How much do the Browns want to win?

By STEVE KING

Running an NFL team, especially in the days since the salary cap was instituted 30 years ago, is not easy.
Finding players who fit, both talent-wise and economically, and who want to be with the team, is challenging.
And to their credit, the Browns, in the very short time — about 14 months — since Executive Vice President of Football Operations and General Manager Andrew Berry and head coach Kevin Stefanski have been working together, have done a good job, if not really an outstanding one. The team is a whole lot better than when they took over — it’s been a lightning-quick, seismic and rags-to-riches transformation — but there is still a lot of room to grow, a lot of work to do.
So, then, the questions that beg to be asked are these: How good do the Browns want to be? Moreover, how badly do they want to be good?
We’ll find out much of the answers to those two questions with how they finish their pursuit of free-agent defensive end J.J. Watt. He is, without a doubt, a true game-changer, a guy whose presence would cause everyone to sit up and take notice and begin viewing the Browns in a totally different, and more positive and well-respected, light. If they can land him — if they do whatever it takes, within reason, of course, to do so — then It would show everyone that they’re out to win a Super Bowl championship. Even if they go hard at Watt and fall short, it would be a good sign going forward regarding the Browns’ willingness to do whatever it takes to take this team to where it wants to go.
This isn’t about just maintaining a good team over a relatively long period of time, giving it a chance over a series of seasons to win a title. Rather, it is about capturing that championship, period. That’s what pro sports are.
That’s especially the case with the Browns, who have never even just been to a Super Bowl, let alone win one, and have not captured a league championship in going on 58 years.