Cleveland Browns: A baseball-style rebuild begins in next phase

The Cubs’ rebuild followed a basic plan.

First, shed the contracts of high-priced veterans who are past their playing prime. They will not be around when the rebuild is over anyway. So, it would be best to trade these players for future considerations that would contribute to the rebuild.

The advantage of the first step is twofold. First, a team can trade the players for future draft picks or younger players who can contribute to the rebuild. By getting rid of high payroll and aging veterans, a team can add younger and cheaper talent that may be a part of the team’s future. Second, by shedding large contracts a team will open money on the payroll. That money can be carried over until the team is in position to compete. The freed-up payroll can be used later to add key free agents to be bridge to younger players or a key long-term piece.

The Browns began the tear down phase of their rebuild last offseason. They shed the contracts of players like Donte Whitner, Alex Mack, Mitchell Schwartz, etc. The list goes on. The results were compensatory draft picks in the 2017 NFL draft and freed up salary cap space. Subsequently, the Browns traded a third-round compensatory pick for Jamie Collins. In the end, the Browns turned a veteran player into a younger building block on defense. They also freed up enough cap space to be major players in the free agent market this offseason.

In 2017, expect the Browns to use those extra picks to draft building blocks in the rebuild. But do not expect the Browns to be major players in free agency. They have a lot of work to do acquiring talent as the base of the roster before making a run at veterans to fill in the missing pieces. They will sign younger players who can contribute to the rebuild long-term or veterans to short-term contracts as bridge players to younger talent.