Since the arrival of general manager Sashi Brown last winter, the Cleveland Browns have stunned the league by becoming the first NFL team to not-so-stealthily tank. It’s the smartest thing a general manager of a bad team has done in a long time, and the Browns shouldn’t be the only team doing it.
There’s no reason the NFL shouldn’t be like the NBA in terms of tanking. Heck, without a draft lottery, there’s no reason it shouldn’t be even worse. With only one team set to partake in the NFL’s version of Tankapalooza 2017 (there’s no catchy name yet, like “Gonzo for Lonzo,” in the NBA, but we’ll get there), we thought it’d be a worthy endeavor to give the Browns some company.
What follows are six teams that should tank as soon as possible. Some, such as the New Orleans Saints, will have to wait a year to start tanking because of their quarterback situations, but they still make the list because their long-term outlook is one of mediocrity.
In sports, mediocrity is the worst thing you can have. It doesn’t win you anything in the short-term and it doesn’t get you anywhere in the long-term. When mediocre, a team should do everything it can to race to either the top, or bottom of its respective league.
Without further ado, here are six teams that should do the latter.