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Stefanski and Rees will tell them all of the attributes and skill set they are looking for in a QB. Berry, the scouting department and the analytics department will take it from there.

I agree with you. And i think the same thing happened when they decided to go after DW. Its why i think KS owns a portion of the decision to move on from Baker and sign DW. . . . I dont quite follow how you can think the draft process for a qb is so inclusive yet you absolve KS from any responsibility for DW. Its not a big deal but something that seems to be a disconnect from my perspective.

Yeah I am encouraged by that decision.

This is probably going to sound like a dumb question... But why do we even have a CAP?

I mean we have billionaire owners who for the most part have the ability to cover all costs given the income of the league...

Is it the large market vs small market thing?

Just wondering why it's even a thing?

It's a business and the owners want to make as much money as possible.

It won't be Stefanski who does the evaluation as to what a player in the draft is valued at. If this FO thinks a QB like Milroe is only valued at pick 18 they're not going to use the #2 pick on Milroe. If another team picks Milroe ahead of them there will be no Milroe in Cleveland. This is all pretty basic stuff.

I think it is a positive the Browns finally saw fit to hire a dedicated QB coach. Particularly, one with extensive experience at that coaching position.

Yankees baseball is why.

tommy Rees has spent a grand total of 1 year in the NFL and 4 years as an OC at the college level.Not exactly what I would call "way more experience"

Both of those statements are meaningless.
I am not questioning whether or not he is a good coach,neither you nor I know that answer.He may very well be the best of the limited pool of coaches willing to take the job.
I was simply pointing out the fact that you have,several times,referred to him as highly experienced,he is not.

Also, Nick Saban thought highly enough of Rees to publicly endorse him. For some of us old enough to remember Nick Saban was a Browns Defensive Coordinator on a Browns playoff team that gave up less than 200 points in an entire regular season. I highly value his endorsement of Rees. If he thinks highly of him. I think the Browns made a great choice. The college game and the NFL is littered with ex Nick Saban assistance.

No, he doesn't.

That doesn't mean it won't work.

It also means that hiring someone with a ton of past experience doesn't mean it will work.

I'd say he has enough. I think everybody who takes that position in the NFL for the first time is looked at as having no experience. He played the game at a major college. The held the position for Saben. That's pretty good in anybodys book I would think. He has been an assistant in the NFL.

It's his time.

Yes.. It is because of the Yankees, even though the Yankees haven't won a World Series in 15 years.

It is all about continuity and the Jacksonville, Kansas City or Cleveland markets with good fanbases being able to put a competitive team on the field... Don't forget along with the cap ceiling, there is also a cap floor to keep the cheap owners from underselling the roster. It works hand in hand. If the system wasn't in place, you could have a roster made up of the 2023 Pro Bowl squads agreeing to play on the same team, just to get a ring, and ownership spending $600M on their one year roster. At the same time, the Bengals could spend $75M on a roster that is sure to get a top 5 draft pick every year and those picks won't want to play for them after their rookie contract is over.

The system works.. It is the most competitive league on the world, despite what the Chiefs have accomplished the past several years since Andy Reid took over... if it weren't for the Cap, we would be watching the Cowboys in the Super Bowl AGAIN......

If it were ALL about the owners making more money, the New York's and Dallas' of the world wouldn't allow a cap. They also wouldn't be forced to "Share" the market earnings amongst teams.. which would then make those owners as much money as possible..

Well yeah, but they also wanna win a Super Bowl... and if that's the ultimate goal (and I think it is) they gotta spend the dough to get the players.. I know that even that doesn't guarantee a win.. Jerry Jones can tell us all about that.

But like Haslams, spending stupid doesn't guarantee anything but abuse by the fans.

I am not totally down with the small market, large market thing. I mean when it comes down to it, it's the billionaire owners that pay the bills and let's face it, at least in KC and Cleveland, the fanbase will pay the ticket prices and buy the merch to support a team. Jacksonville is another story if memory serves me.

Just to focus on this...
"I mean we have billionaire owners who for the most part have the ability to cover all costs given the income of the league... "

Billionaire owners are still using the income of the team to fund the success of the team. They will use the full amount to field the most competitive, or they may pocket some of that wealth for themselves/investors, but at the end of the day, it's a business.

When you are talking about the difference in markets, it absolutely makes a difference if you don't have the CBA policies in place. They aren't just feeding off the ticket and jersey sales, it is the marketing of media that most of the income is derived.

Two examples, Cleveland vs. New York, since obviously Cleveland hits close to home and New York is probably the single largest successful market in the NFL.

Cleveland has a population of 363,000 and a television market population of 1,498,960 homes as of the newest 2024 Nielsen reports., median income is $51,677, average ticket sale price $112.18
New York City has a population of 8,258,000 and a television market population of 7,348,620 homes. median income is $73,376, average ticket sale price $126.74 - Giants

These markets are derived of the ability to sell air time during televised games, Giants market a typical 30 second spot costs about $500k, in the Browns market the same 30 second commercial is about $300k.

