There are different ways that teams go about rebuilding, but what they all have in common is that they put winning on the backburner

In the NFL, only one team can be crowned world champion, leaving thirty-one clubs to pick up and try again. Thirty-one franchises are left trying to figure out what went wrong, what pieces need to be picked up, and who needs to call the shots in order to make the playoffs and win the Super Bowl. Over the course of NFL history, rebuilding franchises have had different ideas of how to accomplish that mission. Some focus on their core, re-signing and prioritizing the players they have in-house, and try to run it back. Some take a big swing and make a run at a high-profile free agent or make a big trade to try and move the needle. Most go for small improvements through the draft and free agency. Some franchises come to the consensus of “Fuck it, we’re starting over.” These are the teams that are the most thought-provoking. The teams that objectively look at their roster and the league as a whole and realize that they are simply not up to speed. There are different ways that teams go about rebuilding, but what they all have in common is that they put winning on the backburner and focus on team building. Some rebuilds are quick and can have a team go from irrelevant to contending within a couple years, while some rebuilds seem to go on for an entire decade. But what are the different approaches to rebuilding an NFL roster and which are the most effective?

The “Suck for a Decade” Approach

The Jacksonville Jaguars are the transcendent masters of being poor at football, and they’ve had several general managers try and command their rebuild, en-route to earning one winning record in the past 13 seasons. The Jaguars were purchased by Shad Khan in 2012, and fostered a somewhat optimistic outlook going forward with then second-year quarterback Blaine Gabbert, and top five pick Justin Blackmon coming in as a rookie. That optimism was crushed with authority as the team finished 2-14, and Khan fired general manager Gene Smith, replacing him with David Caldwell. Caldwell maintained partial success over his first few years in Jacksonville. He slowly added talent and by 2017 and had the Jags in the playoffs for the first time in a decade with a dominant defense featuring Jalen Ramsey, AJ Bouye, Calais Campbell and Myles Jack. Unfortunately, his offense was built around the one and only University of Central Florida legend, Blake Bortles (need I say more)? After the franchise peaked reaching the AFC Championship, they became below average with 5 and 6 wins the following two seasons before flatlining at 1-15 in 2020. With the worst record football, they’ve started anew with general manager Trent Baalke and head coach Urban Meyer, as they try to build around Trevor Lawrence.

The Soft Rebuild

Dave Gettlemen drafted Saquan Barkeley with the 2nd pick of his first draft as general manager of the New York Giants in 2018. However, he has failed to take the pairing of Daniel Jones and Saquan Barkeley to its maximum potential by starving them of the protection and creativity they require to build consistency in the run and pass game. Former general manager and personnel director Michael Lombardi had this to say about Big Blue’s offense under Jason Garrett. “There’s no imagination,” Lombardi said. “I mean, there’s no design in the running game. The Clapper refuses to design a run game, this is just not a misdemeanor. But look, the Giants have been bad for five years. They’re 28th in win percentage over the last five years, they’re 26th over the last 10 years. This isn’t just a one-time thing. … It’s one of the worst offenses to watch, and you’re not helping the quarterback.” The lack of execution and creativity in the red zone has led to a measly 17 point per game produced by the offense. An offensive line unit that has shuffled older athletes in and out of lineups over three years has led to no consistency between them, and little chemistry for Daniel Jones and Saquan to build with them. Sterling Sheppard, Kenny Golladay, Darius Slayton, Kadarius Toney, Andrew Thomas and Saquan Barkeley all show upside and promise as a core around Daniel Jones. But it’s for naught if the remainder of the offensive line unit is inept and found wanting.

The “Moneyball” Method

The Cleveland Browns were awful for a long time. Horrendous. They’ve cycled in different coaches and general managers for years, but nothing worked for them until they brought in Paul DePodesta. He was hired in 2016 and in his time with the Browns as their Chief Strategy Officer and has worked with three general managers over his tenure. Despite the revolving door of general managers, the Browns have operated in the same way since DePodesta arrived, which is simply amassing as many draft picks as possible. The Browns became notorious for trading back and making trades that would net more and more draft picks. The man who should get a lot of credit for the success of the Browns rebuild is John Dorsey. Dorsey was only the General Manager in Cleveland for two years, but he added an insane amount of talent to the team in those two years. In his first draft, he walked away with Baker Mayfield, Denzel Ward and Nick Chubb, all very talented players who are integral to the current Browns roster. Dorsey also traded for established players Odell Beckham Jr, Jarvis Landry and Kareem Hunt. The next man who deserves a plethora of credit for the Browns roster is Dorsey’s successor, Andrew Berry. Berry was hired to replace Dorsey in January of 2020 and quickly shored up the offensive line, signing right tackle Jack Conklin in free agency and drafting left tackle Jedrick Wills. Berry doesn’t make a lot of big free agent splash signings, but he’s added a lot of talented players for relatively cheap contracts. With Conklin being his big signing of 2020, in 2021 he brought in Jadeveon Clowney on a one-year deal worth 8 million dollars. Clowney has looked good playing alongside Myles Garrett and is playing the best football he’s played in years. Berry’s second round picks in both of his drafts are picks that I loved. In 2020, he snagged Grant Delpit in the second round, a very talented safety who some saw as a first round pick, and in 2021 he was able to get Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, another player who was seen as a first round pick. However, news of Owusu-Koramoah having a heart condition came to light and caused him to slide. Owusu-Koramoah was one of my favorite players in the 2021 draft class, and being selected with the 52nd pick was the steal of the draft in my opinion. The Browns were essentially talentless, and Andrew Berry used those draft picks to build what is now one of the stronger rosters in the NFL. They built a strong team, but made poor coaching decisions, such as hiring Freddie Kitchens as their head coach due to his stint as interim offensive coordinator, when Hue Jackson was fired during the 2018 season. After the Kitchens disaster, the Browns hired Kevin Stefanski, and are positioned as one of the stronger teams in the league after making it to the playoffs last season, coming dangerously close to knocking off the Kansas City Chiefs.

