The Browns on Thursday lost their fifth player in free agency in about 24 hours when their best special teamer. Johnson Bademosi, signed with the Detroit Lions.

On top of that, the Browns are not signing anyone – not yet, at least.

We can blame the current Browns regime if we want, but the finger should really be pointed at the members of previous regimes over the last 17 seasons in the expansion era. When there’s losing upon losing upon losing, no one wants to be part of that, not your own players who are free agents and also not those from other clubs.

Those coaches, general managers and personnel people all got paid and moved on, leaving behind one big mess after another. It doesn’t seem fair, but it is what it is. And now it has caught up to the Browns, with the present decision makers paying the price.

Hue Jackson, Sashi Brown, Andrew Berry and Paul DePodesta can lament that fact all they want – and certainly they will, for it would be human nature to do so – but they can’t spend much time on it. Instead, they have to use every bit of energy to figure a way out of this predicament, changing the culture and with it, changing the perception.

The best way to do that, of course, is by winning, but with no games that count to be played for another six months, the Browns have to go out and sell themselves, their plan and the opportunity to put a historic franchise back on its feet.

It’s been a real disappointment thus far for everybody involved. Doing something – anything – to bring some players in would begin to take the focus off that, and it would serve as a much-needed confidence boost.

It’s really no more complicated than that.

Again, no one said it was going to be easy, and it hasn’t been, nor will it continue to be.