The state of the Cleveland Browns

You know, it's amazing to me that a team could be built in the manner that the Cleveland Browns have been. I've watched the Browns play these first two weeks of the season, and they don't do a single thing well. There is so little talent on that roster, it's staggering.

The place where everyone will start is at QB, but I think that's the least of their concerns. They are asking their QBs (Quinn now, but it will no doubt be Anderson at some point) to complete passes to one legit receiving option, Braylon Edwards. Josh Cribbs and Mike Furrey are the other wideouts who see significant playing time, and then there's Robert Royal and Steve Heiden at TE. I can't overstate how amazing it is to me that a team went into a season with this arsenal. Jamal Lewis isn't much at RB anymore. Joe Thomas and Eric Steinbach form a nice left side of the offensive line, but the right side sucks with journeyman John St. Clair.

Okay, so maybe the Browns invested heavily in defense, since they've obviously neglected the offense. Nope, not really. If they hadn't fleeced Matt Millen and the Lions to get Shaun Rogers, they'd have two nice corners in Eric Wright and Brandon McDonald, D'Qwell Jackson at MLB and that's about it. Kamerion Wimbley continues to disappoint as a pass rusher, and that's all they have in that department.

So you have a team devoid of playmakers on both sides of the ball, but they did have the #5 pick in the last draft. Good opportunity to improve, right? Not if you're the Browns. They traded down a couple times and eventually took a center in the first round (amazingly, the second time this decade they've done that; few centers get taken in the first round and the Browns took two of them in this past decade). They passed on every single receiver in this draft, some of them multiple times. They passed on pass rushers, and even a tight end like Brandon Pettigrew would have been better than taking a center. They did take two receivers in the 2nd round though, and I've yet to see either of them actually play.

The Browns are a proud franchise; they're named after the legendary Paul Brown and once employed Jim Brown. It's sad to see a great fanbase like that get trampled on by their team, but this is one poorly run franchise. The very first pick they made after coming back to the NFL was Tim Couch, and it's been downhill ever since. I just can't believe a team went an entire offseason and thought this was an acceptable roster, for now or the future. The goal of the offseason should be to get better, but all the Browns did was trade their second receiving option (Kellen Winslow II) and not replace him. But at least they've got the center position covered (maybe).