There once was a time when, as current Pittsburgh Steelers President Art Rooney II put it a couple of years ago, “We watched the Browns all the time to see what they were doing. When they did something, we knew we should be doing it, too.”

 

The arch-rival Browns were a model franchise and a model of consistency. They found people and things that worked and stayed with them, faithfully so.

 

Indeed, why change a winning formula?

 

The Steelers, who were struggling mightily then, were eager to become what the Browns had been for a long time.

 

Now that situation has flipped. The Steelers are that model franchise and a model of consistency. They find people and things that work and stay with them, faithfully so.

 

Indeed, why change a winning formula?

 

It’s these new Browns who are struggling mightily and watching the Steelers to see what they’re doing. If Pittsburgh is doing it, then the Browns know they should be doing it, too. Pittsburgh is the franchise the Browns are striving to be.

 

As part of that, then, the Browns are trying to do what the Steelers do in terms of free agency, and that is to not depend so heavily on it to fill their needs. The Steelers have done basically nothing in free agency this year – again. They always basically do nothing.

 

Instead, the Steelers replenish themselves the way that good teams – established teams – do it, and that is through the NFL Draft.

 

It is the best way to do it because a team can get players from the start of their pro careers and mold them in the image they want them to be. And it is the cheapest way, too. Rookies make a lot less money than veterans. It saves plenty on the all-important salary cap.

 

The Browns have all kinds of draft choices this year, including Nos. 1 and 12 overall and five of the top 65. If they do their job well and hit on most of their picks, especially the high ones, then they will, in many ways, become more like Pittsburgh.

 

And that’s a good thing.