Written by Thomas Moore

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Whatever comes out of these gates, we’ve got a better chance of survival if we work together. - Maximus

Today is the day that Cleveland Browns fans have been waiting for since, we don’t know, Week 6 of last season, maybe? The NFL Draft is finally here.

We know because we’ve written more than 8,000 words just since the season ended on what the Browns could potentially do this weekend. Oh, and because the calendar says today is draft day.

All kidding aside, this weekend is the most important three days of the team’s calendar and has been for the past two years as well. Because the draft is the only way the Browns are going to dig themselves out of the hole they have been digging since 1999.

Over the past 12 years the Browns have been, to put it mildly, immeasurably, endlessly, extremely, profoundly, unfathomably and profoundly bad on the field. And the draft has been a huge reason why.

From wasting picks in the expansion years, to making the wrong picks (Gerard Warren over Richard Seymour in 2001), or making the correct pick and having it not work out for a variety of reasons (Courtney Brown in 2000, Killen Winslow Jr. in 2004), to attempts to outsmart everyone (Chaun Thompson in 2003, not as bad as Mike Junkin, the Mad Dog in a Meat Market, but still bad), the Browns have continually failed at the NFL’s annual chance to improve the team in a significant way.

It simply cannot be overstated how much the poor drafting over the five-year period of 2005 to 2009 has set this team back (Beau Bell, anyone?). Head cases (Braylon Edwards in 2005), round pegs in square holes (Kamerion Wimbley in 2006), reaches (Brady Quinn in 2007), and the triumvirate of wasted picks (Brian Robiskie, Mohamed Massaquoi and David Veikune, a trio that Pro Football Focus pointed out “could haunt them for a long time”) all go a long way to explaining the seemingly never-ending string of 4-12 and 5-11 seasons.

Think about those drafts and how, as fans, we talked ourselves into the picks and were excited about them until we actually saw the players on the field (or in Winslow’s case, in a parking lot on a motorcycle).

General manager Tom Heckert absolutely cannot take those kinds of gambles and make those kinds of mistakes this weekend if the Browns are to have any hope of finally fielding a team that can stay on the field with Pittsburgh and Baltimore on a regular basis.

With two picks in Thursday’s first round, and a pick in the second and third round Friday night, the Browns need to wake up Saturday morning with – at a minimum – three starters and a contributing player.

Maybe it will be Alabama running back Trent Richardson, Georgia offensive tackle Cordy Glenn and Oklahoma State quarterback Brandon Weedon. Or maybe it will be LSU cornerback Morris Claiborne, Baylor wide receiver Kendall Wright and Boise State running back Doug Martin.

Whatever the combination, this is not the time for Heckert to get cute. The team’s scouts and front office have been evaluating players since last September and have built a draft board accordingly. Now it’s time to trust all that preparation and make sure all that hard work pays off.

If we were making a list, and it looks like we are, in no particular order the Browns need help at running back, quarterback, offensive line, wide receiver, defensive line, linebacker and secondary. (Is that all?) As long as they use their picks on legitimate, talented players that play those positions, they should be OK.

Heckert has done a solid job rebuilding the mess of a roster that was left to him from previous regimes. After selecting Joe Haden and T.J. Ward in 2010, and Phil Taylor, Jabaal Sheard and Greg Little in 2011, the Browns are younger and more talented than they were three years ago.

But they are in no way a completed work of art.

We can debate in the days and weeks to come whether or not the Browns made the right pick, or if they reached for a particular player. But remember, once those players put on a Browns uniform there is nothing to be gained by hoping they fail.

Because no matter what happens this weekend, we have a better chance of surviving if we all stick together.