Browns fans: What do you think of this current regime?

[everlong]

I've been interested in how the Browns are trying to use a moneyball approach to rebuilding and I think the way they've built a warehouse of draft picks is pretty remarkable. Overall, how do you guys rate them?

[MWil23]

I love what they've done, and I feel like most would agree. 

The reality is, they were put in a HORRENDOUS situation from years of ineptitude, culminating in:

*2 Pro Bowl offensive linemen leaving in free agency (Mach, Schwartz)

*2 EPIC busts (Gilbert, Manziel)

...and an extremely old roster for a team that finished 3-13. So, they had to tear it down to the nubs and start youngsters and acquire lots of capital (draft, salary cap), and were able to basically land Pick after Pick (multiple 1st rounders for 3 straight years, as well as a plethora of 2nd rounders) and acquire quality starters (Collins as you know) through trades and free agency (Tretter, Zeitler).

They're obviously still bad, but if Garrett pans out (he dominated last game) and Njoku keeps looking like the stud he's shown, and Peppers continues to improve (he's an average NFL safety so far with potential to be better), this past draft was a homerun. Hopefully Coleman can stay healthy and get on the field consistently.

They have 2 1sts and 3 2nds this year.

By 2019, I'd look for them to be either competitive or completely out of excuses.

[buno67]

i appreciate what they are doing.

They are doing the dirty work that no other regime was willing to do since they were announced to be a reborn franchise. 

Yeah it sucks because the regime is currently 1-20 but what other FO and coaching staff could find success in what is needed to be done.

I am not surprised they are worse than last year. This team is younger and more inexperience from the youth movement and got worse at key position groups : DB and WRs because of aging vet and a WR wanting a massive pay day after a since successful season. Hell you look at Pryor and playing with a pretty good QB and he is only projected at the moment to finish the season around 750+ yards and 4 TDs. Would that of been worth it to pay him a contract around $10m+ a year, because that is what he is looking for. I know we would like if a WR on this roster would get that stat line of 750+ yards and 4+ TDs. Heck right now Duke and Louis are projected to have similar stats as Pryor. Duke would surpass it and Louis would fall a little short. 

I think there is a reason why Haslam stated before the season that he would judge the regime and staff this season. He knows he is part of the issue for this massive rebuild and he knows this has to be done. Also if he blows it up know he knows it will only set back the team more in this long rebuild process.

I had low expectations for this team. I expected 1, maybe 2 wins this year

[Mastercheddaar]

I like it. We have had plenty of cap space and draft picks. They are all beginning to pay off and come together. I'd give Hue the life of his current contract to right this ship. I don't care if he goes 0-16 this season. This team was stripped down to its skeleton. Each week, the talking heads see losses whereas I see improvement. Our D is getting it together. Our O is WRs that can catch the ball away from being good. Only huge question mark we have is Kizer, and if that is not answered by week 17, we'll probably have the #1 pick in the draft in a QB rich draft class. Add the fact that we'll have an additional mid round 1st from Houston then 3 2nds... whatever holes we have on the offense can be filled. 5 picks in the first 64 can go a long way. Plus we are so under cap, we can afford to sign whoever. All we need to do is basically make smart player choices. 

That is all

Mastercheddaar

[Danger]

On the note of Manziel. Did anyone actually think that was a good idea? I can't fathom how anyone thought taking Manziel in the first 3 rounds let alone the first round was a wise decision, and no I'm not just saying that in hindsight.

[cortes02]

Even though the results have been poor to this point,  I like what they are doing.  In my opinion, they had to strip the franchise down and rebuild it from scratch to get the stench of past regimes off of the team.  I really hope that they all last for at least a full 5 years. 

 

Peace!!!

[MWil23]

1 minute ago, Danger said:

On the note of Manziel. Did anyone actually think that was a good idea? I can't fathom how anyone thought taking Manziel in the first 3 rounds let alone the first round was a wise decision, and no I'm not just saying that in hindsight.

Off the field issues aside:

I hated it, most hated it, some liked it and thought that he'd be the next Russell Wilson...some may still be delusional enough to think that from a talent standpoint he'd be good.

