Doug Lesmerises, cleveland.com

Myles Garrett, Jarvis Landry, Odell Beckham Jr., and Baker Mayfield give the Browns a Big Four that can compete with almost any NFL team.

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EXPLAINING 3RD & SHORT

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CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Indians scored six runs while starting pitcher Carlos Carrasco was in the game Saturday. Consider that an onslaught.

Carrasco allowed two runs in five innings and exited the game against the Toronto Blue Jays with a 6-2 lead, a rare treat for Indians starting pitchers this season.

In the first seven games, the Indians scored just nine runs while their starting pitchers were still around, over a total of 41 2/3 innings. If you try to think of it in terms of ERA, the Indians are providing 2.89 runs of offense per nine innings while their starters are in the game. Before Saturday, the average was less than two runs.

That’s putting pressure on a terrific rotation to be even more -- to be perfect. The Indians’ recipe for winning is to get their starters a lead, hope they hang around into the seventh or so, and then hold on until Brad Hand can handle the ninth inning. This isn’t an offense that should be relied upon to rally, or a bullpen that can be relied upon to hold it down in tight games.

You know this. The Indians know this. They’ve managed to win more often than not, Saturday's 7-2 win moving them to 5-3.

But this is a dangerous way to live -- needing the best of your team to be mistake-free to have a chance.

Here at 3rd & Short, we’re never mistake-free. Thanks for taking a chance on us anyway.

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DO THE BROWNS OWN THE BEST BIG FOUR IN THE NFL?

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With four popular, accomplished players seated at the team headquarters in Berea -- none older than 26 and none with more than two seasons of football in Cleveland -- the Browns’ news conference on Monday was greeted by fans as a gathering of super heroes

For Cleveland football, it was. In fact, in the NFL, it was.

Myles Garrett, Jarvis Landry, Odell Beckham and Baker Mayfield gave the Browns a Big Four that rivals any in professional football. In a passing league, the Browns put forth four tentpoles of modern team building.

● An elite defender particularly designed to stop the pass (Garrett)

● A top-shelf complementary offensive skill player (Landry)

● A No. 1 receiver (Beckham)

● A franchise quarterback (Mayfield)

Some national sports yappers reacted negatively to the gathering, assuming dissatisfaction and dysfunction in part because … that’s too much talent. How are the Browns going to balance this? Will they build a team with those high-profile, big-ego, big-talent playmakers? Admittedly, that amount of potentially transcendent skill is hard to process, because Big Fours like that don’t come along every day.

Here’s what a similar Browns foursome -- top defender, complementary skill guy, No. 1 receiver, QB -- would have looked like in the last five offseasons.

2018: Myles Garrett, Carlos Hyde, Jarvis Landry, Tyrod Taylor

2017: Christian Kirksey, Isaiah Crowell, Corey Coleman, DeShone Kizer

2016: Joe Haden, Duke Johnson, Terrelle Pryor, Robert Griffin III

2015: Karlos Dansby, Gary Barnidge, Travis Benjamin, Johnny Manziel

2014: Haden, Taylor Gabriel, Andrew Hawkins, Brian Hoyer

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John Kuntz, cleveland.com

Not too long ago, receivers like Andrew Hawkins (left) and Taylor Gabriel (right) ranked among the Browns top playmakers.

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Remember the Dansby-Barnidge-Benjamin days? You can quibble with some of the choices there, because the Browns had so few elite players (other than left tackle Joe Thomas) who popped. That’s the point. There weren’t Big Fours in Cleveland. You had to scrape some years for a Tiny Two.

That’s why there was enormous value in that Monday snapshot, almost regardless of what happens in the fall. Of course the 16 games of the regular season are the only priority, because if the Browns fail with this talent, a new type of football misery will take root in FirstEnergy Stadium.

But for now, and for always, there is something to be said for acquiring talent. Talent makes fans proud. Talent energizes everyone. Talent creates possibility. Talent enables rare and memorable individual feats, and that’s a part of sports that can’t be overlooked.

It’s not just winning -- which, again, sounds crazy to point out.