Markets matter...

Without the CBA makeup, television markets could cater to large market teams and it's possible to refuse to put a local team on TV. The way it is done now, ALL market games are in a shared space so that every local market is guaranteed the local team to be on the local affiliate, as long as they have a set percentage of tickets sold to that local market. For away games, the ticket percentage doesn't matter. When the Jaguars play in Cleveland, the Jacksonville game is on tv in the local market.

Lose the TV market sharing, you could lose a fanbase completely.

That is just one easily explainable parts of the makeup of the CBA and the use of salary cap/floor to keep a league as competitive as possible in order to make the LEAGUE successful, instead of a handful of teams. Without the success of the NFL as a whole, no single franchise is as valuable to an owner. That's why most leagues in some form or another, have added their own version of a cap to try to emulate the NFL. They all have greedy owners though and their CBA doesn't protect all teams equally, which is why you have a lot more movement of players, as well as the same teams near the top every year. No other league in the US is as popular as the NFL... It has the highest average attendance, highest average TV ratings, including the championship game being THE MOST WATCHED ANNUAL EVENT of the year... every year. there is a reason for that.... It also has the highest revenue of any sports league in the world, despite having the fewest games played in a single season of any major sports league in the world. It's popularity is based on the CBA's existence in making it possible for any team in the league to go from a last place team to a first place team in a single season. Some teams have terrible management and they dwell at the bottom, but they have the exact same opportunities of a Patriots or Chiefs organization.

Specifically to the salary cap/floor.. This is an agreement by the league to spend a percentage of league revenue to compensate the players who make up the heart of the league. Without a cap and floor. You could pay 32 players as much as you want and pay other players less than the college players are making nowadays. That is where management becomes necessary for success of a team... It's also why a QB can be such an influence on a team, all the teams have continuity for the most part. Bad management in players for schemes of a coaching staff is another reason for failure though.

I addressed them using the the revenue from the team and as I said, Jacksonville may be a problem but Cleveland and KC are not.

At least there is a salary cap in the NFL. The larger markets don't necessarily have richer owners, though as teams sell that could become the case. Haslam is plenty rich to fund a team. Richer than many. Larger markets provide much more revenue in the way of advertising and broadcast rights. Those teams can charge more for those rights based on market size.

And just a FYI on merch sales. Those proceeds are shared revenue. All the proceeds get pooled by the NFL and then shared equally by the teams. The Browns make money on Cowboys jersey's sold. The only extra money they can keep is from any retail profits from running a team shop. The Browns have to share any money from merch sold at a Wal-Mart or some other national chain that sells NFL gear. The NFL controls the wholesale part of the deal, even official merch sold to actual team shops goes in to the shared pool.

So none of the jerseys you see in the stadium is all profit to the Browns. Only a retail portion on some, the rest a shared portion around the league.

Browns added another coach:

https://footballscoop.com/news/sour...ceivers-coach-tommy-rees-michael-bearden

j/c...

What many have known/stated for years. Baker was long gone and out of the picture well before Watson came into the fold.

Football’s ugliest crime? Knowin’ you own ultimate underdog, had ‘im, used ‘im up, then left ‘im busted in a ditch.

You ever seen a hound get run over, drag itself up, keep runnin’? Only a special kinda animal does that. Understand this, y’all: Baker Mayfield weren’t no house pet, weren’t no lapdog, weren’t no pampered golden retriever. Horsefeathers, no. He was a junkyard mutt, meaner than a mule kick, tail still waggin’ after gettin’ clobbered by a milk truck. And what did you do, Kevin? Sat there on the sidelines with yer arms crossed, watchin’ ‘im get mashed flatter than a Sunday mornin’ pancake. Lied through yer teeth, said it was his fault, like we ain’t got eyeballs. Ain’t nothin’ that burns me up worse than a feller who blames others for his own backwoods foolishness. Makes me wanna throw my radio through a hay bale.

Tellin’ reckless underdogs mistakes play into self-inflicted catastrophes ain’t smart tactics.
Took one look at our first real quarterback since Bernie and tossed ‘im out like spoiled milk. Ruined ‘im on purpose, fed him to the hogs, then brought in some feller who ain’t played in two years and handed him a wagon full of money. Unbelievable. Made Baker take the hits, let ‘im play with one arm, then grinned like a possum in a chicken coop when it all went belly-up. Paid a feller with more court dates than touchdowns like that was gonna be an upgrade. If karma exists, Jimmy Haslam’s gas money gonna dry up faster than a mud puddle in August. Shoot, maybe that’s what it’ll take to rid us of this confounded curse. Ain’t no hope left. Folks ‘round here startin’ to think the Lord himself put Cleveland in a pickle jar and left it on the shelf. And honestly? He might have. Sins of the father and all that. Can’t explain this level of hooey otherwise. It’s like we was put here to suffer. See it every year. Trust me, I wanna believe. I do.

Sometimes wishin’ it still worked is foolish. Ain’t fixin’ unholy catastrophes in namesake. Genius ain’t natural in us, sadly.

