Are You Listening, Cleveland?

Designs On Winning

Desmond Conner

American Football

First published October 10 in the Hartford Courant.

With confirmation that the Cleveland Browns will enter the NFL for the 1999 season, there are lessons to learn from the last expansion sides, just four years before.

There's no question which franchise will be held up as the model.
The Jacksonville Jaguars and Carolina Panthers joined the NFL as expansion franchises in 1995. Both reached conference championship games the next year.
The Panthers planned to be good right away using veterans. The Jaguars intended to progress slowly with a mix of young and veteran players. But they wanted their ascension to top off with a consistently good team.
Looking at these teams now, there's no question which franchise will be held up as the model when the expansion Cleveland Browns join the league next year.
The Jaguars have been to the playoffs the past two years and are thought of as a Super Bowl contender this season, jumping to a 4-0 start. The Panthers were 7-9 last season and opened this year 0-4.
"For us, it's been the consistency in how we've stayed true to what we believed in," said Michael Huyghue, the Jaguars' senior vice president of football operations.
Jaguars coach Tom Coughlin and Huyghue, a Windsor native who is one of the most respected front-office people in the league, began working on a game plan a year before their first kickoff. The nature of the plan? Success. How to get there in three years and maintain it. The solution was to keep the team young (the majority of players are 24 to 26); identify crucial positions and fill them with the best player possible; obtain only a few free agents; give key rookies time to develop; and, most important, keep the core players together.
The Jags have five of their 10 draft picks in '95, four of their 12 free agents and four of the 31 players acquired in the expansion draft.

Keep the core players together.
The most important position to fill was quarterback, and in '95 they acquired Mark Brunell in a trade with Green Bay. He's one of the best in the league. They wanted a strong left tackle to protect him and fight off the opposition's strongest defensive lineman - the right end. They picked Southern California's Tony Boselli, one of the league's best, in the first round. A speed running back was a necessity, and they took Tennessee's James Stewart, also in the first round. They have since dumped Natrone Means and added another speedster, rookie Tavian Banks, in this year's draft.
"You really don't want to mess with chemistry. We're very stable now and have kept the core of our team together," Huyghue said. "We've identified the players we feel we need to be successful and kept them. You know most teams have to replace 30 percent of their roster every year, but that hasn't been the case with us the past couple of years."
The Panthers' plan: Get good quickly. Through free agency and the expansion draft, go heavy with quality veterans on defense and special teams; draft young players on offense.
"We thought this would give us the best chance to be successful early," Panthers coach Dom Capers said.
But the Panthers, who have only 12 players (three free agents) from their original roster, couldn't afford to keep all those veterans last year and lost the core of their original team.
"We really haven't strayed from our thinking too much," Capers said. "We lost a lot of players because of the salary cap, but we have had some unfortunate situations, too, like injuries. Last year our quarterback [Kerry Collins] had his jaw broken and that affected things, and plus there are your X's and O's.

"We don't live in a perfect world."
Carolina Panthers coach Dom Capers
"In a perfect world, you would always like to draft young, good players to build your team around. But we don't live in a perfect world."
What may have hurt the Panthers most was losing team president Mike McCormack, who retired in March 1997, and general manager Bill Polian, who was involved in acquiring many of the key players who helped them get to the NFC title game. He joined the Colts last December as president.
The Panthers continue to stay with their thinking that older is better. They aggressively tested the free agent market again this season and picked up veterans such as tackle Sean Gilbert, 28, their franchise player, and linebacker Kevin Greene, 36, who they got through free agency in '96 and cut in '97 because of a heavy price tag.
The way things have shaken out, the Jags' would be the plan to follow.
"Well, we hope they don't follow us too much," Huyghue said. "They're going to be in our division."
In the remainder of the season, Jacksonville fell away - slightly - to finish 11-5, winning the AFC Central and third play-off seed. Carolina stumbled to a 4-12 record, equal worst in the NFC West. Coach Dom Capers was fired at the end of the season.

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Created: January 2, 1999


	There's no question which franchise will be held up as the model.	The Jacksonville Jaguars and Carolina Panthers joined the NFL as expansion franchises in 1995. Both reached conference championship games the next year. The Panthers planned to be good right away using veterans. The Jaguars intended to progress slowly with a mix of young and veteran players. But they wanted their ascension to top off with a consistently good team. Looking at these teams now, there's no question which franchise will be held up as the model when the expansion Cleveland Browns join the league next year. The Jaguars have been to the playoffs the past two years and are thought of as a Super Bowl contender this season, jumping to a 4-0 start. The Panthers were 7-9 last season and opened this year 0-4. "For us, it's been the consistency in how we've stayed true to what we believed in," said Michael Huyghue, the Jaguars' senior vice president of football operations. Jaguars coach Tom Coughlin and Huyghue, a Windsor native who is one of the most respected front-office people in the league, began working on a game plan a year before their first kickoff. The nature of the plan? Success. How to get there in three years and maintain it. The solution was to keep the team young (the majority of players are 24 to 26); identify crucial positions and fill them with the best player possible; obtain only a few free agents; give key rookies time to develop; and, most important, keep the core players together. The Jags have five of their 10 draft picks in '95, four of their 12 free agents and four of the 31 players acquired in the expansion draft.
	Keep the core players together.	The most important position to fill was quarterback, and in '95 they acquired Mark Brunell in a trade with Green Bay. He's one of the best in the league. They wanted a strong left tackle to protect him and fight off the opposition's strongest defensive lineman - the right end. They picked Southern California's Tony Boselli, one of the league's best, in the first round. A speed running back was a necessity, and they took Tennessee's James Stewart, also in the first round. They have since dumped Natrone Means and added another speedster, rookie Tavian Banks, in this year's draft. "You really don't want to mess with chemistry. We're very stable now and have kept the core of our team together," Huyghue said. "We've identified the players we feel we need to be successful and kept them. You know most teams have to replace 30 percent of their roster every year, but that hasn't been the case with us the past couple of years." The Panthers' plan: Get good quickly. Through free agency and the expansion draft, go heavy with quality veterans on defense and special teams; draft young players on offense. "We thought this would give us the best chance to be successful early," Panthers coach Dom Capers said. But the Panthers, who have only 12 players (three free agents) from their original roster, couldn't afford to keep all those veterans last year and lost the core of their original team. "We really haven't strayed from our thinking too much," Capers said. "We lost a lot of players because of the salary cap, but we have had some unfortunate situations, too, like injuries. Last year our quarterback [Kerry Collins] had his jaw broken and that affected things, and plus there are your X's and O's.
	"We don't live in a perfect world." Carolina Panthers coach Dom Capers	"In a perfect world, you would always like to draft young, good players to build your team around. But we don't live in a perfect world." What may have hurt the Panthers most was losing team president Mike McCormack, who retired in March 1997, and general manager Bill Polian, who was involved in acquiring many of the key players who helped them get to the NFC title game. He joined the Colts last December as president. The Panthers continue to stay with their thinking that older is better. They aggressively tested the free agent market again this season and picked up veterans such as tackle Sean Gilbert, 28, their franchise player, and linebacker Kevin Greene, 36, who they got through free agency in '96 and cut in '97 because of a heavy price tag. The way things have shaken out, the Jags' would be the plan to follow. "Well, we hope they don't follow us too much," Huyghue said. "They're going to be in our division."