Offense 

This Browns offense has a number of new faces all across the board but what so obviously sticks out is this QB room. While we can get into the whole Deshaun Watson side of this I’d rather not give him any more time/words than necessary. While I’d never hope for any player to get injured the injury Deshaun Watson suffered (Torn Right Achilles) was sort of a blessing in disguise for the Browns and the terrible cap situation his contract puts them. Considering he’ll miss the majority, if not all, of the upcoming season they’ll get salary relief due to him missing games. While it’s far from the huge number he is owed it’s certainly better than having him play at a backup level for a premium price. Aside from Watson and his whole situation there’s a whole other story here with the rest of the guys in this room. You have a veteran that succeeded in this exact offense just 2 seasons ago in Joe Flacco, a fine backup/possible starter in Kenny Pickett, and then you add two draft picks to the room in Dillon Gabriel (Oregon) and Sheduer Sanders (Colorado). I fully expect Flacco to play the majority of the year for them and maybe you get some games of Pickett mixed in there due to injury/struggling play from Flacco. As for the two rookies I personally see Sanders as the better prospect and while he slid in the draft, mainly due to the way he and his family/team handled the draft process, I think he has a better shot of playing early and certainly down the road for the Browns. It’s not that Gabriel was a bad pick or that he wasn’t deserving of his spot here but I personally see him as more of a backup level guy that can give you some nice starts in place of an injury or poor play while Sanders can be a starter in the league in my opinion. Do I expect either of the rookies to play this year? Not unless something goes awry for this team and they’re “grasping at straws” to find a competent answer at QB.

As for this RB room this team had to let go of a cornerstone player for them in Nick Chubb. Chubb is certainly past his prime at this point and it was time to get fresh legs in the room but what a career he had in Cleveland, awesome to watch. While it’s hard to say any addition will compare to Chubb and the impact he’s had here in Cleveland they did their absolute best to replace him and I’m certain they will see better play than what they had in this room last year. Between their 2nd Round pick in Quinshon Judkins (OSU) and their 4th Round pick Dylan Sampson (Tennessee) they should have a really dynamic RB room with Judkins carrying the majority of the workload and being the “do it all back” and Sampson being the “change of pace back.” While Judkins has his flaws he really has rounded out his game throughout his college career and in my opinion is a guy that you feed the majority of the touches out of the backfield to. He needs to clean up his pass protection and he lacks that true break away speed that some backs have but he’s super consistent between the tackles, seeks contact and absorbs it really well, always holds onto the ball, and does a solid job out of the backfield as a receiver. Sampson on the other hand doesn’t have that same ability to absorb and fight through contact and needs to fill out his frame a bit but he’s electric with the ball in his hands and should provide them a nice pop of explosiveness out of the backfield. Along side the two rookie you have a solid “vet” in Jerome Ford who may not be a highlight reel player but is consistent in what he does and should give them a nice steady RB to pair with these rookies.

The WR and TE rooms are mostly the same from last year with Cedric Tillman playing your X, Jerry Jeudy as your off the ball separator playing Y, and David Njoku being the freak TE that he is. While that group is fine I wish that they had put a few more assets into the WR room than Diontae Johnson coming off two rough seasons and Deandre Carter who is a solid depth WRand special teams piece. I like David Bell and Jamari Thrash has some promise as a player but neither of them particularly get me excited for the depth on this team. On the other hand they added another freak to this TE room in the draft with Harold Fannin Jr (Bowling Green). Fannin Jr while needing to clean up his route running and even more so his blocking the guy is an absolute freak as an athlete and should be able to learn and develop along side David Njoku if he’s willing to. While this pass catching group isn’t horrible it’s far from being a top unit in my opinion and really needs another guy in the WR to open up the field for the others on the roster. 

This OL room looks incredibly promising and is surprisingly deep considering the question marks they had going into this offseason. You keep the core guys who certainly had down years last year but in the past have combined to be a top unit in the league with Joel Bitonio, Ethan Pocic, Wyatt Teller, and Jack Conklin. This collection of guys have quite a bit of age between them and health wise have some concerns but if they keep these four on the field and healthy they should have a really solid unit, especially if they can get something out of their now LT Dawand Jones. Jones has struggled through his young career so far due to his lack of athleticism at T. He’s a big powerful guy that when he gets his hands on you is a problem but his lack of movement skills and inability to get to his spots at T has consistently flashed on film. He’s capable of being a starter he just needs to clean up his technique and possibly drop some weight so he can move a bit better out there. The thing that really makes this unit promising to me is the depth here. While there’s questions of health, age, inexperience, and poor play across the starters you have a solid vet swing T in Cornelius Lucas, a young promising G in Zak Zinter, a capable depth C in Luke Wypler, and a reasonably young G in Teven Jenkins who has flashed some really special play when he was on the Bears he just needs to stay healthy and find some consistency. While I’m not saying they have pro bowlers on the bench or anything along those lines they do have guys that would start for other units in the league and to have two or so guys like that along your OL never hurts.

