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The most patient group of fans in the NFL has been waiting for something -- for anything -- since 1999. But the Cleveland Browns' turnaround has yet to happen. The few times something positive has happened, impatience and bad decisions led to the Browns derailing themselves. The 2017 season, however, may be different. As risky as it is to say, this season may actually be the one when things start to turn. The season begins in earnest Thursday with the first open day of training camp. When the season ends, the Browns hope they can look back and say this was the year when the foundation for future success was built.  This does not mean anyone should expect the Browns to win a lot of games in 2017. There are significant questions at key areas. In a passing era, they lack a quarterback and they lack receivers. They have a brutal opening schedule (Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Indianapolis and Cincinnati in the first four weeks). They are coming off a one-win season.
But the Browns should be more competitive and improved at several positions, and it's not unrealistic to think they will have five or six wins at the end of this coming season, with five picks in the first two rounds of the 2018 draft. Most teams would scoff at six wins. For the Browns, it's a 500 percent improvement and a sign of growth. At this point, Browns fans seem to understand. They don't expect miracles; they just don't want to feel like they're wasting their time and spending their money to watch a team they know will lose. Success has been so fleeting. Coach Butch Davis made the playoffs in 2002, then blew up the team the next offseason. Instead of building on a winner, Davis wanted to start over his way. He wound up relieved of his job in 2004. Coach Romeo Crennel and general manager Phil Savage just missed the playoffs in 2007 when they had the Browns' only double-digit win total since 1999. But the team imploded the next season and then-owner Randy Lerner got impatient and fired everyone. Coach Mike Pettine started 7-4 in 2014 but grew impatient with Brian Hoyer's struggles and forced Johnny Manziel on the field. The team finished 7-9 that season. By 2016, Manziel and Pettine and GM Ray Farmer were gone. Instead of becoming consistent winners, the Browns haven't even been competitive, with nine losing seasons in a row and eight of them with at least 11 losses. At one point last year, Siri pointed users to the team's home stadium in answering the question, "Where is sadness?" This new Browns regime -- with Hue Jackson as coach and Sashi Brown as vice president of football operations -- committed instantly to sticking with a plan centered on keeping key veterans, building through the draft and supplementing with free agents. The plan was obscured when they let four starters walk on the first day of free agency in 2016. A one-win season followed, causing more heartburn. But that one-win season led to the Browns drafting No. 1 overall and adding defensive lineman Myles Garrett. They added two more first-round picks, re-signed three young players and then added four or five potential starters via free agency. Teams, like ancient imperial capitals, are not built in a day. The Browns are committed to building the slow way with young players growing in a culture fostered by Jackson. What signs are there of a foundation? The Browns have a better-than-average running game, an offensive line with depth, more pieces on defense (especially on the line) and perhaps a chance at quarterback, in part due to drafting DeShone Kizer in the second round. They are committed to Jackson as the head coach, and he is so committed to Cleveland that he and his wife, Michelle, recently established a foundation in the city that would care for the victims of human trafficking. The overall talent is better, and deeper, even with some needs still remaining. Realism shouldn't be lost. The Browns do not have the look or feel of a playoff team, nor do they have the look or feel of a .500 team. But they do have the look and feel of an improved and growing team. When 2017 is over, the team and fans should be able to look back and say this was the season when the turnaround began.
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