Peter King is writing about us (a lot) again

[bonedawg]

I've got a feeling that Cleveland 6, Buffalo 3 didn't put much salve on the wounds of Browns fans. I know many of them, and one e-mailed me Sunday night after the Browns' first win of the year -- which featured 2-of-17 passing by the starting quarterback. It says much about this edition of the Browns that their star of the game was punter Dave Zastudil. "When the game ended, I felt nothing,'' said my buddy, who grew up in Cleveland and now works on the East Coast. "Zero. Completely numb. It's become so bad, even wins have become all but meaningless.''

 

The ire of the fans is understandable. This is Year 11 of the Browns' reincarnation, and it's hard to say the team is very far ahead of where it was 10 years ago, when the expansion Browns finished 2-14.

 

On offense, the Browns have a left tackle of the future, Joe Thomas, but no other franchise players; they'll probably have to draft yet another first-round passer, their third since '99, next April. They need a running back of the future. On defense, they don't have a pass-rusher or anyone who scares a game-planning offensive coordinator except perhaps nose tackle Shaun Rogers. The whispers of agents with players on the team get louder and louder that the coach, Eric Mangini, seems to have as many players against him in the locker room as any other coach in the league.

 

And if a report by ESPN's Adam Schefter is true -- that rookie running back James Davis was hurt in practice when ordered to run padless against fully padded defensive players -- Mangini will be in trouble with the league and in trouble when he tries to lure free agents to Cleveland next offseason.

 

The Davis allegations are troubling, and the team has already talked to a league official investigating the incident. The Browns say the incident never happened that way. Davis, they claim, was injured when going against linebacker Blake Costanzo in a post-practice pass-rushing drill, when both players were not wearing pads. The play left Davis on injured reserve with a shoulder injury. The NFL Players Association is also looking into the story, and I'll follow up as developments occur, as best I can.

 

With all that as a backdrop, let's take a look at what Mangini, who is five games into a four-year contract, and GM George Kokinis have done since taking over. They've made three major trades -- dealing troublesome tight end Kellen Winslow to Tampa for second- and sixth-round picks, trading down with the Jets on draft day to net a passel of players and picks, and sending Braylon Edwards to the Jets last week for two players and two draft picks. They also made a minor one, sending defensive tackle Louis Leonard to Carolina. In all, Cleveland got these 13 pieces of the puzzle (players and draft picks):

 

Players from the Jets Draft picks

Starting DE Kenyon Coleman 1st-round C Alex Mack

Starting S Abram Elam 2nd-round DL/LB David Veikune

No. 3 QB Brett Ratliff 2nd-round WR Muhammad Massaquoi

Backup WR Chansi Stuckey 6th-round RB James Davis

Backup LB/Special-teamer Jason Trusnik 6th-round CB Cory Francies

3rd-round pick in 2010 (from Jets; could rise to a 2)

5th-round pick in 2010 (from Jets)

5th-round pick in 2010 (from Bucs)

6th-round pick in 2010 (from Panthers)

 

Mack is starting and playing passably well. Massaquoi has started three games and is still learning the pro game. Veikune is an inside linebacker project, and Mangini is cautiously optimistic he can learn to be a sideline-to-sideline playmaker. The Jets guys are players Mangini knew, guys who can fill roles; Elam could be a long-term safety and Coleman is a serviceable 3-4 defensive end. The Browns have 11 picks in the 2010 draft, and it's a vital draft for the future of the franchise. (How many times have Browns fans heard that, and gotten their hopes up about Tim Couch or Courtney Brown or Gerard Warren or William Green or Jeff Faine or Edwards or Winslow? Those were the top picks between 1999 and 2005, and none play in Cleveland anymore.)

 

So, I asked Mangini and Kokinis in separate interviews, do the Browns have a better 53-man roster than they did at the end of the 2008 season?

