Why Cleveland Browns loss could be a good thing
By Randy Gurzi
It’s never easy to watch your team lose and the Cleveland Browns Week 17 loss to the worst team in football was especially tough, but there are some positives
This one was hard to watch. The Cleveland Browns went into their Week 17 matchup with 1-14 Cincinnati Bengals trying to put together something positive. With just six wins, there wasn’t anything they could do to erase the frustration from a lost year, but they still wanted to end the season on a positive note.
That didn’t happen as this team came out absolutely flat in their final game of the year. With head coach Freddie Kitchens already on thin ice, this was the worst possible outcome for him. Not only did they lose but the team showed they were completely unprepared and that falls on Kitchens.
However, not everything about this loss is negative. While it likely spells the end for Kitchens after just one season, it also means they’re possibly going to get a top-10 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.
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Had they won this game and gone 7-9, they may have been looking closer to the middle of the pack — around pick 14-16. And yes, that matters a lot in the draft whether that be due to them picking a player that much higher, or maybe even trading down and landing multiple picks.
Of course, the Browns need to make sure they have the right people in place to make the most out of the players they add in the offseason. They also need someone the current group of players can believe in as well.
Sunday showed us that Kitchens is not that guy.
So while the loss was hard, it seems to have given the front office all they needed to see to make their decision on Kitchens. It also puts them in prime position to add a stud in the early portion of the draft.
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Nothing will ease the frustration of a promising season going up in flames, but come April, fans will be happy about their place in the draft, which makes this loss a little easier to swallow. Or at least it will once the anger dissipates.