3 players fans wish could come out of retirement for the Cleveland Browns
By Greg Newland
The Cleveland Browns appear to be competitive once again. However, there are still a few past players who could leave retirement and help the team in 2020.
With the 2020 draft and most free agent signings in the rearview mirror, the Cleveland Browns roster has begun to take shape. There will still be opportunities for a player to be released closer to the final roster deadline, but that is typically on a limited basis.
For much of the time since the team returned in 1999, the Browns have struggled to put a competitive team on the field. The team was unable to attract free agents to the city and had a long stretch where first-round picks (many top-five picks) were never contributors as expected. For much of the last decade, the Browns have been the laughingstock of the league with a seemingly never-ending list of starting quarterbacks, beginning with Tim Couch.
While Jimmy and Dee Haslam have yet to put together a winning season during their ownership, they appear to finally have a coherent front office in place. For the last two seasons, John Dorsey was a tremendous general manager and was the first person to draft well and bring in talented free agents. Unfortunately, his pride was too big, and picking Freddie Kitchens as the head coach was too big of a mistake to keep his job.
With Paul DePodesta, Andrew Berry, and Kevin Stefanski all working together and on the same analytical wavelength, look for the Browns to take a step forward and begin to change the broken culture. It’s difficult to look back at all the wasted talent that came through the Browns organization, and you can’t help but wonder… Did the Browns have terrible drafts in 2012-2016? Or was the organization just not able to develop the talent properly?
It was likely a combination of both, but with a new front office and a glimmer of hope for fans, there is reason to be excited once again in Cleveland. IF only the Browns had these three former players to fill out the current roster, the Browns could go from a contender to a front-runner in the 2020 season.