For the record...I posted this Thursday morning March 9, 2017 in another thread...and yes...I want a cookie.

There are some agenda-posters on this Board who will hate to read/acknowledge this post. I didn't care this morning...I care even less tonight.

GO BROWNS!

You get my props... I read it when you posted it the first time. I am really enjoying this NFL FA period.

I thought everyone realized we basically tanked last year.

You said this:



then you say:



If no one knows what the plan is, how do you know they've been following the plan all along? How do you know what they did todays wasn't the FO learning from mistakes from last year?


Personally, I'm not going to be impressed until they prove they can put together a team that can win games.

Why should we assume that the two points you bring are incompatible?

It's wholly possible to have a plan, recognize flaws either in the plan or in execution, and then correct those deficiencies without altering The Plan in any fundamental way.

I typically don't chime in with player movement, no Jg, steady as she goes.

The great pyramid of Giza needed a base, before a limestone cap.

The Browns continue to value their own free agents while throwing money at someone else's free agent.

Kevin Zeitler signed a 5 year, $60,000,000 contract with $31,500,000 guaranteed, and an average annual salary of $12,000,000.

...BUT THEY FAILED FIND THE MONEY TO PAY MITCH SCHWARTZ LAST YEAR.

That is a front office with a problem!

man bro, you're finding new and creative ways to hate.

they selling that hate juice buy one get one free, i see.

j/c:

Personally, I think "the plan" has been altered. I think it was altered because Hue and perhaps other coaches went to ownership and voiced their concerns. I think they wanted more of a say in which talent was acquired and I think they wanted more talent brought in. I think their message carried more weight on the heels of a 1 and 15 season where the Browns were the butt of constant jokes in the national media.

Just my opinion on the situation. Not sure if I am right or wrong. And I don't even need a cookie.

The Browns management continues to have an issue resigning their own free agents...OR DID YOU FORGET?

It is a FOOTBALL ISSUE and it continues to be an issue for this front office and owner.

Pointing out how crazy it was for this front office to lose their starting RT last year is but one example...the facts don't just disappear...unless you selectively decide to ignore the facts.

You never answered anybody regarding the big extension they gave Bitonio. I guess that doesn't fit your hateful agenda that they don't resign their own.

What freaking question are you talking about?...when?...where is it?

I'm not falling for your stall tactic by rooting through the threads finding quotes and links for you.

No less than half a dozen people mentioned it to you or don't you read anyone elses posts while you're thinking up the next hateful thing you want to say?

Here, I caved and dug up the first time I mentioned it to you. It's in the Kenny Britt thread.

j/c

Three false narratives took one on the chin yesterday:

#1 - No free agents worth a darn will come to play in this mess.

#2 - The Browns are cheap.

#3 - The FO doesn't know how to get things done to improve the team.

Cue mac.

I don't give a crap about the plan. I care about the result. Last year the result was a hot, steamy pile of dawg crap. We'll see what the result is this year. Whether it's The Plan, an adjusted plan, a revised plan, or a panic driven new plan doesn't matter to me one bit. Just get it right.

Willie .. I've always LOVED THE PLAN .... ask vers he knows ... *LOL* ..

I've always questioned wether they could EXECUTE IT ...

yesterday did not prove to me they could ... YESTERDAY WAS THE BEST DAY THIS FRANCHISE HAS HAD since our return ... no doubt about that ...

It was FINALLY a GOOD DAY TO BE A DAWG ... u can count on one had the number of those days we've had since our return ...

To me .. they proved a few different things yesterday that are a lot different from most of your guys points ... *L* ..

We got lots of time to talk about this stuff ... so I'll save the unpopular stuff for another day ... no sense raining on everyones parade ... I'll let this sink in for a few days before I sprinkle my special brand of reality in .. *L* ..

Anyhow Willie .. i always LOVED THE PLAN ... still question their ability to execute it ..

Question ... if the guys not wanting to play here myth was blown up .. please explain to me why Jefferson took less money to play for the rats? ...

The FO has been cheap .. yesterday they weren't ... yesterday they THREW MONEYBALL IN THE GARBAGE .... how else do u explain making Zietler the highest paid guard in the league? .. thats not a MONEYBALL MOVE ....

