Browns have chance to change image

The Cleveland Browns are a joke. They have been a joke for much of the past 20 years since being reintroduced into the National Football League in 1999.

Since that moment, the Browns have only reached the playoffs once, and in that game blew an 18-point lead to the hated Pittsburgh Steelers. The quarterback-coach combination on that day? Kelly Holcomb and Butch Davis.

Fast forward to today, and Cleveland is coming off the NFL’s second 0-16 campaign. General manager John Dorsey is entering his first offseason at the helm, and he has plenty of ammunition. The Browns have both the first and fourth-overall selections in the upcoming draft, along with a trio of second-round choices. In free agency, only the San Francisco 49ers have more cap space than Cleveland, which holds $110 million, per Over The Cap.

However, the main reason for optimism should be the draft, where the Browns can change the course of this moribund franchise and disheartened fan base.

With Dorsey at the controls, Cleveland is in much better hands than at any time in recent history. In Kansas City, the former Green Bay Packers executive was able to land one All-Pro steal after the next in Marcus Peters, Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill. Additionally, Dorsey found solid contributors up and down the board including Mitch Morse, Steven Nelson, Laurent Duvernuay-Tardif, Zach Fulton, Kareem Hunt, Eric Fisher, Chris Jones and others.

While Browns fans have been snakebitten in recent years by having multiple first-round picks and coming away empty, that shouldn’t be the case this time around. Cleveland is going to zero in on the top quarterback in the class with the top choice, likely Sam Darnold out of USC. Three picks later, look for Dorsey to either take the top offensive or defensive lineman available if the board falls right, giving the Browns an asset in the trenches.

Regardless of how well Dorsey does in this initial draft, the Browns aren’t going to compete for anything significant in 2018. The roster is terrible after being churned over by former general manager Sashi Brown, who never found a quarterback or weapons to supply him with. Dorsey has both the draft choices and free-agency money to rectify that situation, even if it takes a few years.

Cleveland has been a downtrodden NFL city for quite some time, but that could change over the next few months. While the immediate future remains cloudy, the long-term health of the Browns is finally in good hands and has a chance for revival with Dorsey making the decisions.