Cleveland Browns: Corey Coleman cannot be a bust in 2016

The Cleveland Browns need wide receiver Corey Coleman to be a major contributor in 2016.

The Cleveland Browns have low expectations for the 2016 season. For once, it is being accepted that the team needs a few years to build up before any success will be seen.

This idea was not a secret in the past, but former front office members seemed to think that one player could be brought in to solve every problem the team had.

A new approach was taken this year when the Browns continued to strategically acquire draft picks, ending up with 14 selections in this year’s draft.

There was a good mix of positions drafted, but much of the focus in 2016 will be on the team’s first round pick, Corey Coleman.

The wide receiver out of Baylor was selected No. 15 overall, after the Browns traded out of both the No. 2 and No. 8 spots. Both trades allowed the Browns to acquire more picks for the rebuilding of the team.

It is great to acquire all of these picks, but the players taken at the front end of the draft each year will carry the burden of performing like first-round picks.

There have been so many failed first-round picks in the past few years, it is beginning to feel like the Browns are the only team without any inside information heading into the draft.

The 2012 group of Trent Richardson and Brandon Weeden was the first tandem that made fans cringe, while the 2014 group of Justin Gilbert and Johnny Manziel was enough to make fans lose all hope for finding talent in the draft.

But the Coleman selection looks like a solid one at this point in time.

He was the first wide receiver selected in this year’s draft, and the Browns came out after the pick and said he was their top choice.

The 2015 Biletnikoff Award winner finished the 2015 season with 20 touchdowns, which helped him make the decision to forgo his senior year of school and enter the draft.

Even though he joins 13 other drafted rookies in camp this year, Coleman will face immense pressure to be the team’s top receiver. There is such a lack of talent at the position, the front office went out and drafted four receivers, which includes Coleman.

He is being paired with notorious gunslinger Robert Griffin III to try to jumpstart the offense that failed to produce much of anything in 2015.

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So while the team as a whole has low expectations in terms of wins, Coleman will be tasked with being the receiver of the future for this franchise.

His performance will also be important for the members of the front office who are trying to prove that this group is here to turn things around. Another failed first-round pick would be a terrible start to what is supposed to be a successful rebuild.

The first season of a rebuild is the most important, because a failed year would just mean starting over again next year, and fans are sick of hearing that be said.