Browns head coach Hue Jackson, executive vice president of football operations Sashi Brown and chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta met with reporters Thursday and spoke of accountability and expectations.
"I don't know any other way to do this but to chase winning and to chase perfection each and every day," said Jackson, who enters his first season in Cleveland. "And I think as you do that, you never know what you can hit on."
Indeed, the Browns are set to open training camp on Friday afternoon after a spirited offseason workout program that seemed to reinvigorate a new-look roster that includes 32 first-year players in addition to veterans such as left tackle Joe Thomas and cornerback Joe Haden or newcomers such as linebacker Demario Davis and quarterback Robert Griffin III.
And while much has been about the youth of this Browns team, they have made it clear such a dynamic won't double as an excuse this season.
"Our roster is obviously younger than some of the other teams in our division as we've brought in a lot of young guys," said Brown, who enters his first season in his current position, "but as we've told them and we'll tell him in the team meeting this afternoon, this isn't about taking a year off or looking up in two or three years, this is about starting with the first rep out here tomorrow."
Jackson echoed a similar sentiment, saying "there's no exact science to how this works, there's no magical way of predicting what the record's going to be."
"The guys in that locker room are going to determine how good we're going to be by how we work," Jackson said. "I don't think it has anything to do with old young, old or in between, any of that. I think it has to do with our process ... Now, what the record's going to be, I don't know. But we're going to expect to win."
At the conclusion of offseason workouts, Jackson said he thought the Browns had laid a foundation worth building upon. Training camp, he said, is the next step.
"I think what I've done and with Sashi and Paul is really talk to our team about expecting to win. And if you expect to win, you're willing to do all the work that it takes to put yourself in position," Jackson said.
He added: "I think our players understand that when you get out of the car and you walk into this building it's all about work. Nothing else."
