The Cleveland Browns have seen a ton of changes since the end of the 2025 NFL season. Out is Kevin Stefanski, in as the new head coach is Todd Monken. Long-term veterans like Wyatt Teller and David Njoku have found new teams, while Joel Bitonio
ponders retirement.Free agency saw a new offensive line coming together, while a very good 2025 NFL draft class was followed up by a high upside version in 2026.
Still, life as a Browns fan hasn’t been fun in the 21st century, and the team is the underdog in 15
of the 17 games on the 2026 schedule, including being big underdogs in Week 1 versus the Jacksonville Jaguars. While it is possible that Cleveland has a winning record by their bye week, most are expecting another bad season for the orange and brown.
The issue? Those low expectations just don’t make logical sense.
Last year, the following were true of the Browns:
- Horrible OLine play
- Bad to horrible QB play
- Very limited talent at WR
- A great defense, but it was somewhat predictable in big moments
- Questionable, at best, coaching decisions
This year, it is realistic that Cleveland has:
- At least mediocre OLine play
- An offensive system better suited to help the QBs at least be adequate
- Young, talented pass catchers (Harold Fannin Jr., KC Concepcion, Denzel Boston)
- Almost an identical defensive roster, with a chance of less predictability
- A step back is also possible with Jim Schwartz gone
- Hopefully, better decisions will be made by the coaching staff
With all that went wrong in 2025, the Browns still won five games. Again, read the list of all that was true last season for Cleveland and recognize that the team still won five games.
With a schedule that is expected to be on the easy side, as much as that can be true for an NFL schedule, the list of improvements expected for 2026 means Browns fans should expect at least a two or three-win improvement in 2026, barring major injury or a Myles Garrett trade.
Given what happened last year and the changes for the 2026 season, what are your win total expectations for 2026?
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