I started laughing when I wrote that title.

Start rebuilding process? Haven’t the Browns been rebuilding since 1999? Hahahaha…ahhhhh, their fans deserve better.

The Browns’ latest rebuilding project has started under new head coach Pat Shurmur, who on Wednesday night released veterans Shaun Rogers, Kenyon Coleman, John St. Clair, Robert Royal, David Bowens and Eric Barton. Most of those players were considered “Eric Mangini guys,” so it’s not surprising to see that they were let go.

By parting with those six players, the Browns will save roughly $16 million next year. The biggest name is obviously Rogers, who struggled with injuries last year and played in only a third of the team’s snaps. He was due a $5.5 million salary as well as a $500K roster bonus so even though he’s versatile enough to play in a 4-3 (which the Browns will switch to under Shurmur), he wasn’t worth the coin in the end. He turns 32 in March and it’s clear that the Browns want to get younger on defense, so parting with him makes sense on paper.

Under former defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, the Browns finished 22nd in total defense last year, 18th against the pass and 27th against the run. Considering they were on the field a lot thanks to a horrendous offense, those numbers could have been a lot worse. But at the end of the day, the Browns are changing schemes and weren’t going to keep players that Mangini had brought in to fit his defense.

The NEW YORK TIMES is reporting that newly-minted Jet Brett Favre made a special delivery inside of linebacker Eric Barton’s locker a few weeks ago. The item: An unknown dead animal that was encased in a bag “full of blood and guts”. Oh, Brett Favre. You’re incorrigible!

More from the NY TIMES:

Barton could not remember whether it happened last week or the week before. Nor did he know exactly what kind of dead animal Favre shot (presumably), bagged and dumped inside Barton’s locker.

Some teammates believe it was a wild turkey, but regardless, they all gathered around Barton’s locker and engaged in fits of laughter. The dead animal was inside a bag that was filled with blood and guts.
“It definitely had the wow factor,” said left guard Alan Faneca, whose locker is next to Barton’s. “I’ve never had a dead animal brought into the locker room, so yeah, it’s up there.”

Faneca presumably said this through gritted teeth, his eyes pleading with reporters to get him out of this madhouse, where grown men think it’s perfectly normal to hide dead animals inside others’ lockers, a place where madness reigns and no one is safe.

In any case, move over Ashton! There’s a new King of the Prank! And he’s clearly insane!

When reached for comment Brett said, “This wasn’t a prank – I was giving Barton an early Christmas gift. The guys in Green Bay would have known that…nobody gets me out here in New York.”

(Okay, so Brett really didn’t say that, but I’m sure that’s what he would have said if he were reached for comment.)