Cleveland Browns: What's the Plan?

In Romeo Crennel, the Browns hired a defensive coordinator who could not build a solid defense in Cleveland.

Then, they chose Eric Mangini as their coach when Bill Cowher told them no. And after Mangini was hired, Shanahan and Gruden became available.

The franchise would have looked like a joke if they fired the retreaded Mangini to go after a "better" retreaded coach, so they were stuck with him.

And yet they still look like a joke.

If the NFL exists long enough, someday this franchise might go to a Super Bowl. After all, the Cardinals showed us that anything is possible last season.

Mangini had the Jets setup for a special season, yet the only win they got in the last weeks was a gift from the Bills. And that was with a Hall of Fame quarterback, something Eric will not have in Cleveland.

Not that whoever does win the starting QB job, Brady Quinn or Derek Anderson, is going to have anyone to pass to.

The Browns traded away their talented but inconsistent first-round pick Kellen Winslow for draft picks, and now there is serious talk of them unloading the talented but inconsistent Braylon Edwards for draft picks.

None of this makes sense to me. Both Winslow and Edwards were first rounders; does the team want more draft picks simply to pick up more trade fodder?

Let's look at the recent first-round selections of the Cleveland Browns:

Going back to 1999, they chose Tim Couch over Donovan McNabb.

Courtney Brown was a safe pick in 2000, but that still didn't work out.

Gerard Warren was taken in 2001.

William Green was the selection in 2002.

Jeff Faine followed in 2003

Then, there was Winslow in 2004 and Edwards in 2005.

Kamerion Wimberly was the one in 2006.

I'll admit that Cleveland did a good job in 2007 by getting Joe Thomas and Brady Quinn in the first round. But if they end up trading Edwards, they will have none of their own first selections from 1999-2006 on their roster.

So you can see why I am worried that if they trade away more of their talent for draft picks, they might continue to make bad choices. And not only are the players they drafted this decade not on their roster, some of them are no longer even in the NFL. 

I say keep the players you have, get a winner in your signal-caller battle, and use your draft picks to build up the defense. Take Brian Orakpo or B.J. Raji with the fifth pick and get a running back in the third or fourth round.

You don't build your team by trading away the players you take in the first round; that keeps you in neutral. I know we are supposed to hate the Steelers, and I do, but they have a model in place that works. We just want winning football in Cleveland, yet there is seemingly no plan.

Instead there is this belief that with more draft picks, we will get better soon, yet there is no proof that will happen.

Memo to the Browns management:

Don't let Mangini mortgage the future when coaches in this league are hired to be fired.  Start making the right choices, and the first one is to keep Braylon Edwards. If he leaves, only taking Michael Crabtree will keep you where you are.