The veterans left on the Browns are few and far between.

 

There are barely more of them than there were wins in the preseason, which numbered zero. As part of the Browns’ youth movement to rebuild the team, just about anyone who knows how to correctly pronounce the words “Cuyahoga” and “Medina” has been sent packing.

 

We joke about it, but it’s a serious problem. You have to have at least a few veterans to show the young guys how it’s done both on and off the field.

 

The few, the proud, the veterans on the Browns are, most notably, left tackle Joe Thomas, cornerback Joe Haden and quarterback Robert Griffin III. They are the most important players on the Browns right now because they have to step up – way up – and become leaders on a team that is desperately lacking such.

 

The coaches – head coach Hue Jackson and his assistants – are doing a good job. But they can’t do it all. They need help. They need a conduit between themselves and the young players. They need coaches on the field.

 

Enter Thomas, Haden and RG3.

 

The Browns have a lot of moving parts right now – players moving into and out of the starting lineup, and onto and off the roster. Virtually nothing is settled. To say they are pretty much a rudderless ship is not out of line.

 

All this just eight days before the regular season starts with a visit to Philadelphia to play the Eagles.

 

Trust me on this one, Hue’s stomach is bouncing up and down like a basketball.

 

He would feel a whole heckuva lot better if his three prominent veterans got everybody settled down and on the same page – even the same book in some cases. Sometimes players can do a better job than coaches of connecting with other players, and that is the case here.

 

I know that Thomas is a quiet guy who lets his playing do the talking, and that RG3 is in his first year in Cleveland and still trying bto feel his way around, but they have to get out of their comfort zone and help Haden, a born leader, take the bull by the horns. The Browns have to get ready to play the Eagles. But before that, they have to learn how to get ready.