When John Dorsey took over the general manager job in Kansas City in 2012, the Chiefs were coming off a 2-14 season, the worst in the NFL. In one of his first transactions as Kansas City’s GM, Dorsey swung for the fences, trading for then-San Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith. What followed was the best single-season improvement in franchise history, as the Chiefs finished 11-5 in 2013. While Dorsey was inheriting the worst record in football, he wasn’t taking over the worst team in football. Kansas City had sent five players to the previous year’s Pro Bowl, and one of the league’s most dynamic players, Jamaal Charles, was an All-Pro selection.

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This time around, Dorsey is again taking over a team with the worst record in football. But despite finishing with a league-worst 1-31 record over the last two seasons, it’s difficult to label the Cleveland Browns as the most talent-poor team in the NFL. There’s a foundation in place — like the Chiefs in January of 2013 — that likely made it an appealing job to Dorsey, despite the dysfunction that has followed the franchise for the better part of two decades.

A part of the incredibly successful Ron Wolf personnel tree, Dorsey has a clear philosophy of team building and what makes up the backbone of a team capable of contending. That philosophy went with him to Kansas City, where he transformed the Chiefs into one of the league’s most consistent teams. Now, Dorsey brings that philosophy – and Ron Wolf’s son, Eliot – with him to Cleveland.

Former Washington GM and another Wolf disciple, Scot McCloughan, gave an in-depth interview during the 2016 offseason about team building. During the wide-ranging interview, he outlined what gives a team a chance at competing:

“So, if you’re lucky, you have four or five blues, and hopefully one of those is your quarterback. If you have another 30 who are reds, starters, solid backups, core special teams guys, then you have a chance.”

With the Packer Way in mind, it becomes more apparent why Dorsey was willing to take the Browns’ GM job. In Myles Garrett and a potentially back-on-track Josh Gordon, Cleveland has two ‘blues’ (blue chip players) in place and under team control. Joe Thomas, if he returns for 2018, represents a third. As McCloughan put it, “Hopefully one of those is your quarterback,” and that’s the next blue chipper Dorsey must add. Hitting on a QB, either with the first or fourth selection, is imperative. With two top-five selections – and Dorsey’s history of player evaluation – there’s a good chance both of the Browns’ top two selections are both blue chippers, or at the very least players with that ceiling.

Even the worst teams in the league can have elite level talent, though. It’s the depth of Cleveland’s ‘red’ players that speaks to the better-than-advertised state of the roster. Granted, it takes a bit of betting on potential, but the Browns have almost half of the 30 red chip players already in place: Duke Johnson, Corey Coleman, Joel Bitonio, J.C. Tretter, Kevin Zeitler, Danny Shelton, Caleb Brantley, Emmanuel Ogbah Carl Nassib, Joe Schobert, David Njoku, Jabrill Peppers, Larry Ogunjobi, Jamie Collins, Christian Kirksey, Jason McCourty, Briean Boddy-Calhoun, Zane Gonzalez and Britton Colquitt give the Browns 18 solid contributors in all three phases.

The concept of blue and red chip players, like team building in general, is fluid. There are players who fit the definition of a red chipper today who could be All-Pros in a couple seasons time, and vice versa; as difficult as it is to imagine, Joe Thomas won’t play forever. Emmanuel Ogbah is a red chip player, but in a year’s time, he and Garrett could resemble one of the league’s most fierce pass-rushing duos. Prior to being lost for the season following Week 11, Ogbah’s four sacks and 15 tackles for loss ranked him T-7th in tackles at or behind the line of scrimmage, ahead of stars such as Cameron Jordan, Von Miller, Aaron Donald and Khalil Mack. He’s shown growth consistent with that of a player who reaches All-Pro status. Jamie Collins was the best player on a defense that finished 11th in Football Outsiders’ DVOA in 2014 and has the skill set to be an ideal defender to combat positionless NFL offenses.

So while Cleveland is coming off an 0-16 season, they could have as many as five blue-chip players already on the roster, with two top-five selections still to come. Dorsey has inherited a talented roster and the resources to make it into a legitimate playoff team. As the Browns’ latest savior, he is starting from the bottom of the NFL, but he isn’t starting from scratch.

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