Hours after trading away the player who may be their best young talent for a 2014 first-round draft pick, the Cleveland Browns’ decision makers insisted that they’re not giving up on this season.
Instead, Browns CEO Joe Banner and coach Rob Chudzinski both said they’re working on building a winning team, starting this season. When Banner was asked about a perception among Cleveland fans that the Browns are giving up on this season by trading Trent Richardson, he answered, “That’s not the case.”
“We’re going to continue to play hard and do everything we can to win every week,” Banner said.
Chudzinski said he believes in the group of guys he has in the locker room and that they’ll do what they have to do to win.
“We’ll have the same expectations, we’ll have the same goals, and we’re going to do everything we can to win every week. Nothing has changed from that standpoint,” Chudzinski said.
The reality, however, is that the Browns are 0-2, and they just gave up a starter now for a draft pick in the future. That means they’re thinking more about the future than they are about the present. If the Browns use the Colts’ 2014 first-round draft pick to select a player who helps them win a Super Bowl some day, this trade will look good.
But if that happens, that day is a long day off. This season, the Browns are a bad team that just got worse.