DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Browns News & Notes:

We might not break the bank but we should pay the guy his due - he has undeniable chemistry with Baker.

Looking at this list and excluding rookies -

https://overthecap.com/position/wide-receiver/

Higgins would easily be worth $4-5M per year.

Apologies if this has been posted already.

Eisen has been talking us up the past few weeks. So have Simms and Orlovsky due to Stefanski

That's terrifying, deeply disturbing, and incredibly exciting.... and, I think, spot on.

I have trouble bringing myself to care about Orlovsky's opinion on predicting the future success of the Browns.

Simply because I remember his name as a qb prospect in the draft from some year about the time Russell Wilson came out.
(45 minute pause)

internet he played 13 years in the nfl?

Are you serious Clark?"
I'm more likely to believe a man in a little red suit brings toys around to little kids in a reindeer sleigh and plays with Elves.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/...GUwJoO7xL5-tQkU (Click on the link for an image of Christian Kirksey.)

It's not spitting image level, but this guy looks a lot like Kirksey.

I like that guy. Well spoken and solid thoughts.

We do seem to have direction where the FO, Coaching staff and Team are all pulling in the same direction.

As DePodest said, we needed a collaborative effort.

Looks like we might finally have that.

Yep ... it's a odd sensation to appreciate the recognition but be fearful of the bottom falling out as soon as we are looked at favorably in the media. Uniquely Browns.

Agree also - if we beat the Ravens and get to the playoffs - we'll be one of those wild card teams that they are going to talk about no-one wanting to play.

Someone refresh my memory...If we beat the Steelers last game of the year and we are both 13-3, who holds the tie breaker?

They do... unless they lose to Cincy, that would leave us tied for division record. Then we would win division based on record against common opponents.

Yeah, unfortunately they’d really have to collapse for us to overtake them

Not a complete collapse, they just need to have a bad game vs Cincy and then lose to us. If that happens, we win the Division.

One game at a time folks, one game at a time.

Amen. Nothing else matters at all if we don't go 1-0 this week.

I do too, my company sponsored him or whatever you want to call it

What I fear is that we will beat the Ravens while the Steelers lose to the Bills. Followed by the Browns looking past the Jets and Giants and losing 2 straight.

Hundred per cent truth.

j/c

I don't know where else to place this, but I can't ignore the timing. With all the talk of playoff chances, trap doors and such, I wanted to drop in these thoughts to frame our ongoing conversations with a little perspective.

First, a couple of points, based upon recent history.

1. Think about the tone and tenor of the board conversation exactly 12 months ago. Think about where we were.
2. Think about what your personal level of expectation was for this team/coaching squad: meeting each other for the first time over computers, installing an entire new offense, defense and coaching infrastructure virtually... with no face-to-face contact, no sharing of facility space (where a guy can just walk down the hall to another office, ask a question, and walk back).

________________________

Now that I got all that out of the way, I'll get to my point.

The Cleveland Browns are 9-3. Against the NFL. Not 9-3 against the MAC. The Cleveland Browns have defeated nine legitimate NFL teams. In one season. Not 9 games in a decade- nine games in 12 played.

This is the start of something very special, no matter how the rest of this season plays out. There seems to be a symbiosis developing between Berry's player acquisitions and Stefanski's ability to place them on the chessboard to CLE's advantage. That not only speaks to the competency of both, but also to the level of coordination/cooperation something like this requires. It is the level of professionalism and competence that this team has lacked since The Return

In a typical CLE year, December Browns headlines would be hinting at dissention in the ranks, friction at 76 Groza, power plays between coaching/GM/admin, player discipline issues, and a ton of soap opera-level bs that had nothing to do with the execution of football on Sundays.

None of that this year. None.
Instead, the Browns are very, very relevant as they begin the 4th qtr of 2020... and the next football game is at the heart of all Browns talk. The Next Game -and nothing else- is Browns News.

Please take a moment to sit back, contemplate how fundamentally important that is... and allow yourself to exhale a little. You can let the rest out soon, no matter how this current season's record shakes out, so long as this new FO dynamic remains intact going forward.

If the Browns run the reg season table and lose in Round One, I will still take this entire season as a net positive.
If the Browns lose a couple, squeak into the playoffs and lose, I'll still take this entire season as a net positive.
If the Browns advance in the tournament and fall just short, I'll still take this entire season as a net positive.
If the Browns capture lightning, and snatch their very first Lombardi (which should arguably be called The Brown, but that's an argument for another time), I'll lose my mind... and then still take this entire season as a net positive.

________________


My Real Point:
This isn't just some COVID-aided, 2020-centric, star-blessed Cinderella-type story unfolding here. What we are seeing is an impressive first glimpse of what this current FO is... and only a percentage of what we might expect in the future.

