And furthermore . . .

Thoughts regarding the handcuffs John Dorsey sports in his new job as general manager of the Browns . . .

He has been tasked by Dee and Jimmy Haslam III to do something no other front office executives have been able to do in the last 19 seasons: Turn the Browns into a winning entity.

In order to accomplish what the Haslams have set forth, Dorsey has to be extremely comfortable with everyone in the organization. Everyone includes the head coach.

Terms of his signing on with the Browns included the uncomfortable position of having to accept the mediocre (trying to be charitable here) coaching of Hue Jackson.

That chokes off any possibility of recruiting his best replacement and radically changing the atmosphere of the locker room. Dorsey no doubt has several candidates in mind to replace Jackson, but they’ll remain candidates until he is permitted to make a move.

And since a few National Football League teams still have not filled their head coaching vacancies, there are several strong candidates out there and all Dorsey can do is twiddle his thumbs and hope a favorite or two of his is not snapped up.

He seems to be getting along quite well with Jackson right now. Sort of calming the waters for the time being while going about his business of filling out the new front office. Maybe that’s an act just to mollify the bosses.First things first. First the front office. Then the head coach.

It could be construed as the general manager’s attempt at being a good solider for the Haslams, who oddly believe their 1-31 coach of the last two seasons was an imposter and not the quarterback whisperer they hired in early 2016.

It probably never occurred to them that if Jackson really is the embarrassingly awful coach who helped drag the franchise into NFL history in every possible bad way and a mid-season change is required, it hamstrings the new GM.

How many mid-season coaching changes wind up on a positive note? How many viable coaching candidates are available at that time of the season to resurrect yet another miserable season?

Unless a change of head coaches is wisely made sometime between now and the beginning of training camp this summer, this will not end well.

For the umpteenth time, and I’m going to keep this up until the Haslams realize the error of their ways with regard to their head coach, Hue Jackson represents everything anathema to winning. 

It is entirely possible the optimistic outlook ventured by Joe Thomas, the Browns’ All-Pro offensive left tackle who strangely endorsed Jackson’s return in spite of all the losing, may have influenced them.

“I think Hue really has not been given the opportunity yet to prove what kind of coach he is,” the future Pro Football Hall of Famer said shortly before the Browns completed their 0-16 march into NFL history. He later went on to say, “I think he’s an excellent coach.”

Todd Bowles was given the same opportunity Thomas spoke of with the New York Jets, whose roster was torn asunder in similar fashion to the Browns’, and managed to win five games this past season.

Thomas and some of his teammates apparently felt comfortable with all the losing to the point where it seems to have affected the gray matter between their ears and want even more of the same with the return of their coach.

It probably never occurred to them that numerous poor in-game decisions by Jackson (so much for being charitable) were major factors in winning just one game the last two seasons and even that was slightly tainted because of a blown game-tying field goal by the San Diego Chargers in game 15 of the 2016 season.

Time to unshackle Dorsey’s handcuffs and watch him and his new front office staff take their first steps in justifying the Haslams spending a billion dollars to purchase this franchise six years ago. That, of course, includes the departure of Hue Jackson.