To build it up, the Browns have torn it down. And they’ve nearly torn it all the way down.
The 1-15 finish has the silver lining of the first overall pick in the draft plus the 12th selection, previously held by the Eagles. Still, to get to the point at which there’s plausible hope for the future, fans had to suffer through what became the worst season in franchise history -- along with weeks of worry that the end result would be 0-16.
Owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam have apologized to fans for the outcome of the campaign.
“Clearly this season has been a painful part of our rebuilding process,’' the Haslams wrote in a letter to fans, via Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “You deserve the best. . . . We’re sorry that our results have not been better.”
They seem to realize that things need to change, quickly.
“We understand the critical nature of this upcoming offseason as we continue to improve our roster,” they wrote.
The Browns won’t be making changes to the front office, despite a report that coach Hue Jackson would push for the addition of a more traditional football executive to participate in a process driven in large part by analytics. With only one win this year, Jackson doesn’t quite have the juice to make demands.
