![\"CLEVELAND,](\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/athletic\/uploads\/wp\/2025\/09\/02175009\/GettyImages-2231689661-1024x682.jpg?width=1920&quality=70&auto=webp\")
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In the wake of a 3-14 season that was as miserable as the record indicates, the Cleveland Browns entered 2025 with a long list of issues but two pending decisions that overshadowed them all.<\/p>\n
The first was finding a way to appease the trade demand made by generational pass rusher Myles Garrett, which the Browns handled by signing the six-time All-Pro to a contract that included more than $123 million guaranteed. The second was choosing not to fully dive but mostly wade into another quarterback search.<\/p>\n
Three years after trading the farm for Deshaun Watson, Cleveland had to try to patch together its group at the game\u2019s most important position with Watson recovering from a second torn Achilles tendon.<\/p>\n
After the Browns overhauled two-time Coach of the Year Kevin Stefanski\u2019s offensive staff in hopes of getting the best out of Watson, the whole thing crashed. What started 2024 as the most expensive roster in NFL history in terms of cash spent ended as not barren but certainly old, expensive and thin. The early-season offense was historically bad, and the white flag was waved late with Bailey Zappe and Dorian Thompson-Robinson playing quarterback.<\/p>\n
As the Browns moved on, the Garrett situation could be fixed with piles of money. The quarterback situation could not.<\/p>\n
Team owner Jimmy Haslam acknowledged in the spring that the Watson trade was a \u201cbig swing and a miss\u201d in an attempt to shoulder the blame. Earlier this summer, Haslam talked openly about low external expectations for this year\u2019s team, how the three first-round picks the Browns gave up for Watson hurt the roster and how the franchise\u2019s decision to trade down from the No. 2 pick in April to acquire Jacksonville\u2019s 2026 first-rounder was driven by Cleveland\u2019s outlook going forward.<\/p>\n
At some point this season, Haslam said, the Browns will have to play their two rookie quarterbacks so they can evaluate them before next year\u2019s draft.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbsolutely, Kevin is aware of that,\u201d Haslam said. \u201cHe knows how important quarterback is, and he and (general manager Andrew) Berry talk about those kinds of things all the time. It\u2019s a daily, ongoing conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over the weekend, Stefanski and his sons accompanied Haslam and Berry to Columbus, Ohio, for what was arguably college football\u2019s most-hyped season opener in years, Ohio State versus Texas and mega-prospect Arch Manning. Later that same night, Haslam and Berry were credentialed for LSU versus Clemson, another battle of longtime college football powers with potential 2026 early-round quarterbacks, Garrett Nussmeier of LSU and Cade Klubnik of Clemson.<\/p>\n
The Browns, quite obviously, are already working on their future. As for their past, the Watson blame game is not over. But it\u2019s taking a temporary backseat to the real games, which begin on Sunday when Cleveland takes the field against the Cincinnati Bengals to open its 2025 season.<\/p>\n
Despite what sounds a lot like a mandate to play the younger quarterbacks and steer the entire ship toward the future, what matters for Stefanski is right now. And that starts with two things that previously worked: Stefanski running his own offense and Joe Flacco back as the starting quarterback at age 40, looking to partially replicate the magical run he sparked in December 2023 when he threw for 300-plus yards in each game of a four-game win streak that helped the Browns clinch a playoff spot.<\/p>\n
The simple part is getting back to the kind of base offense Stefanski has called before: a power run game keyed by a veteran offensive line and a zone-blocking scheme, using the tight ends in both conventional and unconventional ways, and throwing deep crossers to the wide receivers \u2014 the kinds of passes Flacco has been making since Stefanski was a young coaching assistant in Minnesota. Sunday marks the 17th anniversary of Flacco\u2019s NFL debut. His opponent that day was also the Bengals.<\/p>\n
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Simple doesn\u2019t really live here, though, which Stefanski knows as he prepares for his sixth season on the job \u2014 one that\u2019s the most awkward but also most important yet.<\/p>\n
The Browns drafted running back Quinshon Judkins early in the second round in April because the team thought he was an exceptional athlete whose style would fit Stefanski\u2019s offense. But Judkins is not on the roster. He remains unsigned following a July 12 arrest on domestic violence charges that were dropped in mid-August.<\/p>\n
After an unprecedented four-man quarterback competition that caused Stefanski to re-work his practice itinerary, Flacco was officially named the starter on Aug. 18. A week later, Kenny Pickett was traded to Las Vegas, leaving the two rookies to officially fill out the depth chart. Dillon Gabriel, a late third-round pick, is second in line. Fifth-round rookie Shedeur Sanders is third, and Zappe was added back to the practice squad just in case another emergency hits.<\/p>\n
