WS Chronicle

Everyone knows that the NFL is a “win now” league. Coaches and front office officials are hired and fired quicker than ever nowadays. With that in mind, the Cleveland Browns are looking to become contenders with the series of moves they have made through the draft and free agency.

The Browns have been the doormats of the AFC North for nearly the past two decades. Before last season, they had only won one game going 1-15 in 2016 and 0-16 in 2017. To their credit, the Browns were more than respectable last season finishing with a 7-8-1 record.  

With all those bad recent seasons, Cleveland has had high draft picks year in and year out. Those picks have not worked out until recently. The last two drafts have been very good for the Browns as they have selected players such as Myles Garrett, David Njoku, Denzel Ward and Baker Mayfield. They have also done well in free agency, picking up several veteran impact players.

Mayfield was last year’s overall Number One pick. Many questioned whether the Browns should have taken him in the draft. Baker surprised everyone with his stellar play, breaking the rookie passing touchdown record, finishing with 27 on the year.  

With the positive momentum the team built up after last season, they seem to want to win now by surrounding Mayfield with as much talent as possible. First the Browns added Kareem Hunt, who was let go by the Kansas City Chiefs last season and they recently traded for Odell Beckham Jr. in a trade with the New York Giants.

When healthy, Beckham is arguably the best wide receiver in the NFL. Cleveland already had Jarvis Landry as their top wide-out. Now you pair him with Beckham and the Browns may have the best duo of receivers in the league. Giving Mayfield a player like Beckham will help the second-year quarterback build upon his stellar first campaign. 

I hope for Cleveland’s sake that Beckham will not have the same issues he had in New York. He had several public meltdowns on and off the field that did not look good. I think the Giants front office were tired of his antics and decided to move on. I think this move will be a wake-up call that forces him to mature and help the team instead of being a distraction.

For me, I think the x-factor for the team will be the impact that Hunt brings to the team after he completes his eight-game suspension for his off-the-field incident. They have Nick Chubb and Duke Johnson in their backfield, so they are not struggling at the position. Hunt is just a game-breaking player that led the league in rushing during his rookie season two years ago.

The Browns seem to be following the same model for Mayfield that the Los Angeles Rams did for Jared Goff by surrounding the young quarterback with great talent at the skill positions. They are also building a solid defense as well to complement the star-studded offense.

I don’t think the Browns are ready to compete for a Super Bowl title just yet. I do feel they are ready to make a strong playoff run and possibly be the new kings of the AFC North. I am looking forward to seeing if this team can put everything together and really be a force to be reckoned with for the next decade. We all know the windows for winning can be small in the NFL, so I hope the Browns take advantage of all this talent and not waste it like others in recent years. If you don’t believe me, just ask Pittsburgh Steeler fans how they feel about the missed opportunities of the last few years.