Editor's note: Tony Grossi covers the Cleveland Browns for ESPN 850 WKNR.

Takeaways from another non-playoff weekend in Browns history ...

1. Protest this: Shame on the Browns players who called out the estimated 3,000 die-hard Browns fans who braved sub-freezing weather and demonstrated their disgust for the disgrace that has become of the franchise operated by Jimmy and Dee Haslam. All season long, the players wanted fans to respect their right to protest social injustice by kneeling – rather than standing at attention – for the playing of our national anthem before games. But when those fans protested the losingest season in Browns history, assorted Browns players took offense?

Defensive tackle Danny Shelton tweeted: “There are players on this team who want to play and win for the Browns and The Land. Parading around isn’t encouraging a change, it’s more so encouraging players to avoid the opportunity to play here. 1-31 isn’t what we want to be known for but we won’t stop fighting to win here.”

Defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah tweeted: “That parade is a joke don’t call yourself a true browns fan if you go to that thing! Going 0-16 was embarrassing enough as a player. That is like adding fuel to the fire and it is completely wrong!”

Linebacker Christian Kirksey tweeted: “Don’t kick us when we’re down. Lift us up. When we win don’t praise us because I will remember when y'all laughed us.”

The players didn’t realize their fans were protesting those responsible in management for worsening the team’s hopeless losing culture by purposely setting up the team to fail for two years to improve draft positions. So far, the Haslams have only held Sashi Brown accountable for the insane plan that was jointly devised by others and naively approved by the owners. That’s why fans protested. Players should take a knee and beg for forgiveness.

An aside to Shelton: The only attraction to free agents to come to Cleveland – besides Haslam’s Monopoly money – is to play in front of a legendary, passionate fan base unique to any other market. Prospective free agents will respect the fact that Cleveland fans want to win – more than the owners who approved a plan of effectual losing for two years.

2. A turning point: I believe the successful protest demonstration, which included harsh and creative messages aimed at the Haslams, will be a turning point in relations between the fans and the Haslam organization. Browns fans are the ones mostly responsible for bringing back an NFL franchise after Art Modell ran off to Baltimore in 1996 to forestall personal bankruptcy. The NFL had never seen before – or since -- such a vocal and powerful fan base demanding justice. Now it has been empowered again by the sheer ineptness of the present ownership. The fans basically put the Haslam ownership on notice that they won't take losing any longer. This comes at a time when Haslam’s Pilot Flying J is about to suffer enormous public relations backlash for pending testimony in the company’s federal trial for defrauding unsuspecting fuel customers. This is going to get uglier before it gets better.

3. The Jimmy G mystery: The explosive story by ESPN’s Seth Wickersham shed a little more light on the events that led Patriots coach Bill Belichick to steer quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to the San Francisco 49ers before the NFL trade deadline. But it fell short of explaining why the Browns were not a serious player in trading for Garoppolo. Wickersham reported that owner Robert Kraft instructed Belichick to trade Garoppolo, ostensibly to remove the threat to Tom Brady’s kingdom. (Kraft has since refuted this.) But the story does not delve into why Belichick did not seek to get the best deal for Garoppolo and talk to the Browns, who expressed interest in Garoppolo on draft weekend. It has been reported elsewhere that Belichick wanted to send Garoppolo to an NFC team. It has also been reported that Belichick’s experience with the Browns in the trade of linebacker Jamie Collins the year before soured him because the Browns constantly tried to change the terms of that trade. Belichick persisted then, only because of his determination to unload Collins, and the Browns were the only team interested. The bottom line of the Garoppolo experience is that the Browns as an organization failed to function at a time when they could have made a possible, critical, franchise-changing transaction.