Stefanski steered clear of any public reaction to Haslam\u2019s late-July quarterback comments. Though he\u2019s maintained his understated, one-day-at-a-time focus in other conversations, he has at least somewhat acknowledged past mistakes. Frankly, it had to feel a little familiar last month when injuries to Pickett and Gabriel led to Stefanski incorporating a fifth quarterback, Tyler Huntley, into the practice rep chart. Six of the 90 players the Browns carried through most of August were quarterbacks.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope I\u2019ve learned from every year,\u201d Stefanski said. \u201cThe thing about our sport, which I love (and) I know our fans love, is that you can\u2019t predict this. It\u2019s not scripted, and it\u2019s the greatest reality show there is. We have to be prepared to navigate anything and everything that comes our way. That\u2019s the fun part of our business.\u201d<\/p>\n
By new-era Browns\u2019 standards, Stefanski is only a fedora short of being Paul Brown. The Browns played in one playoff game and had two winning seasons from 1999 to 2019, a number Stefanski matched with his second 11-win season in 2023. The only other coach to make it to even a third season under Haslam ownership (2012-present) was Hue Jackson, who made it just halfway through his third season after going 0-16 in his second.<\/p>\n
The only other coach in the new era to make it at least four full seasons was Romeo Crennel, who got an extension after winning 10 games in 2007 but was fired following the 2008 season with an overall record of 24-40.<\/p>\n
The 2022 move for Watson was supposed to mark a change in the team\u2019s fortunes, expectations and goals. But Watson made 19 mostly unremarkable starts over three seasons and is now on the active\/physically unable to perform list. He could be cleared and activated later this season, but his playing status is as murky as the overall outlook for 2025. The earliest the Browns could pursue a formal split with Watson would be ahead of the 2026 season. For now, the team has around $135 million in salary-cap commitments to the 2017 first-round pick.<\/p>\n
Unless the defense reverts to its 2023 form and becomes a turnover-forcing machine, every path forward for Cleveland feels like it\u2019s tied to the quarterback. And every judgment of Stefanski, Berry and everyone else involved likely will start with not just the performance the Browns get from the position this season, but with the management and development of it as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re a head coach, you\u2019re charged with winning every week,\u201d Haslam said. \u201cBut you also want to develop young players. Kevin has this period after (practice), I think he calls it the \u2018Hungry Dawg\u2019 period, where it might be six to 10 plays that (the rookie quarterbacks) get plays in or get extra work, and I think that\u2019s really important to develop young guys. This is a big jump going from college to NFL, whether you\u2019re a quarterback or not. So I think we\u2019re doing a good job there, but time will tell.\u201d<\/p>\n
Is the guy calling the plays also the one driving the quarterback decisions? Time will tell on that, too.<\/p>\n
Stefanski\u2019s best Browns offenses have run the ball well, utilized play-action and had a clean, forward-thinking operation that used extra offensive linemen as fullbacks and backup tight ends as battering-ram quarterbacks when necessary. Last year\u2019s offense was just a mess. The Browns\u2019 58 pre-snap penalties were the most in the NFL. In total, they were the league\u2019s fifth-most penalized team.<\/p>\n
The offense was so broken that offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey was predictably fired in the hours after last season ended. Stefanski had ceded the play-calling duties to Dorsey for the first time in his Cleveland tenure at midseason, but this year he\u2019s taken them back.<\/p>\n
Even if Flacco gets hot again the way he did two seasons ago, the Browns need to help both their pass game and defense by becoming a much better running team. After running back Nick Chubb suffered a major knee injury in Week 2 of 2023, the Browns finished in the bottom third of the league in rush EPA and rushing success rate in both 2023 and 2024, per TruMedia. Last year\u2019s team had just eight rushing touchdowns, tying for the second-lowest total in the league.<\/p>\n
Cleveland\u2019s point differential of minus-177 last year was the league\u2019s second-worst and the franchise\u2019s fourth-worst of the new era, behind only the one-win season in 2016 and the first two years back, 1999 and 2000. Last year also marked the fourth time since 1999 that the Browns were the league\u2019s lowest-scoring team.<\/p>\n
Some of those numbers might explain why Stefanski\u2019s signature beard is now as white as the numbers the team will wear on its jerseys for Sunday\u2019s opener.<\/p>\n
