A file photo taken in April 2014 of Browns center Alex Mack after the team matched the 5-year, $42 million offer sheet from the Jacksonville Jaguars. / (Photo by Daryl Ruiter CBS Cleveland)

CLEVELAND (92.3 The Fan) – Brace yourselves.

The mass exodus of 4 unrestricted free agents is just the beginning. A complete roster overhaul for the Cleveland Browns is underway.

Three-time Pro Bowl center Alex Mack, 30, has signed with the Atlanta Falcons. Receiver Travis Benjamin, 26, has bolted for San Diego or wherever the Chargers plan to play. Right tackle Mitchell Schwartz, also 26, is off to Kansas City while safety Tashaun Gipson, 25, is on his way to Jacksonville.

Their departures are the first of many to come as the franchise reboots and begins to gut a roster that was becoming expensive, yet awful.

2016 NFL Free Agency Tracker

Yes, the goal is to draft, develop and then re-sign your own talent, but the reality is that the Browns didn’t have much of it to begin with. The outrage with these departures from fans is palpable and understandable, as it always is, but the reality is this: the Browns won 14 games in the last 3 seasons with these 4 and they’ll probably win just as many, if not more, without them.

When I asked Jimmy Haslam on Jan. 3 after he fired Ray Farmer and Mike Pettine if the next coach would be expected to win now or be given time to build a program, Haslam responded, “I don’t think this is a team that is going to go from three wins to 13 wins in a year. I think this is probably a several-year rebuilding program.”

It turns out, he wasn’t kidding.

Rob Chudzinski and Mike Pettine were both expected to win because when Haslam bought the Browns he was under the impression that he was left with a strong foundation of young talent that was ready to compete. The Browns had 7 first round draft picks in the last 4 years as well – 5 fell under Haslam’s leadership.

The returns have been disastrous and led them to where they are today.

The Browns missed the runway to compete and so it’s time for them to circle around and try to land again, but it’s going to take time and many more losses before they can actually get it done. More importantly it’s going to take quality decision-making on the part of Sashi Brown, Andrew Berry, Paul DePodesta and Hue Jackson.

Jackson is 50. The perfect age for a coach – if given the chance by Jimmy and Dee Haslam to actually last more than 1 or 2 seasons – to build a team from the ground up. And that is what he intends to do.

A major part of the process includes flushing out the preexisting culture and players.

Losing within the locker room had become accepted. Players had become complacent with simply doing their job and theirs alone while not concerning themselves with the final scores. They were happy to cash their checks, say the correct things to the media and try to avoid injury while doing it. Cleveland had become paycheck town for the NFL. Want to get paid but have no real need to win? Sign with the Browns.

The times are changing.

From a player’s perspective, why stay?

In 7 seasons, Mack played for 4 head coaches, general managers and 6 different coordinators while Benjamin, Gipson and Schwartz worked for 3 different head coaches and GMs plus 4 offensive and 3 defensive coordinators in 4 seasons. The Browns are 33-79 over the last 7 and 19-45 over the last 4 years. If they wanted stability and winning, Cleveland was not the place to sign.

Mack will be 31 this year. The Browns won 29 of the 101 games he played and the offense ranked 25, 23, 18, 25, 29, 29, 32 from 2015-2009 and produced just 1 1,000-yard rusher over that span. While Jackson likened the importance of a center to a quarterback offensively, the loss of Mack isn’t nearly as devastating as fans make it out to be. Remember, Mack tried to leave in 2014 and signed an offer sheet with Jacksonville of all teams before the Browns matched the offer. He opted out and got paid in Atlanta where the Falcons have a quarterback and one of the best receivers in the game. The Browns currently have neither.

Regardless of the $48 million in salary cap space, the Browns were not going to successfully buy their way out of the AFC North basement. Not this year or next.

The losses of Mack, Schwartz, Benjamin and Gipson should net the Browns compensatory draft picks in 2017 that could be traded next year when the new rules allowing it kick in. Those additional picks will provide the team with much-needed additional ammunition should they determine that the talent available at quarterback this year is not worth the No. 2 overall pick in the draft. They will be well positioned to move up if needed to land their QB or another valued player at the top of the 2017 draft.

Between money and draft picks this year and next, the Browns once again have flexibility which is invaluable in trying to overhaul a franchise.

The Browns strategy is not what fans, who have suffered through 17 years of agonizing football that included teases in 2002, 2007 and for 11 weeks in 2014, want to hear but it’s the honest truth. Plans have never been the problem with this franchise, it’s always been the execution and the incompetence with it that has troubled the team.

This team went nowhere with those 4 players and it’s hard to argue with an organization that is hitting the reset button for not breaking the bank to try to keep any of them.

A fresh start is best for everyone involved.