Some teams want their best players to be healthy so they can contend for a championship.

Other teams want their best players to be healthy so they can evaluate them and figure out who they’ll need when they are ready to contend for a championship.

The Browns, of course, are in the latter group, so their plans – their preparations – took a big hit when outside linebacker Jamie Collins, their best player on defense, was lost for the season with a knee injury in last Sunday’s 38-24 loss to the Detroit Lions.

The Browns saw enough of Collins in 2016 after acquiring him in an in-season trade with the New England Patriots to sign him to a four-year, $60 million contract in the offseason. They wanted to begin fitting complementary pieces around him in the defense this year. But they were able to do that for only a half-season before he got hurt. So they’ll lose the remainder of the year in that process. As such, it sets the Browns back a bit. It’s just another stumbling block for them to overcome as they try to rebuild.

The defense has been the strength of the Browns this season — by far. But that “strength” did not play well against Detroit. In fact, it lost the game for the Browns as the offense, at least for the most part, played pretty well. The Browns are looking to get back on track defensively on Sunday when they host the Jacksonville Jaguars at FirstEnergy Stadium. That will now be much harder, though, with Collins out.

It’s what the Browns are worried about offensively – only in a different way – with rookie quarterback DeShone Kizer. They want to see if he’s their franchise guy. They’d like to figure that out before they go into the 2018 NFL Draft so they’ll know if they need to use a top pick on a quarterback. They’ll be unable to make that determination fully if he gets seriously hurt, which is why they were holding their breath – no pun intended – when he took a big hit to the ribs against the Lions and was sidelined temporarily.

That’s what this season has been reduced to, merely trying to evaluate personnel.

It would be nice to have a season in which gaining victories – and competing for a chance to go to the Super Bowl, and even winning it – is the focus. Perhaps someday soon that will happen – but only if the best players can stay healthy and on the field now.

What a vicious cycle losing teams can find themselves stuck in. The Browns have been stuck there for way too long of a time.