One of the highlights of summer in Northeast Ohio is the opening of training camp for the Cleveland Browns.
After six long months without football, the sight of those orange helmets, daily quarterback trackers, and hearing from the coaches and players about mostly meaningful topics is always welcome.
Then there is the annual media day, where ownership talks about expectations for the season and, to some extent, shares the overall feeling about the current state of the franchise.
That took place on Friday,
with Jimmy Haslam joined by managing partner JW Johnson to chat about the team. Here are three takeaways from what they had to say.
Cautiously optimistic about this season
The Browns enter the season with low expectations on a national level, with the belief that they will once again be one of the league’s worst teams, as sportsbooks have pegged the over/under at 5.5 wins.
He may not be a betting man, league rules and all, but Haslam said he would take the over as he has high hopes for the Browns in 2026:
“I just want to say we’re not punting on this season by any means. ’27 is great, but we have high expectations for this team. We had a lot of opportunities last year to win more games, and we didn’t, but this year is by no means a punt whatsoever. We’re excited about how we’re going to play; we’ll see how the schedule shakes out, but the guys are ready to win this year. There’s no mandate like, ‘hey we just have to focus on ’27 and beyond.’ Every year we want to win.
“We’re always careful, as you know, to set the expectations, and I think we’ve made giant strides in our talent level the last few years. It takes these young guys a lot of time, and I think we could have a chance to start double-digit first- and second-year players. I don’t care how good you are, it takes a little bit of time to improve. But we’re really excited about the roster we’ve assembled.”
A hard coach for a hard job
The Browns interviewed several candidates during their head coach search to replace Kevin Stefanski, who led the team to the playoffs twice in his six seasons. That search ultimately landed on the 60-year-old Todd Monken, making him an NFL head coach for the first time.
The combination of Monken’s skill on offense and his ability to embrace being both a coach and a teacher made him the top choice, according to Haslam:
“What’s interesting is Todd was here for a year, so we got to know him pretty well, and the three years that he was at Baltimore, for whatever reason, we stayed in contact, and always thought very highly of him. (Todd) coaches really hard, and he coaches the players hard, and he coaches the coaches hard. If you’re the wide receiver coach and some guy runs eight yards shorter than that, you’re going to hear about it right then — you might not wait until after practice. This is coaching and teaching, and I think he’s really good at it and really comfortable at it.
“I think Todd’s comfortable in his own skin. I don’t want to share trade secrets, but he was my favorite from the get-go. We had some good coaches, and people drop out, and people don’t turn out the way you thought, but he was my pick from the first. Everybody says he’s never been a head coach, and he’s 60, but we had the choice of taking that or somebody who’s never been a head coach and is 32 or 33. So, I like that.”
The quarterbacks. Always the quarterbacks.
It would not be summer in Cleveland without a training camp battle to see who will be the starting quarterback, even if that person only lasts a few games.
This is also the final year of Deshaun Watson’s five-year contract, and while there has been talk that the reaction of the fans will sway Monken’s decision, Johnson said that is not going to be a factor:
“I think everyone’s a fan of each guy; some like Deshuan, a lot of people don’t, some people like Shedeur (Sanders), maybe some people don’t. It really doesn’t matter, and those guys don’t care about it. As we said earlier, those guys have been here working hard. All they want to do is win and help this team out. They know our success on the field is paramount for the team, our fans, our organization, and for this city.
“Having eight wins in the last two years is unacceptable … we had a ton of opportunities last year to win more games, and we just didn’t. But we feel comfortable about those guys. Whoever wins the job, we’re going to support them, and we hope the fans do too. The best thing they can do is play well and win football games, and that’ll change the narrative.”
Haslam followed up with possibly the truest thing he has ever said as owner of the Browns:
“I think one thing I’ve noticed about fans is that if a player plays well, they tend to come around.”
Those are some of the takeaways from the media session. Now it’s your turn. Here is the full transcript – what stood out to you the most? Let everyone know in the comments!
