Browns wall

The walls of the Browns facility are adorned with the team's new slogan.

(John Kuntz, cleveland.com)

BEREA, Ohio -- See enough of the Browns practice facility and you'll come across the phrase "Expect to Win." There's a banner in the fieldhouse listing the team's championships. The phrase is plastered across a wall in the remodeled training and meeting areas.

New head coach Hue Jackson has preached that winning is why he's here. The team's owner, Jimmy Haslam pumped the brakes on expectations on Sunday afternoon.

"Listen, we could win four or five games and feel good about things," he said.

"We're realistic that last year we were 3-13," Haslam said. "This is a franchise that has not drafted well over the years, and that of course is how you build a good football team."

It's easy to forgive Cleveland sports fans right now if they're feeling a little greedy. The Cavaliers won the city's first championship in 52 years in June. The Indians spent the day Haslam spoke trading part of the future for the present. Being told by the owner of the city's first love, the Browns, that the wait is going to be longer, is a bitter pill to swallow.

Jackson certainly wasn't having it after practice.

"That's just not how I'm built," he said. "I don't know what that number is going to be. I don't know if it's going to be four or 14. I don't know, but I know we're chasing and I don't want a number. I want our team to be the best we can be, and we expect to win and we're going to continue to work to win. ...

"... When they hired me, they told me my job was to in, so that's what I'm going to set out to do with our staff and our football team."

This is the way it should be, of course. A head coach has men to lead every Sunday. He can't exactly stand up, shrug his shoulders and say, "Eh, we'll see what happens."

Meanwhile, a front office and owner have the ability to take the longer view.

"We have a lot of picks coming up next year and hope to position ourselves," Haslam said. "We have a lot of picks in '18. So I think the takeaway should be we're very excited. We're cautiously optimistic but at the same time realistic about where we stand."

Browns fans have heard it before. Be patient. Let the process play out. It always seemed easy, albeit frustrating, before this city became a city that knows what winning -- really winning -- feels like.

The juxtaposition could be unavoidable come the end of October if the Browns are struggling halfway through the season, the Indians are still playing and the Cavs are handing out rings. It's hard to imagine that the leash for this city's football team didn't get a little shorter when Kyrie Irving made that three in Oakland.

"When the Cavs won on that Sunday night, the first text was from my dad and before I read it I had one from Hue," Haslam said. "So I think all of us, when you see the love of sports that the fans ... have, it makes us want to win even more for these great fans."

It does feel different this time, with the caveat that it's still very early. Time will tell on the front office side, led by Vice President of Football Operations Sashi Brown, but someone had to be willing to come in and tear down what was here. Someone had to be willing to pass on what appeared a risky pick in Carson Wentz at No. 2 and be willing to wait at least another year to find the quarterback.

Hiring Hue Jackson was a win, even though fans would prefer seeing January wins on the field instead of in coaching searches. Still, he was the hot name this offseason, or one of them, and he chose the Browns.

Finally, there is an investment in player development, not just in the shiny new renovations, but on the team's staff as well.

"I can just tell you, from our standpoint, (player development is) going to be really important going forward," Chief Strategy Officer Paul DePodesta said.

The early days of training camp are when we get caught up in mirages. Everyone is optimistic. No one's been cut. No one's lost their starting job.

There could be something here, though. Will it lead to more wins in 2016? Hue Jackson hopes so. If it does, the difference will likely be marginal. The team's owner will have to heed his own advice.

He's asking, again, for your patience. This time, the Browns might actually deserve it.

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