Rewriting the Browns' Draft History in Madden NFL 17

[RaychelSnr]

It's an exciting time for sports in Cleveland these days. The Cavaliers succeeded in finally bringing a championship to the city, and the Indians nearly managed to follow up that feat with another one in baseball. But there's still one team in the city that continues to be an emblem for futility and an inspiration to raging dumpster fires everywhere. Of course, I'm talking about the Browns.

With the Browns currently sitting at 0-10 and on a very real path to a winless campaign, plenty of people are pondering how to possibly salvage this mess and return the franchise to a greatness it's never really achieved. But unlike them, I'm not interested in proposing some tangible path to making this happen, but instead looking at what could have been done before all this even happened to make the 2016 Browns a better squad.

The most obvious reason the Browns currently find themselves in the predicament they're now in is because they have whiffed on so many draft picks in recent years. So in the interests of altering history, I've decided to go back to the future (and the past) to determine how the team might fare in a simulated 2016 if they had made some better picks along the way. Some rules for this experiment...

Read More -- Rewriting the Browns' Draft History in Madden NFL 17

[gametyme89]

Shame that the best the Browns could muster even with perfect 1st round choices (at the time) is a wildcard elimination. #feelsbadman

[timhere1970]

Probably have to go back to 2004 and get big ben.

[PVarck31]

Would have been nice if they didn't pass on Julio Jones, Derek Carr (who Mike Pettine wanted),Carson Wentz, OBJ, Ryan Shazier, and countless others. No matter the front office, they have all been horrible at their jobs. Every single one of them. You would think the law of averages would have yielded the Browns an impact player over the last 5 years or so. But not one single impact player has been taken since Joe Thomas.

It's almost unfathomable they could be this inept as a franchise. And with the newest regime, it doesn't look like they will be any better.

[ATLBrayden]

Quote: Originally Posted by PVarck31

It's almost unfathomable they could be this inept as a franchise. And with the newest regime, it doesn't look like they will be any better.

Taken from Reddit:
"In the modern NFL we've seen the Seahawks become a number one team going to 3 SB's in less than 15 years,

The Kansas City Chiefs go from 2-14 under Coach Romeo and then blast into 4 straight winning seasons under Andy Reid (assuming they finish with one this year),

the Detroit Lions under Jim Caldwell achieve an 11-5 record after having set the league worst record of 0-16 less than 7 years earlier,

the Jets go from the AFC Championship to DFL and back to Playoff form in less than 6 seasons (though they are back down again),

we've seen the Redskins come back to life after the disastrous RGIII/Shanahan years,

the Raiders have rebuilt after being one of the worst franchises in the league since going to the Super Bowl,

the Houston Texans achieve multiple playoff berths after starting out as one of the worst franchises in the league,

the SF 49ers go from a laughing stock of the league under Mike Singletary to a Superbowl appearance and 3 straight NFC titles under Jim Harbaugh,

the Arizona Cardinals recover from a devastating Super Bowl loss with their retiring of the HOF Quarter Back, and then back to an NFC power house a few years later under Bruce Arians,

The Vikings go from a middling and affable NFC North team to a feared defensive juggernaut under Mike Zimmer,

I could keep going on and on,

but my point is: What makes the Browns so much different?

What is it about the organization and their decisions that just can't seem to hire the right coaches/gm's or draft the right players?

I legitimately cannot wrap my head around how terrible you would have to be as an organization to watch all these teams go from the bottom to the top without hiring a single winning coach."

Don't forget that the Broncos and Panthers were the top 2 picks in the draft just a few years ago, and met in the most recent Super Bowl.

