BEREA, Ohio — Cleveland Browns head of football operations Sashi Brown said accusations of the franchise tanking in 2016 to improve its draft position next year don't bother him because they're not true.

The theories are a result of the Browns ripping their roster down to the studs after a 3-13 season, making trades to stockpile draft picks in the next two years and starting fresh with one of the NFL's youngest teams.

“The external noise we know is coming and will be there, whether we're successful or not, and we can't let that bother us,” Brown said as the franchise prepared to kick off the regular season today on the road against the Philadelphia Eagles. But, he said, anybody who knows coach Hue Jackson, chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta, owner Jimmy Haslam or himself “knows that that just wouldn't be part of anything we would embrace or be part of.

“So I appreciate the folks have not seen a strategy quite like this before, but I would hardly call it tanking. I think our guys are going to go out and compete, and we'll let the external voices be what they are.”

Last month in Tampa, Fla., Brown was even more defensive about the topic.

“If anybody has been around our facility, they'd know how silly that is,” Brown said Aug. 25. “We want to win. Our expectations are, just because we have a younger roster, doesn't mean that we're at all trying to lose, I guess.

“If that's the perception, I would say that's laughable, and I think we're all competitive guys. We understand that part of what we need to do is build a winning culture here, and everything that we've talked about and worked towards is aimed at winning and there are no seasons off or, for us, even reps off.”

Brown explained the organization's analytics-driven plan, which he conceded isn't conventional.

“We're looking at 2016, and for us it's about finding that nucleus of young talent that we can bring in,” he said Friday. “We stepped back at the end of last year and had to make some hard decisions about where our roster was coming off a 3-13 season, and we're confident that the [young] guys — and we don't expect them to play like rookies … we expect our guys to perform the duties they're asked to from their coaches.”

Asked whether the goal is to amass draft picks, Brown said, “To amass draft picks? No, we want a talented team that will win games here.”

He added, “We believe the draft is really the pipeline of teams that are successful over a period of time, and that's our goal.”

Former Ravens coach and NFL Network analyst Brian Billick tweeted on Wednesday a single win can't be found for the Browns on their schedule. He added the “Browns will win at least a game but you can't confidently pick it.”

“The headlines are the headlines, and I understand people have jobs to do and they want to catch a sound bite, and that's great for them,” Brown said. “But really, internally, we focus on our work, getting our players to buy in and really be focused and putting them in the best position to go out and win Sunday.

“The important thing is that our guys come in and work their tails off, be prepared for Sundays and buy into what our coaches are asking them to do. That's all we can really ask of them. So we'll let the results fall where they may, but we don't go in expecting to win less games than any number that we have the opportunity to go out and win.”

Brown addressed several other topics.

On whether keeping 13 of 14 picks from this year's draft on the active roster is inconsistent with acknowledging not all of the selections will pan out: “We don't think so. We keep the best 53 and then ultimately 63 guys [with 10 on the practice squad] for building as we move forward. Part of this is looking at where they are today and where they're heading. We made the best decisions for our roster to make sure that we are in position to have that sustained success that we'll be after and we'll put in place here.”

On cutting veteran outside linebacker Paul Kruger on Aug. 29: “We made the decision on Krug based on what we saw on the field. And I'll leave it at that.”

On trading former top-10 picks Barkevious Mingo and Justin Gilbert to the New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers, respectively, in a span of 10 days: “The reality is both guys are able to, I think, continue their careers in places where they may have a better opportunity than here. … I think we had not found a way to find productivity with Barkevious, and that's something that as an organization that believes in player development, we own just as I think the player owns as well. So for us, it was just the right decision for us and the Patriots and us and the Steelers.”

On trading Gilbert to a division rival: “I think you have to be mindful of that, but that's a consideration for us in terms of sending a guy to Pittsburgh. [Steelers general manager] Kevin Colbert and I laughed on the phone. That's how we began the conversation. They were interested in Justin and we felt like where we were with our depth chart the better opportunity was for us to move him.”