 

Kokinis: "I think so. But it's different. To go forward, the environment here had to change. We aren't in this to put band-aids on the problem. We're here to solve the problem. When you establish a system, it's all about building a disciplined program conducive to winning, and you're going to have people at first who fight the system. But we'll find the true Browns who buy into what we're doing. The one thing people need to understand is this situation wasn't like Atlanta, where you can draft Matt Ryan and sign Michael Turner in free agency and win your division. This team was a long way away. Some free-agency periods and some drafts need to happen for the right amount of change to take place.''

 

Mangini: "Yeah, I think the roster's better. I think we have a much better chance of getting where we want to be with this roster moving forward. But it's not going to be easy. What gets lost a little bit with our draft-day trade is how much money we saved over the long term by trading down -- maybe $40 million. And those resources will be spent to build a better overall football team. That's cash we'll spend on more players.

 

"For now, we're making improvements. Some of the improvements aren't sexy -- more energy at practice and in games, more intensity, playing complimentary football. But regardless of external perception, we have guys who care. And next year, we'll have 11 draft picks instead of the four we had this year. That's when you can do some building.''

 

My take: The roster is absolutely not better because no player of the skill level of Edwards or Winslow has been added. But I would have done all three deals that ManKinis did, because Winslow and Edwards were never going to buy into any long-term rebuilding program, which this has to be. There comes a time when team and player have to divorce, and if player has great success after the trade (Roger Clemens when he left Boston), it doesn't mean he'd have had the same success in his original place.

 

Winslow was damaged goods on and off the field, which Tampa Bay is discovering now, and getting a two and five for him last winter was good. Edwards had two good NFL years, but the book on him was he liked the life of being a football player more than actually being a football player. Shortly before the Browns dealt him to New York, three teams told Cleveland they were not interested in making an offer for him.

 

Could Edwards have generated interest before the draft last year? Maybe, but not much more than third- and fifth-round picks and two bottom-of-the-roster contributors. (Let's say the Giants would have given the Browns a second-round pick last April, which they never offered. But if they did, what's a better deal -- the 60th pick in 2009, or the 80th and 150th in 2010, plus a fourth receiver and a special-teams-captain type? I'd take the latter.)

 

We can argue all day about taking Mack as the key pick in the Sanchez deal. I'd have gone for a play-making linebacker like James Laurinaitis or Rey Maualuga, or a top tackle like Michael Oher to pair with Thomas for the long-term, then get a center down the line this year or next. But time will tell on Mack, who needs to be a franchise keystone for this trade to be smart.

 

"The draft is the equalizer in the NFL,'' said Kokinis. "We've got to make those [2010] picks work.''

 

Because of the startup nature of the program, Kokinis said he's been spending time in and around the team this fall, instead of concentrating his efforts on on-campus scouting. He said he'd do that after the college season. If I were him, I'd accelerate the process. I'd be spending three days at Texas turning over every stone on Colt McCoy, and three in Norman looking at Sam Bradford -- as well as extensive time looking at the other quarterbacks in the 2010 draft, like Tim Tebow and Jevan Snead. That's more important than whatever's happening in his building right now.

 

This is a startup program, like Kansas City and St. Louis and Tampa Bay. Anyone who thought the first season would be pretty had misplaced hopes. Though if I were owner Randy Lerner, I'd have moved heaven and earth and acceded to anything Scott Pioli wanted to make him franchise czar. The fact is Lerner hired a coach who'd had a good startup record with the Jets. But for Mangini to succeed, he has to make sure he avoids the same mistakes a coach he knows well, Bill Belichick, made in Cleveland in the first half of the Nineties. Belichick's plan was smart, but his communication and execution were not. Those are the things Mangini's got to work on in Cleveland.

 

By the way, Lerner's not going to cave after a year and sweep clean. He's tired of the coaching and front-office chaos, and I'm not saying he's going to give Mankinis three seasons like this one, but to think he'll fire the building again this winter is just not happening. This is what I'd say to Browns' fans: It took you years to get into this mess, and it's going to take you at least two years to get out of it.

 

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writ...l#ixzz0Tr4c2cJb

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