That the Browns have decided not to pick up the fifth-year option on outside linebacker Barkevious Mingo’s contract for 2017 is hardly a surprise.

 

But the fact Mingo is still on the roster? Now that’s nothing short of stunning.

 

He likely won’t be here for long, though.

 

Mingo is one of the many first-round draft busts the Browns have had in recent years, and as such has helped put the team into the cavernous hole that it is in. He was taken No. 6 overall in the 2013 NFL Draft and has done absolutely nothing. To say he’s been a huge bust would be way too complimentary.

 

The Browns drafted the 6-foot-4, 240-pound Mingo, whose long, lean build gives him more the look of a small forward in basketball than it does of a front-seven football player, with the hopes that he could rush the passer. Sure, Mingo can rush the passer. It doesn’t mean he’s going to get anywhere near him. He would need a GPS to find the quarterback.

 

The Browns drafted several pass rushers over the weekend. They obviously like those guys a lot and will give them every opportunity under the sun to succeed. The Browns should do that. Those players belong to the members of the current regime. It’s on them if these new guys don’t succeed.

 

But as for Mingo, he was picked three regimes ago. Thankfully, those men are long gone. The current regime has nothing invested in Mingo and will treat him as such. In fact, they will treat him a little worse than just about everybody else because he’s a high selection who hasn’t produced. He’s has cost the Browns – and will continue to cost them — way more than what he could ever be worth.

 

The Browns will take a big broom and sweep all those busts and misfits right out the door. That’s the way it works when a new bunch of executives and coaches come in.

 

Having said that, then, there will be many more of the players they inherited who will be sent packing in the coming days, weeks and months. Indeed, this roster will be cleaned out and restocked their way with their guys in their timeline.

 

You can’t have eight straight losing seasons, and with the fact you’re coming off a 3-13 finish, tied for the second-worst in franchise history, and stand pat. That would be silly. You’ve got to make wholesale changes – you’ve got to fumigate the building — and the Browns are doing that.

 

Wouldn’t you if you were in their position?

 

Of course you would.

 

The decision on Mingo is a prime example of that. If he’s on the opening-day roster, I will be shocked beyond belief. And you should be, too.

 

This is a bottom-line business, and the bottom line is that Mingo can’t play.

 

Period.

 

End of statement.