For the remainder of this week, we here at The Baltimore Feather are going to be reviewing and evaluating all of the Baltimore Ravens’ divisional opponents. Today we open the short series of articles by taking a look at the Cleveland Browns, one of the more storied franchises in the National Football League. Founded in 1946, the Cleveland Browns found success throughout their time, but never won a Super Bowl. In 1996 the Browns were relocated to Baltimore, by team owner Art Model. They became the Baltimore Ravens. The Browns were reinstated to the NFL in 1999, and since have never regained their success.
Last Season
Last season the Cleveland Browns finished last in the division, with a 1-15 record. The 2016 season was the first year for head coach Hue Jackson, who is looking to rebuild the Browns over a long period of time. This is an abandonment of the organization’s earlier strategy of firing the head coach every other season. The Browns had a revolving quarterback carousel early in the season but eventually settled on first-year quarterback Cody Kessler to lead the offense. The team was able to find a star in quarterback turned wide receiver, Terrelle Pryor. Pryor received for over 1,000 yards for a team with little offense to work with. The Browns also have standouts in offensive tackle Joe Thomas, and cornerback Joe Haden. The Browns are looking to move on from last season, and continue on their long-term plan to make the Browns great again.
Major Offseason Departures
Released: QB Josh McCown, QB Robert Griffin III WR Andrew Hawkins, DB Tramon Williams, TE
Gary Barnidge
Traded: LB Demario Davis
Left via Free Agency: WR Terrelle Pryor
Retired: WR Josh Cribbs
Major Offseason Additions
Signed: WR Kenny Britt, WR James Wright, CB Jason McCourty
Traded: QB Brock Osweiler
Drafted: DE Myles Garrett, S Jabrill Peppers, TE David Njoku, QB DeShone Kizer
Strengths
The Browns don’t have a whole lot of strengths, as apparent by their less than mediocre performance over the past two decades. However, they do have some aspects of the team and organization that can be considered strengths. The first is the coaching staff and new wave of management that the Browns have installed in the recent past. The Browns are seemingly moving away from the failed strategy of canning coaches, general managers, and other team figures when the season does not meet expectations. That strategy has caused the Browns to stay in the downward spiral they were caught in to begin with. Now, the Browns have settled on head coach Hue Jackson, a veteran NFL coach who has found much success throughout his career. General Manager Sashi Brown, also came through the door around the same time as Jackson, and it seems that the two have developed a strong working relationship. Brown has been able to maneuver the Browns in both the draft and in free agency, finding great talent to add to the team. He was able to make enough trades to draft three times in the first round of the NFL draft, traded for a team’s starting quarterback, and found veterans in free agency to add to the team. It seems that the leadership of the team has finally found their way. As far as the team and its playing style, the Browns have a fairly decent run game. Running back Isaiah Crowell spearheaded the ground game for the Browns, rushing for 952 yards last season. Their secondary running back, Duke Johnson, also contributed to the running game, with 358 rushing yards. The final major strength of the Cleveland Browns is that despite not knowing their quarterback for next season yet, they have a plethora of options to choose from. Cody Kessler impressed the Browns last season, completing over 65% of his passes. The Browns also brought in competition by trading for quarterback Brock Osweiler in a deal that basically bought them a second round pick in next year’s NFL Draft, and drafted Notre Dame quarterback DeShone Kizer in the second round. The Browns will probably be able to find a decent starting quarterback for next season in that bunch.
Weaknesses
The Browns have quite a few weaknesses that will need to be addressed by their coaching staff in the coming months. The most pressing issue for the Cleveland Browns is that they currently don’t know who their starting quarterback will be in the 2017 season. This, coupled with a lackluster offense from last season, results in a lot of uncertainty around the offense heading into next season. Sure they brought in a few new players to contribute on that side of the ball, but the Browns don’t have the luxury of expecting much from their offense. On top of this, the Browns lost one of their most important playmakers, Terrelle Pryor, to the Redskins in free agency. The Browns on defense don’t have much going for them either. The entire defense, from the defensive line to linebackers, to the secondary, has not been able to keep opposing offenses at bay. In fact, the defense let up more than 20 points in all 15 of their losses. Many games the defense let up over 30 points as well. The lowest amount of points that the Cleveland Browns allowed during the 2016 season was 17, and it came in their 20-17 victory over the Chargers at the end of the season. The Browns have some good players on defense, like cornerback Joe Haden and linebacker Jamie Collins, but the rest of the team is mostly young and inexperienced. The defense likely won’t be able to fight opposing offenses well again next season, but they are at least likely to improve. Besides their running backs, the Browns don’t really have any very strong positional groups at all. They have some good players here and there, but nothing that can constitute an elite group of players. If Cleveland wants to win more games next season, they will need to find a group, besides the running backs, to rely on to bring them some wins. Isaiah Crowell and Duke Johnson won’t be able to do it all for them, and they know it.
Predictions and Playoff Chances
The Browns are not going to have a winning record next season. I think it’s fairly obvious that the team will have a losing record next season, but that does not mean the team will be horrendous like last season. The Browns are improving, but still need a ton of work in order to be a successful NFL team. The worst case scenario for the Browns is that they go 3-13, and again finish last in the division. Obviously they would not make the playoffs in this scenario, however, they would find some playmakers for the team. In their best case scenario, the Browns go 6-10, again missing the playoffs. In order for the Browns to end the season at 6-10, they will need to find team leaders on both offense and defense. The leaders would need to outperform expectations, and put up valiant efforts against all the teams they play. The offense will need to rely on the rushing attack while having a decent enough passing attack to score some points through the air. On the defensive side, the Browns will need to have either the defensive line or linebackers to step up and be a solid positional group, along with the secondary. The NFL is moving towards a more pass-heavy offensive style, while the AFC North continues to be the home to primarily run first offensive minded teams. This means that the Browns will need both a good secondary to fight off opposing passing attacks, and either a good defensive line or linebackers group that can stuff the running game in its tracks. Overall, the Browns won’t have a great season at all next year, but they will find improvement. Their threat to the Ravens is minimal, and the Ravens will likely win both of their games against the Browns.
