There’s always new energy with a new head coach. There was a seismic roster shift in June, five weeks after another intriguing draft class arrived. There was also a double down by team ownership on the current front office in early 2026.
Later this week, we’ll start to see what kind of product a Cleveland Browns franchise in transition puts on the field in a season that begins with low external expectations but warranted optimism for the future.
Ready for some season predictions, areas of concern, a fair look down the road and an honest glimpse at what’s right in front of the Browns? Here we go with a list of 26 such things, an homage to the year 2026 and 26 being the number of losses the Browns have suffered over the past two seasons.
26. I’m fairly certain the Browns open the 2026 season wishing there was a fast-forward button to 2027. What looks to be another strong draft class has arrived, but this is a future-focused project that likely won’t compete for the postseason. Team owner Jimmy Haslam acknowledged as much at the start of training camp, though he said he’d “take the over” on the projected season win total of 5.5.
25. Can this team really win six games? I tend to think it can’t, but there’s a fair amount of mystery involved. If the folks in charge really fixed the offensive line, maybe new coach Todd Monken’s offense can create big plays and support a defense that still has top talent. The Browns have added playmakers and strengthened an impressive young core. But Myles Garrett is gone — defensive mastermind Jim Schwartz is, too — and they have to play six of their first nine games on the road.
24. This is a rebuilding project. No one dazzled in a quarterback competition that Monken let play out deep into August despite always leaning toward Deshaun Watson’s experience. Watson hasn’t played in two seasons, hasn’t been good in six seasons and is only signed through this year. So why would one of the league’s youngest teams go back to a player who’s previously failed the franchise? Only Monken and those atop the organization know the answer. They also seem to be the only ones who think going back to Watson is a good idea.
23. The current outlook is somewhere between bleak and cloudy, but this is not 2016. The Browns have some young talent, headlined by the top of the 2025 draft class: Mason Graham, Carson Schwesinger, Quinshon Judkins and Harold Fannin Jr. The Browns insisted upon getting Jared Verse back as part of the Garrett deal. As many as five 2026 rookies could be full-time players soon, and rookie receivers KC Concepcion and Denzel Boston were summer stars.
22. General manager Andrew Berry and his staff have done a good job cleaning up their own mess caused by the 2022 Watson trade sinking the ship. The offensive line remake is on — really, the whole offense is in transition — and the Browns, partially by design and partially by necessity, will be one of the league’s youngest teams.
What to expect from Deshaun Watson as the Browns’ starting QB
Zac Jackson
21. With a young roster and first-timers at head coach and in all three coordinator spots, this could be a fascinating experiment. It could be revealing on multiple levels. Could it be another outright disaster? Given the state of the quarterback position and the lack of proven depth, the Browns could end up being really bad again.
20. Maybe that’s OK. Maybe that’s actually the goal. I don’t think we’re going to see outright tanking, and obviously no one involved has talked about that being the plan. But let’s see where things stand after the Browns host the Pittsburgh Steelers in a short-week situation in Week 4, then travel to play the New York Jets in Week 5. By then, we’ll know a whole lot more about the 2026 Browns than we currently do.
19. What are realistic goals in Cleveland right now? Develop young talent. Identify areas of strength and weakness. Perhaps continue to acquire another young piece or two, but development and evaluation must be paramount before the Browns make big draft and contract-related decisions over the next 20 months.
18. In an ideal world — and in the bigger picture — the growth of this core would make up for the growing pains that surely will be a part of this season. Maybe there’s a part of the blueprint that says the folks in charge head to 2027 feeling pretty good about almost every position group except quarterback. Maybe that’s actually close to attainable.
17. After he was booed in a home preseason game last month, Watson said he wasn’t sure if he could handle the negativity and said he might have to approach the season like there are 17 road games. Two days later, he was announced as the starter. The inability to stay physically healthy has been a big part of Watson’s trouble during his Cleveland tenure, but can we really be sure he’s mentally ready to make a successful comeback?
16. The football gods usually watch non-Browns games on Sunday (and who could blame them?), but they have a sense of humor. We’re headed for Watson versus Baker Mayfield in Week 2, and we can only hope the CBS cameras get good looks at pregame on-field interactions and the visiting team’s owner’s box during the game.
15. The way for all involved to avoid (or at least temper) an all-time awkward situation for Watson and the franchise in Cleveland’s Week 3 home opener would be for the Browns to win one of their first two games in Florida. Just play well and find a way to win. Folks will start to believe if they see Monken and the young playmakers putting out a watchable and competitive product.
