DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum 25 Decisions That Transformed The Cleveland Browns

This is an informative and interesting must read, IMO. It's a little difficult to navigate, and the article isn't finished yet - he's only up to #6 - but there is a lot of great information here. If you scroll down to the bottom of the #6 article, you'll find links to #'s 25-7. It's up to you how you navigate it, I read #6 first them went to 25 and read them in order after I figured out #6 wasn't #25. At the end of each article you can vote on how you rate the decision.

Anyway, there's a lot of insight on how the Browns arrived at the decisions, the impact of the decisions, and how we should fare in the coming season(s). It's well thought out, well written, and a very good read, IMO. There's also a lot of info we know, but may have forgotten, and offers a lot of interesting perspective on previous regimes as well as Dorsey's reign.

Enjoy, and feel free to discuss any aspect of any of the decisions.

Also, if you happen to see the next article published, please feel free to link it.

Link to #6

Where is 1 thru 5 ?
ok I get it those arent posted yet.
start at 25 and read up to 6

Yeah, I think that it's pretty obvious that John Dorsey has transformed the Browns from a laughingstock into a noteworthy team.

There are not 25 decisions. There is one. We hired John Dorsey!

Mmm, no.

Mmmmm..............it's an opinion.

Big hire, yes. But the series of articles wasn't about just one move. It was about 25 of them.

We can analyze this to the ends of the earth, but this franchise was doomed until John Dorsey arrived. Without him, we would still be a laughingstock. His hire changed everything. We can rank his moves, I guess......but, it's all about hiring the right dude. John Dorsey.

Disclaimer: This is my opinion.

Sorry , just took 2, Baker, Hue, the end. My opinion.

Dorsey has my vote.

At some point there will be a statue.

Had to read this twice... couldn't figure out why you called E. Wolf an ass. smh

Not starting an argument, not saying Dorsey isn't a major part of the turnaround, but perhaps if you read the articles, you'd see there are more than one. That's my opinion.

I'm as happy as anyone that we seem to be turning things around finally and Baker looks like the real deal... but I'd like to actually win some games before we put our name on the trophy.

The point of the articles is a series of decisions lead to this moment in time. Certainly the hiring of Dorsey and the drafting of Baker are probably #'s 1 & 2. The firing of Hue, the firing of Haley and the promotion of Freddie are probably in the top five. They just haven't been written yet. The other decisions that led to where we are have their place in history as well.

it's dismissive and condescending to laud one decision as being the sole factor for the success, or lay it at the feet of one particular person or group. If Dorsey had been hired and there were no cap space, or if Baker were a bust, it would be a different story. Dorsey didn't draft Myles Garret. He didn't draft Peppers, which helped facilitate the trade for OBJ. The articles give plenty of credit to Dorsey where it's due, but the point is, there were a series of decisions that got us here.

It's clear some haven't read the articles, or simply do not wish to entertain the notion other factors besides the Dorsey hire are integral to the resurgence of the team, and that's ok. This clearly isn't a thread they have something to contribute to. But to come here and say there were no other factors is nonsense. The point of the thread is to have a discussion about those decisions, not shut it down with ridiculous and argumentative pronouncements.

That's just another opinion.

And I'd like to see some relevant and intelligent conversation in this thread. No one is putting anyone's name on any trophy. What does that have to do with the topic? Read the articles, or don't. Participate in the thread or don't. I'd like to see "like" fishing taken somewhere else.

Cal.

Why can't I see #1-#6?

They haven't been written yet. Hopefully we'll get them posted as they come in.

4 key people for any NFL team: owner, GM, head coach, quarterback

Jimmy is kind of baked in so let's skip that for now.


Three decisions that transformed the Cleveland Browns:

1. Jimmy finally bringing in the right guy in when he hired John Dorsey

2. Dorsey drafting Baker Mayfield who, despite some revisionist history to the contrary, was by no means the consensus number 1 pick last year.