Defense 

This defense starts with this DL and well it better for the assets that they’ve pored into this group. Between taking Mason Graham (Michigan) in the top 5, paying Myles Garrett 40mil a year, and making a number of signings here as well (Joe Tryon-Shoyinka, Maliek Collins, Julian Okawara) this team heavily invested in the DL and I think they’ve put together a really good because of it. Obviously Garrett was worth that money and I have no issue with that but the Graham pick was a bit high for me personally although this is possibly the best fit for him as far as his draft range went. Along with those two high end players you have good depth to fill in around them as well with guys like Tryon-Shoyinka, Okwara, Collins, Ogbo Okoronkwo, Isaiah McGuire, Alex Wright, and so long as he gets healthy after his injury (Torn MCL) and surgery Mike Hall Jr. While none of these guys are world beaters they will win one on ones occasionally and when you have Myles Garrett and now Mason Graham as well eating up double teams and getting so much attention in general they will have plenty of them.

This LB took a huge hit with the unfortunate news of their Pro Bowl/All Pro ILB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah’s injury (Neck). JOK wrecks offenses when he’s on the field and brings this front seven and in turn this entire defense to another level with the way he flies around not only in coverage but in the run game especially. It’s horrible to see how much this injury has affected him and the outlook of his career and I just hope that he’s able to get back on the field one day because the guy is one of the most fun and exciting LBs in the game. While the JOK injury hurts they do have Jordan Hicks here who seemingly turns back time year after year and continues to play at a solid starter level for them. Along with Hicks they drafted Carson Schwesinger (UCLA)with the 33rd pick and while I’m not saying he will be JOK for them he is a really good athlete that has great instincts and absolutely flies around the field. Schwesinger could use some weight on his frame (looks like a S or CB) and in turn a bit more power behind him but the violence and speed he plays at makes up for that quite often and should give this team a fun player at the second level that can fly around and make plays all over the place.

As for this secondary, every one but Denzel Ward is coming off a down year and with a lot of the same guys returning this organization is seemingly betting on them getting back to their old selves and I’m not sure I can blame them. The CB room with Denzel Ward and Martin Emerson Jr on the outside and Greg Newsome II in the slot on paper is one of the best in the league and when you pair that with Ronnie Hickman and Grant Delpit on the back end at S you should have one of the better secondaries in the league, the problem being they played below league average as a group last season. If these guys on the back end all get back to their best ball and you pair that with the front seven you have built here, you could a really special defense on your hands. On the flip side you could suffer an injury or these guys could have similar seasons to last year and all the sudden your searching for answers from guys like Nik Needham, Myles Harden, Tony Brown II, Cameron Mitchell, Damontae Kazee, and Rayshawn Jenkins who can all be depth pieces and be fine for you but if any combination of these guys, aside from maybe Jenkins, are playing significant snaps for you I could see the back end of this defense being a problem for this team once again.

Overview 

• This Browns team has some real strengths to it including the run game, the pass rush, and the overall talent along the defense being above average but there’s also a number of issues or unsolved questions in important positions such as QB, LT, and a number of important pieces along the roster aging out of their respective primes. I think HC Kevin Stefanski and this staff will find ways to keep them in each and every game but I don’t know that they have the offensive talent to pull out a win on a regular basis. This team in my opinion is chippy and one that you don’t look forward to playing week in week out but probably ends up below that 500. mark on the season due to the lack of quality play at key positions, ultimately floating around 5-8 wins depending on how well it goes. What does that mean for this regime and their job security? I don’t know but this feels like a team that is in the beginning stages of tearing down the roster and retooling all together and they’ll probably need at least one more offseason to get this team back on track and we where they want to be. There’s also some ownership concerns here with Jimmy Haslam meddling in roster decisions mainly at QB (Deshaun Watson trade was his decision and I’m guessing bringing in Sheduer was as well. Granted the Shedeur decision isn’t even close to the Watson one in terms of compensation, personal concerns, and rational) so hopefully that isn’t a future problem/issue for this team. Overall this Browns team should be chippy and much more competitive than last season which will be refreshing to watch but I wouldn’t hold my breath for a sneaky wild card appearance or anything along those lines.