Does he wear a tin foil hat?

Everyone should have this post on their clipboard, as it's probably the only way to get temporary relief from mac.


As for The Plan...
I was wondering yesterday if they are deviating or if this fits into what they want to do. On the one hand, I started getting a very "Eagles Dream Team" feeling at the end of the day yesterday. We spent a LOT of money on some top FA's. Talent is great and all, but to pull a 180 like that has a scent of desperation to it. I'm a Browns fan so I always expect the worst.

On the other hand, I can see strategy behind who they picked up. They have been trying new and different ways to build up a strong OLine for several years now. If this doesn't do it, then nothing will. They do this with the draft looming, with its bevy of good defenders we should be able to get.

Overall, I'm trying to be cautious in my optimism. The FA's we brought in should help, but hey, you never know. The thing I'm really happy about is that we can emphatically squash some of the negative traits we thought our FO had. They are not cheap, they pay our guys that play well (or try to, in Pryor's case), they can land the big fish FA's when they want to, and (more generally) they aren't a bunch of children driving Dad's car (in terms of running this team). They can make smart, creative moves that help this team. That last sentence wasn't something I could say with any confidence before.

Sure it is.

Moneyball is not about not spending money, it is about not spending money stupidly.

Zeitler instantly upgrades the o-line in a year where o-line is weak in the draft. He's 27 years old so he will play out the entire contract barring injury. Giving Pryor $13 mil to $15 mil a year, when we only have one season to base it off of would have been throwing Moneyball in the garbage.

I agree with Dep Dawg. The FO is not cheap. Last year was the tear down, why would we spend $$ in a tear down? This year is a start to build it up. Were using some $$ to shore up the OL and will still use the draft for our main players. This is still going with the Plan.

Spending a ton of money on the OGs...what does that say about the front offices ability to draft OLinemen?...especially Drango

Come On Man ...

dangit

How Browns' 'Moneyball' strategy could land right franchise QB

http://www.sportingnews.com/nfl/news/cle...rk1gwel11ho4bjx

You can see what the best-case scenario for the Browns is if you look past all those jokes tied to the franchise's brutal past and the "Moneyball" and "Draft Day" memes and GIFs lumped in with the present.

General manager Sashi Brown, chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta and coach Hue Jackson are taking an unconventional approach for sure. That's magnified after Thursday's bold NBA-style trade with the Houston Texans for Brock Osweiler that netted a 2018 second-round pick and a 2018 sixth-round pick. There's an exciting plan in place, but that still needs to include Cleveland's franchise quarterback.

MORE: NFL free agency winners, losers

It might take one more year to get there, and given what Cleveland is doing that's OK. It's OK if Osweiler starts for a year. It's OK if the Browns dump Osweiler and turn to Jimmy Garoppolo. It's OK if they take a pass on the offer by fellow draft-pick hoarder New England. There isn't a sure-thing franchise quarterback available in this year's draft or free agency anyway.

If Cleveland can wait just one more year, however, then there's a draft class that potentially includes USC's Sam Darnold, UCLA's Josh Rosen and Louisville's Lamar Jackson. That's a tough sell for a fan-base coming off a 1-15 season and trotting out their 27th different starter since 1999, but that might just be part of the master plan. It should at least be considered.

There's no guarantee Cleveland can get any of those guys, but they can make a strong play. The Browns now have 22 picks for the 2017 and 2018 NFL Drafts, with eight of those coming in the first two rounds. They can package and repackage those to move up and down draft boards as needed. That's a huge advantage.

In the meantime, the Browns – for once – should keep doing what they are doing. The best moves on Thursday were adding Green Bay center J.C. Tretter and Cincinnati guard Kevin Zeitler. Cleveland also extended Joel Bitonio to a five-year, $51.2 extension.

"It sounded like Cleveland just offered the best deal. My agent suggested I go with it," Zeitler told SN's Alex Marvez.

Imagine that—Cleveland a destination site. More importantly, the offensive line is no longer "Joe Thomas and other bodies." That's a legitimate front that can open things up for the running game and prevent a quarterback from taking a league-high 44 sacks. The Browns addressed one of their biggest needs before the draft.

