NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-16:
Pittsburgh
Jacksonville
Washington
NY Giants
Minnesota
Tampa Bay
Notably absent from this list: Cleveland.
I don’t pay that much attention to sports news during the week. I check FARK’s sports tab, but that’s about it. (Well, and TMQ in season, but I’m not sure I consider that “news”.) So the first I heard about the Richardson trade was a text message from one of my relatives in Cleveland, who was absolutely apoplectic to the point where they planned to sell off their season tickets. They (and I) were convinced that the Browns were tanking the season, again; everyone expected this to be their year, or at least for them to do something decent. Heck, I think folks would be happy with 8-8; that would at least show some improvement. And trading your first round draft pick after just a year? That’s crazy as a soup sandwich.
Or is it? When FARK got around to posting their thread, I read through it. And there are actually some good arguments in the other direction. CavalierEternal’s comment early in the thread specifically made me rethink my position; his argument is that Richardson didn’t do that well last year, is injury prone, shows “major signs of being a bust”, and trading him now while they could still get value for him was the best thing the Browns could have done.
So who’s right? I don’t know, but the Browns won yesterday. Quarterback change? The Richardson trade put the fear of God into the remaining players? Or, conversely, the remaining players are putting in maximum effort, hoping to get traded out of this chicken-(stuff) outfit?
Or are the Browns so inept, they can’t even suck for first pick in the draft correctly?