With a few days between now and the end of the season, the Browns have made a few changes to the team already. After firing our head coach, the team will be in the hunt for someone new to replace Kevin. Who that may be, we won’t be sure for a while. However, the season and what has come with it hasn’t been a full on failure. The wins don’t tell the full picture, and we’ve seen some decent things for the future of this team, whether that’s next year or in the next ten.
The Rookie Class: A
The rookies this season have performed far above our expectations, especially the likes of Fannin and Schwesinger. Judkins was doing amazing in the season as well, though a hard injury later into the season ruined what could have been a stellar rookie season for our RB. Schwesinger is obviously the highlight, as he will most likely be the Defensive Player of the Year for the NFL, and has been a wonderful addition to a Browns defense which was one of the best in the first few weeks of the season. If Judkins can recover from his injury and return to 100%, he will be a key piece to the Browns offense in the next few years, assuming he can remain healthy and won’t be affected by the injury in the future. Fanning deserves his merits as well, proving himself as a lock down number 2 TE, with great potential to be the starter whenever Njoku is dealt off or gets hurt. Overall, an A is very deserving of these rookies (excluding QBs, they have their own grade).
The Quarterbacks: D+
Flacco wasn’t the solution in the beginning, Gabriel wasn’t the solution in the mid-season, and we are unsure if Sanders is the solution later in the season. While we saw small things here and there from our QBs, it was never enough to earn them a lasting position with the team. Sanders really is the only one who did enough to be considered worthwhile, and Flacco is the one who most likely did the worst for our team. Some of this may be due to the poor receiver play (I’m looking at you Jeudy), and the awful protection they received on the offensive line, but some of it must come down to the QBs themselves. Overall, D+ is the highest I can go with this, since I wasn’t impressed enough to give them much higher.
The Defense: B+
The start of the season was what seemed to be another repeat of the 2023 season in terms of our defensive play. However, the Vikings game seemed to be the start of a downward trend, as we saw the defense begin to lose games, something we couldn’t imagine during the first few weeks. Myles Garrett obviously deserves a huge amount of credit breaking the sack record and also being vital when he wasn’t stacking the QB. However, there were games that were lost because of the unit, and so I cannot give them much higher than a B+. Of course, the offense didn’t do much to help keep the defense off the field, but in many cases it was simply the Browns defense being unable to stop a team. When they were good though, which they were multiple times past the first few weeks, they were still a great unit. Overall, a B+ fits well, despite the ups and downs we saw.
The Offensive Line: D-
Where do we even start, this was just a disaster. PFF had us in the bottom five teams for much of the season, and many of our offensive linemen were considered throughout the league as bad. With a rookie QB behind the wheel, especially one who holds onto the ball for longer than he needs to, having such rough protection can be a reason he didn’t play as we were expecting. The unit itself was constantly being moved around, and only a single starter from week 1 managed to remain throughout the season. Offensive line has been a problem for a while, and will likely be the main point of focus during the draft (along with WR), but this season itself has been one of the worst for this offensive line unit.
Overall Grade: C
Overall, this season has been a pretty rough one. Wins have been tough to come by, and anything in succesful itself has been rare. However, the bright spots with our rookies and defense still has to be talked about, and make this season feel a little better. This is a foundation season, slowly getting parts and pieces fleshed out and structured in order to make the next seasons better. Next year most likely won’t be a whole lot better, but if this draft works out, we’ll have a decent foundation to use in order to finally be a threat in the NFL.
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