About that 2017 NFL Draft, which includes four of the first 52 picks. Cleveland can take Myles Garrett at No. 1 without over-thinking it. Pair Garrett with Emmanuel Ogbah, who led the team with 6.0 sacks as a rookie. That's a no-brainer.

The Browns, however, can enjoy the freedom with the No. 12 pick. It doesn't have to be a quarterback if Deshaun Watson, Mitch Trubisky or the others do not feel right. It could be a bold pick or a small trade up for, say, a 240-pound running back who just ran a 4.51 at the NFL Combine. Hello, Leonard Fournette.

Remember that 2014 NFL Draft first round that landed Justin Gilbert and Johnny Manziel? A Garrett-Fournette combo would generate about 50 times more excitement in Cleveland. There's your "Draft Day" script re-written. Only the quarterback question – the biggest question in Cleveland – hasn't been answered.

Osweiler or whoever under center can work with that. It might not win the AFC North, but the progress could lead to the final step. That's landing the franchise quarterback. If it's not Osweiler or Garoppolo, then who is it?

It can be found in the 2018 NFL Draft. Jackson loved drafting Cody Kessler. How much better is Darnold? He's a Heisman Trophy candidate who is drawing comparisons to Joe Montana. Rosen could have a bounce-back year at UCLA. Jackson could win a second Heisman Trophy and continue to improve at Louisville. Those are real long-term, home-grown options at quarterback, unlike what it out there this year with the exception of maybe Watson. It's risky to wait on Darnold, Rosen or Jackson, but it's worth a try.

If Cleveland can wait until next year (yes, we know that's the eternal motto), then the quarterback might come and be set up for success given all the other moves Brown, DePodesta and Jackson have made. You can say Cleveland is building this thing backwards with unconventional thinking, or you could say they are fortifying the offensive and defensive fronts like a smart football team should. They have enough picks to make a deal for the right quarterback in 2018. This plan might work, and that would bring "Moneyball" to the NFL like never before.

We've seen the worst-case scenario play out almost every year since 1999. At least Brown, DePodesta and Jackson envision something else. Can Browns fans envision a scenario that includes an offensive line, Garrett, Fournette and Darnold? That would would be something, all right. That's a hell of a plan, and that's OK, too.

If it doesn't work, then all those jokes won't be hard to find.

That sure sounds like a guy who wants to play for the Browns...

Yes, it definitely does.

Money talks and makes believers of most everyone.
Mercenaries get the job done.

"The Plan?"

Winning would top my list.

I think you just shot yourself in the foot sir. Or maybe blew your foot off at the knee.

So Zeitler signs with the Browns - while the Browns have the best offer on the table. You question his desire to be on the Browns.

Pryor - Does not sign with the browns, while the Browns have the best offer on the table (according to many undisputed sources) .... But you must think Pryor wants to be here and somehow it's all the fault of the FO that Pryor has not signed.

That is an untenable position to take.

Don't worry. mac will make it work, somehow.

Common Man??

How about this plan. Going all the wayyy back to 2006.

There are 4 teams in the AFC North

Steelers,-- Steelers fans,

Ravens,-- Ravens fans,

Bengals,-- Bengals fans,

Browns,-- Browns fans.

Now. at ANY POINT, ANY GIVEN TIME goint alll the wayy back to 2006,

If you ask any of three of those groups, this question.

"Who's your teams quarterback?"

3 of those groups could answer you, without even thinking about it. Browns? Not so much.

I hope the plan is to change that!

Where's the fun in that?

I kinda enjoy keeping everyone, including us, guessing

The offensive line...JT, (if the H boys don't trade him away), Zeitler..the only healthy OLine starters as of today.

The center, Tretter, is coming off of "knee surgery" and Bitonio and Greco are coming off of foot surgery, while RT Shon Coleman had knee surgery a year ago with Erving in the mix.

The Browns OLine is going to be a big ? mark until they see how the 4 linemen progress after their surgeries.

