In the spring of 2016, the Cleveland Browns decided to bring the “Moneyball” approach to team building to the NFL. Moneyball is not a new process in the NFL as the heart of the approach is to find undervalued players; Bill Belichick and the Patriots have been utilizing this approach for years. What made the Browns different is the hiring of Paul DePodesta and his team of analytics to run the front office. DePodesta approach was simple: Use two or three seasons to “tank” and acquire as many picks as possible in hopes to build a franchise that will succeed for a long time. This approach is again not new to sports has baseball’s Houston Astros just won the World Series using that method; basketball’s Philadelphia 76ers are now reaping the rewards of years of tanking with a lineup that can make the playoffs this season.
In 2016 the Browns made eight trades involving picks and players to acquire 14 picks in total. From that draft, the Browns netted four starters (Corey Coleman, Spencer Drago, Danny Shelton and Carl Nassib) (five if you count Cody Kessler). Also in 2016 Cleveland used the additional picks acquired to trade for former All-Pro Linebacker Jamie Collins.
2017 Cleveland made seven trades acquiring even more picks. Having ten total picks Cleveland gained three more starters in Myles Garret, Jabrill Peppers, and Deshone Kizer.
Draft:
2018 is where the Browns will reap the rewards of acquiring picks. During the 2016 and 2017, the Browns were criticized for not taking a Quarterback. The success of Jared Goff, Carson Wentz and Deshawn Watson have only echoed that criticism, however, the picks acquired during those trade downs enabled the Browns to build a structured system for their new quarterback. Wentz and Watson were drafted to a team with an offensive minded Head Coach and a General Managers who invested millions of dollars to protect and support them. The 2018 draft has two quarterbacks at the Browns disposal: Josh Rosen of UCLA and Sam Darnold of USC.
Free Agency:
Cleveland boasts a whopping thirty-eight Million dollars in cap space.
Draft Capital:
As alluded to before the Browns own the #1 and #4 pick in this year’s draft; plus three second-round picks essentially controlling the trade market during the draft. The Browns could turn the number one overall pick into two first rounder’s, a second and a third; or trade the number four pick for the same package. Given the Browns history of trading down (this especially if a quarterback slips to number 4) the Browns are going to trade the number four pick to a quarterback-hungry team such as the Jets, Cardinals or Dolphins and continue accumulating picks for 2018 and 2019.
If Cleveland hit on a quarterback this draft (broken record by now), select some useful players in the draft and continue to build additional draft capital for next year then the Moneyball approach will be considered a success.
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