Browns Releasing Phil Taylor Epitomizes Everything Cleveland Must Evolve from

On Tuesday, the Cleveland Browns closed the book on the 2011 trade that netted the team five draft picks (including a pair of first-rounders) and the Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones.

And what a sad, pitiful book it is.

But the release of defensive tackle Phil Taylor doesn't just do that. It aptly demonstrates why the Browns have made exactly zero progress as a franchise since that fateful day in 2011.

And what the team has to do if it ever wants that to change.

As Albert Breer of NFL.com pointed out, the release of Taylor, who never became the hole-plugging force the team now hopes Danny Shelton will be, leaves Cleveland with nothing to show for the trade that landed the Falcons a two-time Pro Bowler:

And as one Browns beat man tweeted, when Breer said nothing, he meant nothing.

For those of you keeping score at home, that's quarterback Brandon Weeden (a first-rounder himself, and now Tony Romo's backup in Dallas), wide receiver Greg Little (hanging on to a roster spot by the skin of his teeth in Cincinnati) and fullback Owen Marecic (out of football altogether).

Yep. That's some haul, all right.

And it only gets worse. Because since that trade, there isn't an NFL team this side of Jacksonville that's done a better job of frittering away draft capital than the Browns.

Let's take a look at the Browns' first-round picks over the past five seasons.

Year	Pick	Player	Notes
2011	21	Phil Taylor	Cut on Sept. 1, 2015
2012	3	Trent Richardson	Cut by Raiders on Aug. 31, 2015
2012	22	Brandon Weeden	Backup to Tony Romo with Cowboys
2013	6	Barkevious Mingo	Seven sacks in two NFL seasons
2014	8	Justin Gilbert	Role player after terrible rookie year
2014	22	Johnny Manziel	Like I even have to say anything
2015	12	Danny Shelton	Has looked impressive in TC and preseason
2015	19	Cameron Erving	Struggling a bit to acclimate to NFL

Just look at that. Bask in the ineptitude.

Taylor was cut Tuesday. Trent Richardson was let go Monday by the Oakland Raiders—his third team in four years. Weeden is a reserve for another team. Barkevious Mingo has done nothing as a pro besides get hurt. And Justin Gilbert and Johnny Manziel (after one season, at least) may well be the two biggest busts of last year's first round.

Other than that, though, good job.

It doesn't exactly bode well for Shelton or Erving's prospects as pros, but at least the former has been impressive to date.

Not only have the Browns misfired on seemingly every single first-round pick over the past five seasons, but in three of those years they had multiple first-rounders. As in more than one.

And yet the next impact player the Browns reap from all those bites at the apple will be the first. And before you say anything about former regimes and all that good stuff, who was it exactly who drafted Gilbert and Manziel a year ago? Who passed on Teddy Bridgewater to select the latter?

Ray Farmer, that's who. Last I checked, he's still the general manager in Cleveland.

It's the reason above all others why bad teams stay bad. The utter inability to make use of high draft picks, to add the sort of player who can help turn a team around. A player like Julio Jones.

Since entering the NFL, Jones has already tasted the postseason and come within a game of making it to a Super Bowl.

In Cleveland, it's perpetual rebuild or perpetual punchline—depending on who you ask.

With Taylor's release, the joke's once again on the Browns and their long-suffering but loyal fanbase.

And the Falcons aren't the only ones laughing.

Gary Davenport is an NFL analyst at Bleacher Report and a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association and the Pro Football Writers of America. You can follow Gary on Twitter @IDPSharks.