[timhere1970]

Quote: Originally Posted by ATLBrayden

Taken from Reddit: "In the modern NFL we've seen the Seahawks become a number one team going to 3 SB's in less than 15 years, The Kansas City Chiefs go from 2-14 under Coach Romeo and then blast into 4 straight winning seasons under Andy Reid (assuming they finish with one this year), the Detroit Lions under Jim Caldwell achieve an 11-5 record after having set the league worst record of 0-16 less than 7 years earlier, the Jets go from the AFC Championship to DFL and back to Playoff form in less than 6 seasons (though they are back down again), we've seen the Redskins come back to life after the disastrous RGIII/Shanahan years, the Raiders have rebuilt after being one of the worst franchises in the league since going to the Super Bowl, the Houston Texans achieve multiple playoff berths after starting out as one of the worst franchises in the league, the SF 49ers go from a laughing stock of the league under Mike Singletary to a Superbowl appearance and 3 straight NFC titles under Jim Harbaugh, the Arizona Cardinals recover from a devastating Super Bowl loss with their retiring of the HOF Quarter Back, and then back to an NFC power house a few years later under Bruce Arians, The Vikings go from a middling and affable NFC North team to a feared defensive juggernaut under Mike Zimmer, I could keep going on and on, but my point is: What makes the Browns so much different? What is it about the organization and their decisions that just can't seem to hire the right coaches/gm's or draft the right players? I legitimately cannot wrap my head around how terrible you would have to be as an organization to watch all these teams go from the bottom to the top without hiring a single winning coach." Don't forget that the Broncos and Panthers were the top 2 picks in the draft just a few years ago, and met in the most recent Super Bowl.

They make bad choices consistently. There is a salary cap in the nfl so all teams pay the same for players. Picking high constantly in the draft means you are constantly paying a high portion of your salary cap to unproven players. Teams that are almost always good spend that money on proven veterans. The Browns would be better if they just traded down. The steelers have I believe only 5 top 10 picks in thirty years and have dominated the Browns with virtually the same payroll because the top paid players on their team have proven they are nfl caliber players.

[azdawgpound]

Quote: Originally Posted by ATLBrayden

Taken from Reddit: "In the modern NFL we've seen the Seahawks become a number one team going to 3 SB's in less than 15 years, The Kansas City Chiefs go from 2-14 under Coach Romeo and then blast into 4 straight winning seasons under Andy Reid (assuming they finish with one this year), the Detroit Lions under Jim Caldwell achieve an 11-5 record after having set the league worst record of 0-16 less than 7 years earlier, the Jets go from the AFC Championship to DFL and back to Playoff form in less than 6 seasons (though they are back down again), we've seen the Redskins come back to life after the disastrous RGIII/Shanahan years, the Raiders have rebuilt after being one of the worst franchises in the league since going to the Super Bowl, the Houston Texans achieve multiple playoff berths after starting out as one of the worst franchises in the league, the SF 49ers go from a laughing stock of the league under Mike Singletary to a Superbowl appearance and 3 straight NFC titles under Jim Harbaugh, the Arizona Cardinals recover from a devastating Super Bowl loss with their retiring of the HOF Quarter Back, and then back to an NFC power house a few years later under Bruce Arians, The Vikings go from a middling and affable NFC North team to a feared defensive juggernaut under Mike Zimmer, I could keep going on and on, but my point is: What makes the Browns so much different? What is it about the organization and their decisions that just can't seem to hire the right coaches/gm's or draft the right players? I legitimately cannot wrap my head around how terrible you would have to be as an organization to watch all these teams go from the bottom to the top without hiring a single winning coach." Don't forget that the Broncos and Panthers were the top 2 picks in the draft just a few years ago, and met in the most recent Super Bowl.

What makes this team so bad is they never let the team build team chemistry...they panic if a player struggles and it's like OK release him...same with coaches etc...u will never have a winning team when every yr u get rid of half team every off season.

Until this team and franchise get that through their heads they will be laughing stock of NFL and all sports.

I think of all top qb's, wr's ,RB's etc we should of drafted etc and then come back to earth and just have think myself my gawd the team we could be fielding every Sunday to watching the laughing stock we field every Sunday...just Makes shake ya every yr.