What’s Going On With The Cleveland Browns?

Things couldn’t be looking better for Cleveland. Hue Jackson is the new head coach and he brings a fresh outlook for the team. He has a proven track record of success, as the former Bengals offensive coordinator. Players have only the best to say about Jackson. With all that, there’s still something amiss in the CLE. With the departure of Tashuan Gipson, four key players have left the Browns. What’s really going on?

Gipson signed a five-year deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars worth $36 million, according to The Florida Times-Union. The former Cleveland Browns safety will have $12 million guaranteed. Was it money or the recent losing culture that drove him away? Maybe the Browns just weren’t interested in giving him more money after his high ankle sprain.

“I never dealt with something like that before,” Gipson explained. “That ankle injury, you don’t get your full explosiveness back for about eight weeks. It held me back from being the player I wanted to be and stopped me from doing the things I was accustomed to doing in 2013 and 2014.”

When asked about the reason for so many defections from Cleveland, Gipson was candid. There was a long pause while he pondered the possible solution.

“The pause tells you everything,” Gibson explained, via ESPN. “No, I think, I won’t sit here and say that. I couldn’t tell you. I’ll be the last guy to sit here and bash the city of Cleveland. It’s honestly just as confusing to me as it is to the fans and the city of Cleveland.”

The Browns are experiencing a mass exodus of players. Within the first week of free agency madness, Alex Mack, Travis Benjamin, and Mitchell Swartz have also opted to play the game elsewhere. During the chaos of the free agent signing period, teams are expected to get better. The Browns have gotten worse. They have lost starters on an already depleted team that can’t stand to lose more. The Browns have to patch the leak.

The crown jewel of the Cleveland saga has to be Johnny Manziel. After finally releasing the troubled signal-caller, the Browns can essentially get back to real football. Manziel had turned the Browns into nothing more than a sports reality show.

With Jackson as the head coach, the Browns will no doubt be building through the draft. The philosophy has been a staple of the Cincinnati Bengals franchise and Jackson was able to build a solid offense in southern Ohio. The Browns will have to blow the frame up and start from scratch. It will definitely hurt in the beginning, but patience will yield a sweet reward.

The story isn’t all bad on the lakefront. The Browns were awarded three compensatory picks Friday for net losses in free agency last year, for a total of 10 in this year’s draft. Per the Cleveland Plain Dealer, a total of 33 compensatory choices in the 2016 NFL Draft were awarded to 13 teams.

All is not lost. The Browns are still an attractive landing spot for Colin Kaepernick. Kaepernick is rumored to want out of San Francisco. His representatives reportedly asked for permission to seek a trade and the 49ers, not wanting to retain a player who doesn’t want to be on the team, have reportedly been fielding offers for him.

Jackson has been interested in Kaepernick since 2011, when Kaepernick was at Nevada. Jackson, who was the head coach with the Oakland Raiders at the time, attempted to move up in the 2011 NFL Draft to select Kaepernick.

The outlook isn’t entirely dreadful for the Browns. There could be a trade made bringing the Super Bowl quarterback to Cleveland. Hue Jackson just may get the player he’s always wanted, to turn the franchise around.

[Photo by Winslow Townson/AP]