So just how do the Browns get to where the New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons were on Sunday night?
That is, how do the Browns get to the Super Bowl, a place where they’ve never been before?
Actually doing it is hard. There are so many things that have to be in place – that have to go just right.
But mapping out the plan?
That’s easy.
The Browns mapped out their plan last year at this time as the new regime of Executive Vice President Sashi Brown, Chief Financial Planner Paul DePodesta, Vice President of Player Personnel Andrew Berry and head coach Hue Jackson took over. They decided to gut the team of older players, especially those with big contracts or in line to receive such. They decided to acquire as many NFL Draft picks as they could. And they decided to go young – really, really young, and in fact become one of the youngest teams in league history.
As such, the Browns knew that this first season of 2016 might be a little rough, but hey admitted after the season – and even during it – that they never dreamed it would be as rough as it was in a franchise-worst 1-15 finish.
With the way they have structured things, they have a great, great opportunity to get markedly better – at least on paper — this offseason.
Thy have five draft picks in the top 65, including Nos. 1 and 12 overall. And even though they have already re-signed talented linebacker Jamie Collins to a big contract, they still have plenty of money to spend in free agency.
So it’s right there for the taking for the Browns.
What the Browns must refrain from doing is panicking after the nightmarish season and then deviating from their plan by doing something that does not fit the mold they’ve built. Don’t get anxious.
Yes, there’s always tremendous pressure in the NFL to win right now. Long-term plans to build a winner don’t exist anymore.
But the Browns have got to maintain their discipline and do what their plan tells them to do. Follow the script.
The trick will be to work within that framework and somehow secure their franchise quarterback, which, of course, is the key piece of the plan. Without a passer, the plan can’t come to fruition.
Do they draft their guy? And if so, who, and where?
Or do they trade for the Patriots’ Jimmy Garappolo? But how much is too much to give up in terms of the draft picks that Patriots head coach Bill Belichick will demand?
These are easily the biggest questions that the Browns have to answer. And they have to get it right, something that the expansion-era franchise has rarely done.
But if the Browns were smart – and I will say they were — they planned a year ago to be in this spot right now to make the difficult call at quarterback.
So, again, even in that regard, the answer is in the plan and the Browns simply need to execute it.
There’s no guarantee that it will all work out in the end, but now that the groundwork has been laid, it’s by far the best chance the Browns have.