Not to mention at this time last year Alex Mack wanted so much to stay in Cleveland rather than going to Atlanta, that he wouldn't even listen to any offers from Sashi

Fixed that for ya TL

Are you telling me the Harvard boys beat up the homeless man who drafted Johnny Manziel for us? Can I become this excited about violence towards the homeless?

Didn't your love, Pryor, have surgery just a while ago, on his finger? I mean, come on, as a receiver, the hands are kind of a big deal, right?


Yet you're pissed we haven't signed him for $12/year, and then you go on and gripe about signing players that had surgery.

Vambo's article is saying, better than I could, what I've been trying to say. We don't have to fix the QB position this year. I like JG, but I don't think NE will trade him for anything less than (the chance to draft) Garrett. And if they're willing to trade their (40 y/o) Brady insurance policy for Garrett, what does that say about Garrett. JUST DRAFT GARRETT!

IF the QBs who are eligible do come out, next year's crop looks much better than this year's choices. We have the ammo to trade up...you know, just in case we aren't already in the top 3.

Trade for JG as long as it doesn't cost us Garrett. But if we can't, W8 4 Nxt Yr Again.

mg...but Pryor has said he wants to play in Cleveland, but the front office puts no value on that fact.

Schwartz wanted to play in Cleveland too, and Sashi low balled him.

It doesn't sound as if Zeitler gives a damn where he plays.
..just another example the Hboys putting a higher value on someone elses free agent and being cheap when it comes time to sign those players who did perform well and wanted to continue playing in Cleveland.

mac, these aren't family members the FO refuses to feed, they're pieces on a chessboard used to win. Letting Schwartz go was a mistake but not overpaying Pryor is good business.

Other than the value of the best offer TP has on the table right now, you mean.

First Sashi HIGH BALLED him Schwartz turned his nose at it. Use the entire story not just parts that fit your agenda.

Oh but they did put a value on it. More then any other team has. He thinks he can get more. That isn't the front office's fault.

...but Sashi didn't low-ball Pryor. They have the highest offer on the table.

Pryor SAID he wants to stay in Cleveland, and yet he's taking any meeting he can get.

Mac, this might be difficult for you to understand. But Pryor wants to get the most money he can.

So why hasn't he re-signed yet?

mac do you over pay on everything you buy?

What a mere $2 for a Coke no sir here's $5 it's worth it!

Actions speak louder than words. Zeit signed the best offer. Pryor didn't. As for your claim that the FO didn't value what Pryor said ... [1] none of us know the actual offers [2] Pryor's talk appears to be exactly that. All talk.

Browns have gone and signed a WR with virtually identical production for $8 mill per. I don't know for a fact but I'd bet a weeks salary that Pryor's offer was higher in total $$ and signing bonus. . . .

HEY BOYS...all of you are acting like you know what lil Sashi offered Pryor...AND ALL OF YOU ARE SIMPLY GUESSING.

When it comes to re-signing our own free agents, Dee, Jimmy and Sashi are CHEAP!

This is the 2nd year in row that the front failed to get their own top FAs signed...and this year, sushi had an entire year to get the deal done.

One question...who do you believe would get more opportunities to catch a pass...Pryor or Coleman?

If Sashi thinks that people don't know why he doesn't want Pryor on the team..every coach and player knows what the Browns front office is doing.

...protecting their draft pick with a WR who will not overshadow the 5-10 Cory Coleman.

Last I heard, Joel Bitoni just signed a monster deal as did Jamie Collins. Can we really indicate the FO is cheap?

It has been reported multiple times our offer is the best one he has. Do you have anything to support something different?

That right there should have been enough to make u stop and change your mind .. *LOL* ...

I wouldn't know ... don't waste my time on the dude ..

We are guessing, but you are simply making 'stuff' up.

I'll take guessing over that.


ex. the FO is cheap. What is your take on the Bitonio extension, then? Either answer or do your little silence-until-you-think-people-have-forgotten thing.

It's okay Diam, logic makes much more sense once you grow up.

*LOL* ... one of the best lines ever ... INSTANT CLASSIC ...

BOYS...I have been clear on this point...since last year I have pointed to the fact that our owners and front office are CHEAPASSES WHEN IT COMES RE-SIGNING "OUR OWN" FREE AGENTS.

