BEREA — The Browns bye week fell at just past the exact midpoint of the season. That they’re 2-7 at that point isn’t irrelevant at all.

All that record at the bye does is change how the second half of the season could play out for the Browns. More importantly, one of the big things they need to gain from the final eight games of the season is an idea on a handful of players or positions to help provide a blueprint for the offseason.

Of course, general manager Andrew Berry insists that doesn’t mean tanking on Sundays. It just means seeing certain players step up their games, or not.

“Our primary focus every week is going to be to win regardless of who is on the field,” Berry said during his bye week news conference Wednesday. “I think probably for every team, no different for us, there is going to be some natural transition every season, almost really regardless of your record where there are players on the roster that get the opportunity for more of an expanded role. …

“But the reality is anytime that we have a player take on an expanded role, whether they’re a young player or whether they’re a midyear vet, we’re doing it with the idea that they’re going to help us win games, if it’s their first time in the role that they’ll improve as they go and help us win games moving forward. But the primary focus is really to drive winning results.”

What follows is a look at some of the biggest offensive questions for the Browns going into the final eight games of the season.

Can Dawand Jones become the Cleveland Browns’ new left tackle of the future?

This may be the most important question to be answered on offense over the final eight games. There are a multitude of ways it could impact the Browns’ offseason plans.

First, the background. Jones started the last two games before the bye at left tackle in place of Jedrick Wills Jr., who was drafted No. 10 overall in 2020 as the presumed left tackle of the future.

Wills has battled injuries in his fifth season, after which he can become a free agent. That’s why it’s so important for Jones, who coach Kevin Stefanski named the starting left tackle going forward, to show he can handle the position.

If Jones continues to show the same competence over the final eight games as he has the last two games before the bye, it could mean that position moves down the list of offseason priorities. If he doesn’t, then it means the Browns either have to try to find a reasonable price to bring Wills back or possibly use their first-round pick in next April’s draft on one, especially given the weak quarterback class.

Is this a blip or a turning point in Cedric Tillman’s career?

There’s no question second-year wide receiver Cedric Tillman has had the best three-week stretch of his still-young career. He’s had 21 catches on 32 targets for 250 yards and three touchdowns in that span.

Is that the start of Tillman’s ascension into being a quality, reliable wide receiver for the Browns? Or is it merely a blip, something they’ve seen with a number of wide receivers over the years?

The last eight games gives Tillman plenty of opportunity to prove the former. If he does, that doesn’t mean the Browns don’t need to look for a potential No. 1 wide receiver in the draft, because they do, but it at least reassures the possibility of a deeper pool of reliable wide receivers on the roster.

If it proves to be just a blip, then finding a wide receiver in the first two rounds becomes a must. That only complicates the draft strategy in the spring.

Does Dorian Thompson-Robinson get another shot at being the Cleveland Browns’ starting QB?

Jameis Winston is the starting quarterback going forward. That’s something Stefanski has made clear.

That doesn’t mean things could change, either by injury or by a change in philosophy in what the Browns want to get from the quarterback position. Sticking with Winston at least indicates winning is prioritized over a youth movement or answering questions about youth already on the roster.

Second-year pro Dorian Thompson-Robinson has started three games over his two years in the league. Only twice has he prepared as if he was the definitive starter, both after Deshaun Watson’s season-ending shoulder injury last year.

Do the Browns want to know what they have for certain in Thompson-Robinson, who was drafted to be Watson’s backup in the fifth round in 2023, before planning what to do about the quarterback position going forward? Or do they already know what they have just through what they have seen by being around him on a daily basis?

If Stefanski changes his plans on the quarterback position over the final eight games, consider it a sign the Browns want to answer the question about the young quarterback they already have on the roster before looking for another one.