus setting up the offense for short touchdown drives.

In playing that kind of game, though, there is very little margin for error. Every point counts, and the three points from field goals count a whole lot.

If the Browns can’t make nearly every one of their field-goal attempts, as Dawson did all those years, then their chances to win will be reduced dramatically. They’re not good enough offensively to overcome kicking deficiencies with a bevy of touchdowns.

So while the Browns have a lot of important personnel decisions to make over the next couple of weeks, none is more crucial than selecting a good kicker. He’s not on the field much, but when he is, he has the opportunity to score points.

And to these offensively-challenged Browns, that’s a big deal.