Few teams do a debacle like the Browns. Of course Robert Griffin III got hurt. Of course they got outclassed by a middling opponent which started a quarterback in Carson Wentz that the Eagles really didn't want to take a snap all year. Of course they are everyone's laughingstock.
Owner Jimmy Haslam has annually secured that sort of status. But for the Browns brass to be talking openly about their evaluations of players not on their roster has only compounded their problems. Trust me, their horrendous outing against Wentz is going to haunt them for a long time and they have a lot of decisions that will be very difficult to defend over time, but then you add in the comments from their front office and it ramps up the situation. Declaring that Wentz won't be a top-20 QB and then disparaging the impact of his first win doesn't help Cleveland's cause. At this point the Browns have boxed themselves into an ugly, smelly corner by virtue of their public stance on the QB class of 2016.
They paid Griffin twice as much as they had to and called him more than a one-year band-aid and then he quickly got hurt, as many football people figured would happen behind their shoddy offensive line. All the while they passed on Wentz, who they could have taken with their second-overall pick. And they were in love with Goff -- at least their head coach and offensive coordinator and all-important analytics staff was -- but they didn't have the guts to trade up one pick to get him. And then they passed on Wentz as well despite their most established scouts -- the only ones, actually -- in the organization preferring Wentz to Goff.
So think about the untenable situation these constant losers have gotten themselves into now: If Goff is a player, then the Browns are fools for not moving up one spot to land him (especially with Tennessee being so willing to trade that top pick). And if Goff ends up being a bust, well, Browns football boss Sashi Browns looks like an idiot for making this out to be a one-quarterback draft. And If Goff is a bust and Wentz is the real deal -- and the evaluators I trust the most have long liked Wentz the most of any passer in this draft -- and Cody Kessler is a failure as many expect he will be, well, the Browns will be bottom-feeders again for years to come.
Of course, there are plenty of other organizations that are convinced Cleveland has long been committed to tanking this 2016 season (left tackle Joe Thomas has to be traded next) and landing Notre Dame QB DeShone Kizer quarterback with the top pick in the 2017 draft. Kizer just might be good enough to offset all of Haslam's ingrained culture of failure, too. But this being the Browns, if I am representing that kid, I am convincing him to stay in school for his senior year rather than come to Cleveland.
