They have done that and with each swing of the axe, John Dorsey puts more of his stamp on the Browns.
To start, the plummet of Shon Coleman finally hit bottom in Cleveland as he went from starting right tackle to presumed starting left tackle to falling down the depth chart and the Browns looking to get almost anything for him before they would likely release him.
John Dorsey found someone in San Francisco interested and Dorsey traded Coleman to them for a seventh-round draft choice.
The trade turned the second Coleman from the Browns 2016 draft that was picked in the first three rounds that returned only a seventh rounder in just two years.
Something beats nothing, I suppose, but these are such an indictment against the Sashi Brown personnel decisions and against Jimmy Haslem for hiring Brown in the first place.
There were a few cuts on Saturday that I wondered about.
I thought Caleb Brantley deserved to return at defensive tackle after a decent rookie season, but I could see how the numbers game caught up with him.
I wonder if there were any other reasons than Brantley was a Sashi Brown pick and rookie Chad Thomas was not, that could be a position that allowed Thomas to stay and Brantley to go.
Nate Orchard played very well in preseason and adding in that he contributed on special teams and I would have kept him over Carl Nassib, who had disappointed after an excellent first few games as a pro.
Orchard's versatility (Defensive End and outside linebacker) to me made him a better choice than Nassib.
Spencer Drango has been serviceable at guard and you can never be too deep along the offensive line, but the signing of a solid veteran in Earl Watford likely meant the end of Drango's Cleveland career.
I liked Matthew Dayes a lot as a scatback and special teamer, but when the Browns decided that they were going to carry just three running backs (Carlos Hyde, Duke Johnson, and Nick Chubb), it was going to be very hard for Dayes to make the club, no matter how well he played in the preseason and he played quite well.
That moved us to Sunday and the resulting available players that other teams released.
Cleveland is first in waiver claims until week four of the regular season, which means that the Browns would add anyone that they claim, but would have to release a corresponding player with each addition.
Cleveland picked up three defensive linemen, which showed me that they were not as high on the group as some observers were as they claimed Carl Davis from the Ravens and Ifeadi Odenigbo from the Vikings following a trade with New Orleans to acquire defensive tackle Devaroe Lawrence for the seventh round pick that they received for Shon Coleman.
Lawrence missed his rookie season with a torn ACL but played very well for New Orleans this preseason with a dominant performance against Jacksonville that saw him notch two sacks, three tackles for loss and three QB hits.
Granted, that is just preseason, but I can see why the Browns decided to acquire Lawrence and he might be the one guy of all of these maneuvers that turns out to be a top-notch player.
Carl Davis was a third rounder by the Ravens out of Iowa in 2015 and was a regular part of their line rotation for all three years.
Davis is big at 6'5 and 300 plus and moves with quickness, yet the production has never matched the tools, while Ifeadi Odenigbo was cut by Minnesota to the surprise of many after a strong preseason after being drafted in the seventh round out of Northwestern.
Odenigbo is a player that I saw a lot of and liked at Northwestern and being able to play end and tackle makes him potentially a key piece, but still needs development.
Offensive lineman Aaron Neary can play center or guard as he did with the Rams and is likely backup material, although from what I have read doesn't appear to be an upgrade from Spencer Drango, let alone any of the starters.
Linebacker Tanner Vallejo was claimed from the Bills and when Mychal Kendricks legal woes forced his release, it was almost inevitable that the Browns were going to sign a linebacker.
Vallejo spent last season with Buffalo after being drafted in the sixth round out of Boise State, where I loved his hustling attitude and flying around the football.
Vallejo at the minimum should be a productive special teams player.
Taviarre Thomas was an undrafted free agent from Ferris State that Arizona released after camp.
Not a lot available on Thomas, so I'm assuming there was something that the Browns liked especially after their sixth-round draftee Simeon Thomas was waived and claimed by Seattle.
My guess is that they expected Thomas to clear waivers and put him on the practice squad so Thomas will be filling that slot as a developmental secondary member.
To add those players, that meant five players were on their way out and surprisingly two of those were on the defensive line as Carl Nassib and Jamie Meder were waived.
I was OK with Nassib, who started so promisingly in his rookie year and never seemed to make any progress after that, but I was really surprised that the team cut Jamie Meder, who played with such a high motor along with being a local product.
However, with three new linemen, I can see why they needed to cut two older players, but I'll really miss Meder, who blocked a field goal to save the game against the Chargers in 2016 that was the only win in two years.
The other cuts were simply one player in one player out.
Offensive Line- Aaron Neary in, Austin Reiter out
Linebacker- Tanner Vallejo in, Jermaine Grace out
Defensive Back- Taviarre Thomas in, Jeremiah McKinnon out.
Some of the Browns additions, I really like Devaroe Lawrence and Ifeadi Odenigbo along the defensive line and I loved the aggressive play of Tanner Vallejo at Boise State, so I'm happy to have them around.
I'm still disappointed at the losses of Jamie Meder and Nate Orchard, although to bring linemen in, some had to leave.
Still, when I look at a player like Chad Thomas, who struggled with injuries, doesn't seem to be making an impact on the field when he did play and seems more interested in tweeting about his hip-hop productions than actually playing, that makes the team over a Meder or Orchard shows that even though there is a new front office there are still "our guys" and "their guys" for a while.
I'll have a Browns preview later this week with a look at the roster and what I think their record will be in 2018.
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