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Cleveland Browns: How social media can destroy the team

By Elliot Kennel

October 7, 2019; Santa Clara, CA, USA; Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield (6) visits his wife Emily Wilkinson (right) on the sidelines before the game against the San Francisco 49ers at LeviÕs Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
October 7, 2019; Santa Clara, CA, USA; Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield (6) visits his wife Emily Wilkinson (right) on the sidelines before the game against the San Francisco 49ers at LeviÕs Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports /
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Cleveland Browns
Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield (6) shares a laugh with Cleveland Browns running back Kareem Hunt (27) and Cleveland Browns wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. (13) during NFL football practice, Thursday, Aug. 12, 2021, in Berea, Ohio. /

The Cleveland Browns appear to be destroying themselves from within, and social media is more than a symptom; it’s one of the causes. 

The Cleveland Browns are in danger of once again becoming a soap opera and laughingstock of the NFL — and it’s shaking the very foundation of what was a very talented roster.

Playwright Edward Bulwer-Lytton is credited with saying “the pen is mightier than the sword,” but in today’s terms it might be said that “the keyboard is mightier than the forward pass.” And we in the media, aided and abetted by the fan base, can run the quarterback out of town and poison the market for free agents. Is that what we want?

You might think that as fans, we have no power to influence the decisions of the owner and front office. That’s not quite true.

When the fans hate the owner, the general manager, the coach and the best players on the team, it increases the chances that good players will leave the team as soon as they can, and it will be harder to recruit free agents.

Odell Beckham, Jr., who evidently has a more fragile ego than we thought, was the first to flee when the going got tough.

Look at Jadeveon Clowney. After the 2019 debacle, the Browns were believed to have been the highest bidders for his services on the free-agent market but came up empty. After the 12-6 campaign in 2020, he was happy to sign. However, does anyone think the Browns can re-sign him for next year?

It should be obvious that a negative, increasingly toxic atmosphere has a real impact on the price a team will pay for players. The fan base can help the team win, and we can surely help them lose as well.

While the Browns appear to be headed in the wrong direction, there’s still time to get it fixed by getting hot down the stretch. They’re not the worst in the NFL by any means, at least not yet. Looking around the NFL, it may still be better to be a Browns fan instead of a Jets fan, Giants fan, Jags fan, Lions fan, Texans fan, or even a Seahawks fan.

Cleveland now appears to be headed on a trajectory which may — may, that is, not definitely, but it is now part of the discussion — take them to a new quarterback, possibly as early as 2022. This would have been impossible to believe a month ago.

It started with stupid tweets and media faux pas but has escalated to the point where the team may be losing confidence in the quarterback.

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