Dawgs By Nature
A 14-loss season earmarks the roster as needing changes
The Cleveland Browns were just a three-win team last year. We all know this. Because the franchise was one of the three worst NFL teams with identical 3-14-0 records, it becomes an assumption that they won’t flip the following season and suddenly become a playoff club, no matter how positive we as fans become.
Or speak it into existence.
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Few NFL teams that finished the previous season at the very bottom of the standings end up in the postseason the following year. Yes, it has happened. The 1997 Arizona Cardinals finished 4-12-0 and then went 9-7-0 the following year and captured a Wild Card spot.
However, this rarely happens, and the odds are against the act of going from worst to first. Usually, it takes a few years to weed out the bad and infuse new talent in order to change directions in the standings.
Even the NFL schedulers have written off the Browns for 2025.
Although they gave Cleveland an international contest, the Browns do not have a single prime-time game and only two games slated for late Sunday afternoon. No Saturdays, Thursday Night Football, Monday Night Football, Christmas Day, or Thanksgiving Day games.
Zero. None. Nil. Nada.
That means the NFL doesn’t have much faith in Cleveland turning itself around this year. The Browns have improved their roster with a few good free agent signings and a successful rookie class selected in the draft. And in 2026, they will have two first-round draft picks.
But that doesn’t have anything to do with this year.
What about 2025? What will this season hold? An improvement in the win column, or more of the same? As far as strength of schedule, Cleveland has the 13th toughest schedule at .519, facing clubs that ended up last year at 150 wins and 137 losses.
The Browns will play both the AFC East as well as every NFC North club. That means games against a lot of playoff squads.
The Buffalo Bills are a really good football team. The Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers are two of the three teams that went to the playoffs from the NFC North. The Detroit Lions were the NFC’s Number 1 seed, so we know they are exceptional.
This is in addition to the usual division foes, which they will have to face twice: the Baltimore Ravens, Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Cincinnati Bengals. That is a grand total of eight games against 2024 postseason rosters. All of the aforementioned teams are expected to see a playoff berth again this year, and Cincinnati has been identified as a probable postseason participant. We all know that the Ravens are good every year.
Essentially, the Browns have a hard schedule with a roster that has improved, but to what degree? How many more wins can they add? Or, do they?
Mike Clay of ESPN [has put out his annual win-loss projection for all...
