The Cleveland Browns have had a ridiculously busy offseason, going out and landing big names such as Odell Beckham Jr., Kareem Hunt, Olivier Vernon and Sheldon Richardson to bolster what was already an impressive young roster.
As a result, the Browns are actually thinking Super Bowl for the first time in pretty much forever. But are we people jumping the gun with their expectations for Cleveland in 2019?
Conor Orr of Sports Illustrated thinks so, as he doesn't even think the Browns are going to make the playoffs:
“My inability to embrace hype is palpable here, and I understand,” wrote Orr. “I have Cleveland splitting all three of their divisional series (an original projection had them sweeping the Steelers, which made sense in a vacuum but feels impossible on a larger scale. Otherwise, my picks went probably as you’d expect, save for a surprise Week 1 loss to the Titans.”
Orr predicted Cleveland to win nine games and finish in second place in the AFC North, picking the Steelers to win the division at 10-6.
If you take a step back out of the hype for a minute, you'll realize that Orr's prediction is actually very realistic. Not only are the Browns completely unproven, but they have a very difficult schedule in 2019, and the AFC is incredibly deep.
So, while it's certainly nice that Cleveland has a lot to be excited about concerning its football team for once, we should probably all pump the brakes on penciling the Browns in as a playoff team.
Cleveland has not made the playoffs since the 2002-03 campaign, representing the longest active drought in the NFL, and there is certainly a chance that it stays that way this year.
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