Hue Jackson

Cleveland Browns head coach Hue Jackson talks during a press conference at the team's practice facility in Berea on Wednesday.

(Ron Schwane, Associated Press)

BEREA, Ohio -- Cleveland Browns head coach Hue Jackson used the word win (or some variation) at least eight times during his press conference on Wednesday. That's more times than the word has been used to describe on-field results for his new team in a season since 2007.

That's not expected to change in 2016, nor is it fair to expect them to change so quickly. The loss of multiple starters in free agency and the reality that this will be a young team with many holes is a clear signal that those who fear a long season this fall aren't simply doomsayers.

Unsurprisingly, Jackson isn't buying into what those outside the organization are predicting in 2016. He can't, not if he expects his players to come in this off-season and buy into what he and his staff are selling.

"I don't get caught up in what everybody else thinks," Jackson said. "I can only worry about what this organization thinks and what our players think. We know we have a job to do and, like I said, we're just going to keep working at it each and every day and our job is to win."

New quarterback Robert Griffin III, a reclamation project akin to that of his new team, wasn't ready to hear about the talent level in his new locker room or expectations for it, either.

Browns quarterback Robert Griffin III said all the right things during his press conference on Wednesday.

"I get a chance to work with these guys every single day," Griffin said. "I see how they work. I see how they come to work ready to go, how they prepare, how they are learning the offense, learning the formations, learning what we want to do, and that is what is exciting. It is really exciting when you know guys are going to be where they are supposed to be and they are hungry. We are all hungry. We all have a chip on our shoulder, and we haven't eaten dinner in a long time. We are going to go get it."

Gary Barnidge, the team's best offensive player from a year ago who decided to forego free agency and sign a new contract before the season ended, talked, as he did at the time of the new deal, of turning things around.

"When I signed my deal, I signed it because I said I wanted to be here when we make the change and turn things around," Barnidge said. "I still believe we are going to do that."

It's easy to be optimistic in April when the workouts are voluntary, the coaching staff is new and no one has dropped a pass, said the wrong thing or lost a game. It's easy to be optimistic about a quarterback in Griffin who oozed quotable nuggets in his press conference and has shown tantalizing flashes of ability that made him one of the jewels of the 2012 draft.

There's nothing wrong with optimism in April. From the outside, though, there's also nothing wrong with hedging that optimism with a healthy dose of reality.

The easy part is almost done for the Browns. They have jettisoned starters from their 3-13 team of a year ago and it is obvious, even if they may not publicly admit it, that the rebuild -- or restart, to put it more accurately -- is full steam ahead. It's hard to look at the flaws of this team as the 2014 season collapsed into a disastrous 2015 and decry the loss of players whose on-field performance was declining and no longer fit the vision.

The hard part starts now. It begins with the coaching staff doing something the previous regime was unable to do -- coax as much talent as possible out of this roster. Create a scheme that allows the players who are here to thrive. Ultimately talent wins out on most Sundays, but as Jackson said Wednesday, "We're not going to just show up and roll the ball out and say, 'You can have it.'"

The really hard part already started and culminates at the end of April. Browns fans, more than any other fan base, know just how difficult it is to get a draft right. This one's a doozy, too, as the team is armed with the highest pick they've had since they took Courtney Brown No. 1 overall in 2000 and the draft boasts two quarterbacks that are franchise players -- or not, depending on who you ask.

If this organization does draft a quarterback, it's time to develop him and give him the weapons he needs to succeed. They'll need to make sure he doesn't get caught up in the meat grinder that is life as a quarterback in Cleveland. They'll need to be strong enough to allow him to take his lumps without getting an itchy trigger finger. They'll have to be willing to stake not only his career but theirs by handing him the keys and letting him drive.

If they don't draft a quarterback, it goes back to rescuing the career of Griffin or doing this all again next year -- all while having the intestinal fortitude to take the risk of watching a player they could have had become what they so badly need in another uniform.

There are the leftover issues of fixing Justin Gilbert and reshaping Cameron Erving. There's an inconsistent-at-best pass rush to fix and a run defense that has been a sieve for at least two seasons.

We know all of that. Early April, though, is a time to allow some of that to find its place in the backs of our minds. NFL players and coaches love to talk about controlling the controllable and there's only so much that falls in the category of controllable as the team's offseason program winds through its first week. Jackson acknowledged on Wednesday that there is still a lot of work to do. But ...

"I've said it from the day I sat up here before, I expect to win. OK. Please, I expect to win. I think our players and we understand, in order for that to happen, we have to work to win and that's all we're about right now. We're not about anything else other than that."

Optimism is easy. Turning it into reality is the hard part.