Cleveland Browns: All-Pros announced; 2 Browns named 1st team, 3 2nd team

Dec 8, 2013; Foxborough, MA, USA; Cleveland Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon (12) warms up before the start of the game against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

The Cleveland Browns are not just a team that had 5 Pro Bowl players and 4 wins.  They are also a team that had 5 All-Pro players and 4 wins.  Left tackle Joe Thomas and wide receiver Josh Gordon were honored as selections on the All-Pro 1st team while center Alex Mack, cornerback Joe Haden, and safety T.J. Ward were named for the second team.

For the Pro Bowl, tight end Jordan Cameron was selected by Ward was selected as a Pro Bowl alternate.  All of this shows that the Browns have talent on their roster, but key missing ingredients including a franchise quarterback and running game really hurt this team and the standings showed it.

The other part of this equation that is both an opportunity and a potential issue for the Browns front office is both Mack and Ward, named to the All-Pro second team, are scheduled to be free agents.  It remains to be seen how the Browns will approach resigning them, if they approach resigning them, etc.  This type of honor would suggest their respective asking prices will go up but it also suggests how good they were for this team as well.

A lot of the questions regarding how they will attack these two in free agency may depend on who they hire as the head coach.  It is a nice consolation prize for these players as well as the fans of the team that even though all involved were hoping to be a more successful team, the league is seeing the talent the Browns do have.

For people who want to talk about how the Browns are no better, things are not changing, so on and so forth… that is a lot of recognized talent and something that has not been here.  The fact the Browns have players worth resigning is also something that is relatively new to this team.