Unfortunately, we allegedly loved Dak but removed him completely from our draft board when he had his DUI due to the recent Manziel off the field issues.

[Danger]

Just now, MWil23 said:

Unfortunately, we allegedly loved Dak but removed him completely from our draft board when he had his DUI due to the recent Manziel off the field issues.

Who knows how Dak would perform here in Cleveland, I personally believe he was made to look better than he may actually be last year given the insane amount of talent around him, but with the Zeke suspension now coming through, we'll learn a thing or two about Dak's true nature.

[MWil23]

10 minutes ago, Danger said:

Who knows how Dak would perform here in Cleveland, I personally believe he was made to look better than he may actually be last year given the insane amount of talent around him, but with the Zeke suspension now coming through, we'll learn a thing or two about Dak's true nature.

I'm not anointing Dak the next great thing like some, but I'd guarantee you he's better than Kessler or Kizer. He's, at worst, going to be an average NFL QB, something Cleveland hasn't had in 25 years. Literally.

[Thomas5737]

32 minutes ago, MWil23 said:

Off the field issues aside:

I hated it, most hated it, some liked it and thought that he'd be the next Russell Wilson...some may still be delusional enough to think that from a talent standpoint he'd be good.

Unfortunately, we allegedly loved Dak but removed him completely from our draft board when he had his DUI due to the recent Manziel off the field issues.

He was a 21 year old rookie coming from a goofy college system where he only played for 2 years. Hmmm sounds familiar. He is physically talented enough to succeed, pretty much any QB in the NFL is. The intangibles are what makes the difference and we'll never know about those in all likelihood.

[Rod Johnson]

The best thing you can say about this regime is that we don't know for certain they are failures.

And that we have a ton of draft picks.

[Iamcanadian]

10 hours ago, Danger said:

On the note of Manziel. Did anyone actually think that was a good idea? I can't fathom how anyone thought taking Manziel in the first 3 rounds let alone the first round was a wise decision, and no I'm not just saying that in hindsight.

I thought it was a great pick at the time, but I was not privy to his character only his on the field talent. If I had held an interview with him and realized what an idiot he was, I would not have touched with a 10 foot pole. Nobody here can claim they knew the full extent of his character prior to the draft, so it has to be in hindsight that the pick stunk.

[Iamcanadian]

12 hours ago, everlong said:

I've been interested in how the Browns are trying to use a moneyball approach to rebuilding and I think the way they've built a warehouse of draft picks is pretty remarkable. Overall, how do you guys rate them?

I would rate the owner as currently one of the worst in pro sports. I had hoped that a change in ownership might be very beneficial for the Browns, but I was totally wrong.

Every franchise starts with the owner, if he is solid, he will hire a FO that is very capable and that very capable FO, will in turn hire a HC who is a winner and also hire scouts that are talented.

So far, our owner has shown that he has a quick trigger and will fire anybody at any moment. He insisted that the previous FO draft Manziel with their 1st pick and when that went down the toilet, he blamed the FO and fired them.

His current FO and scouts have really shown little talent when appraising prospects, Garrett was a no brainer, but where are the game changers from the rest of our picks, I am only seeing average starters at best. All the picks in the world are useless unless your scouts and GM can spot real talent and I have seen nothing from them  to indicate they have that ability.

The 2018 draft will decide their fate and to be honest, I am not expecting much even though the #1 overall pick is pretty hard to screw up. By all accounts, there are at least 2 sure fire franchise QB's available in the 2018 draft, Rosen and Darnold, if we draft one, then just maybe we can overcome a poor owner, but it will not be easy. If they decide to wait and see if kizer develops into something servicable, then all bets are off and I see a very bleak future for the Browns. We could actually approach the Lions 50 years of futility before the ship is righted. Unfortunately, I will not be alive to witness it.

I have studied owners and FO's for over 65 years and this pretty well sums up whether you will be a successful franchise or not. Again, all the picks in the world cannot overcome talentless people making the picks, so I put nothing down to having a boatload of picks, until I see the results. show me the meat?????

