USA Today includes Sashi Brown in the NFL's top 100 most important people

The staff members of the USA Today compiled a list of the top 100 most important people in the NFL, with an emphasis on people who are still involved with the league in the present. As an alternate definition, they say the list consists of "the biggest game changers in the league."

The top 5 consists of Jerry Jones, Roger Goodell, Cam Newton, Bill Belichick, and DeMaurice Smith. As you scan through the list, there are a lot of front office or NFL administrative people listed, with a few quarterbacks or other top players sprinkled in. One member of the Cleveland Browns made the list: Executive VP of Football Operations Sashi Brown.

48. Sashi Brown - Executive vice president of football operations for the Cleveland Browns. It’s his turn to see if he’s the one who can turn this once-proud franchise around. Brown’s reliance on analytics will make it that much more interesting to watch.

In a video clip elaborating on some of the rankings, Lorenzo Reyes mentions how Brown bypassed on the opportunity to draft a potential franchise quarterback so that the team could acquire a boatload of picks.

Probably the only other player on the team who could've been considered for the list is WR Josh Gordon, and I say that because OT Eugene Monroe was listed at No. 90 for "being outspoken on his view that the league should allow players to use medical marijuana instead of addictive opioids teams often use to treat injuries." It's not quite the same thing that plagues Gordon, but he is no doubt a poster boy for what can derail a talented player's career.