@mudfly said:

Because when you are developing the Amazin' Mets of the NFL you first have to go through days of the "lovable losers". We need to do everything we can to draft Marvin Jones WR-California so we can have our own "Marvelous Marv" .

@tour2ma said:

Who you callin' classic?

@mudfly said:

Well, they do have players on their depth chart.....so all those players lost have been replaced....or at least their slots filled somehow:

http://www.foxsports.com/nfl/cleveland-browns-team-depth-chart

Note: Armonty Bryant still listed.

@darren15 said:

Remotely possible. Probably not.

@miktoxic said:

One or more of the key analytics may be the one(s) that gauge progress. Definitely do not want to use W/L in the short term, but also don't want to sit in ignorance for the full five...

@d-bone said:

I bet this year will be a mirror image of last year. Last year some of the fans had high expectations, but way overestimated the talent on the team and were surprised by just how bad the team was.

This year some of us think we're going to be Godawful because of the lack of talent on the team, and it wouldn't surprise me one bit if the Browns overachieved and chased an 8-8 season.

Somewhere in that statement is the makings of a classic oxymoron...

@darren15 said:

Well, if the Browns play as I expect this year- I'll be drinking plenty of Beefeaters (Bombay Sapphire actually) by halftime- nothing like a couple dirty martinis to help you forget how lousy the Browns are playing.

@mudfly said:

While I pretty much expected this and kind of understand the purge, without signing any FA's, the #'s are starting to trouble me......a quick count has about 8 starters and 11 regulars gone, but only 1 starter type player signed.....sooooo, how do we come up with 11 starter quality players from a single draft???....are all the second stringers(who couldnt start on a 3-13 team) suddenly gonna blossom?....or is Shashi gonna pick 11 good players in his first draft?......

and if we are cutting decent players with high salaries(whitner, dansby)......why not cut the shitty players with high salaries too?(Kruger, Mingo)??

Exactly. Replacing 11starter quality players in one draft is an impossibility. I said earlier- hello to 0-16.

@miktoxic said:

exactly. hope the fans that are applauding realize they won't be liking anything they see on sundays for quite some time. and if that's the case will people still show up to the stadium and buy season tickets? will the crowd in the stadium not boo and start throwing dog bones or beers (!?!) and not call for jackson and co's heads year two?

the money thing with haslam is what i worry about. as war pointed out, he's got to have the balls to give these guys the 5 years. hasn't happened yet.

Well, I'm married to my season tickets, and already sent in the first installment payment. Understood it's a total nuke job, and it's going to take years- probably at least two seasons to get to respectability. Will the fans give this incarnation of the front office more than a couple years if the team sucks out loud, as I fully expect they will? LOL, have Cleveland fans ever been patient? The big question is will Haslam stick to his guns this time in the face of total suckitude? We've been waiting since 1999, and at least for this fan, my patience is totally shot. I've said many times I'm running out of next years fast.

@calfoxwc said:

I just keep wondering about the timing, also. They could have released Witner for

catching on with another team during the beginning of fa.

... probably? trying to make a trade for him - but they already showed they are letting

veterans go, so they finally just released him.

Good luck to him

catching on with another team during the beginning of fa.

... probably? trying to make a trade for him - but they already showed they are letting

veterans go, so they finally just released him.

Good luck to him

This year some of us think we're going to be Godawful because of the lack of talent on the team, and it wouldn't surprise me one bit if the Browns overachieved and chased an 8-8 season.

@kvoethe said:

We're signing UFA Adele as our MLB on condition she also has to sing the U.K. national anthem before the home games for free.

@miktoxic said:

the money thing with haslam is what i worry about. as war pointed out, he's got to have the balls to give these guys the 5 years. hasn't happened yet.

Haslam has shown (so far) that he's about as patient as the fan base.

@canton-dawg said:

exactly. hope the fans that are applauding realize they won't be liking anything they see on sundays for quite some time. and if that's the case will people still show up to the stadium and buy season tickets? will the crowd in the stadium not boo and start throwing dog bones or beers (!?!) and not call for jackson and co's heads year two?

the money thing with haslam is what i worry about. as war pointed out, he's got to have the balls to give these guys the 5 years. hasn't happened yet.

@wargograw said:

^ Totally agree

@mudfly said:

While I pretty much expected this and kind of understand the purge, without signing any FA's, the #'s are starting to trouble me......a quick count has about 8 starters and 11 regulars gone, but only 1 starter type player signed.....sooooo, how do we come up with 11 starter quality players from a single draft???....are all the second stringers(who couldnt start on a 3-13 team) suddenly gonna blossom?....or is Shashi gonna pick 11 good players in his first draft?......

and if we are cutting decent players with high salaries(whitner, dansby)......why not cut the shitty players with high salaries too?(Kruger, Mingo)??

@mudfly said:

I agree that the numbers are scary, but every game a guy like Whitner starts is one that a young player who is actually part of our future does NOT have under his belt.

Personally, and I've said this before, I love that they're doing a true and total tear down and rebuild. Can't be half-in, half-out if you're going to do it the right way. And this is why those expecting a good team in 2-3 years are delusional. I have zero expectations until year 4 or 5, but I am excited about what we'll have on our hands at that time. Jimmy just needs to show the testicular fortitude to see the course all the way through.

@tour2ma said:

I think that will be hard for some to grasp. Keeping around older vets that could have dragged out an extra win or two would just have the team in purgatory. Middling where they can't get prime talent in the draft and still not being competitive enough to go into the playoffs.

@logicisforsquares said:

I fully expect this to be a multiple draft rebuild.

That's been a given... what we need to brace for is a multi-year tear-down.

Had not occurred to me before... at least not in these terms... but what we are looking at here is a distillation process. Whitner is just another roster spot better spent on a UDFA with a chance of being here in year four of the process. Same applied to Dansby.... Same will be applied to vets TBD...

In terms of roster turnover 2016 will be the most extreme year, but 2017 may not be far behind. How far behind will depend upon the initial state of our player selection process. A process that should improve with time.

So now we cram the kettle full of "talent", turn on the heat of a season and see what bubbles up. Look for something along the line of one-third "players", one-third "promise" and one-third fodder.

Rinse and repeat in 2017 and we just may have the basis for our future in place.

One last thought... winning early is the antithesis of the process...

@mudfly said:

Kruger may be on the chopping block in due time. They could see Mingo as a young guy who they can turn around.

I fully expect this to be a multiple draft rebuild.

and if we are cutting decent players with high salaries(whitner, dansby)......why not cut the shitty players with high salaries too?(Kruger, Mingo)??

would guess this is an analytic move and the cuts are going to be lean and mean and close to the bone. the bone being JT and haden. to most fans they are the untouchables.

Zombo said:

I think Horton got around to watching film from last year.

I will always appreciate the native Clevelander coming back and trying to help us. It makes me sad that we can't ever put anything together for these guys that come back and want to play for us.

Hopefully this "down to the bones" rebuild is a successful one and the the last one for a long, long time.

Fans are all bitter or numb.

Zombo

@tour2ma said:

Understand the move... not so sure about the timing.