BEREA, Ohio - If Jimmy Haslam got it right this time, it will be by accident. But sometimes happy accidents happen.

Awful teams earn the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft, find a college quarterback waiting for them, make the obvious choice and set themselves up for a decade.

Maybe new GM John Dorsey is that. Maybe the Browns owner stumbled into the guy who will get this right.

Dorsey's resume, highlighted by a 43-21 four-year mark as the general manager in Kansas City, sparkles more brightly than any recent Browns GM hire, and the cap room and draft picks in place enhance his chances for success. He was unemployed and available and likely would have been scooped up by another team if the Browns hadn't pounced.

Anyone who liked the strategy and process put in place by Sashi Brown can't be so blinded by the past as to ignore what's in front of them now: a qualified, self-assured decision maker who could rightly inspire confidence.

That makes one.

The greatest potential problem comes from the fact that Dorsey was hired by Haslam and that he is committed to building a team in the image Hue Jackson desires.

No one should trust either of those two.

Haslam bent to the winds again, switching course based on the last person in the room to whisper him a good idea. Nothing he has done as owner should make anyone believe in any decision he makes.

And he knows that. He agreed when I asked Friday why anyone should have faith in him or his choices.

"I think that's a fair question," Haslam said. "We have not done a good job as owners, and it has been hard, harder than we would have thought. But I believe we have the right people in place, and in all organizations, the key ingredient is people.

"We have the right people in place with John and Hue and the people under them to do that. And I'm really excited going forward, really excited."

What excites him is a turn back toward traditional football talk, which is what excites Jackson and what excites Dorsey. Paul DePodesta remains as a team strategist, and Dorsey gave lip service to analytics, but it's hard to imagine DePodesta having any true voice in the Dorsey-Jackson world, and it's hard to imagine him sticking around.

If he does stay, good. That he's still here inspires some hope that maybe Haslam will strike the ideal balance between old school and new school, and oversee a cohesive, smart, forward-thinking operation that utilizes the best attributes of scouting and numbers to create a winner.

No? Not buying it?

While the Browns hammer the idea of alignment, the fear is a room full of stubborn yes men who undo Brown's work.

There's disagreement over Brown's moves of the past. There's no dispute over the way he set the franchise up for the future.

They may waste the picks accrued under Brown by trading them for mediocre veterans (see the failed AJ McCarron deal); or blow the cap space on more mediocre veterans to appease Jackson's win-now desperation and send the franchise back where it was three, four and five years ago.

No one is more capable of undoing all that work, and making the pain of the last two years for naught, than Jackson.

Haslam is listening to him. Dorsey is bragging about being in concert with him.

Beware, Browns fans, beware.

The John Dorsey way of doing things may be right for the Browns. The John Dorsey way of making Hue Jackson happy will almost certainly be wrong.

But there remains no one above them to referee potential disputes other than the owners. Haslam smirked at the suggestion of a team president who would lord over both Jackson and Dorsey, rather than having both of them report directly to Jimmy and Dee Haslam.

"It sounds by your question that you think we need to," Haslam said to a reporter, before explaining that no president position is planned.

"I would never say we would never do that," Haslam said. "But we're comfortable with the alignment with the way it lines up."

Comfort should be the enemy. Brown and Jackson didn't get along, and something had to give. But Dorsey and Jackson patting themselves on the back, spinning yarns about the old days and sending the Browns into traditional-football purgatory isn't the answer either.

There should be disagreement and debate and discussion, with the best idea and evaluation winning out. Under the right situation, and a better moderator, maybe the Browns could have thrived through the Brown-Jackson conflict, not crumbled under it.

Haslam isn't capable of overseeing that situation.

So when it got messy, he dumped the guy with the different ideas and stuck with the guy more palatable to the rest of the league. Then he hired Dorsey, a decorated talent evaluator, and told him, "Here's your coach, you guys kind of think alike."

Credit Haslam for taking the risk of the Brown-DePodesta plan. The Browns are better for it. Blame him for not having the gumption to stick it out and to referee the disputes more adeptly.

You've heard this before, but if this GM-coach combo doesn't work out, like the ones before them didn't, where else is there to look other than to Haslam? He tried a plan based on patience, then bailed on it because he has no plan or patience himself.

So I asked what Haslam will do if he determines eventually that the problem is ownership.

He chuckled so hard he snorted.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Haslam said.

Actually, Jimmy, we're all on that bridge already. If the Browns make it across, it will be by accident.

But as usual, it feels like it's going to collapse.