3. Firing Clueless Hue Jackson, the worst coach of all time. It turns out that it didn't really matter who replaced him-- even basic competence from a mediocre defensive coordinator and a then no-name running backs coach was enough to turn the team around in as little as two weeks.

Coaching is so important that we might as well make it #4 as well: hiring Freddie Kitchens as head coach. How well this turns out remains to be seen, but he has a lot of good attributes in terms of rallying players together and creating nice offensive sets. I hope Carson Palmer is right when he said, "Freddie is a true gem and a brilliant hire by the Browns."

Yes, those decision are likely in the top five, which haven't been posted yet, but they aren't they only decisions that matter.

True. That series does a good job of setting the stage for the Browns culture and some of the good but maybe not elite players. There are a few that seem 'forced' in there, e.g. #19: Retaining linebacker Christian Kirksey as a steadying influence. Overall a good piece though.

Thinking about the future ones, besides what's already in the series or mentioned above. Garrett and Ward (somewhat covered in previous segments, but will probably get their own as well), OBJ, maybe something about the draft or F.O. structure or whatever.

You have a lot of demands. lol, it was just a comment, not some kind of attack.

Here's what we have so far:

Kareem Hunt signed after he was dumped b...Decision No. 25

Keeping Duke Johnson around through the ...Decision No. 24

Drafting guard Austin Corbett and creati...Decision No. 23

Finding Terrance Mitchell while reshaping the secondary: Transforming the Cleveland Browns, No. 22

Snagging Genard Avery as a potential fif...Decision No. 21

Creating young receiver depth with Rasha...Decision No. 20

Retaining linebacker Christian Kirksey a...Decision No. 19

Revitalizing Greg Robinson as an NFL left tackle: Transforming the Cleveland Browns, Decision No. 18

https://www.cleveland.com/browns/2019/04...sion-no-17.html

Beefing up the defensive line with Sheld...Decision No. 16

Complementing Myles Garrett with Olivier Vernon: Transforming the Cleveland Browns, Decision No. 15

Absorbing Brock Osweiler’s $16 million c...Decision No. 14

Fortifying the interior of the offensive...Decision No. 13

Choosing Nick Chubb as the tailback of the future: Transforming the Browns, Decision No. 12

Landing Larry Ogunjobi on the line: Transforming the Cleveland Browns, Decision No. 11

Sticking Joe Schobert in the middle of t...Decision No. 10

Banking on guard Joel Bitonio: Transforming the Cleveland Browns, Decision No. 9

Jarvis Landry instilling an attitude: Transforming the Cleveland Browns, Decision No. 8

Passing on the chance to draft Carson Wentz: Transforming the Cleveland Browns, Decision No. 7

Spinning DeShone Kizer into Damarious Randall: Transforming the Cleveland Browns, Decision No. 6

Trading down again in the first round wi... Decision No. 5

People aren't going to read the articles... some minds are already made up. And it didn't take long for someone to attempt to derail this thread.

I didn't read them all, yet, but I do think it's they are an interesting read.

The moves for the turnaround started long before Dorsey arrived.

One of my favorite from #7 is...




I'm obviously going to be chastised for saying this, but I think whomever we brought in, whether it was Dorsey, or some other GM to make the decisions, he would have had the opportunity to turn a dying franchise around. I know it's not a popular opinion, and don't get me wrong, I LOVE some of the things Dorsey has done... the ultimate goal is to win a Super Bowl. If we do that and erect a statue of Dorsey I'll be happy as a clam.

Read it again, those aren't demands, just comments, and like yours, not an attack.

I agree. The decisions go well beyond Dorsey, and Dorsey does get a lion's share of the credit, but a sequence of events led up to this moment. Call it destiny, call it fate, call it luck, but we're here because of these decisions. There may be others as well, but these decisions are certainly interesting to consider as a whole.

Yeah, you very well may not agree that every decision is a key contributor, or you may feel other decisions would have made the team better. That's the point of the discussion. It will be interesting to see what makes up the top five, well, top four now that #5 is there. (See list above).

