The Cleveland Browns offense in 2024 was, in a word, unwatchable.
It did not matter which quarterback the team cycled through – Deshaun Watson, Jameis Winston, Dorian Thompson-Robinson, or Bailey Zappe – it was a weekly comedy of errors whenever the Browns had the ball.
Consider that at various points in the season:
- The Browns were last in EPA per play on offense with Watson for the first seven weeks of the season.
- The Browns were last in EPA per play on offense with Winston.
- The Browns’ EPA per play with Watson starting (-0.225) ranked 786th out of 798 teams since 2000 over the first seven games of a season, per TruMedia.
- Their EPA per play with Winston starting (-0.120) ranked 690th out of 798 teams over games 8-14 since 2000.
- The Browns failed to score 20 points in the seven games that Watson started.
- The Browns failed to score 20 points in four of the seven games that Winston started.
By the end of the season, general manager Andrew Berry and head coach Kevin Stefanski had seen enough and went to work rebuilding the offense.
The quarterback room was completely rebuilt
with the addition of veteran Joe Flacco in free agency, and rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Both the running back group and receiving corps received an influx of youth with the selection of running backs Dylan Sampson and Quinshon Judkins (although Judkins remains unsigned due to an off-field legal issue), and tight end Harold Fannin Jr. in the draft, and the signing of undrafted free agent wide receiver Isaiah Bond.
So things should be better this fall, yes?
Well, not everyone is a believer, and we can include The Ringer’s Sheil Kapadia in that group of doubters. Kapadia ranked every NFL offense for the upcoming season, and he does not like what he sees from the Browns, who check in at No. 29:
Everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong for the Browns last year. They started Deshaun Watson, Jameis Winston, Dorian Thompson-Robinson, and Bailey Zappe at quarterback. They were crushed by injuries. And they lost more EPA on turnovers than any other offense in the NFL. In other words, maybe they’ll get a little luckier this season. But also, let’s be real: This offense will stink.
I have no issue with Cleveland taking a bunch of dart throws at quarterback and essentially kicking the can down the road for a year while it tries to dig its way out of the franchise-altering Watson mistake. It looks like it’ll start the season with Joe Flacco. The offensive line should be OK. And I still like Kevin Stefanski as a coach. But c’mon—there’s just not much to get excited about here.
We’re going to have to push back a bit on Kapadia’s thoughts, especially the idea that there is “not much to get excited about” when it comes to Cleveland’s offense.
While Flacco has the same issues with turning the ball over as Winston, Flacco brings more upside with less of the nonsense, so he is an immediate upgrade. And if Flacco falters? Then the Browns can turn to Gabriel or Sanders, and what is more exciting than debating the merits of rookie quarterbacks?
The fact that Sampson and Judkins (if he plays this fall) had success in the SEC is a good sign. If they can survive the meat grinder of college football’s best conference, then you have to like their chances in the AFC North Division.
Fannin and Bond both have upside, and the Browns still have wide receiver Jerry Jeudy, who had 90 receptions and posted the first 1,000-yard receiving season of his career in 2024, and tight end David Njoku, who enters the season third on the franchise’s all-time list for receptions and could hit his first 1,000-yard season if he can stay healthy.
Are there still questions about the offense? Of course. A 40-year-old quarterback backed up by a pair of rookies is not without its risks. The offensive line has to stay healthy and show that last season’s performance was an aberration. And you never know when injuries will strike.
However, it is hard to envision this offense being as inept as the Browns were in 2024.
And that should be enough to get anyone excited whenever the Browns have the ball this fall.
