Eric Mangini Stays with Cleveland Browns | NFL Fantasy Football Player Rankings

It seemed so obvious at the start of December that Cleveland Browns head coach Eric Mangini was on his way out of the dog pound state. For all of Mangini and the Browns' shortcomings through the first 12 games of the season, they turned things around and finished the year on a four-game winning streak.

After the season was complete, new team president Mike Holmgren and Mangini had a few sit down conversations and Holmgren decided (surprisingly) to let Mangini and his staff stay on board.

Holmgren cited the four-game winning streak and the fact that Mangini was well-received by his players as the reasons for keeping the coaching staff around.

One Foot In the Past, One Foot In The Future

To get an idea of what fantasy football owners might expect from this team next year, let's go back and look at the Browns' four-game winning streak.

In that time, we saw running back Jerome Harrison become a fantasy stud as he ran the football no less than 33 times in the final three games of the year. In those three games, Harrison amassed 561 yards rushing and five rushing touchdowns.

While Harrison produced fabulous numbers on the ground, it was the Browns' defense (without NT Shaun Rogers ) that also started to produce.

In the final five games of the season Cleveland's defense held their opponent to under 100 yards rushing three times. Beyond those numbers, they also had two games in which they actually held their opponent under 200 yards passing.

It is in these areas that the Browns must have continued improvement if they hope to make progress in 2010 and become a respectable .500 football team.

If It Is Not Broken, Why Fix It?

Beyond the Browns' horrible start to the season, what annoyed me (and probably Browns fans) the most was the fact that Mangini traded away some of the team's more proven talents.

Proven NFL talents like Kellen Winslow and Braylon Edwards were traded away from the football team and replaced with younger unproven talent.

It is hard enough to win in the NFL with good players, let alone win with younger unproven players.

If this team is going to take strides in 2010, I believe they need to reward their quality players from a year ago and keep them intact. This starts with resigning special teamer/ wide receiver Joshua Cribbs to a contract he deserves, and making sure that Jerome Harrison is without question the team's starting runner heading into next year.

While this seems like a no-brainer, the team is already trying to underpay Cribbs (who wants to be traded), and I can't say Mangini will be smart enough to give Harrison the starting job outright.

If Holmgren and Mangini fail to reward deserving players, don't be surprised if the locker room changes from its current favoritism of Mangini.

Early Fantasy Football Player Rankings for 2010

Let's face it, the Browns aren't going to win games by throwing the football early in the season. This means their quarterback and receivers (sorry Mohamed Massaquoi) shouldn't be drafted on your fantasy football team on draft day.

If this team is going to win than they need a very strong offensive line to help pound out the yardage on the ground and eat up the clock.

Effective running will, in turn, help their defense, which needs to build on their improvement at the end of the season and somehow become a top 12 defense in the NFL.

This basically means the only fantasy-relevant player to draft off this team to begin the season is Harrison as he should be the opening day starter for this team.

As the season moves along players like Massaquoi, the Browns defense, and kicker Phil Dawson could have some value, if the team starts playing well.

NFL Fantasy Football Player Rankings writer Sean E. Douglas: fantasy-info.com