CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Toss Sashi Brown on the scrap pile of innovation.

He took the risks the Cleveland Browns needed to take and made some mistakes along the way, but he made plenty of smart moves, too, in strategy and personnel.

He's been fired, and his positive effect on the organization is laid out, though Jimmy Haslam and Hue Jackson don't want to see it. Haslam explains how important this offseason is, with the picks and opportunities in free agency the Browns have.

The offseason has that potential because Sashi Brown made it so.

That top-10 pick from the Texans, the one Brown was assailed for acquiring by trading away the chance to draft Deshaun Watson? Yeah, everybody's going to be excited about that now.

The Browns couldn't handle Brown. That's the owner, the coach, some fans and some of the people covering the team.

The on-field failures of the last two seasons were seen as the same old Browns, when they were nothing of the sort. This was the new Browns, focusing on growth, hope and the future, not running in panicked circles in a constant search for mediocrity.

You know what bothered some people about Sashi so much? He never panicked enough. Brown understood the process he put in place, and he refused to back away from it when almost everyone else did, including Jackson.

Now that's a guy who panics. If you gave points to Jackson for yanking DeShone Kizer in and out of the starting lineup, because he wanted to win now, you don't get it. But you won, and Jackson won here, too, his first victory of the season.

He still needs another to avoid jumping in the lake.

But that's the worst news for Browns fans here -- that Haslam says Jackson will be back. Wiping out everyone -- front office and coaching staff -- is one thing. But firing Brown and keeping Jackson?

That's the same old Browns at their worst.

Jackson has proven far more adept at leaking stories to the media to puff up himself and tear down the front office than he has at coaching this team. He has maximized distrust and animosity between the coaches and front office far more than he has maximized the ability of this team.

The Browns have holes. They shouldn't be 0-12.

Brown's roster decisions, which were aimed at 2018 and beyond, made it more difficult to compete this season. Jackson's coaching, which is only about winning on Sunday, is what made them winless.

The fact that the Browns aren't an 8-8 team is everybody's fault. It was also never the front office's plan.

Put that zero in the win column on Jackson. He was given a talented yet raw quarterback in the mold he desires and he's done nothing with him. Is Kizer much better than he was in Week 1?

He took a receiving corps with major problems, yet somehow didn't build enough of the offense around the talent that was there, with guys like Duke Johnson and David Njoku.

He took a defense that flashed at times and never once designed a game plan to pound out a win behind that offensive line, to pull out a low-scoring slugfest.

If you want to fire Sashi Brown because passing on Carson Wentz was a mistake, so be it. But Jackson has made a mountain of mistakes. Yet somehow, while we were often reminded about Brown's failings with stories from sources, we didn't get the same stories the opposite way.

Jackson and his coaches and friends made it a priority to pass the blame and take the front office down. And the Haslams bought it.

That's what you get now, Browns fans.

Sashi Brown made some mistakes, for sure. But his willingness to lose games to improve draft picks made Myles Garrett possible. He also drafted Emmanuel Ogbah, David Njoku, Jabrill Peppers, Joe Schobert, Shon Coleman, Corey Coleman and players that will provide a building block for the next GM. He signed Kevin Zeitler and JC Tretter and and re-signed Joel Bitonio, and set up this offensive line so that the next GM doesn't have to worry about it.

So you can list Brown's mistakes. But his plan, and his successes and the draft picks to come will make the Browns a better team next year and will make his successor's job much easier than Brown's job was.

What has Jackson done? What is Jackson's greatest success? Winning the power struggle with Brown. Congratulations Hue. Congratulations Browns.

Everything is just like it always was.

If there's anything good or different or innovative about the Browns and their future, you can thank the guy who just got fired.