Cleveland Browns: Time and patience are key to a Browns rebuild

The Cleveland Browns have never given their highly drafted quarterbacks longer than a year to develop and now is the perfect time to start.

The date is April 17th, 1999. That is the last time the Cleveland Browns drafted a quarterback inside the top-20. The pick, Tim Couch, was a good quarterback put in a bad situation, but led the Browns to their only playoff appearance since coming back to the NFL.

Despite the playoff berth, Couch was widely regarded as a bust and that failed experiment might be the reason why so many Browns fans are so gun-shy on pulling the trigger at the quarterback position.

Yes, there was Brady Quinn in 2007, Brandon Weeden in 2012, and Johnny Manziel in 2014. And while expectations were high, they were never truly given the keys to the franchise that you see so many early-round quarterbacks get.

The “keys to the franchise” refers to the confidence and belief from the owner to the ball boy that your quarterback is the one you’re going to build your team around for the next 3-4 years. The same philosophy goes for head coaches and front offices.

3-4 years should be a minimum in the NFL, and when you don’t allow quarterbacks and coaches to develop their own relationship, your team’s development suffers as a result. And when your team’s development suffers, the win-loss record is impacted and coaches get fired.

Finding a good head coach is important, but finding a quarterback he believes he can win with is just as important.

One thing I advocated for last year was the Browns to stay at No. 2 and take Carson Wentz. As we know, Philadelphia traded with the Browns to select Wentz, and while the Eagles’ win-loss record isn’t there yet, the Eagles believe that he’s the quarterback they’re going to build their team around for the next 3-4 years.

When teams take a QB in the first few rounds of the draft, they do so with the confidence that he’s going to be the Day 1 starter (in most cases). Even in second or third-round situations (Derek Carr, Russell Wilson) they proved early on they were the best quarterback on the roster and were named starters in training camp.

The Browns have experienced so much turnover throughout the years that they’ve never had the consistency in the organization to grow and develop a quarterback/head coach, let alone other talent on the roster.

The Browns are missing a vital component of a roster that could help a young quarterback succeed. That is a middle class of veterans who are at the end of their rookie deals/signing their second contracts. Travis Benjamin, Jabaal Sheard, T.J. Ward, Tashaun Gipson and Mitchell Schwartz are prime examples of the roster casualties that have been the result of constant turnover of coaches and front offices.

People use the Dallas Cowboys as a common example to “Build the team first, then find the quarterback.” To that I ask: “Did you forget about the Cowboys before this year?”

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Tony Romo was a top-15 quarterback when healthy and had established weapons in Dez Bryant, DeMarco Murray, and Cole Beasley. The offensive line was built during the years that they had Romo firmly in place, not when the position was a question mark. When they realized Romo couldn’t get that team over the top, they added Ezekiel Elliot to revitalize their run game, and found a QB that they believed could lead their team in Dak Prescott.

While some want to wait and build a team around a question-mark at quarterback, the Browns need to take a top-rated quarterback solely to give the franchise an opportunity to build around someone for a few years. Draft some talent around him that makes the team better, and in 2-3 years if you find out he isn’t the guy, draft another one and see if he can put your team over the hump, like Dak Prescott did this year.

In fact, I think the Browns should pick a quarterback they like in the top-100 every 1-2 drafts. That way they can constantly keep their QB pond stocked with capable quarterbacks. And if they’re lucky, one of those backups might turn into an asset that asks for a first-round pick in return (a la Jimmy Garoppolo).

Jacksonville is another example of how a rebuild should work, in my opinion. They drafted Blake Bortles in 2014 at No. 3 overall and he has been the starter since he got there. Talent was drafted around him at the wide receiver positions, the team signed big-time free agents on defense and they’ll likely draft a running back in the first round this year.

The team regressed in 2016 in what was supposed to be a breakout year, leading to the firing of Gus Bradley, but ownership didn’t panic. Tom Coughlin was brought on to be VP of football operations and the HC, OC, and DC positions were all filled with internal candidates. That is the type of move that could help promote continuity for a team that’s been at the top of the draft for a long time.

With the Browns releasing Josh McCown, the only quarterbacks left on the roster are Robert Griffin III, Cody Kessler, and Kevin Hogan.

There’s a very good chance that we’ve seen the last of RGIII, and Kessler and Hogan can fight for the second and third-string jobs, respectively. This means the Browns will be bringing a quarterback (hopefully two) that Hue Jackson feels is the answer to their 20-year quarterback conundrum.

Next: Weighing the first-round options

No quarterback that comes here will be perfect. No quarterback is. But what they need more than anything is time and patience from ownership, and belief from the team, coaches, front office, and fans that they’ve found their guy, at least for a few years anyway.

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