As someone who routes for the city of Cleveland, this off season for the Browns has been promising. Now I won’t fool you, this season preview is more of a love letter. The likeliness of the Browns making the Playoffs is very low. The off season started with delusions of grandeur with the hope that Jimmy Garappolo would come to the land. It looks more and more now like that will never happen. So the Browns addressed the worst defense in the team in the draft by getting a generational talent in Myles Garrett. Then getting one of the most athletic defensive players in the draft in Jabrill Peppers. The Browns won their season which was draft day.
At QB the Browns still have no answer but they do have more options. They drafted underrated Notre Dame QB Deshone Kizer. Before that they pulled off the most masterful and first cap for pick trade ever acquiring Brock Osweiler from the Texans. Not to mention Cody Kessler. Am I saying the Browns are set at QB no but they do have three “serviceable” options. Cody Kessler is highly overrated and should be expected after what he showed last year to have a long career as a low-level starter and top class backup in the league. Meanwhile, I believe in Brock. I just think he’ll win this starting job and take the browns to a serviceable starting record say a 4-4. At some point in the season I think we will see Kizer who has made waves in Browns training camp.
Losing Terell Pryor was a mistake on the part of the Browns front office. He was there best receiver and the most fun to watch player on their offense last year. David Njoku was a steal at tight end for where the Browns got him in the draft but he will not have the success of Pryor. The Browns also added Kenny Britt, who had over 1,000 yards with the Rams similarly bad offense. The Browns look to Britt to keep up as well as the, second year receiver, Corey Coleman to have a breakout season as many predict.
Where their offense will run is through RB Isaiah Crowell and their strong offensive line. Crowell looks to see great volume this season and potentially rack up some good yards behind Cleveland’s strong line. Back-up RB, Duke Johnson, is in my opinion, one of the best back-up in the league. Cleveland looks to even move Johnson to the slot this season while Crowell takes over RB duties.
Suddenly a Browns defense that was a weakness is now somewhat of a strength. Everyone on this roster has improved leaps and bounds. The Browns defense could easily grab this team 4 to 5 wins. In summary Browns fans this offseason report is your super bowl win. Minus a QB you “somewhat fixed” most of the major problems on your defensive roster and while letting go of Pryor was a mistake the Browns made up for it by keeping running back Duke Johnson who is one of the more underrated back in the league. The Browns will not go 1-15 in contrast they will shock this team is playing in a divison that is hurt and minus the Steelers is just mediocre. You could see if the Bengals sucked Joe Flaccos injury was as serious as it sounds and the Steelers struggled even a little this team making it to the playoffs as a wild card. At worst they could go 0-16 that’s doubtful though. It is most likely this team still shocks the football world don’t be surprised if the Browns go 8-8 that may not be good enough for Browns fans but the expectations should be set low. That way they will only be blown away. This team will not be as bad as they were last year, hopefully.