As the summer winds down, training camp for all 32 teams will begin towards the end of July. For the Cleveland Browns, the team will go into Year 2 of their rebuild. Star defensive end Myles Garrett is in Inglewood, former head coach Kevin Stefanski is in Atlanta, and the team has a new head coach in Todd Monken. Current sportsbooks have the Browns over/under for wins at 5.5. A young offense and defense with an unproven head coach.
A team filled with questions and not a lot of answers.
Unrealistic Expectation: The Browns contending for a playoff spot
Before Cleveland
traded Garrett, it wouldn’t be out of the equation for the Browns to contend for a wild card spot in the AFC. A young offense with explosive playmakers, a defense that had Garrett, and an easy schedule would have some fans thinking Cleveland could surprise everyone. Unfortunately, it’s not the case. Looking at the landscape of the AFC, the Browns are nowhere close to contending for a playoff spot. The team has too many unknowns on both sides of the ball.
- Offense is young with playmakers but uncertainty at the QB position
- Defense has young talent but lacks a true alpha on the team
- HC is a question mark due to his inexperience as a head coach.
Realistic Expectation: Offense will struggle for the 1st half of the season
Installing a new offense might seem easy, but it’s more of a steep learning curve. Learning the new terminology in terms of the playbook, and an entire offensive line being revamped, creates a lot of questions. Expecting the offense to have fireworks from the start is an unrealistic expectation. Monken will bring over what he did with the Baltimore Ravens to the Cleveland Browns. Heavy usage of play-action with an emphasis on the run game. The passing game will be a work in progress, but the running game will determine the ceiling of this offense and how good it will be towards the second half of the season.
The offense will struggle for the first 6 weeks of the season before finding a form of consistency towards the second half of the season.
Realistic Expectation: The team will be picking towards the top 10, not top 3 of the NFL Draft
On paper, the Browns aren’t as bad as they were going into last season. Offensively, the offensive line and receivers look better on paper, but the quarterback position is still a question mark. Defensively, trading Garrett was a huge blow. However, the team still has young, talented pieces in defensive tackle Mason Graham, Linebacker/Defensive Rookie of the Year Carson Schwesinger, and defensive end Jared Verse.
Realistically, the team can be competitive but not bad enough that they will be picking towards the top two. Combine that with a fairly easy schedule, and the team could win more than four games and be out of the running for a top three pick
What are your realistic and unrealistic expectations for the Browns season?
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