Browns hire Andrew Berry

O'Brien absolutely will drive that franchise into the ground if he is allowed to do so.

They have a lot of holes, an upcoming contract for their franchise QB and LT, and some cap.

I don't see how O'Brien is going to thread the needle.

Amherstcavsfan said:

O'Brien absolutely will drive that franchise into the ground if he is allowed to do so.

They have a lot of holes, an upcoming contract for their franchise QB and LT, and some cap.

I don't see how O'Brien is going to thread the needle.

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They also don't have their first three round picks, right?

Jack Brickman said:

They also don't have their first three round picks, right?

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They have their 2nd this year, but have traded their 1st this year, and their 1st and 2nd next year. They traded their 3rd this year for Duke Johnson, got a third back for Clowney, then traded that 3rd for Gareon Conley.

The Human Q-Tip said:

I agree...but I think that has more to do with the talent than with the genius of the FO/coach. This team should have been better than it was this last year, although the OL was a pretty gaping hole that a lot of folks pointed to before the season began. And Freddie pretty clearly was a train wreck.

So if Stefanski is just a pro, a "good" coach rather than a train wreck, and Berry is an average GM, this team should show meaningful improvement next season.

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I take that as further confirmation of how sharp Stefanski and Berry are. They know that as long as they don't actively screw up -- and I do mean waking up in the morning and saying, "now how can I hurt this team today?" -- then they'll do better than their predecessors and look like heroes.

Last year's 6-10 and rampant dysfunction concealed just how much talent there is on this team. If Baker reverts to the QB he was from 2015-2018, instead of the facsimile we saw last season ... and as long as they don't have any crippling injuries, like the Niners with Jimmy G. in 2018 ... then we should be talking playoffs.

MoFlo said:

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Anyone think we should have kept either?

Really surprised wolf is leaving

MoFlo said:

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Makes more sense.

AllforOne said:

I take that as further confirmation of how sharp Stefanski and Berry are. They know that as long as they don't actively screw up -- and I do mean waking up in the morning and saying, "now how can I hurt this team today?" -- then they'll do better than their predecessors and look like heroes.

Last year's 6-10 and rampant dysfunction concealed just how much talent there is on this team. If Baker reverts to the QB he was from 2015-2018, instead of the facsimile we saw last season ... and as long as they don't have any crippling injuries, like the Niners with Jimmy G. in 2018 ... then we should be talking playoffs.

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At this point we just need to shoot for .500 before we talk about playoffs. If people are ready to give themselves playoff expectations then I question what they've been watching. Not to mention, next years schedule is tough:

Ravens x2
Steelers x2 (should be much improved)
Colts
Texans
Eagles
Raiders
@Cowboys
@Titans
@Jets

The division is going to be brutal. The Bengals should be better. We also play the Redskins and @Giants who should both be improved.

It's possible I guess, but it's going to likely take at least 10 wins to get in as a wild-card.

Bob_The_Cat said:

At this point we just need to shoot for .500 before we talk about playoffs. If people are ready to give themselves playoff expectations then I question what they've been watching.

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1. With three wild cards, "shooting for .500" and "talking playoffs" is not that different.

2. The Browns went 6-10 last year even though pretty much everything that could go wrong, did.

Baker was largely ineffective (whether that's due to scheme/coaching or his dinner fork is up for debate).
Myles missed six games to suspension.
Odell played hurt all year (and even at that got to 1,000 yards).
Ward and Williams were both injured and had a DC whose scheme neutralized their strengths.
Several other key players missed time to injury.
The HC was woefully incompetent, on a level that made Hue Jackson look like Vince Lombardi.
The HC also appeared to hold grudges against certain players, making them healthy scratches.
The GM forgot that there's this position called offensive tackle and that you need two of them.

If you want to believe that this team will be just as undisciplined next year, and that Stefanski will scheme away from his QB's strengths, and that he'll call draw plays on 4th and 9, and that OT will again be manned by matching turnstiles, then yes, playoff expectations are unreasonable. Otherwise, we will have to settle for seeing things differently.

AllforOne said:

1. With three wild cards, "shooting for .500" and "talking playoffs" is not that different.

2. The Browns went 6-10 last year even though pretty much everything that could go wrong, did.

Baker was largely ineffective (whether that's due to scheme/coaching or his dinner fork is up for debate).
Myles missed six games to suspension.
Odell played hurt all year (and even at that got to 1,000 yards).
Ward and Williams were both injured and had a DC whose scheme neutralized their strengths.
Several other key players missed time to injury.
The HC was woefully incompetent, on a level that made Hue Jackson look like Vince Lombardi.
The HC also appeared to hold grudges against certain players, making them healthy scratches.
The GM forgot that there's this position called offensive tackle and that you need two of them.

If you want to believe that this team will be just as undisciplined next year, and that Stefanski will scheme away from his QB's strengths, and that he'll call draw plays on 4th and 9, and that OT will again be manned by matching turnstiles, then yes, playoff expectations are unreasonable. Otherwise, we will have to settle for seeing things differently.

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I never said any of this. They can easily be more disciplined, better coached, better schemed, etc, and still only be marginally better in terms of W-L.

I'm excited about the hires, but until this staff and team actually do something on the field, nothing they say or do off of it matters much. I've seen the dog-and-pony show too many times over the past 20 seasons. We were the paper champs of the league last year and most of the guys that talked publicly seemed to think the Red Sea was going to part and the NFL was going to usher them to the Super Bowl behind a set of velvet ropes.

It's better to just walk into to this year with no expectations. If they suck, it's the same old shit and you didn't waste time getting your hopes up. If they win, it's a huge bonus we haven't received in a long, long time.