Smart teams keep the good ones. We run ‘em out of town and wonder why we keep endin’ up in the same dadblasted ditch. It’s like watchin’ a man set his own barn on fire, then stand there scratchin’ his head wonderin’ why he’s got no hay left. Sooner or later, you’d think we’d learn. Horse feathers, no. It’s sabotage, plain and simple. Stefanski’s out here buildin’ a dang gallows for every quarterback we get. Ain’t a single one made it out alive. Funny how that works. Unbelievable how folks still got faith in this bald-headed sack of turnips. Can’t even call it hope no more—it’s plain ol’ foolishness. Knew we was doomed the second Baker walked out the door. If you break the one man willin’ to fight for you, what’s left? Nothin’. Guess we just sit here and rot. Guess that’s life.

Victory don’t arrive with empty promises. Every real soldier always sees time ain’t limitless. Every disaster awaits. Workin’ harder, expectations rise. Only monsters hate enthusiasm. Really, Ohio?

Very few folks understand what it means to love this team. Every dang year, we climb up on this busted wagon and act surprised when the wheels pop clean off. Reckon it’s in our blood at this point. Same ol’ misery, same ol’ bellyache. Ain’t got nothin’ left in me but pure, unfiltered rage. Trust me, I wanna quit. I wanna walk away, find peace, maybe take up fishin’ or some such nonsense. Like a fool, I always come back. Every time I swear I won’t. Dadgum liar, I am. And yet, here I sit, hat in my hands, prayin’ for somethin’ good. Why? ‘Cause I got no dadblamed sense, that’s why. Go on, laugh at me. I deserve it. If this team ever wins, I ain’t even gonna celebrate. Shoot, I’m just gonna lay down in my front yard and let the earth reclaim me. Maybe that’s the real prize. You suffer long enough, you just

Could be worse, I guess. Like, we could be Steelers fans. Even then, I ain’t sure which fate’s worse. My only hope is I see one good season before I keel over. Like, just once, I wanna sit down and feel joy. Is that too much to ask? Kevin, Jimmy, y’all hear me? Enough’s enough. Save us from this mess. This ain’t football no more—it’s willin’ misery.

Could you post that in English?

Couldn’t be more clear if I carved it into the fifty-yard line at Huntington. Over here, we call that plain talk, but I s’pose some folks need it spelled out like a kindergarten spelling bee. After all, ain’t nothin’ complicated ‘bout what’s been happenin’ to this team. Chain of disasters longer than the Cuyahoga, and yet every year we sit down like it ain’t gonna happen again. How many times we gotta get kicked in the shin ‘fore we stop sayin’ “maybe this time it’ll be different”? Bless our poor, dumb hearts.

Waitin’ on the Browns to get it right is like watchin’ paint dry in a thunderstorm. One step forward, three steps back, and somehow we still act surprised when we end up flat on our backs again. Underneath it all, we know better. We know we ain’t built for hope. Learned that lesson the hard way back in ‘95, then again with Tim Couch, then again every year since. Don’t matter who’s playin’ quarterback, don’t matter who’s coachin’—somehow, some way, it always turns into a train wreck.

Boy, I tell ya, if loyalty was a crime, we’d all be doin’ life without parole. Every time we swear we’re done, we come crawlin’ back like a raccoon to an open trash can. Ain’t nothin’ we can do about it neither—it’s in our blood.

Bigger fools than us done tried to walk away, but it never sticks. Every fall, we dust ourselves off, say “maybe this is the year,” and by December we’re wonderin’ how we got tricked again. Takes a special kinda patience to sit through this mess year after year. Them other teams don’t understand—don’t want to understand. Easy to laugh at us from the outside, but they ain’t lived through a 31-0 season. Reckon if they did, they wouldn’t be laughin’ so hard.

Perhaps one day, the football gods will take pity on us. Real change gotta happen first, though, ‘cause I ain’t about to sit through another rebuild that don’t lead nowhere. Endless cycle of “we’re almost there” just for us to trip over our own shoelaces. Should be illegal, what this team does to folks. I swear, if I ever have kids, I ain’t raisin’ ‘em to suffer through this mess. Don’t want ‘em growin’ up with the same heartbreak I did. Even my grandpappy gave up, and he sat through the Red Right 88 game.

Time for somebody to step up and run this team right. Hope I live to see it. Ain’t holdin’ my breath, though. Next year, next decade—don’t matter. We’ll be right back here, hollerin’ at our TVs, wonderin’ why we ever believed.

That’s just Browns football.

You mean down there, not over there. Not everyone speaks Podunk.

I rather enjoy his colourful way of writing.

He sounds just like half my relatives.

Me too....And I'm sure plenty of people here do as well. Unfortunately, some people come here to try and pick fights.

Only half?

My relatives are from the south but not quite that far south. Besides, let's face it, it's more about ridiculing the south than anything else.

People like you? This is a pot meet kettle moment if there ever was one.

Pot meets kettle as told by the cookingware blueprint that all others are based on.