\u201cI sent my daughter a picture of me the other day, and I said, \u2018I think I\u2019m aging at an exponential clip,’\u201d Stefanski said in the spring. \u201cBut she said I wasn\u2019t. I have tried to convince her that this is blond and not gray, but that hasn\u2019t worked either.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, how do I feel? I feel great. I feel excited and privileged to coach this football team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stefanski\u2019s wide-zone run game has long been boosted by the presence and play of guards Joel Bitonio and Wyatt Teller, two of the Browns\u2019 best players. Both are currently only under contract for this season. And both have seen enough to say with a fair level of authority that they\u2019re witnessing a slightly different Stefanski this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cComing out of last year, I just felt horrible, embarrassed, upset, all those things,\u201d Teller said. \u201cYou get a little further away from it and it\u2019s like, \u2018OK, that was bad but we can clean some things up fairly easily.\u2019 We still have a lot to work on, but a play here or there and maybe last year\u2019s a little different. There needs to be a little more maturity with this stuff.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like Coach Stefanski is trying to build the foundation of a hungry, angry team, so we\u2019ll see where it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bitonio, the longest-tenured Brown, welcomes the return to a familiar Stefanski offense and the addition of new offensive line coach Mike Bloomgren, one of Stefanski\u2019s first offseason hires.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Kevin is willing to wear last year\u2019s failure even though it\u2019s obviously not all on him,\u201d Bitonio said. \u201cSince the spring, he\u2019s talked to us about correcting mistakes right away and paying attention to little details. If we\u2019re in a meeting going over a bad play, it\u2019s not just \u2018OK, that was wrong, let\u2019s move on.\u2019 We\u2019re addressing it and fixing it. He\u2019s addressing it and making sure it\u2019s fixed.<\/p>\n
\u201cA different energy (or) a different urgency, I guess you can call it whatever you want. I think he knows what has to work and he\u2019s going to be involved in making sure things are done a certain way.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Browns are at least semi-embracing a transitional phase that extends beyond their quarterback planning. Outside of their undrafted rookies, they opened training camp with just 25 players signed past this season. One of those is Watson, whose current 2026 salary-cap number is more than $80 million.<\/p>\n
Among the group of players eligible for free agency in 2026 are the team\u2019s four most experienced starting offensive linemen, starting cornerback Greg Newsome II, Pro Bowl tight end David Njoku, starting defensive end Alex Wright and talented cornerback Martin Emerson, who won\u2019t play in 2025 after suffering a torn Achilles in July.<\/p>\n
With six undrafted rookies and the six signed draft picks, the Browns are going forward with 12 rookies, at least 10 of whom will be active for Sunday\u2019s opener. Getting younger (and cheaper) was going to be at least a little necessary. And Stefanski pushing a little harder and asking for more physicality through July and August was probably always part of the plan, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt the guys\u2019 urgency and they felt mine throughout (camp),\u201d Stefanski said. \u201cSince we\u2019ve been back, going back to April, we\u2019re constantly trying to build on what we\u2019ve done the day before. But I\u2019ve been really pleased with the mentality of these guys, and it\u2019s something that continues to grow. It\u2019s never a finished product in that regard because it\u2019s a long season.\u201d<\/p>\n
In early August, Garrett said his teammates \u201care really showing an attention to detail and a discipline that I don\u2019t feel was there all the time last year. It\u2019s a heightened awareness, heightened urgency right now. And I want to continue to see that.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the No. 1 offense was kept out of the end zone by the defending Super Bowl champions on the first day of Browns-Eagles joint practices in Philadelphia last month, Stefanski busted out several trick plays on the second day \u2014 and most of them worked for big gains. The offense also had success on that day with Flacco consistently targeting Njoku and Jerry Jeudy.<\/p>\n
But maybe the calls that day were designed to be confidence-builders. Maybe Stefanski is going into the season feeling a little desperate and willing to carry that into his game plans.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s probably going back to what\u2019s worked with a quarterback who played here before. Might that include some aggressiveness and ingenuity that underscore an urgency from the play caller?<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019d have to ask the players, honestly,\u201d Stefanski said. \u201cBut we just know what\u2019s at stake. We know what\u2019s in front of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Stefanski is relying on the 40-year-old Joe Flacco and an offense with many question marks to bounce back from a disappointing 2024 season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31804,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[202,18],"class_list":["post-31803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cleveland-browns","tag-cleveland-browns","tag-nfl"],"yoast_head":"\n