2. Will the offseason limitations hurt their system implementation?
Due to situations beyond their control, the NFL has had to call an audible this year with a lot of their offseason plans. With COVID-19 affecting plans all over the world, the league pulled the plug on having a live NFL Draft and instead had a virtual selection process — which, if we are being honest, was actually a very cool format.
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Now, there will be restrictions on the offseason work that can be done as teams have to do virtual offseason programs. For established clubs, this won’t be as big of an issue. Teams such as the New Orleans Saints that have had the same head coach and quarterback working together since 2006 — as Sean Payton and Drew Brees have been — won’t be as stressed. As for teams making as many changes as the Browns have, it could be a tough obstacle.
Cleveland has nearly an entirely new coaching staff with Kevin Stefanski bringing in offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt and defensive coordinator Joe Woods. Special teams coach Mike Priefer is the lone returning coordinator, meaning there will be a lot of new schemes implemented this season.
While that’s a good thing based on what happened on the field in 2019, there has to be some concern about how smoothly this will go with everything being done remotely. Since every other team will have the same obstacles, they should be fine but the wholesale changes could be an issue in this new, unknown format.