Oh no… No.... No, no, no…. No… Please no…. no… Cleveland… NO!
To paraphrase the great Harry Dunne…
Just when I thought you couldn’t get any more Cleveland, you go and do something like this… and completely re-Cleveland yourselves.
Now I would never classify this turnaround from the Browns as a meteoric rise. However, it’s impossible not to feel good for a team that won three more games in 2018 than they had in the previous three seasons combined. Furthermore, the dismissal of Hue Jackson seems to have sparked a legitimate turning point for this laughable franchise. Hell, as soon as the season was over I was penciling them in as a legitimate wildcard contender for next year. And with the shakeups and turmoil apparent in the rest of the division, who knows? This team hasn’t made a postseason appearance since 2002, and all a sudden they have a realistic chance at taking the AFC North for the first time.
The stars appear to be aligning for the Browns. The perennial powerhouse in Pittsburgh is imploding, Baltimore is undergoing a complete regime change from arguably the most stereotypical pro-style offence in the league with Joe Flacco under center to a team that looks like they stole their entire playbook from the NCAA, and Cincinnati is starting to look a lot like the new Cleveland.
More importantly, the perception and image of the Browns dramatically shifted this past season. The draft was stellar for the second straight year. Baker Mayfield looks like a homerun. They took Denzel Ward, the corner from Ohio State, in lieu of having Bradley Chubb lined up opposite Myles Garrett, and he looks to be all of the shutdown corner they hoped he’d be. Antonio Callaway had a very promising rookie season out of the 4th round, and Nick Chubb is an absolute stud out of the backfield.
Before I continue. This really needs to be properly appreciated. The Cleveland Browns are drafting well? From 2011 to 2016 the Browns had 9 first round picks: Phil Taylor doesn’t play anymore, Trent Richardson is playing in the AAF, Brandon Weeden (who they selected 22nd overall at the age of 28 because he just looked so damn dominant competing against a field of 18-21 year olds…) hasn’t thrown a pass since 2015, Barkevious Mingo is on his fourth team already, Justin Gilbert (8th overall, 2014) was flipped for a 6th rounder two years later to a divisional rival, Danny Shelton is a rotation player for New England, Cameron Erving (2015) was shipped off to KC a couple years later for a 5th, 2016 first rounder Corey Coleman can’t get on the field for the Giants, and let us never forget Johnny freaking Football.
Very long sentence, I apologize, but worth it.
There are all sorts of ways to take shots at the Browns, but I think this particular piece of recent history is my favourite. They could’ve blindfolded each of the 4 GMs involved through those years and had them throw darts at the draft board and they all would’ve done better. But I digress…
Every decision the Cleveland Browns have made, save maybe for keeping Hue Jackson around as long as they did, has really impressed me. Yet another statement I never imagined I could ever make. And now, they have completely re-Clevelanded themselves by signing Kareem Hunt.
John Dorsey and Jimmy Haslem… If you ever read this… Please know that up until the moment you decided to let Kareem Hunt be a member of your football team you both had my full-fledged support, and that is not an easy thing to come by.
Less than three months after Kareem Hunt lost his job due to the emergence of video evidence of his assaulting a man and woman in a hotel, and Dorsey has brought this man aboard the heroic rise of the Browns because, and I quote, he “has a really good heart.”
Really?
This isn’t even the only incident that is currently preventing the league from officially reinstating Hunt. He’s also under investigation for allegedly punching a man at a resort in Ohio, not to mention the allegations of him teaming up with former NFL running back George Atkinson to beat up a man at a Kansas City nightclub after the Chiefs’ playoff exit in January 2018.
I guess this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. After all, Dorsey was the Chiefs’ GM prior to joining the Browns, where he would draft the likes of Tyreek Hill. Hill who, while at Oklahoma State, plead guilty to the charge of punching and choking his pregnant girlfriend.
But what a receiver am I right?!
If that’s not enough… and it most certainly is…. The Browns don’t even need help at running back!
Nick Chubb, in just one year, looks like a feature back. He averaged over five yards a carry, and showed that he has definite skills in the passing game. Is he an every down back? We’ll have to wait and see. Regardless, he’s an extremely capable starting NFL running back, and has already endeared himself a great deal to the Cleveland faithful. Dorsey essentially just told him that if the NFL is crazy enough to let Hunt play again (and since he’s a phenomenal talent, they probably will), that his job of leading this revitalized offence into the future alongside Baker Mayfield may be in jeopardy sooner rather than later.
The Browns have just suffered a massive self-induced blow to their reputation, and it happened right when they finally had the football world looking at them with something other than colossal pity, and possibly even verging on the borders of respect… Just another prime example of Cleveland being Cleveland, like only Cleveland can.