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Browns safety Donte Whitner was signed this year in part to be a veteran leader. But many of the young players on the Browns’ roster don’t seem to want a veteran leader to push them. Now Whitner says he has an assurance from the team’s decision makers that those young players are on the way out.

“I’ve been assured that we’re going to bring guys in and get guys off this bus that don’t really want to be here and do what they are supposed to do,” said Whitner, via Cleveland.com.

The problem facing the Browns is that the players who aren’t doing what they’re supposed to do are some of the team’s most talented young players: Both of the Browns’ 2014 first-round draft picks, Justin Gilbert and Johnny Manziel, were disciplined last week for showing up late to work, and the Browns’ best offensive playmaker, Josh Gordon, was suspended for skipping the final walk-through practice of the season. It’s hard to get rid of your best receiver and your two first-round picks.

But maybe that’s what the Browns need to do. Whitner says the Browns can’t succeed without players who care enough to put in the necessary work.

“Any team in the National Football League where you have a good locker room, you have guys who understand what they’re supposed to do,” said Whitner. “They understand when they are supposed to be there and when they’re not supposed to be there. When you have those distractions, it kind of equals losses. Like I said, we need to get some guys off the train and get some guys on the train who want to win.”

It’s a bad sign for the Browns that the guys the team most needs to build around are exactly the guys Whitner is talking about, the guys who don’t seem to understand what they’re supposed to do.