Written by Jerry Roche

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Did you ever try putting a 1,000-piece puzzle together? Where do you start? Answer: with the easy pieces, the ones with the flat sides around the edges.

Fitting the easy pieces together is what the Cleveland Browns’ new leaders (president Mike Holmgren, general manager Tom Heckert and, to a lesser extent, head coach Eric Mangini) have accomplished in the past eight months or so.

It now appears -- based strictly on personnel considerations -- that the Browns will be a better team in 2010 than they were in 2009. But it’s also not dishonest to say that they probably won’t be a playoff contender in 2010 -- unless about 300 pieces of the puzzle fall magically into place. (Is that even realistic, given the lousy luck we’ve had since 1996 -- the most recent being Montario Hardesty's date with the scalpel?)

 

Back in December, 2008 -- shortly after head coach Romeo Crennel and general manager Phil Savage were given the old heave-ho -- it became evident that about a dozen positions needed to be upgraded before the start of the 2009 season.

When current head coach Eric Mangini was saved from the NFL coaching scrap heap during that off-season, he all of a sudden had about a million things to do, and coaching the team was only one of them. Mangini did the best he could, but the roster was in such a disarray that, by the end of last season’s miserable 5-11 showing, the Browns still desperately needed to upgrade at least 11 positions.

Enter Holmgren and Heckert.

Since the beginning of Mangini’s reign, the Browns have upgraded at least nine of 22 offensive and defensive positions. Comparing starting line-ups over the course of the last three seasons (chart), it’s easy to see that the team is indeed headed in the right direction.

Gone from the line-up that started the 2008 season for Crennel are:

> Derek Anderson (who -- wonder of wonders -- is a front-runner for the starting QB role in Arizona),

> wide receiver Donte Stallworth (who was barred from playing in the NFL for the entire 2009 season),

> center Hank Fraley (a starter for St. Louis),

> oft-injured guard Ryan Tucker (retired),

> aging linebacker Willie McGinest (also retired),

> linebacker Andra Davis (released by Denver in the off-season, now with Buffalo),

> underachieving linebacker Kamerion Wimbley (who flabbergasted the football world when he recorded four sacks for Oakland two weeks ago),

> free safety Brodney Pool (with the Jets), and

> strong safety Sean Jones (surviving concussions with Tampa Bay).

Gone from the team that started last season for Mangini are:

> quarterback Brady Quinn (mired as a third-stringer in Denver),

> running back Jamal Lewis (part owner of Ford Rapids Indoor Waterpark Resort in Columbus, sermonizing every week at Ahavath Achim Synagogue in Atlanta),

> wide receiver Braylon Edwards (making life miserable for New York Jets fans), and

> defensive end Corey Williams (with Detroit).

It’s a New Ball Game

As we enter the 2010 season, the overall roster appears much improved. The positives far outweigh the negatives, including the fact that the team can even boast a little depth at certain positions.

For instance, thanks to Holmgren’s expertise, Browns fans are finding out that Jake Delhomme and Seneca Wallace are about 10 gazillion times better than their predecessors. Tight end Ben Watson ain’t no Kellen Winslow, but he and back-up Evan Moore can at least catch the ball, a feat that last year’s tight ends never mastered. Defensive back Sheldon Brown comes with a pile of newspaper clippings and a playoff pedigree. Also, defensive backs T.J. Ward and Joe Haden have been mighty impressive in the pre-season -- for a couple of rookies.

Wait Till Next Year

I can’t believe I just wrote that. I usually don’t have to write that particular phrase until at least the second or third game of the regular season. But this is clearly a team in transition, and the transition from cellar-dweller to perennial contender is nowhere near complete.

Today, the Browns have four apparent glaring holes (emphasis on “glaring”): the right side of the offensive line and defensive end. This is not a good omen, especially if you follow the Lombardi (VInce, not Mike) philosophy that strong front-sevens on both sides of the ball win football games.

As the season unfolds, a few more positional needs will probably reveal themselves. For instance, Haden and/or Ward may not develop quickly enough for Mangini’s taste. Ditto second-year receivers Mo Massaquoi and Brian Robiskie. And what about the linebackers? The roster is certainly deep at that position, but there’s not one in the bunch who is All-Pro material, unless D’Qwell Jackson can fully rebound from his injuries. David Bowens, Eric Barton, Matt Roth, Chris Gocong and Scott Fujita finished the 2009 season on a roll, but they haven’t really proven to anyone that they can sustain a decent effort for an entire NFL season.

If the pre-season is any indication of what’s to come during the next 16 weeks, it’s pretty evident that the defense can’t mount a decent pass rush without blitzing LBs or DBs. Meanwhile, the offensive line is also woefully thin, even if massive rookie Shawn Lauvao quickly comes of age. So you already can count on Holmgren, Mangini and Heckert to spend some heavy draft picks next spring on linemen.

Bottom Line

I’d love to think that this year’s edition of the Browns is almost good enough to make the playoffs. (It’s been done before, you know.) But something tells me that those kind of expectations will lead to a massive letdown about the beginning of December.

For now, maybe it’s best that we temper our unflagging optimism and realize that this season’s Cleveland Browns are simply a work in progress -- nothing more, nothing less -- and the payoff probably will not come until at least 2011 when the front office and coaching staff slip the last pieces of the puzzle in place.