But when you walk into the Browns building at 76 Lou Groza Blvd., a prominent display of individual achievement is ensconced in a glass case. The jerseys and draft card for Thomas are there as a monument to football greatness.

Singular greatness, not team greatness. But success in a Browns uniform, nonetheless. Thomas will soon enough have an even grander display down the road in Canton, where, you may notice, players are inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Not teams. Players.

You’d argue, obviously, that the reason Thomas is on display in the team lobby is because the Browns don’t have any Super Bowl trophies to show off. Point taken. But the alternative for a losing franchise isn’t nothing. It’s celebrating what did work, and what did matter.

A great player.

I argued in the past that the Browns should trade Thomas, including in an April 2016 column that begged the Browns to tank:

The Browns should trade All-Pro left tackle Joe Thomas for the best offer of draft picks they can find. If you don't think Thomas could still be an All-Pro for a potential playoff team in 2019, maximize his value now.”

They didn’t trade Thomas. Nothing from Thomas’ career is making the Browns a better team in 2019, but they’re going to make the playoffs anyway. What the Browns do have is Thomas around the team as a smart analyst and loyal supporter. They have 11 years of his stalwart blocking as part of their history, which they don’t have to share with any team. And they have a great relationship with a classic Brown, in a rare situation where the team and star were completely loyal to each other.

Thomas never won in Cleveland. But the Browns won by having him as part of their franchise. And they're going to win now, without having risked that relationship. I still think trading Thomas might have made sense, and the Browns looked into it several times. I still think the Indians trading Corey Kluber might make sense, as I wrote in February.

Kluber has actually experienced the postseason, unlike Thomas, but he could fall into the same category. The Indians possess an abundance of starting pitching and a paucity of offense, obviously. Trading Kluber would be the quickest fix for that, and again, the Indians have talked to teams.

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Joshua Gunter, cleveland.com

Corey Kluber (left) provides value to the Indians and their fans beyond the team's success.

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But even if the Indians don’t win a World Series with him, and even if Kluber would eventually age into the ace of a rebuilding team that can’t compete if he sticks in Cleveland, there’s something to that.

There’s a place for a Kluber glass case in Progressive Field someday, even if there isn’t a World Series ring as part of the showcase.

Fans crave championships. But what feeds them on the journey is the weekly brilliance of the players chasing that championship. You’ll remember watching Thomas, you’ll remember watching Kluber, and now, you’ll remember watching Garrett, Landry, Beckham and Mayfield.

So there was something to appreciate Monday for the Browns no matter what happens next. They gathered talent. Fans acted as if they were fainting upon seeing a photo of Garrett, Landry, Beckham and Mayfield together. Monday was fun for Monday’s sake, as well as for what Monday’s talent should mean in September, October, November, December and yes, January.

Because most teams don’t have that talent.

We're in the midst of writing a series about the 25 moves that transformed the Browns, because I think it's worth delineating the process that led the Browns here, which is toward a season in which I'm expecting them to go 12-4 and win the AFC North.

It’s also worth taking a look around the league right now. My initial Browns optimism in December was based primarily on Mayfield, the reality of a weak schedule, the assumption of an improved defense and the expectation the Browns would make several important offseason moves. But when you start comparing the best of the Browns to the other 31 teams … boy, you wonder if that 12-4 pick is going to be wrong.

Maybe it should be more like 13-3.

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John Kuntz, cleveland.com

Baker Mayfield (6) and Jarvis Landry (80) were already quite a pair. Now, add Odell Beckham Jr.

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Teams stink.

I assembled the closest thing to a Big Four for every NFL team, trying to matching what the Browns showed off Monday. It was ugly.

Landry, clearly the second-best receiver here, would be the No. 1 receiver for at least 10 teams. Here at 3rd & Short, we can lean toward a QB obsession, so you know that about half the league is scavenging for one to believe in. As for defense -- another 12 to 15 teams don't come close to featuring a defender like Garrett.