14. The Browns have led the NFL in punts in two straight seasons, and last year Corey Bojorquez had 15 more punts than the player with the second most. The Browns were 31st in the NFL in scoring last season and last in 2024. I think “watchable” is a fine place to start in the season directly ahead.
13. Defensive stalwarts Denzel Ward and Grant Delpit got extensions in July, and Ward looked like the best player on the practice field throughout training camp. The Browns now have the 2024 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year in Verse, and last year’s top defensive rookie, Schwesinger. Graham looks like a quicker, more confident player in his second season.
12. After the Buffalo Bills came to town for an August joint practice and quarterback Josh Allen looked like the All-Pro passer he is in every competitive drill, Allen told reporters he still believed the Browns would have a strong defense and pointed out that Schwesinger wasn’t participating in the practice. “He’s a stud,” Allen said. “He’s gonna be really good for a long time.”
11. Verse isn’t Garrett. No one is. But Verse is one of the strongest players the Browns have ever employed, and he’s heading toward a mega-extension after the season because the folks in charge believe Verse will be disruptive on the field and be the kind of leader they need in the locker room.
Jared Verse, the 2024 Defensive Player of the Year, will make his Browns debut Sunday vs. the Jaguars. (Nick Cammett / Getty Images)
10. It’s hard to know exactly what to expect from the Cleveland defense under new coordinator Mike Rutenberg. The attack-style scheme is the same, but there will be structural tweaks. Opponents used to start thinking — well, worrying — about Garrett on Mondays, and that continued all the way through Sunday’s game. The pass-rush group isn’t nearly as scary without Garrett, and that could affect every level of the defense.
9. If the defense is strong and Judkins drives the ground game, the Browns could find some early wins. From sideline (and occasional bleacher) observation, the most noticeable difference from Augusts of the recent past was the playmaking ability of the young receivers. Concepcion and Boston both appear NFL-ready and will be heavily involved.
8. Last year, the pass game was bad in every aspect outside of Fannin being much better than anyone expected. Concepcion and Boston might cut into Fannin’s overall opportunities, but Fannin is still really good — and needs to be heavily involved if this offense wants to make any kind of progress.
7. Jerry Jeudy’s NFL future is almost certainly not with the Browns. Defensive returnees Isaiah McGuire and Ronnie Hickman are playing for new contracts this season. The Browns are going to be young in most places, but they’re counting on 30-year old offensive linemen Tytus Howard and Elgton Jenkins to play to the level that matches Berry’s big-money commitments to them.
6. By November, it won’t be a surprise if half (or more than half) of the team’s 53-man active roster is comprised of players with two or fewer years of experience. Berry has said multiple times that he does not “necessarily agree with the implicit assumption that younger means worse.” We’ll see how things go.
5. Judkins didn’t participate in the joint practice against Buffalo. Schwesinger sat out almost all of training camp before returning to practice in late August. Fannin, Jenkins and cornerback Tyson Campbell were limited throughout camp. The Browns always envisioned defensive tackle Maliek Collins being activated from the physically unable to perform list in time to ramp up for the opener, and Collins is on schedule. Starting defensive end Alex Wright suffered a season-ending injury in practice with the Bills, but the Browns are fairly healthy to start the season.
4. The joint practice is really the only time all summer the Browns’ starters faced another team’s starters. The Chicago Bears had a handful of defensive regulars on the field early in the preseason opener, and the Browns had their veteran offensive linemen play two series. So there’s a mystery to exactly how the Cleveland offense will attack opponents — and how quickly the offensive line can click.
3. Given that Garrett was traded to the Los Angeles Rams, Browns assistant general manager Catherine Hickman probably should have worn team-issued gear instead of a sweatshirt that said “Los Angeles Made Me Do It” to her annual media availability last week. A scan of YouTube for post-roster-cut news conferences showed most executives wore team-issued gear. Why do the Browns continue to have avoidable public-relations blunders? It’s a fair question. Does anyone think Monken’s reluctance to name team captains is about anything other than a temporary quarterback situation? The years change, but the results mostly stay the same.
2. Only winning can change outside perceptions. Only ending the quarterback carousel can really make folks believe the offense is ready to take off. The Browns have had 10 starting quarterbacks since they acquired Watson. They’ve had at least three different starters in each of the last three seasons. What will this season bring? Shedeur Sanders is next behind Watson, but the most likely outcome is that the Browns launch an all-out quarterback search in early 2027, perhaps with some of the draft ammo they’ve acquired via trades.
1. The Browns fly to Jacksonville Saturday for Sunday’s first regular-season game of the Monken era. The first round of the NFL Draft is 233 days away.
