Anyone here grasp what the Cleveland Browns are up to? Bueller? Anyone?
Admittedly, it's an ages-old question for one of the NFL's historically inept franchises − one that's never reached the Super Bowl. But the past two months have just added more layers of confusion, at least in my judgment.
I was following along earlier this spring, when Cleveland utilized free agency and the draft to reload an offensive line that had aged out − a stratagem that should also provide an eminently fair evaluation of this summer's (this season's?) quarterback battle. And after what appears to be a sterling 2025 NFL draft, including an apparently cagey decision to move out of the No. 2 spot and forego selecting Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter, GM Andrew Berry
positioned himself to choose four players in the top 58 spots this year. Nicely done, sir.
But then ...
Why wait to trade Myles Garrett? Or pay him?
Yes, then came the shocking June 1 trade of two-time Defensive Player of the Year (plus five-time All-Pro, newly minted single-season sack record holder and team legend) Myles Garrett, whom Berry had previously vowed to never deal and locked into a four-year extension just a year ago ... shortly after Garrett asked out of Cleveland prior to Super Bowl 59.
Stunning as it was − and we can argue about whether or not the Browns got market value for one of the greatest players in their history and one still squarely in his prime (even at 30) − Berry felt he was getting a sufficient bounty (a first-, second- and third-round pick plus 25-year-old defensive end Jared Verse) to reverse course on Garrett. Yet it immediately called into question Berry's earlier proclamation and makes you wonder why he didn't move him a year earlier, after Garrett had already penned a goodbye letter and theoretically might have fetched more had the Browns invited a bidding war ... not to mention the decision to sign him to a four-year, $160 million extension with nearly $89 million guaranteed at signing.
Moving forward? The Browns are without their best player and top gate attraction. They're also eating $47 million in dead Garrett salary cap charges over the next two seasons. But fine, Garrett's championship window didn't align with the Browns' − to the degree they've ever had one since their 1999 rebirth − so embrace the youth movement, get something at least sizable in return for Garrett, including Verse, who was the key to the trade all along according to Berry.
But then ...
Why extend Denzel Ward and Grant Delpit?
Five minutes after Garrett's nameplate was taken off his locker, Berry turned around and extended DBs Denzel Ward and Grant Delpit − Ward getting two years and $62.2 million ($49.8 million guaranteed), making him the league's top-paid cornerback ... for the second time.
Say what now?
I don't want to take anything away from Ward, a five-time Pro Bowler who grew up in Ohio and was drafted out of Ohio State eight years ago, making him quite the local hero who's done well in this NFL wasteland. Delpit (3 years, $48 million, $35 million guaranteed) isn't nearly as decorated, though has been a reliable starter for the past four seasons. But both are on their third contracts. Neither has played in a playoff win. Neither has had to play without the benefit of Garrett wrecking shop in front of them. Jim Schwartz, who did such an exceptional job deploying them while running this defense for the past three seasons, is also gone. So why pay premium prices for a pair of aging veterans when your team seems to be at least a year away from being a year away and they don't project as championship cornerstones, either? And neither Ward nor Delpit will have nearly Garrett's trade market down the line.
“The big thing, going back to the Myles decision, is that wasn’t plan A going into the offseason," Berry said last week. "I’d categorize that as, ‘Hey, this is a unique opportunity that we didn’t necessarily anticipate doing or being available to us.’ So, making that trade didn’t fundamentally alter our approach to team-building from that point forward.
"Denzel and Grant are in the primes of their careers − they’re high-level players, they’re high-level people. Those are the types we want to continually make investments in.”
Berry also likes to note they're home-grown ... (kinda like his former superstar).