Sashi lowballed Schwartz and failed to get him resigned...but this front office has no problem OVER-PAYING SOMEONE ELSES LEFTOVERS (FA).

Getting Bit signed early was a good strategy...should have went after Pryor hard after 8 games...but sushi waited.

Pryor ended up with more yardage than all of the Harvard Boys 5 wrs yardage combined...that is "embarrassing" to the Browns front office.

...Pryor embarrassed the Harvards and they know he would do it every year by leading the Browns in receptions and yardage...just like he did this year.

We secured Collins, we secured Bitonio.. Either they have learned something or this was somehow part of a grander plan... regardless, what happened last year is over, can't go back and undo it. Need to move forward and get better and I think we have done that in the last couple days.

Now it makes sense.

I classify Collins as a free agent pick up during the season and he is an example of how our Boys in the front office will throw money at someone elses free agent while being "cheap" when comes time to re-sign our own free agents.

I just said that signing Bit early was a good idea...why didn't Sashi go after Pryor during the season...say after 8 games?

Sashi does not value nor want someone like Pryor overshadowing his first draft pick, Cory.

It does not matter that the Browns head coach said he wanted Pryor signed...Sashi and Jimmy know more about football than Hue does!

...or so it seems.

After Sashi and Depo lost Schwartz last year...I would be really pissed at Sashi for losing Pryor this year.

Sashi has a two year trend going, ignoring what the HEAD COACH WANTS. That is the type of thing that ends up costing people their job.

Remember, Hue asked for a "football guy" to be added to the front office...next year, Haslam may have to choose between what Hue wants and his boy Sashi.

Now they are not CHEAP they are SCARED Pryor will be to good!

Priceless...

. thats not a MONEYBALL MOVE ....

Just remember a few things.

1. Baseball the contracts are guaranteed 100%.

2. Football has revenue sharing and cap.

So Money Ball in football is a totally different animal. I'm glad they did their homework and have a MONEY BALL PLAN for this Free Agency

Link showing that Pryor signed with another team please!



Link please!



Link please!

As your points get shot down, your fabrication level seems to go up.

He seems to forget that Sashi initially signed Pryor too.

Pryor was another team's castoff then

I classify Collins as a free agent pick up

So basically you are allowed to just make things up to suit your agenda.

Just when did we draft Pryor.

If this is such a big mistake just why O why has no other team thrown money at him???

You can't just "CLASSIFY" somebody as not being on our team when they were, just so you can say we didn't sign our own. ??? Pryor joined us in the last month of the 2015 season after we released him in September of 2015.

Ahhh you suck me in again...lol

I hate being a bearer of bad news. Neither Sashi or the Browns drafted Pryor. Technically Pryor was a free agent sign as well. Since Sashi signed Pryor a second time beginning last season, difference between Pryor and Collins is maybe a half a season.

Just throwing this out. Perhaps mac just wants attention.

I know my dog, Dummy, when he feels he doesn't get enough attention, will grab something he knows he's not supposed to have (tv remote, home phone, cell phone, shoe, etc) and he'll parade it around you. In his mouth.

In an effort for: attention.

The best way for us to "get" the thing away from him, we've found out, is to ignore him.

I feel sorry for Dummy.

When you do ignore Dummy he just gets louder and louder though.

I am of course talking about the dog.

Browns' 'Moneyball' approach playing out and the results are, well, to be determined


It's still early, but the Browns are starting to see some positive results after their front-office restructuring
Jason La Canfora

26m ago • 6 min read

Welcome to the NFL, Paul DePodesta. That’s more like it.

A year after the Browns hired the accomplished baseball executive and pioneer of the “Moneyball” movement to head their analytics and strategic operations, and a year after yet another front-office restructuring that moved that strategy department on par with football operations, you can finally see some fruit of his labor in the NBA-style Brock Osweiler trade that the Browns hope is a precursor to an eventual trade for a starting quarterback like Jimmy Garoppolo (or possibly Kirk Cousins).

