Let's see if this works

The latest purge at 76 Lou Groza Blvd. has ended.

Those responsible for the noxious fumes that emanated throughout last season are gone, joining the long list of those in the Cleveland Browns graveyard of failed front-office executives and coaches.

You remember the names of the latest in whom Browns Nation trusted the revival of this once-great franchise had finally arrived; the return to prominence and respect it enjoyed throughout its first 46 National Football League seasons.

Head coach Charles Frederick (Freddie) Kitchens Jr., whose appointment to the job with no major experience to justify it, gone along with his southern charm and clueless coaching.

General Manager John Dorsey, who swept through the 1-31 mess he inherited and in less than 18 months put together a representative team for the first time in ages, gone. Why? Because he unwisely chose a head coach who wasn’t nearly ready to be a head coach.

Assistant General Manager Eliot Wolf, who left the comfort of Green Bay, Wis., to join Dorsey, gone even though the Browns wanted to retain his services. Call it a difference of football philosophy.

Vice President/Player Personnel Alonzo Highsmith, who also left the comfort of Green Bay to join Dorsey and Wolf, gone. Why? Two reasons: Because Dorsey was cashiered and he, too, saw the game of football differently than the direction  the club wanted to take it.

College Scouting Director Steve Malin, who arrived in Cleveland with Dorsey, Wolf and Highsmith at the same time, gone, Why? A Dorsey appointee.

It was just one year ago the Browns stunned the NFL in the second half of the 2018 season with a rookie quarterback to the point this heretofore-moribund franchise was primed to turn a significant corner.

The architects of that remarkable half-season turnaround were Dorsey, Wolf, Highsmith and to a lesser degree Kitchens. The corner, as it turned out, was never turned. It wasn’t even approached.

And just like that, within a 30-day period at the beginning of 2020, poof, all of them gone. Replaced by yet another stab at getting it right by Jimmy Haslam III, whose failures are dangerously close to becoming legendary.

This time, analytics trumped football. This time, it’s Paul DePodesta’s turn to grab the owner’s ear and get his way. That’s why Kevin Stefanski is now the head coach, Andrew Berry is now the general manager and the chief strategy officer is calling most of the shots.

Not bad for a former baseball man whose owners allow him to be an absentee executive, maintaining residence in the San Diego suburb of La Jolla, Calif., Haslam and his wife, Dee, front this still-dysfunctional franchise, but DePodesta has a huge voice.

From this point forward until they, too, suffer the same fate as the aforementioned, this new front office will be the targets for criticism – and gotta be fair, praise – as the brand spanking new Cleveland Browns get ready to play the final season of this decade.

Think of it, three neophytes are now in charge of his billion-dollar franchise, replacing three football men and all are analytics devotees. Stefanski has never been a head coach; Berry has never been a general manager; and DePodesta has never been the man.

Each man has something to prove.

Stefanski wants to prove he can make a successful transition to head coach after just one season as a coordinator. He risks reaching that goal if he ultimately appoints himself as the playcaller on offense.

Berry, whose three-year stint (2016-18) as vice president/player personnel with the Browns produced terrible college drafts, wants to remove the stigma of those drafts.

And DePodesta no doubt wants to prove a successful baseball man can achieve success in the NFL as well.

At this point, replacing Dorsey, Kitchens, Wolf and Highsmith, all solid football men, with Berry, Stefanski and DePodesta, all in their first rodeo, is at best a gamble. At worst, it’s just another wash, rinse and repeat waiting to happen all over again.

That's what Browns Nation, the NFL's most ardent, loyal and tortured fan base. has to look forward to.