Since Jimmy Haslam (shown) and his wife Dee took ownership of the Cleveland Browns in October 2017, … [+]
The Cleveland Browns are no strangers to self-destruction.
Who can forget the three-year train wreck from 2015-2017, when Cleveland had a combined record of 4-44, which translated to a .090 winning percentage.
Or how about 2016, when the Browns won all but 15 of their 16 games, resulting in a .032 winning percentage.
Then there was the granddaddy of them all, in 2017, when the Browns played 16 games and lost them all, resulting in a winning percentage of zero at all: 0.000.
When it comes to the art of futility, the Cleveland Browns leave no one behind, including themselves.
So far in the 2024 season, the Browns are outdoing themselves again.
Seven games into the season, Cleveland has won only one game and lost the other six. Or consider this: The Browns haven’t scored more than 18 points in any game this season. In their seven games so far, they have been outscored by their opponents 162-109.
Cleveland also lost quarterback Deshaun Watson, who suffered a season-ending ruptured Achilles in Cleveland’s 21-14 loss to Cincinnati last Sunday.
Watson could have been replaced by Joe Flacco, who saved the Browns’ season last year when Watson suffered a season-ending injury. Flacco fielded an emergency call from Cleveland officials, asking if he would mind joining the team and helping it make the playoffs.
Flacco replied “of course,” then did just that. After doing just that, Flacco was named the winner of the Associated Press Comeback Player of the Year award, and during the offseason he was offered to return to Cleveland in a backup role in 2024.
The Browns inexplicably declined the offer, so Flacco instead signed with the Indianapolis Colts, for whom, in three games in a backup role, Flacco has thrown seven touchdown passes, one interception and has a passer rating of 102.2, with a 72 QBR.
Watson’s 2024 season ended in Cleveland’s 21-14 loss to Cincinnati last Sunday, when he ruptured his Achilles tendon. It’s unclear when, where or for whom Watson will play his next NFL game, but it won’t be this year. He’s still under that huge contract – five years, $230 million – from the Browns, on which he still has two years left.
In the meantime, the Browns’ season is starting to go around the drain again in typical Brown fashion. If all of the above wasn’t demoralizing enough, on Sunday Cleveland faces perhaps the best team in the NFL, the Baltimore Ravens (the former Browns franchise that was moved to Baltimore by Browns owner Art Modell in 1996).
Meanwhile, in Cleveland, Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam are moving forward with plans to build a domed stadium in Brook Park.
It seems likely that whoever the Browns quarterback is when the domed stadium opens, it won’t be Watson. For now, the quarterback for Sunday’s game against Baltimore will be Jameis Winston, who has started just 10 NFL games in the last five years, all with New Orleans.
Winston has thrown 99 career interceptions, including a league-high 30 for Tampa Bay in 2019. He was declared the starter for Sunday’s game against Baltimore. Winston’s replacement will be Dorian Thompson-Robinson, who last year as a rookie lost two of the three games he started.
It was a somewhat chaotic week for the Browns. First there was the loss of Watson to a season-ending injury. Then Kevin Stefanski, the team’s head coach and two-time NFL Coach of the Year, announced he was handing over the offensive play-calling duties he had held since the Browns hired him in 2020 to offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey.
The team’s dismal 1-6 start has already led to speculation about whether the team would consider trading away some of its most expensive players in preparation for a massive fire sale, and perhaps to collect draft picks for next year’s NFL Draft. Cleveland has already traded its top receiver, Amari Cooper, to the Buffalo Bills. Other older and veteran players, both offensively and defensively, could be targets for teams still in the playoff hunt.
At 1-6, Cleveland is not.
Watson’s future in Cleveland is uncertain at best. Midway through his third year with the Browns, he has yet to play a full season with Cleveland, due to injuries and suspensions by the NFL. Additionally, due to the Watson trade, the Browns haven’t had a first-round draft pick in three years.
To that end, it seems likely that the 1-6 Browns, who are going nowhere, should consider trading some of their older veterans to teams still in the playoff race, in exchange for as much capital. draft as possible, to facilitate a return as quickly as possible. build as much as possible.
Browns fans, of course, have been through this exercise before. Indeed, the quarterback position that Haslam thought they had resolved with the Watson trade is now murkier than ever.
