Perhaps the Browns didn’t know what the objective was the previous two seasons.
So when coach Hue Jackson convened his team for the start of offseason conditioning yesterday, he spelled out his expectations in the team meeting.
“What an exciting morning to have all of you men back,” Jackson told the team, via Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “Winning starts here. Winning starts today. Starts right now.”
It’s good to know that Jackson was willing to pace himself, after starting his Browns administration with a 1-31 record. But an offseason of wholesale changes including a new General Manager, quarterback, star receiver, and practically a new secondary among other things has caused him to be downright optimistic.
“Why did you come back here today? Two years of pain and suffering hardship, where toughness and grit and determination was built,’ he said. “That’s not enough. This morning at 8:02 a.m., that’s when the work started. That’s when the journey now starts. What will the 2018 Browns team legacy be?”
They don’t have a very high bar to clear, but it’s hard to imagine them not making significant improvements. Tyrod Taylor was enough of a quarterback to help Buffalo break a 17-year playoff drought, and with actual players around him, the expectations in Cleveland ought to be reasonably high (though again, expectations have been tempered).