Core member of Browns leadership team has concerning record

The Cleveland Browns hired Chief Strategy Officer Paul DePodesta one decade ago.

A decade later, many Browns fans wonder what that job title actually means.

The Browns are 55-98-1 since hiring DePodesta in January 2016.

When the Browns hired DePodesta, they were looking for improvement from their 3-13 campaign that caused head coach Mike Pettine and general manager Ray Farmer to lose their jobs. 

The Browns looked to build off that disappointing year by hiring Hue Jackson as their head coach, one of the hottest candidates in the league because of his success with the Cincinnati Bengals. Jimmy Haslam’s team doubled down on analytics and brainpower, pairing DePodesta with new general manager Sashi Brown, who did not have any football managerial experience but was a lawyer for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The Browns were unsuccessful in building off that three-win season, going 1-31 over the next two campaigns.

That led the Haslams to change up their approach. While DePodesta would remain in charge of the team’s strategy, the Browns brought in John Dorsey, the man responsible for building the Kansas City Chiefs into a dynasty.

While Dorsey amassed plenty of talent, the Browns were unaligned. There was inner-fighting between the coaching staff. Jackson was fired and replaced by Freddie Kitchens, who did not even have full-time offensive coordinator experience.

Kitchens had a solid relationship with Baker Mayfield, who seemed poised to be the long-term answer at quarterback for the Browns for the first time since 1999. However, 2019 was such a nightmare that Kitchens was fired after just one season. Shockingly, Dorsey was fired as well.

That’s when the Browns decided to go back to analytics, veering into Minnesota Vikings offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski who hired Andrew Berry as his general manager. The braintrust of DePodesta, Stefanski and Berry preached alignment, promising that they would work in tandem as thought partners to correct the Browns.

Stefanski is 41-48 in his sixth season with the Browns. While the team has reached the playoffs twice, sustained success has evaded them. He’s 4-19 as the head coach over these last two seasons and pressure is mounting.

But DePodesta is the backbone of all this. There’s no way that his strategy has taken more than a decade to deploy.

The Browns moved on from Mayfield for Deshaun Watson in a move that was expected to give Cleveland a fighting chance against Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow in a crowded AFC. That trade backfired in historic fashion.

But there seemed to be very little contingency plan. This offseason, the Browns stockpiled an island of misfit toys at quarterback and labeled them as a four-man quarterback competition.

When DePodesta and Brown took over, their objective was clear – to stockpile draft picks, cap space and create the youngest roster in the league. Some of those draft picks popped, helping the Browns make the playoffs and defeat the hated Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field.

But for the most part, this current Browns roster is in a very similar position to where it was when DePodesta inherited it – old, expensive and just not very talented.

Every week, Stefanski tells reporters that the team will be better. It's hard to believe him as the personnel just isn't very good. Watching college football games on Saturday, it's hard to identify a sure pick at quarterback who could help turn things around in this upcoming draft.

The Browns are 55-98-1 since hiring DePodesta. It feels like unless something changes with the overarching strategy, there’s very little hope of ever getting off of this ride.