It is the second week of December, 2020- and the Browns control their own playoff destiny. It's also December, and Clemdawg is finally talking about seeing the Culture Shift he's been screaming for, ever since his first op-ed back on the old board.

I'm one of the graybeards here. Very, very Olde Schoole. My little 7 year old self was in the south stands at Muni to watch Jim Brown play against the Steelers. Yeah, I'm that level of 'Legacy OG.'

And I have never seen anything like this.

To present a product that looks like this under the colossal challenges and hardships of this particular year- from scratch- without benefit of the standard industry resources is simply mind-blowing. Reasonable Dawgs looking at this year's circumstance, might have predixt a 3-13, 4-12 year, and been perfectly justified to do so, based on CLE/'99-present.

I've held off from sharing this, partly from prudence (I wanted to do it a month ago), and partly from 'Dawgwhipped superstition'... but I really do think I finally see the genesis of a long-term cultural realignment. The kind we have so desperately needed, and the kind that leads to sustained success (read; dynasty).

Last year at this time, we still had Freddie Kitchens.

Perspective.

Dare we say it? Give the Haslam family credit for hiring the right guys? – Terry Pluto

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Rush to Judgment?

That’s what I was wondering as I began to write this story praising Browns owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam for appearing to finally have it right.

I’m talking about the combination of Browns General Manager Andrew Berry and coach Kevin Stefanski. Let’s add in Chief Strategy Officer Paul DePodesta, who pushed hard for the Berry/Stefanski pairing.

As the Browns enter Monday’s game against Baltimore with a 9-3 record, it’s hard to say “Same Old Browns.” Not only is the team close to its first playoff appearance since 2002, it’s also drama free. These guys just talk football. They play football. It’s all football.

Winning helps with a sense that things are in “alignment,” as Jimmy Haslam called his quest to put together the right head coach/GM combination. The blending of Berry and Stefanski under the umbrella of DePodesta has given the franchise a sorely-needed sense of stability.

Looming in the back of my mind is the fact there are four games left. Fans know how quickly things can go wrong and soon the finger pointing begins. Next come the media leaks with what Haslam once called “internal discord.”

It’s hard to believe that can happen this season. Nonetheless, since buying the team in 2012, the Haslams have been through six head coaches and five general managers. At this time most seasons, we’re talking about who will be fired (usually everyone) – and who will be the next management/coaching combination.

I called it firing fatigue when former GM John Dorsey was dumped at the end of last season. I wasn’t enamored with Dorsey, but who wanted to go through another GM/coach search? Dorsey had the job for 25 months, the longest tenure of any GM in the Haslam ownership.

LOOKING BACK/STARTING OVER

The one survivor under Haslam is DePodesta, the former baseball executive. He was hired by former GM Sashi Brown in 2016 as the Chief Strategy Officer. That title was a new one on me.

I liked the idea of the hiring DePodesta. He was trained in the Cleveland Indians’ school of integrating analytics with old style baseball common sense. While supposedly being the Godfather of Moneyball with Billy Beane and the Oakland A’s, DePodesta is more than Mr. Analytics. He is a gifted sports executive.

He has shown it this season when given more power by the Halsams. Think about the hiring of Berry and Stefanski.

1. Berry was the assistant GM under Sashi Brown in 2016-17. After Brown was replaced by Dorsey in February of 2017, Berry remained in the front office in a lower role.

2. In 2019, Berry was hired by the Philadelphia Eagles as assistant to GM Howie Roseman.

3. In 2019, DePodesta brought Stefanski to town for a pair of interviews with Dorsey and others during a search for a new head coach. Dorsey gave the job to Freddie Kitchens.

4. Move to 2020, the idea was to pair a guy who was part of Sashi Brown’s 1-31 front office (Berry) with a guy who was turned down for the coaching job (Stefanski).

Not many owners would be willing to turn back the clock and admit they made mistakes. DePodesta was able to sell the Haslams on Berry and Stefanski. Those two men had become friends over the last few years. Once in a while, they talked about working together – never really thinking it could happen.

But it did in 2020.

At first, I didn’t like the idea of hiring Stefanski first and then the GM. What I didn’t realize was the connection in place between DePodesta/Berry/Stefanski.

That has been a key to their success.

NEW SCHOOL/OLD SCHOOL

When Berry took over as GM, he already knew how things worked in Berea. He was able to make some roster and front office changes to eliminate the old “internal discord.” For example, he dismissed the criticism of Rashard Higgins by the previous regime because Berry was part of the front office which drafted the receiver in 2016. So he signed Higgins to a contract in 2020 believing he was “the right fit” for Stefanski’s offense.

By 2020, DePodesta wasn’t just “a baseball guy.” He’d watched executives who were new school (Brown) and old school (Dorsey). He had been through four drafts, four free agency periods and four coaches. After Dorsey was fired, the Haslams allowed DePodesta to set up the organization as he envisioned.