The “Nobody Knows What’s Gonna Happen” Approach

Nick Caserio & Deshaun Watson - Credit: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle

Just two seasons ago, the Houston Texans were leading the Chiefs 24-0 in the early second quarter at Arrowhead Stadium in the Divisional Round of the playoffs. They went on to lose that game 51-31 and have been nothing short of a dumpster fire ever since. That offseason they made one of the worst trades in recent memory, essentially giving Deandre Hopkins to the Arizona Cardinals for free. They ended up finishing the season 4-12 and didn’t even get their high first and second round picks at the end of the season (those picks belonged to Chris Grier from the aforementioned Laremy Tunsil trade). And the cherry on top of it all is that their star quarterback, Deshaun Watson, demanded a trade following the hiring of General Manager Nick Caserio and Head Coach David Culley. Watson was then promptly accused of sexual assault by over two dozen women and will not be playing for the Texans again, but is unlikely to be traded while facing such serious accusations. Along with that, the face of the Texans for the past 10 years, JJ Watt, was released (and went to the Arizona Cardinals). With no quarterback and no star players, the Texans are in bad shape. Caserio overhauled the roster in just one offseason, opting to go with experienced players over young players to try and field a somewhat competitive roster. The team did look surprisingly good before Caserio’s top free agent, quarterback Tyrod Taylor, injured his hamstring in the second game of the season. Caserio and Culley have both openly said that this season is not about winning for the Houston Texans, it’s about the process. The process seems to be centered around redefining the team culture and getting the players to invest in the team. Starting a rebuild with older, more experienced players before going after young talent is a unique strategy by Caserio that could prove to be innovative or disastrous. This rebuild has only just started and no one knows where it will go next, but it should be fascinating to watch.

What Works Best?

It’s clear that the most successful of these rebuilds is the Cleveland Browns. They’re a playoff team in a tough division and have proven themselves to be a good football team. Hoarding draft picks took them a few years to explode, however it worked out well for them, as they had a general manager who made the right decisions with those draft picks. On top of that the Browns made the best personnel hiring decisions, particularly their head coach (but more on that later). The Dolphins were a 10-win team just a year ago, but they’re currently sitting with a 1-6 record so it’s hard to tell if their success last year was just a fluke. The Texans and Jaguars are both just getting started on their current rebuilds and it will be a few years before we see if either team was successful in their rebuild. One of the most important keys to success in any rebuild is the head coach. The head coach sets the tone for the entire organization’s culture. Players need to buy into what their head coach is selling, and they must believe in him. If you look at the rebuilds discussed here that have had any remote success, the X-factor has always been the head coach. The Jaguars have had guys like Doug Marrone, Gus Bradley and (currently) Urban Meyer as their head coaches. This makes it no surprise that they keep on losing. Marrone and Bradley are strong football minds, however there isn't anything inspirational about either of them. Meyer was at least a big swing, luring an extremely successful college coach out of retirement is at least an attempt to stir the pot, even if it doesn’t look like it was the best move early into this season. The big reasons the Dolphins and Browns have had success is because of their head coaches. Look at the Browns roster from 2019 to 2020, and you’ll notice that not a whole lot has changed. They brought in Kevin Stefanski who immediately brought an electric edge to the team, making aggressive fourth down decisions and committing to the run to control the game. They play sound and they play hard because they’ve bought into what Stefanski wants to do. Brian Flores is the same way. Players respond to him and want to play for him, they want to fight for him. David Culley is still a question mark, but like Urban Meyer, it doesn’t look great early into the season. Rebuilds can go a lot of different ways and there are several different ways to be successful, but overall, it’s hard to be a good football team if you don’t have a good head coach leading you into battle every Sunday.

The Ideal Foundation of a Rebuild in the NFL