Are the Cleveland Browns the most underrated team in the NFL?

The Cleveland Browns could go from overrated to underrated in one year

Leading up to the beginning of training camp, many networks and publications are making their top 100 players lists and their preseason power rankings for the 2020-2021 season. After everyone being sky-high on the Cleveland Browns and the expectations for the team last season, it seems as if that hype has died down completely and the team is back to being ranked right around mediocrity.

To start, the NFL Network top 100 players list recently came out and four Browns players who made the list and there are a couple of players who were snubbed from the list. First, the Browns who made the list were Myles Garrett who was ranked at 80 which is wildly underrated. Next is Jarvis Landry who ranked at 61st which I think is a solid ranking considering the quality season that he had with the Browns.

Next is Odell Beckham Jr. at 59th which is another player who has become too underrated as well after just one season under his standards. The final player on the list is Nick Chubb at number 36 with Chubb having a case for being the second or third best running back in the league last year outside of Christian McCafferty if Chubb was given the touches he needed in Freddie Kitchen’s offense.

A case definitely be made for Denzel Ward to be added to the list with him being one of the best young corners in the league. Along with this, if Kareem Hunt was not suspended for a large chunk of the season he too could have easily made the list.

Moving onto the next list which blatantly disrespects the amount of talent on the roster is the preseason power rankings from thescore.com. On this list, the Browns are ranked as the 21st best team going into the 2020-2021 season. Considering the talent the team has picked up through free agency and acquired from the draft, having them ranked all the way down at 21st seems downright laughable.

It’s understandable that these sights are going to be much more cautious of the Browns after the massive letdown they were last season, however, saying that they will only be ranked one higher than last year seems almost impossible.

With the AFC North being the strongest that it has been in years, it will be difficult for the Browns to sneak into a playoff spot, and if they do find a way to end the playoff drought it will likely be through a wildcard spot. However, with all of the talent on the roster, the new additions on the offensive line, and seemingly the only minor hole on the roster being at linebacker the Browns on paper seem to be a playoff-caliber team.

Hopefully, the team is looking closely to all of the player ranking lists and power rankings going into the year and they can use it as motivation to prove everyone wrong and truly adapt a Cleveland vs everybody approach that may be necessary for the team to come together as one in a short amount of time and take the league by storm like they were predicted to do just one year ago.