Here’s what has helped the Browns to become winners this season:

1. The Sashi Brown front office left Dorsey lots of draft picks and salary cap room along with star defensive end Myles Garrett.

2. Dorsey added key players such as Nick Chubb, Baker Mayfield, Kareem Hunt, Wyatt Teller, Sheldon Richardson and Denzel Ward.

3. Berry went to work bolstering the offensive line with Jack Conklin and Jedrick Wills, along with other moves. Berry and Stefanski took over a roster with talent. They also developed a team with the run-first, zone-blocking identity while preaching patience with Mayfield.

4. Finally, they do have a group of players who are “tough, smart and accountable,” attributes stressed by Berry and Stefanski when they took over. The team has emotional stability, something often lacking in the past.

Things can go wrong and probably will at some point. But there is a sense that this leadership group won’t panic.

_____________________________________

The title of this article should be...."Haslem finally listens to DePodesta. And it's working."

Thanks for sharing this Mem.

I was wondering the other day about Cleveland the city and what it's like there? It's been sense 1980 that I last lived in Cleveland and I vividly remember some things from that time.

When I 1st came to live in Cleveland (1978) I was NOT a Browns fan nor a fan really of football. My neighbor was a diehard as were all of the people who I worked with. When I started watching the Browns I did it more so I had something to talk to all the people I knew at that time about. They were nuts for the Browns.

But one day in the middle of a game I ran out of smokes I remember it to this day. I lived about a block from the store so I decided I would walk to the store and as I did this I could hear the game coming from every home I passed. People were yelling at their TV's. Hell I didn't have to watch the game I could hear it in the streets as I neared the store there wasn't a car anywhere on any streets as far as I could see. The store clerk asked me why I wasn't at home watching the game, it was weird. Something about that moment and the passion I could feel in the streets that day made me a Browns fan. It helped that we had a damned good football team too.

Anyway I was wondering what Cleveland was like. I vividly remember what a buzz Cleveland was back in those days. I call it an electric feeling. Is it like that there NOW? Is the city embracing this team like they did back then? banners everywhere, people buzzing with the energy I have only ever seen come from one place The Browns. Is it like that?

Good article. It’s such a good sign that I’ve basically not thought about Haslam for months. Haven’t heard from him or thought of him. Best sign possible.

Stefanski won't let that happen. He won't do it, and he'll keep the guys focused on just going 1-0 that week.

I think Pluto makes some interesting points. In my mind I file it under one of possibly two scenarios.

1. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.

2. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

Haslam got it wrong so many times in such a short period of time that the law of averages dictated that he would eventually have to get it right.

Just sayin'.

I see a thread running through that article. Maybe it is high time for Pit to change his sig...

Nah. He still has a much less position in basketball. It is what it is. How did we do when Sashi Brown was in charge again?



He sucked.

There's nothing to address at all. You just keep on with the new winning tradition going forward and the past seasons simply become the period where they were "figuring it out".


As for what is Cleveland like now? In my neighborhood, at least, it isn't quite to the point you describe, but it is getting there. I'm seeing a lot more jerseys being worn on week days. I think there is still a sense of not fully trusting that this team is for real, but if we beat Baltimore on Monday night, this town is going to be just like it was in the 80's.... and should Pittsburgh drop two more, or one to Cinci, and we end up playing Week 17 for the division - at Home - then you will be able to listen to the game live without the TV no matter where you are, because this entire town is going to be LOUD.

Dorsey added key players such as Nick Chubb, Baker Mayfield, Kareem Hunt, Wyatt Teller, Sheldon Richardson and Denzel Ward.

and OBJ.

Regarding Haslam. Even the blind squirrel comes across a nut given enough chances.

And that's fine, because that's all that has to happen.
That said, I don't think that applies to Haslam, at all. I think he was definitely the meddling type early on, but I think he's had his ego checked and has taken the step back from things that was needed to get this thing on track. He's a really good checkbook, but he's a terrible talent evaluator and GM, and I think he has learned this.

holy crap. Here are some more notables:

he also drafted
Chad Thomas
Greedy Williams
Sione Takitaki
Mack Wilson

‒ Signed CB Terrance Mitchell
‒ Traded RG Kevin Zeitler to New York Giants for DE Olivier Vernon
‒ Signed DT Sheldon Richardson
‒ Cut P Britton Colquitt (replaced with undrafted rookie Jamie Gillan)
‒ Signed C JC Tretter to three-year contract extension

yeah, it's safe to say he had his fingerprints all over this team.

It would have been nice if we could have won without talent though wouldn't it?

Yes Pluto, the genius, left out OBJ. And as mac stated VG! And many other notables as sbd mentions.

And this guy gets paid to write?

John Dorsey built this team and derserves much credit.