CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Hue Jackson now wears the patchy beard of a survivor, the Browns coach having outlasted nearly every other person of consequence he joined, or who later joined him, on this island of football ineptitude since he arrived in Cleveland in January of 2016.

Check the depth chart from week one that season.

Six possible starters remain from that first game - receiver Corey Coleman and guard Joel Bitonio on offense and linebackers Christian Kirksey and Joe Schobert, defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah and cornerback Jamar Taylor on defense. And Coleman and Taylor aren't assured of making it to week one this season as starters.

Check the coaching staff from year one.

A 2016 story on the Browns website listed the 19 assistants hired by Jackson who possessed 198 years of experience and eight Super Bowl rings.

Thirteen are gone. Among those who remain, tight ends coach Greg Seamon is the most prominent. The others are two assistant line coaches, two quality control coaches and Al Saunders, who moved from receivers coach to senior assistant/special projects. That's means nine new coordinators or position coaches from two years ago.

So if you embraced the new hire in 2016 and dove headlong into the Jackson era, that Hue Gotta Believe T-shirt made as much sense as any purchase. Unless someone made a "Cleveland HAS-lam the best owner" hoodie.

Because Jackson survived. The quarterbacks are gone, the Hall of Fame left tackle retired, the secondary has been reshaped, the defensive line is new. Just this month new general manager John Dorsey - who replaced Sashi Brown, the GM whose ouster is Jackson's greatest tale of survival - brought in six new starters in Tyrod Taylor, Carlos Hyde, Jarvis Landry, Chris Hubbard, T.J. Carrie and Damarious Randall.

It's a new team. And the same coach.

On my list of pressing questions for Browns fans as we sit five weeks out from the NFL Draft, this tops my list.

How do you root for the Browns while having no faith in Jackson and believing he should be out of a job?

Jackson is a 1-31 coach who mishandled a rookie quarterback last year, pushed for what would have been a foolhardy deal for AJ McCarron and generally had no problem questioning his own roster while shrugging off real blame. He's still here, leading the franchise you love. It's a franchise that may be ready for a major step forward with a war chest full of draft picks still to be unleashed.

The Jackson question is on the mind of at least one Browns fans, because it was expressed to me in an e-mail sent right after Jackson's wrapup news conference on Jan. 1. Patrick Fulton is a Browns fans in Chicago that I believe speaks for a segment of the fanbase that sees the potential for progress while harboring resentment about the way Jackson has conducted himself.

Patrick gave me permission to share his concerns. Here's part of his email.

The coach lacks integrity and the coach and owner exude ineptitude. Turning my back on them feels like turning my back on part of my upbringing (as odd and dramatic as that sounds because it's just sports, it's still the Cleveland thing); but I can't in good conscience support people like that.

Complicating things is a 3-year son of mine who is absolutely in love with the Tribe and Browns. My older daughter has been caught by my wife's family here and prefers the Cubs to the Tribe (haha), but my son is in lockstep with me. So I'm at a crossroads - either teach my son what integrity means and that we don't support bad people; or teach him what swallowing pride means and that a town, team, fan base, history, etc. is much bigger than one jerk.

Here's my answer, Patrick.

Root for your team. Because your team isn't its coach. No team is.

When the Eagles and Patriots met in the Super Bowl, fans didn't watch the game in Doug Pederson visors and Bill Belichick hoodies. They wore the jerseys of Malcolm Jenkins and Tom Brady.

Browns fans can now invest in the jerseys of Myles Garrett, David Njoku, Joel Bitonio and the QB the Browns will take at No. 1.

And here's the good thing, Patrick. Browns fans who doubt Jackson will win no matter how this season goes, because there are only three possibilities.

1. The Browns have another terrible year and Jackson loses his job.

2. The Browns have a decent year, but Jimmy Haslam decides a change is needed and Jackson loses his job.

3. The Browns are decent or even good, Jackson keeps his job, his detractors like me are proven wrong and football fans in Cleveland have a competitive team to get behind.

All reasonable possibilities, because option two must be on the table for the Browns. More wins, more hope, new coach.

Two NFL coaches were let go this offseason after winning records - Jim Caldwell was 9-7 in Detroit and Mike Mularky made the playoffs while Tenneesee went 9-7. Jack Del Rio was dumped by the Raiders at 6-10 a year after going 12-4. Chuck Pagano coached for six years in Indianapolis and 2017 was his first losing record. Gone.

It doesn't take 0-16 to get a new boss. Jackson may very well lead a competent football team in 2018, but that doesn't necessarily change who he is, or whether he's right for the Browns.

So enjoy this enthusiastic offseason. Maybe some of you haven't thought about the coach. Maybe some of you wholeheartedly believe Jackson, with a better roster, is the right guy for the Browns. Maybe some of you have been nagged by a Hue hangup even while dreaming of Sam Darnold and Saquon Barkley, Baker Mayfield and Bradley Chubb, Josh Rosen and Minkah Fitzpatrick.

The Browns kept their coach and changed their team.

Root for the team.