It comes a year after basically taking a mulligan on the entire 2016 offseason. The Browns let quality players walk for no good reason, unable to get decent outside free agents to come to Cleveland. They traded down and lost out on a bonanza of blue-chip talent in the draft, including potential franchise quarterback Carson Wentz. They drafted like 15 players -- including five at one position -- somehow allowing them all to make the team and struggle to win a single game while rotating quarterbacks took turns getting maimed every week.

The Browns just might finally be on to something.

Last year’s apparent philosophy, which some in the NFL thought was akin to tanking given the exodus of talent, the gross lack of spending, the youth of the roster, and the dubious approach that they’d reap a bonanza of talent with all the compensatory picks they’ll accrue, felt desperate and arbitrary.

DePodesta was just getting his feet wet, was still bouncing around to analytics conferences in Boston with free agency imminent and, being ever pragmatic, it would invariably take some time for him to develop an NFL model with inefficiencies he might be able to exploit.

And while I would contend that paying $16 million for a second-round pick -- essentially what the Browns did taking on Osweiler’s albatross of a contract from Houston -- is quite steep, I applaud the effort and the thinking behind it. And I hope it spurs others in generally conservative NFL to see things in a different light.

Kudos to the Browns as well for wasting literally no time in trying to pay the trade forward, too, immediately calling around the league after landing Osweiler try to pawn off that contract, cash and a late-round pick for a 2018 third-round selection.


To recap, the Texans sent Osweiler (who has $16 million guaranteed left on the deal he signed with Houston a year ago) and a second-round pick to Cleveland for a fourth-round pick, ridding Houston of a player they badly wanted gone and putting them in position to land Tony Romo as his replacement. And then the Browns called teams to say they would trade Osweiler, would eat at least half of that $16 million owed to him, along with a late-round pick for a 2018 third-round pick.

I spoke to execs for several clubs who had conversations with the Browns and their replies about whether anyone would take Cleveland up on its offer spanned from “Get the [bleep] out of here,” to “No one will do their new trade … but I don’t blame them for trying.”

Nor do I. While $16 million is a steep, steep price to pay to jump up a couple of rounds, considering how little the Browns spent last year, and their difficulty in getting many top free agents to take their contract offers even when they eclipsed all other proposals on the market, and the fact their ever-failing owner Jimmy Haslam is under extreme heat to improve his product, well, if he’s willing to spend it, then good for them for doing it.

Once some executives had a chance to catch their breath on what went down during a rapid free-agency frenzy on Thursday, I was able to download them for their thoughts. Some of the more forward-thinking ones loved it and thought it was good for the game. “I like that trade for both teams,” as one put it. “But I think [the Browns] thinking they can trade him to someone else is idiotic. And the problem for them is -- just look at their draft last year -- you can have all the picks in the world but in the end you have to be good at evaluating football players, and not just trade value, to build a good football team. Otherwise, you go 1-15.”

Ouch. OK, so yeah, there still is a ton of work to be done.

A more old-school executive from a more conservative franchise offered the following: “I hate that trade. I hate it. That’s not a football trade.”

And yet another veteran executive believed the trade skirted the spirit of NFL regulations about in essence buying and/or selling draft picks/cap space. “How is that legal???” one texted me. “Teams are going to go berserk.”

I reached out to the NFL Management Council to see if there were any issues with the deal and none were raised to me in the reply, and both teams announced the deal which means it was approved. We’ll see if the league maneuvers to close potential loopholes in the future, but in the present, good on them for going for it, I say.


This actually isn’t that far removed from what he Eagles and Vikings did in the preseason after Teddy Bridgewater got hurt with Philly sending Sam Bradford to the Vikings -- despite having just paid him $13 million in bonuses off his recently signed new contract -- for what became a first- and fourth-round pick. Bradford is better than Osweiler -- hell, everyone except Ryan Fitzpatrick and maybe Blake Bortles was better than Osweiler last season -- but the concepts aren’t dissimilar. And if weak teams can find a way to attach value to having $100 million in cap space available that they couldn’t fill in eight offseasons, much less one, then so be it as well.

As to whether the Browns can get the ultimate payoff they so badly covet -- Garoppolo -- I still like their chances.