With this Big Four, we’re not talking about Denzel Ward or Nick Chubb or Olivier Vernon or Damarious Randall, high-impact, high-level players at vital positions who will provide highlights, memories and more jerseys to buy and guys to root for.

So sorry to the Baltimore Big Four of Brandon Williams, Mark Ingram, Willie Snead and Lamar Jackson.

Apologies to the San Francisco Big Four of Arik Armstead, George Kittles, Marquise Goodwin and Jimmy Garoppolo.

Too bad Tampa Bay Big Four of Lavonte David, Peyton Barber, Mike Evans and Jameis Winston.

You’re no Cleveland. After a thorough analysis of each team, here are my top three Big Fours in the NFL, going by the Big Four definition put forth by the Browns on Monday.

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THE TOP THREE BIG FOURS IN FOOTBALL

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Joshua Gunter, cleveland.com

Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) has some offensive pieces to work with in Kansas City.

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3. Kansas City

The Chiefs get the edge here, but they fall short of the top two because of the uncertainty around All-Pro receiver Tyreek Hill, who is being investigated for possible child abuse. When the Chiefs were rolling early last year, the three offensive pieces of Hill, running back Kareem Hunt and quarterback Patrick Mahomes were unmatched. They were paired with an inconsistent defense, but one that does feature pass rusher Chris Jones, who had 15.5 sacks.

But now Hunt is in Cleveland, which clearly makes tight end Travis Kelce the complementary offensive piece -- he might have been ahead of Hunt anyway. Again, that offense.

But if anything happens with Hill, there’s a big drop to the next receiver, Sammy Watkins. So this No. 3 ranking comes with an asterisk.

If the Chiefs drop, the Browns are in the group of teams ready to challenge for the top three when it comes to the Big Four.

After the top teams, I think the Browns are lumped in with six others.

● Carolina (Luke Kuechly, Christian McCaffrey, D.J. Moore, Cam Newton)

● L.A. Rams (Aaron Donald, Todd Gurley, Robert Woods, Jared Goff)

● L.A. Chargers (Derwin James, Melvin Gordon, Keenan Allen, Philip Rivers)

● Dallas (Demarcus Lawrence, Ezekiel Elliott, Amari Cooper, Dak Prescott)

● Atlanta (Grady Jarrett, Devonta Freeman, Julio Jones, Matt Ryan)

● Chicago (Khalil Mack, Tarik Cohen, Allen Robinson, Mitch Trubisky)

That means the Browns could rank as high as fourth, or as low at 10th. If I had to place the Browns right now, I’d say their Big Four ranks … sixth.

Not in the top 10? The Pittsburgh Big Four of T.J. Watt, James Conner, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Ben Roethlisberger.

A couple years ago, before the departures of Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell, the Steelers would have ranked in the top three.

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Bob Levey, Getty Images

Quarterback Deshaun Watson (left) and receiver DeAndre Hopkins (right) make the offense go in Houston.

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2. Houston

There’s some component of this that includes excitement and fan enthusiasm, as well as talent. The Texans have some guys who are easy to love.

Defensive end J.J Watt is a regular All-Pro and one of the faces of the league. Running back Lamar Miller is a steady veteran. Receiver DeAndre Hopkins may be the only pass catcher in the league who can match Beckham when it comes to creating excitement, and he has been nearly as productive. Quarterback Deshaun Watson is electric.

Think about the idea of a Cleveland-Houston AFC Championship Game in the next couple years. The league, the TV networks and every fan in the NFL would take that.

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Michael DeMocker, NOLA.

Receiver Michael Thomas (left) and running back Alvin Kamara (right) give the Saints two elite playmakers to work with future Hall of Fame quarterback Drew Brees.

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1. New Orleans

The Saints may hang on to this spot as long as 40-year-old Drew Brees keeps throwing. The Saints handed their veteran quarterback new go-to players in receiver Michael Thomas (2016 draft) and running back Alvin Kamara (2017). Those two combined for 2,997 yards from scrimmage last season. Throw in four-time Pro Bowl defensive end Cameron Jordan, and you have the best Big Four in the league.

But the Browns are coming.

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