Tony Jefferson is offering a simple but pointed reminder about the Baltimore Ravens.

The NFL world is on notice after the Cleveland Browns followed a wildly encouraging 2018 season by making a big splash in the opening days of the player-movement period. Just one season removed from enduring one of only two 0-16 campaigns in NFL history, might the Browns be ready to compete in the AFC? Oddsmakers certainly think so, with sportsbook BetOnline.ag giving Cleveland a better chance of winning the AFC North than any other team in the division.

The Baltimore Ravens won't be lying down as the Browns continue their ascent up the NFL ranks. Tony Jefferson, the Ravens' standout safety, reminded everyone during a recent appearance on NFL Network that the road to the division title still runs through Baltimore.

“But we’re still defending the title. So until then it’s just he say, she say, it’s Madden,” he said of mounting expectations for the Browns, per Pro Football Talk. “Until then you got to come strip the title from us. That’s just what it is. I feel like everybody does this every year, not specifically Cleveland or AFC North. There’s usually a team somewhere, I feel like everybody last year was talking about the Vikings. I don’t know if they made the playoffs or not. It’s just another situation like that to me

“You can sleep if you want, but we’re going to be out there playing ball, and let the cards come out how they do,” Jefferson continued. “We work a little harder, lift a little harder, run a little harder out there. So I’m excited.”

Cleveland made perhaps the most significant acquisition of the offseason last week, trading for superstar wide receiver Odell Beckham, Jr. The team had previously made a deal for star pass-rusher Olivier Vernon. It signed talented defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson, and in February it also signed former Pro Bowl running back Kareem Hunt, who will be suspended for the first eight games of the 2019 season.