The Patriots -- and those carrying their messaging for them -- doth protest too much for a back-up quarterback to the greatest quarterback in NFL history who actually seems to be getting better each year, and not worse. Given all the second- and third-round picks the Browns have, in addition to first-round picks in the top 12, Bill Belichick could hold out for an array of picks like, say, two second-round picks this year and next, plus a third, and the Browns would still not be depleted.

DePodesta and Belichick think very much alike, both are rooting heavily in an economist approach to pro sports, and the Browns and Patriots have already done plenty of business together in recent years. Neither team would have to do a thing until just before the draft and a trade could still come together. No one is better than Belichick at playing hardball and then ultimately squeezing for more than he could have hoped for (he would parlay some of these picks into a trade for Saints receiver Brandin Cooks, for instance, who he really likes and still have plenty left over to move up and down the draft board the next few years).

And no team is now better equipped to withstand parting with such a draft-pick haul as the Browns. Even if the Browns don’t end up landing an established quarterback from the move, I support their ambition. And even if they end up simply cutting Osweiler, I get where they’re coming from. Let’s see what else DePodesta can do.

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/br...be-determined/

Dummy the dog isn't dumb. And I'm talking about my dog.

I'll be honest with an unpopular opinion here....

I'm more than willing to see the Browns go 1-15 again in 2017 to draft Darnold. He is the next Manning/Luck franchise guy.

Seriously. We've been this bad for this long, I can deal with one more bad year. Put this kid behind center in 2018 and we're a contender for the next 10 years. I believe he's THAT good.

He won't make it past the first pick. No way any other team would trade out of #1. Our only shot at getting him is to have the first pick next year too.

Is that a not-negative post from LaCanfora?

I'm not really sure what to do...

That is not true. I have posted an article that refutes w/quotes from the main participants that totally blows what you are saying out of the water. And, I have posted it several times.

No matter who is right, it's probably time to forget Mack.

At this point I don't see what it really matters.

JMO

I've seen the article and read it. And I guess it comes down to what you believe. This year we could post articles with Pryor proclaiming his love of the Browns and wanting to play for Hue.... but who here would believe that versus Pryor was just saying the right thing. I don't blame Mack or Pryor or any player marketing themselves. It's a business and players are cut the instant teams deem them surplus. But it also means you have to take what they say with a large grain of salt. jmo

I thought there were quotes from Haslam and Sashi in there?

j/c

I noticed when looking at our '17 draft picks that we've kept the #1 pick in each round except for round 7.

I like the strategy of getting the #1 pick to start each day of the draft. That wasn't by accident given the number of trades we've made.

Missed your question before now ... I am sure there were quotes from the FO. I think you and I disagree on how literally we should take what anyone - including Sashi, Jimmy and company - says to the media. I think that it's not possible and not in the Browns best interest to mean as "gospel" everything that they say to the media. Not only do I expect Sashi and Co to say things to deliberately mislead in the Browns best interest in some cases .... But I also expect them to mislead in order to cover up dirty laundry - either their own, players, or other employees within the organization. It doesn't really bother me as I think all teams do it and it's expected.

Regarding Mack, Schwartz Pryor and company ... I honestly think the FO could release some information that would put them in a good light compared to the player and the agent ... I also think they mis-represent some of the facts to imply that they did a better job than they did.

Just look at the statement last year when Sashi or Hue or Podesta said something about not rating Wentz as a top 20 prospect or a top 10 prospect ... whatever it was. I think that was a moment of truth, but it hurt them. All they needed to say that Wentz was in the mix if they had stayed at #2, but the team decided the potential value of the trade for the Browns, based on all the team needs, was greater than taking the one very good player..... something like that. You tell the truth, just not the whole truth, and you don't give too much away. As it is it looks like they grossly erred on evaluating Wentz which raises questions, and I think Hue was the only NFL HC at Wentz pro day??? Not a great look.

Unless I am missing something, having the first pick in each round came from being the worst team in the NFL.

THINK ,LOL

That is true, and the way you said it is funny, but I agree with Willie (having noticed the same thing) that it is smart keeping the first pick on each day.

Thank you.

I should have said 'keeping' rather than 'getting'. It is funny that way though.

Ok, on the same page as you now.