Every year there's a threshing that takes place, a separation during the National Football League's offseason that removes some of the more experienced leaders on Super Bowl winners from their actual teams as frustrated franchises hope to capitalize on the import of those very players. The short of it: NFL teams are hoping something rubs off.
The Kansas City Chiefs have held the "secret sauce" of success for the last handful of years in the NFL, and while it's impossible for opposing teams to do much about the lack of Andy Reid or Travis Kelce or Patrick Mahomes to go around, they can at least bid on the free agents that become too expensive to stay in K.C.
A perfect example of this process is the contract handed out to Juan Thornhill in free agency this spring by the Cleveland Browns. Thornhill inked a three-year deal from the Browns in order to join the AFC North. Thornhill is coming from a team that has won the division in every year he's been in the league and enjoyed a total of 52 regular season wins in that span of time (the last four seasons). By contrast, that's 22 more than the Browns who have never finished higher than third in their division.
Thornhill is aware of the disparity, but he's also relishing the challenge ahead of him. Instead of starting at the top and hoping to help his team stay there, he's able to take on the "underdog" role, which is something he told reporters in Cleveland recently that he likes. Per the Columbus Post-Dispatch:
"I like to be the underdog a little bit going into the season," Thornhill said. "Not everyone thinking that you're going to be like the No. 1 team. Kansas City, everybody put them up there, No. 1, they think they're going to win every year. But me coming here, I feel like I can add something to the team and bring something to the team to get us to that top level and I just will feel accomplished if we did that well."
Thornhill will be an ideal leader in that Browns locker room as he takes the next step as a veteran player in this league. Not only was he able to learn alongside some of the best coaches around, but he was playing next to (and learning from) the likes of Tyrann Mathieu and Justin Reid over the last four seasons. Beyond that, Thornhill also displayed perosnal courage in the face of adversity by retaining a starting role even after suffering a devastating injury at the end of his rookie campaign.
Cleveland fans have reason to be very excited about the potential of a secondary with exciting young players like Denzel Ward, Greg Newsome, and Grant Delpit already in house and Thornhill joining the group. The Browns have a long way to go toward establishing any winning culture but Thornhill hopes to at least help them take a leap in the AFC North and beyond.