Cleveland Browns: Panicked to the Max

The Cleveland Browns are panicking, as evidenced by bad decisions involving star players Mychal Kendricks and Josh Gordon.

The Cleveland Browns have panicked, making poor decisions on star players like Mychal Kendricks and Josh Gordon. Like many bad teams, they have acquired players mainly based on their upside potential, ignoring downside risks such as legal issues and chemical dependency.

The Browns seem to carry out less due diligence than other teams in the NFL, and they are also the team that is most devastated when things don’t work, as evidenced by impulsive moves involving not only Josh Gordon and Mychal Kendricks, but several past and present Cleveland Browns.

Kendricks was cut when he changed his story about his level of involvement in insider trading. That required his immediate removal from the team. Why? Was there a fear that other players would soon adopt illegal investments?

Cutting him would be understandable if Kendricks had beat someone up or abused someone to set a poor example for young people. But he is in no way comparable to a Ray Rice.

Realize too that he played last Monday night for the Seattle Seahawks. He was not immediately suspended or thrown in the klinker. Sentencing is not until January. He may or may not be put in jail at all, may not miss any NFL games.

But, you may say, Kendricks lied! That is true. His lie was in denying his guilt, although he ultimately decided to plead guilty. In the American criminal justice system, it is not that much of a lie to deny wrongdoing even if you know darn well you did it.

What do you expect would happen? Did the Browns expect Kendricks to reveal incriminating information to them? A better question is, what type of Due Diligence did they do before signing him? Didn’t they pay a good lawyer to find out as much as possible about Kendricks’ situation? Why didn’t that Due Diligence lawyer uncover the truth?

Well, what if the NFL suspends Kendricks? So what! For whatever reason, the NFL has a very favorable policy for suspended players. They don’t charge against the salary cap, and you get the roster spot back.

The Browns took a chance on Kevin Mack when he was convicted for hard drug use, and insider trading is not nearly as bad. Mack was recently awarded the Dino Lucarelli Lifetime Achievement Award.

He remains a respected and beloved sports hero in the Cleveland area.Heck, Martha Stewart is still on TV and she was convicted of insider trading as well. It does not have to be a career-ending event.

As for Josh Gordon, he was inherited by the Dorsey regime, of course, so Dorsey cannot be blamed for drafting Gordon. He has been a legendary troublemaker for years, although he hasn’t done anything evil. The precipitating event for his termination was basically that he pulled a hamstring in his off-duty time, and showed up late for practice

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.After all the years of patiently waiting for Gordon’s situation to resolve itself, they were finally close to the point where he can contribute. Now they want to give up over a minor incident.

Maybe too, the Browns have conditioned themselves to think that acquiring draft picks is an acceptable substitute for winning. There is probably some truth to the notion that losing is a habit, and it has been too easy for the Browns to give up and not even try to field a winning team.

Pulling a hamstring sounds rather stupid, but does not merit the Death Penalty. This is over-reacting, pure and simple.

The Browns are entitled to feel good about themselves for taking a stand against insider trading and unnecessary muscle strains. But they are missing two high caliber players.

You know, the Patriots win all the time and the Browns lose all the time. You would think they Browns would have some qualms about signing over a former All-Pro to the Patriots.   In the press, absolutely nobody believes that the Browns made a good deal.  Is Tom Brady is now going to have a bad attitude because of having Cancer Gordon on the team? Not likely.

These are just the most recent examples. In the recent past, they struggled to handle guys with questionable reputations, like Corey Coleman, Caleb Brantley, Terrelle Pryor, Justin Gilbert, and of course the Master of Mayhem, Johnny Manziel. Can we conclude from these experiences that the Browns are well equipped to handle guys with character issues? It’s probably closer to the opposite. The Browns are devastated when things don’t work out.

It gets worse. The Browns have repeated their pattern by continuing to draft prospects with major off-the-field concerns, including Antonio Callaway, who was suspended in college and failed a drug test, and of course, Baker Mayfield who pleaded guilty to public intoxication, disorderly conduct and fleeing arrest, in addition to a crotch grabbing incident on national TV.

So, have the Browns carried out the Due Diligence necessary to assure themselves that these bad behaviors will never be repeated? Mayfield and Callaway are going to be good little Boy Scouts from now on, right? Or, if problems emerge, are the Browns equipped to work through them, or is the answer to simply give up again?

We don’t know whether the trades of Kendricks and Gordon were instigated by Coach Jackson, GM Dorsey or Mr. and Mrs. Haslam. But whoever is behind these moves is clearly panicking, and giving up rather easily. They have hurt the team and made it more difficult to win.