BEREA, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Browns returned from their three-day weekend Monday to begin what many hope, and expect, to be a season that will be remembered for generations to come.
The hype is real, and it should be.
Gone are the days of debating who the starting quarterback will be; or talking ourselves into believing that the offensive skill guys are good enough to compete with the Ravens, Steelers and the NFL’s elite; or that the defense will be able to stop somebody, anybody.
These are not the same old bumbling, stumbling Browns anymore.
In 2020, amid a pandemic and against all odds, they finally emerged from what was once a never-ending abyss of ineptitude, failure and, at times, downright buffoonery for the better part of two decades to win a post-1999 expansion era record 11 games, ending the league’s longest running playoff drought at 18 years. They also won their first playoff game since January of 1995, against the Steelers in Pittsburgh where they had previously lost their last 17 trips to the house of horrors known as Heinz Field.
This year, the Browns are considered a legitimate Super Bowl contender, or at least a challenger to the two-time defending conference champion Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC along with Buffalo and Baltimore.
All 11 offensive starters from 2020 return for 2020 NFL coach of the year Kevin Stefanski, who enters his second season in Cleveland. The Browns haven’t seen this type of continuity in coaching and the roster – at least the offense – in generations.
As the Browns showed for years, getting to the playoffs is hard. Going deeper than they did the year before will be even harder, and Stefanski knows it which is why he has preached from the start of the offseason program in April that 2020 no longer matters and they need to be all about the work in 2021 or their offseason is going to start much sooner than they expect.
Devoid of talent for years, three GMs since 2017 have combined to help the Browns ascend to the league’s elite with blue chippers on both sides of the ball at key skill positions.
In short, they are loaded.
Baker Mayfield, who only needed three years to fulfill his 2018 NFL Combine declaration that he was the one who could turn the laughingstock by the lake into a winner, will become the first Browns starting quarterback to start three consecutive openers since Bernie Kosar.
Contrary to the critics’ belief, Mayfield doesn’t need to put up MVP numbers for the Browns to win. With a supporting cast that includes a healthy Odell Beckham Jr. plus Jarvis Landry, speedsters Donovan Peoples-Jones and Anthony Schwartz, reliable Rashard ‘Hollywood’ Higgins, Austin Hooper as well as the one-two punch out of the backfield in Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt, this could be the year No. 6 shuts everyone up by blowing up box scores everywhere.
This offseason, executive vice president of football operations and general manager Andrew Berry demolished the defensive roster and rebuilt it from front to back including signing defensive end Jadeveon Clowney, linebacker Anthony Walker and safety John Johnson III in free agency and selecting cornerback Greg Newsome II in round 1 and linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah in round 2 of the NFL Draft.
If Clowney can stay healthy, he and Myles Garrett should have no problem terrorizing opposing quarterbacks. Veteran cornerback Denzel Ward also needs to stay healthy as Joe Woods hopes his defense can get off the field on third and fourth down with more regularity than they did in 2020.
The lone concern is the kicking situation.
Chase McLaughlin opens as the Week 1 kicker after Cody Parkey suffered a quadriceps injury, ending his season. If McLaughlin can’t get the job done and they have to go the Chargers route this season to find someone to get it over the bar and through the sticks, cancel the February flights to Los Angeles.
For long-suffering fans, they have finally tasted sweet victory but still yearn for their beloved Browns to bring home the ultimate prize.
The bar has been reset. Expectations have never been higher.
Even though the Browns, who haven’t won a division title since 1989, have never been to a Super Bowl, it could be argued that this team is their best chance to finally punch their ticket.
There’s no sneaking up on anyone this year. They are underdogs no more.
The days of opponents rolling their eyes and chuckling when they see ‘CLEVELAND’ up next on their schedule are long gone. The Browns are going to get everyone’s best shot. They are now the measuring stick game for the bottom feeders, who are now themselves looking to climb out of the cellar.
Will the Browns answer the call, meet expectations, and live up to the hype or will they crumble under the pressure of trying to take that next step?
Sunday in Kansas City, where their season of dreams came to a crushing end in January, will be their first of many tests.
To quote Stefanski, the work begins this week.