[Danger]

1 hour ago, Iamcanadian said:

I thought it was a great pick at the time, but I was not privy to his character only his on the field talent. If I had held an interview with him and realized what an idiot he was, I would not have touched with a 10 foot pole. Nobody here can claim they knew the full extent of his character prior to the draft, so it has to be in hindsight that the pick stunk.

Not even in regards to his on field play, he was just never a good transition on the field. He's small, and didn't play with a style that works in the NFL. His mechanics were sub optimal as well. 

[H2ThaIzzo]

1 hour ago, Iamcanadian said:

I would rate the owner as currently one of the worst in pro sports. I had hoped that a change in ownership might be very beneficial for the Browns, but I was totally wrong.

Every franchise starts with the owner, if he is solid, he will hire a FO that is very capable and that very capable FO, will in turn hire a HC who is a winner and also hire scouts that are talented.

So far, our owner has shown that he has a quick trigger and will fire anybody at any moment. He insisted that the previous FO draft Manziel with their 1st pick and when that went down the toilet, he blamed the FO and fired them.

His current FO and scouts have really shown little talent when appraising prospects, Garrett was a no brainer, but where are the game changers from the rest of our picks, I am only seeing average starters at best. All the picks in the world are useless unless your scouts and GM can spot real talent and I have seen nothing from them  to indicate they have that ability.

The 2018 draft will decide their fate and to be honest, I am not expecting much even though the #1 overall pick is pretty hard to screw up. By all accounts, there are at least 2 sure fire franchise QB's available in the 2018 draft, Rosen and Darnold, if we draft one, then just maybe we can overcome a poor owner, but it will not be easy. If they decide to wait and see if kizer develops into something servicable, then all bets are off and I see a very bleak future for the Browns. We could actually approach the Lions 50 years of futility before the ship is righted. Unfortunately, I will not be alive to witness it.

I have studied owners and FO's for over 65 years and this pretty well sums up whether you will be a successful franchise or not. Again, all the picks in the world cannot overcome talentless people making the picks, so I put nothing down to having a boatload of picks, until I see the results. show me the meat?????

I don't really agree with much of your post. Jimmy bought the Browns in 2012. In the 13 years prior to him purchasing the team, we had one playoff appearance and another winning season. He supposedly had a solid duo of Holmgren and Heckert running the franchise that he was inheriting from Lerner. However, those bozos not only drafted badly (Richardson and Weeden, etc.), Holmgren couldn't even beat Jimmy to a scheduled meeting when Jimmy was coming in from out of town and Mike was residing 30 minutes from headquarters. Firing Chud so fast was a bad decision, unless you're replacing him with a proven guy, which we didn't. Farmer, at the time of his promotion, was one of the guys pegged as the next big thing of front office management. Then we found out he was lazy and didn't interview players, didn't attend pro days in person, etc. 

 

Ogbah has been a legit player and developed nicely. He has been a force against the run and is developing his pass rushing skills. Shon Coleman has developed into a pretty reliable RT for us. Schobert has shown flashes of major potential at LB for us. Kindred is starting and is a staple in the run defense for us. Garrett wasn't a no brainer because even though he was the best prospect, how many people were bringing up the QB issue and starting to call for us to take one of the QB's first? Njoku has 3 touchdowns already, Ogunjobi when he gets on the field is always making plays, and the rest are still rookies, so let's see how they progress. 

 

I think you're being a little too harsh on the regime that inherited the mess. They have done a good job at building up draft picks, rebuilding the team makeup, and are trying to set up the future. We have salary cap room, we have draft picks, and yes, we have some good youth infusion on the team. We will be able to pick the best players available and sign some key free agents. You said it yourself, Jimmy needs to stop firing people so quickly and let them build. Hell I'm pissed too and I was ready to see Hue go after the dud against Cincy, but then I let my emotions settle and realize this is going to take time.  don't want it to, but it's got to. How many wins do we have if we don't have the red zone turnovers? At worst, we beat Pittsburgh week 1 and we beat NYJ last week. 2-3 would have us in 2nd place in the division one game back. Two plays out of the entire season go our way and the entire outlook is altered.