Browns fans should separate Odell Beckham from Odell Beckham’s contract

The Cleveland Browns 2019 Super Bowl run

The OBJ trade made sense only to the extent that you thought the Browns had a legit shot of winning the Super Bowl in 2019. Of course, it didn’t happen, but at the time, it seemed reasonable. Why not? The Browns really did improve tremendously over the course of the 2018 season corresponding with the coaching changing.

Out went head coach “Huggin’ Hue” Jackson and offensive coordinator Todd Haley at 2-5-1, and in came Gregg Williams and Freddie Kitchens to replace them, and the record in the second half was 5-3 and could easily have been even better.

The Browns offensive line was miraculously improved over the course of 2018. Statistically, they were close to the bottom of the NFL in the first half of 2018, starting off with seven sacks allowed in week one against Pittsburgh and 33 in the first eight games.

However, they gave up only five sacks the entire second half of the season. Moreover, four offensive linemen missed zero snaps the entire year. Left tackle Desmond Harrison was benched after game eight and replaced by Greg Robinson, and that was the only change in the entire offensive line the entire season. Kudos to offensive line coach Bob Wylie. It was the most incredible turnaround in the history of the NFL and no one really noticed.

In the offseason, Dorsey spent too much money for what he got (other major deals included guard Kevin Zeitler for Olivier Vernon, plus signing Sheldon Richardson as a free agent, thus winding up with two of the highest-priced professionals at their position to help out Myles Garrett. He also signed bridge quarterback Tyrod Taylor for major bucks).

These were not astute deals financially, but Dorsey started out with a war chest (that is, unspent salary cap allowance dollars from previous years, which the team is allowed to “carry over” on their books) of $59 million dollars saved up by his predecessor, Sashi Brown. He could afford to be a little sloppy and get away with it.

It’s not as crazy as you might think Jimmy Johnson’s Cowboys were 1-15 in 1989 after trading Herschel Walker for a ton of draft picks, and then turned it around and won it all in 1992. And in fact, the 49ers made it to the Super Bowl in 2019 using the same formula, basically, as the Browns at the same time.

Dorsey really did believe that the Browns were going to win the Super Bowl in 2019 and was preparing for a big year from Baker Mayfield. With Jarvis Landry, Breshad Perriman, and Rashard Higgins already on the roster, Odell Beckham, Jr. would be just the player to take it to the next level.

With that kind of in-season development in 2018, adding talent in 2019, why wouldn’t the Browns improve? Even if Dorsey was sloppy with the finances, he added OBJ, Vernon, Richardson, safety Morgan Burnett, linebacker Adarius Taylor, and others.

The theory was that the improvement was due to offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens, rather than Gregg Williams. Hence, Williams was out and Freddie was promoted to the top job. Also out were Hue loyalists Bob Wylie and Ken Zampese, who may have had more to do with the Browns coaching success than most people realize.

People assume that Gregg Williams only knows defense, but he played quarterback at Northeast Missouri State. He may be unorthodox, but he’s also a football genius.

In his last job, he got fired for blitzing when the sporting public was absolutely, positively 100% convinced that the New York Jets could not screw up the “prevent defense.” Do you realize what you guys are saying? This is the New York Jets! No, I give our guy the benefit of the doubt.

Anyway, can we agree that Freddie Kitchens is a terrific guy, but we don’t think that head coach of the Cleveland Browns is the right fit for him?

Dorsey was not crazy for thinking that the 2019 team had a great chance to make the playoffs and make a run, and therefore was a match for OBJ.

But by the end of 2019, the Browns had spent about half of the $59 million carryover salary cap dollars that Dorsey had inherited from Sashi Brown. In other words, the Browns were outspending the rest of the NFL and had received a massive infusion of free agents and draft picks, including two first overall picks and a fourth overall pick.

The result, however, was a 6-10 record, rather than a Super Bowl berth, and Freddie Kitchens as the head coach.