Here’s the thing about Browns Fans:
Being a Cleveland Browns fan during the past 20 years takes a commitment that many sports fans wouldn’t be willing to endure. Browns fans have waited since Jan. 5, 2003, when they lost in the Wild Card round to the Steelers, just shy of the playoffs.
The heartbreak from Browns fans hasn’t gone away or gotten better since then.
Until now.
From one win in 2016 to the 2017 winless season, the Browns have suffered through the worst two-year span for any team in NFL history. NFL fans, players and even commentators have put the city of Cleveland and the Browns on the receiving end of countless jokes.
Even other coaches would make remarks to players such as, “Get it right or I’ll send you to Cleveland.”
After all of the adversity, things are finally different. After each year ending in the same demise in the basement of the NFL, fans remain loyal, united as one Cleveland Browns Dawg Pound Fanbase. In 2019, Cleveland seems destined to finally have it’s chance to bark back.
The rejuvenation of the Cleveland Browns started with the groundwork laid by none other than Sashi Brown. Although he was the general manager when the Browns went through the roughest patch in team history, he was hired to do a job of freeing up cap space and accumulating as many draft picks as possible.
In this requested task, Brown succeeded before leaving Cleveland. What Cleveland needed next was a football-minded general manager. Somebody willing to take on the job that would, in his own words, “awake the sleeping giant that is the Cleveland Browns.”
It’s for this reason that Brown is not the biggest hero of this turnaround story to any Cleveland fan. What happened next with the hiring of John Dorsey is what would lead Cleveland in the right direction as a team and as an organization to finish the 2017 season and lead them into 2018.
This Is Where It Gets Good
Cleveland Fans have longed for a stable, long-term quarterback since their return in 1999. Dorsey wasted no time addressing this issue. With his very first pick as the new Browns general manager, he selected Baker Mayfield with the top pick in the 2018 draft.
With his attitude and the way he plays with passion, Mayfield is what Cleveland has needed all along. Aside from the fact that he “has a cannon on his right arm,” Baker Mayfield lives with the competitive spirit that all Browns fans yearn to feel from their beloved team and be a witness of, especially after watching the worst stretch of football in NFL history over the past 2 seasons. Baker Mayfield has brought real playoff hopes back to Browns fans.
Mayfield is coming off a successful rookie campaign where he broke the NFL record for TD passes by a rookie QB. Doing so in only 14 games. John Dorsey hit a home run as his first pick as GM.
The New Era Begins
John Dorsey’s name can already be mentioned in the discussion for 2019 General Manager of the Year, with his offseason moves already trumping his star additions from 2018 such as Jarvis Landry and Damarious Randall; Dorsey has shocked the NFL world by trading for receiver Odell Beckham Jr. and signing recently-suspended running back Kareem Hunt to a team-friendly contract.
This type of added star power brings the addition of more watchful eyes on the franchise. Some opinions have even placed the Browns up as high 8/1 in odds to win the Super Bowl. This is great for the organization from a financial standpoint as well as helping them be a better team on the field. The hype train has officially come to Cleveland.
Now for the Browns fans who don’t like the idea of bandwagon fans who didn’t love the Browns when they were down; that is understandable. Browns fans have waited 15 years to make a playoff appearance. However, they have waited even longer to be respected by all NFL fans. Although some fans have been loyal to the Browns through it all, it’s important to remember the fans that started cheering for the Browns when Baker was drafted love this team equally as much. I also know that every Odell jersey, every Kareem Hunt jersey all beneft the organizaion. Every new fan that buys a ticket and packs the stadium on Sunday’s, even when it’s week 17 with a blizzard on the lake. That is what is going to help us keep this together by resigning guys like Baker Mayfield and Nick Chubb. Any business or in this case team that grows and succeeds has new customers and a growing fan base. That’s where we are Browns fans, finally on the NFL map. Let the bandwagon fans come, it’s going to be a fun journey in 2019. We are no longer the “Factory of Sadness” we are the Cleveland Browns.
“If you don’t wear Orange and Brown you don’t matter.” – Freddie Kitchens
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