These guys really are the new Browns – A different team in every way, shape and form

By STEVE KING

To differentiate between the original franchise and the from the expansion-era version, the teams since 1999 have been called the “new” Browns.

With that in mind, then, the 2018 club could – and should, really – be tagged as the new “new” Browns. That’s because, as the Browns made their initial cuts on Saturday to get down to the mandatory regular-season roster limit of 53, they made additional changes on Sunday and now have 31 new faces from a year ago. That’s a whopping 59-percent turnover.

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While that may seem like a lot — a whole heckuva lot, in fact – and it certainly is, it’s not a surprise at all in any way, shape or form. You – and everyone else — could have predicted this early last December – nearly nine months ago — when John Dorsey was hired as general manager.

That – a complete makeover – is what happens when a new GM comes in. He takes a big broom and sweeps out the door a great deal of what he finds. It is – many of those players are — junk to him. They are of absolutely no use. They were part of the problem, and it’s a new GM’s job to fix that problem.

That’s the case even more so when a GM takes over a winless team and one that has won just game in two years. That transformation has to be – and is – much more thorough.

The GM wants to get his guys in there. If he’s ever going to get fired – and that’s the eventual fate of almost all of these guys – then he wants to go down with players he knows and trusts so he at least has the peace of mind that he gave it his best shot and did all he could to win.

So these new Browns really are new. But better? They definitely appear to be. Everybody – everybody! – says they are.

Th proof, though, as they say, is in the pudding, and we will all get our first taste of that in six days when the Browns open the season by hosting the Pittsburgh Steelers at FirstEnergy Stadium.