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A year after finding a way to win week after week en route to a seemingly improbable playoff appearance, the Cleveland Browns are 3-10 and were recently eliminated from playoff contention. And Browns owner Jimmy Haslam isn't sure how this all happened.
After an NFL owners meeting yesterday, Haslam expressed some confusion as to why the Browns have sank after their second playoff appearance in his 12 years as the team's owner.
“We went from 11-6 and making the playoffs to 3-10, so it's a little perplexing what happened,” Haslam told ESPN, via Jeremy Fowler.
Haslam, who bought the team in 2012, has overseen just two Browns playoff appearances albeit both in the last five seasons. Head coach Kevin Stefanski and general manager Andrew Berry, who have been in their positions since 2020, have been key to the Browns making it to the playoffs. Haslam said that he believes the team has the right players to fit with Stefanski and Berry.
Browns season started bad and has stayed that way after Deshaun Watson injury
The most glaring issue with the Browns over the past few seasons has been at the quarterback position, where Deshaun Watson has been the starter when healthy or not suspended. Cleveland signed Watson, who has been accused by about two dozen women of sexual misconduct while a member of the Houston Texans, to a fully guaranteed five-year, $230 million contract in March 2022.
Since signing that deal, Watson has played just 19 of a possible 47 regular-season games; the NFL suspended Watson for the first 11 games of the 2022 season, he went down with a season-ending shoulder injury in his sixth game of the 2023 season, and earlier this year, he tore his Achilles tendon in the Browns' seventh game.
Although Watson suffered season-ending injuries at similar points in each of the last two seasons, the Browns have generated wildly different results.
Last year, the Browns eventually settled on 38-year-old Joe Flacco, who had not played at all to that point in the season, to replace Watson as the starter. Fortunately for Cleveland, Flacco was more than good enough to lead the Browns to four consecutive wins and a playoff berth, the team's first since 2020.
Flacco left in the offseason and signed with the Indianapolis Colts, though, leaving Watson to re-assume the starting responsibilities for the Browns. With Watson at quarterback, Cleveland floundered; the Browns lost all but one of the seven games Watson started this season, including the Oct. 20 home matchup vs. the Cincinnati Bengals in which Watson tore his Achilles tendon.
Following Watson's Achilles injury, the Browns promoted former No. 1 overall draft pick Jameis Winston to be the team's starter. And while Winston has been better than Watson — the Browns have won two games with Winston at quarterback — he has thrown nine interceptions in six starts, again proving his reputation as an erratic passer.
The Browns, once thought to be a playoff contender, have slipped to 3-10, which is tied for the second-worst record in the NFL. Cleveland is not favored in any of its four remaining games; the Browns host the 12-1 Kansas City Chiefs this weekend before visiting Cincinnati to play the Bengals. The team's last two games of the season are at home vs. the Miami Dolphins and in Baltimore vs. the Ravens.
