Why the Browns Won’t Suck this Season
One or two of these similarly titled articles surface before the opening kickoff of every football season, written by some optimist who is certain that the Browns can’t possibly retain the title of NFL’s worst team for yet another year. Clearly, these people don’t know how the NFL works.
Just as everyone who watches TV knows that switching to Geico can save you 15% or more on car insurance, so, too, can the average sports fan predict that Cleveland will likely lose 10 or more games in any given season. It’s just what they do.
To add some context, after going 1-15 in 2016 the Browns posted an even worse record in 2017, becoming only the second team in NFL history to finish a season 0-16.
Yikes.
But this isn’t an article lamenting over the Browns torrid history, nor their questionable decisions in the past. There are enough articles and certainly enough material to cover their prior inadequacies for many years to come. Instead, we are going to take an objective look at a much-improved Browns team heading into the 2018 season.
Many of the Browns’ struggles over the past decade can be traced back to a highly dysfunctional front office. Since 2012, nine of the team’s 13 players selected in the first round are no longer on the roster. This, coupled with the Browns’ decade long search for a franchise quarterback during which they passed on the likes of Carson Wentz, Deshaun Watson, and Jared Goff, exposes an embarrassing level of incompetence regarding the decision making by Cleveland’s front office.
Because of this perpetual failure to improve, perhaps the most significant move the Browns made this last year was the hiring of GM John Dorsey, a man with an impressive track record. During his four-year tenure in Kansas City, the Chiefs only failed to make the playoffs once.
Dorsey knows how to win, and this offseason proves that he isn’t going to shy away from making hard decisions. He was gutsy in the draft and ignored pundits and fans alike who called for him to take QB Sam Darnold at number one and DE Bradley Chubb at four, instead opting for Heisman winning QB Baker Mayfield from Oklahoma and CB Denzel Ward from Ohio State, both of whom in limited preseason action have been impressive.
Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield throws during the first half of an NFL football preseason game against the Detroit Lions, Thursday, Aug. 30, 2018, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)
He also showed a willingness to move on from those who don’t produce, promptly trading away QB28 Deshone Kizer and WR Corey Coleman, each of whom disappointed during their time with the Browns. Replacing those players are two former Pro Bowlers for whom Dorsey traded: WR Jarvis Landry and QB Tyrod Taylor, who, between them, should perpetuate the biggest changes in the offense this year.
With the Browns exchanging underperforming players at these positions with above average-starters, having WR Josh Gordon return, and adding WR Antonio Callaway, RB Nick Chubb, and RB Carlos Hyde, Cleveland should see a profound and immediate improvement in an offense which finished last in the NFL in points scored last season. The new Browns will have no problem moving the ball and should have an offense which ranks in the top half of the league this season.
FILE – In this Aug. 17, 2018, file photo, Cleveland Browns wide receiver Jarvis Landry (80) stands on the sideline during an NFL football preseason game against the Buffalo Bills, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/David Richard, File)
The Browns defense is similarly improved, at least on paper. With promising young talent from last year’s roster gaining another year of experience, and augmenting that with tantalizing new players, the front office has set Cleveland up to take a leap forward on the less glamorous side of the ball as well.
Part of this transformation was vastly upgrading the secondary by adding CB Denzel Ward through the draft and CB Damarious Randall via trade with the Packers. These additions should carry a ripple effect throughout the entire defense, as better coverage will afford rushers more time to pressure the opposing quarterback; in other words, Myles Garrett will have more time to sack the opposing quarterback. Expect a healthy Garrett in his second year to wreak havoc on the rest of the league, perhaps even as a Defensive Player of the Year candidate.
With these improvements in mind, the Browns should win six or seven games this season. A leap of this size may sound gargantuan for a team which just came off a now infamous 0-16 season which was bad, but not nearly as bad as many think. A terrible 0-16 could have just as easily been a mediocre 6-10, as the Browns lost six games by seven points or less. Regardless, when a team has been a punchline for as long as the Browns have, it is hard to take them seriously even when deserving. Still, the moves the Browns made over this past offseason are eye opening and prove they are no longer a joke; they may even allow Cleveland to have the last laugh several years down the road. Whether or not this happens, the future in the Land looks to be the brightest it has been in 10 years.