100% agree....

A certain firing and the hiring of Dorsey was not planned, but the timing of it couldn't have been better for the Browns. With everything almost seemingly stacked against us, the world finally fell into place for us and it appears it couldn't have gone any better.

To sit and think about how we got to this point is miraculous. This is probably something that has never really happened before and they'll be talking about it for years. I'm sure teams will attempt to copy us, but we'll never be duplicated. We're on the brink of something special.

Are we allowed to speculate? I know some hate that...


I agree that something to do with the coaches is in the top 4.

Drafting Baker is undoubtedly #1.

Yes! Exactly.

Certainly, there are no rules, I'm just happy to see contribution to the discussion. My #1 & 2 have to be Hiring Dorsey & drafting Baker. Maybe OBJ is #3 and Freddie is #4, or vice versa.

I always sort of liked the Phipps decision that got us Ozzie.

Have you read the articles? Because your response seems overly simplistic. Also, the transition has begun, even though we haven't had a winning season, the team is clearly better, and but for some blatantly bad calls by the refs, and/or some terrible moments by the kickers, we would have a winning season. Obviously the transformation is a work in progress, no is saying it isn't. The decisions are not being framed as inept or not, just as decisions that affect the direction of the team. If you want to dismiss them, that's up to you, but your opinions on the matter doesn't make the decisions any less valid as decisions in and of themselves.

Thanks for setting up the lynx in this post.

That site is an absolute mess, and almost more trouble to navigate than the articles are worth.

This is great!

Any BUM would have

- drafted Bake ... thats a NO-BRAINER and always was ...
- drafted Ward, Chubb, Avery, Calloway and Corbett ... got Harrison as an UDFA

- overpaid for VG .... ...
- turned Kizer into Randall (keep in mind your debating with folks who are defending Kizer being a good pick cause he resulted in Randall ... they make it seem like any GM would have done it and Dorsey just happenend to be the guy sitting there and was lucky to get the job) ....
- signed Mitchell and re-vamped the secondary .. brought in Perriman ... oh ya ... there’s also Gregg Robinson ....

Ultimately hired Freddie last year ... any clue how he actually ended up here? ... i have no idea ...

And that was year 1 ... look what he’s done in year 2 ...

HE DA MAN .... for anyone to think the table setters had anything to do with the end result is crazy ... they did a GREAT JOB SETTING THE TABLE ... but it ends there ... they set the heck out of the table ....

And that was a combo led by the thief with the dumbest idea in the history of football ... then Sashi and Hue proved it to be the dumbest hire in the history of sports .... the combination of their ineptness set the table like no other table had ever been set .... they even left a smidge of talent behind ..

Then King John came in and has TRANSFORMED US .... he brought in the TALENT to take us from an historically bad team with a few players with talent to a team with a ton of talent... as much as any team in the league with the sky being the limit as to how far we can go ....

Those are good articles and a lot of fun to read i would imagine ... but almost every talent move will lead back to Dorsey .... he’s the straw that stirred this drink ...

W/o Dorsey were no where’s close to where we are ... i’d rather enjoy that than argue over how we got here ...

Thank You Table Setters ... GREAT JOB setting the table for King John ... appreciatte it ...

LETS GOOOOOOOoooooooooooo

Drafting Baker and hiring Dorsey are 1A and 1B .. and it was a long, winding road to get there lol

People will have their opinions, I guess...

And I'm not sure why some will want to spin them negatively. If that's what they want to do then so be it.

But, for me it's like the butterfly effect. Some of the decisions are more important than others obviously, hence the rankings, but they are not mutually exclusive to how we arrived.

For instance passing on Wentz was a big reason we are where we are...
Whether I liked the move or not, trading for Landry played a role.
The sequence of signing Hyde, drafting Chubb, releasing Hyde, playing Chubb...

All of it... it's all important. This is something unique and unprecedented.

I wonder who made the decision to bring them in?

Hmmmmm.... Dorsey maybe?