The Browns Look Like a Four Win Team

     Man, I feel great about football season coming up.  I love football, I follow college, high school, semipro and pro football and my favorite team is the Cleveland Browns.   I will go to a football game anytime, anywhere.   I just think it's the hardest and most complex game in the world, and these NFL guys are the most amazing athletes in the world.  

     Now one of our traditions is that we try to guess how many games the Browns will win.  If I knew the answer I would be setting the odds in Las Vegas, but here goes.  

Gary Barnidge is one of the few guys we have left who has been to the Pro Bowl.  

    I feel like the Browns have a great Coach in Hue Jackson, a great Defensive Coordinator in Ray Horton (who I wanted to be the Head Coach, figuring Hue would not be available), and a front office that is Harvard trained in economics rather than flying by the seat of their pants.  

     But we really gouged the team this year, getting rid of an absurd number of talented players.   A partial list  is at the end of the article. 

     Not all of the players are good, but most of them can actually play and contribute to a winning team.  They will be replaced by young guys, many of whom are late round draft picks.   And yeah we added a few guys in free agency, such as Robert Griffin III.  But the talent we lost probably exceeds the talent level of the incoming rookie class.  

       So even if we have a better coached team, losing this many players is impossible to overcome.  We're just going to get hammered this year.  We are not likely to be much better than last year's team which went 3-13.   But our offense last year was respectable through the air with over 4000 yards passing, believe it or not.  I think the offense may hold its own again this year, with RG3 having a comeback year but running for his life with a weak offensive line blocking for him.  

     On defense, we just lost too many good players on the line, linebackers and in the secondary.  I think we will be one of the lowest ranked defenses, and four that reason we will have to struggle to reach four wins for the year.
 

Pro Bowler Alex Mack

Pro Bowler Tashaun Gipson
Former Pro Bowler Andy Lee

Former Pro Bowler Karlos Dansby

Former Pro Bowler Randy Starks
Former Pro Bowler Donte Whitner

Pro Bowl Alternate Travis Benjamin

Pro Bowl Alternate Johnson Bademosi

Starter Mitchell Schwartz

Starter Paul Kruger

Starter Brian Hartline

Starter Desmond Bryant (injured)

Starter (9 games) Craig Robertson

Starter (10 games) Jim Dray

First Round Pick Barkevious Mingo

First Round Pick John Manziel

First Round Pick Justin Gilbert