On December 7th, the Cleveland Browns fired Sashi Brown as the lead decision maker in the front office, replacing him with former Kansas City Chiefs general manager John Dorsey that same day.

While the surrounding details may sound a bit sketchy, this was the right move for the Browns.

Just under two years ago, when owner Jimmy Haslam hired Brown to serve as executive vice president of football operations, Haslam expressed the need to bring in the right players.

“If you look at the Cleveland Browns and this is prior to our arrival and during the time period we’ve been involved with the team, we have not been good at talent acquisition,” Haslam said in the press conference on Jan. 3, 2016. “If you look at the teams that are successful, they’re very good at talent acquisition.”

During Sashi Brown’s tenure, we’ve seen the Browns accomplish the first critical part of that: increasing your opportunities to find talent.

Now that John Dorsey has been brought in, the Browns are on pace to accomplishing part two: going out and getting the talent.

Looking back at the past two NFL drafts, there hasn’t been a ton of success. While it is still too early to evaluate in some instances, they look to have truly only three players that will have a profound impact on the team’s future success. While they also do have numerous “role players,” it is suffice to say that their draft success hasn’t been good enough for a team that will likely finish this season with a two year record of 1-31.

Having players like Myles Garrett and Emmanuel Ogbah are nice, but the team is banking primarily on the upcoming 2018 NFL Draft to turn things around. Because of this, bringing in an executive with proven experience was critical.

As a Browns fan, I will be thankful for what Sashi Brown accomplished. While the wins on the field were few and far between on the field, he won in the executive offices and on the telephones instead.

Despite that, the Browns need to finally become watchable again. John Dorsey helps them do that. At the end of the day, it is easier to trust someone with a proven track record than to gamble.

Dorsey worked in numerous player operations capacities for the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks for 21 years, before accepting the job as general manager of the Kansas City Chiefs in 2013. After having the number one pick in his first season, the team has now been a playoff contender for the past few seasons.

How does playoff contention start? By bringing in the right players of course.

In his four seasons with Kansas City, Dorsey brought in numerous playmakers on both sides of the ball. On offense, tight end Travis Kelce (2013) is on pace for his second consecutive 1,000 yard season. Running back Kareem Hunt (2017) is one of the leading contenders for rookie of the year. He also traded for quarterback Alex Smith, after he resurrected his career with the San Francisco 49ers.

On defense, cornerback Marcus Peters (2015) has grown to be one of the league’s top players in the secondary. He also signed key players to contract extensions, such as linebacker Justin Houston and safety Eric Berry.

With all the draft picks we have in the upcoming draft, it is good groundwork for a proven talent evaluator like Dorsey to right the ship. While Browns fans know all about waiting, I think the team has finally found the one.