But what now after divesting Garrett, who will literally cost this franchise for the next two seasons − and while staring at the prospect of $86 million in cap charges for quarterback Deshaun Watson ... once he's presumably off the roster next spring? Oh yeah, next spring − which would be the first opportunity to extend Verse, which would be early but could likely also mean a discount. And, oh yeah, next spring − which would also be the time to pursue free agents given the fairly obvious signal that owner Jimmy Haslam expects to have a winning product on the field by 2027. And, don't forget, the spring of 2028 could be when emerging youngsters like linebacker Carson Schwesinger, last season's Defensive Rookie of the Year, running back Quinshon Judkins, tight end Harold Fannin Jr. and perhaps even quarterback Shedeur Sanders will be sniffing around for new money.
"(N)ext year might be the time to dip into free agency," Haslam said last week. "You have to realize that when you go into free agency, you’re going to overpay − you just are. So, you’ve got to keep that in mind and balance that with the value of draft picks.”
Sure seems like Berry's making that potential balancing act increasingly precarious.
Especially given ...
The muddy quarterback situation
Watson and Sanders are currently locked in a battle for the QB1 role, each alternating snaps with the first team every other day of training camp − in a duel that may largely be performative for both. (However, it is amusing that both Watson and Haslam paid lip service to the notion the locally despised quarterback could be back with the team next year, when his current − and fully guaranteed ... and widely derided − contract expires.)
"I love Cleveland," Watson said over the weekend when asked if he might re-sign. "Me and my wife have our house on the east side, so we’re here all the time. We were here this summer. If you ask around, I’m at pretty much all the restaurants, hanging out, so I haven’t had a bad experience outside of different times in the stadium. I don’t know why that narrative is out there that people think that I don’t like Cleveland. My family and I have been enjoying our time here, if the opportunity shows up, we’ll see where it goes.”
We sure know how it's gone.
From that odious contract, to the lack of local buy-in, to the stench of off-field behavior that followed him from Houston, to the injuries, to the lost draft capital, to the loss of Baker Mayfield, the 2022 trade for Watson is perhaps the worst in NFL history. And the notion that he’d return … is almost as ridiculous as the notion he should potentially start ahead of Sanders, a second-year player who needs a lengthy look at some point as Berry and Co. assess their options ahead of what’s expected to be a QB-rich draft next year, when the Browns own two first-round picks thanks to the Garrett trade.
And given Cleveland fans seem to embrace Sanders to a degree perhaps approximate to their animus for Watson, why not just give the young guy a long leash and park the very lame duck on the bench? If Sanders plays well, maybe your quarterback question is answered. If he doesn’t, then you’re primely positioned to get his replacement at the top of next year’s board – maybe without having to invest further capital. Alas, this is Cleveland.
"I haven’t coached any of these four quarterbacks until now, I haven’t been around them," said first-year head coach Todd Monken recently. "I don’t have any preconceived notions of who they’ve been or where they’re going. I just take it day to day, we install (the playbook), and as we get further along, we’ll have a better idea.”
Oh, we've already got a pretty idea, coach. A team coming off a 5-12 season but unable to get out of the AFC North cellar in 2025 – when the Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals played well below their potential – most certainly seems relegated to stay in the basement, barring catastrophe elsewhere in the division. Yet the Browns, with their young talent – and rookie wideouts KC Concepcion and Denzel Boston have been lighting up camp – seem to have convinced themselves they’re already on their way and are operating accordingly.
“I would say this, and we never do this, but I think the odds are for us to win five and a half games,” Haslam mused. “I’ll take the over.”
Seems awfully optimistic for an owner, one focused on opening a new stadium in three years, whose team hasn’t hit the over on 5½ in seven of his 14 seasons in the suite – Monken’s predecessor, Kevin Stefanski, responsible for much of the relative success.
“(O)ur on-field performance,” admitted Haslam, “is something that keeps us awake at night. It’s unacceptable, and I hate it most for our fans, because they deserve better than that. We’re working hard every day to not have that same kind of performance we’ve had in the past.”
Working hard? Maybe. But working smart? Jury’s (still) out, Jimmy.
All the NFL news on and off the field. Sign up for USA TODAY's 4th and Monday newsletter.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What are the Cleveland Browns doing? Seriously, we have no idea | Opinion
