BROWNS’ MOVE TOWARD THE TOP STARTS AT THE TOP
By STEVE KING
The four top individuals on any NFL franchise are the owner, general manager, head coach and quarterback.
Knowing that, then, is there any wonder why the Browns struggled so much for so long in the expansion era?
Think of all the people and their abilities — of the lack thereof, as it were — who have handled those jobs. It is, with rare exception, a who’s who of incompetent, ill-prepared knuckleheads.
Finally, though, the Browns are solid, if not outstanding, in all of those positions now with Jimmy Haslam, who has finally figured out what being a good owner is all about, and a GM, head coach and quarterback in Andrew Berry, Kevin Stefanski and Baker Mayfield. It is, without question, the reason why the franchise has done a complete about-face.
But there’s one more layer to it that’s invisible but just as important. It is that these men are all on the same page, communicate well with each other and have a respect for one another. Oh, sure, there are differences — there always are in any organization, no matter how smoothly it is run — but the Browns’ guys are able to work them out behind closed doors and emerge having come to an agreement on what’s best for the club.
Selflessness, cooperation and a team-oriented approach.
Like the great Blanton Collier always used to say, “It’s amazing what can be accomplished when no one cares who gets the credit.”
The Browns used to be the antithesis of this. Now they are the picture-postcard of what an NFL franchise should look like, and it was so very evident during the draft, when they made smart moves at every turn to raise their stock even higher.
The Green Bay Packers, who for so many years had their act together, are now coming apart at the seams because their top four are not even reading out of the same book, let alone being on the same page. Their future Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback is so disgusted that he wants out, so much so that he tries to embarrass the Packers at every turn.
All that is a constant reminder for the with-it teams, which now includes the Browns, of how quickly it can go south.
