The 2022 NFL Schedule is being released on Thursday night. The Cleveland Browns will have many questions answered. Let’s discuss a few of those questions.
The NFL schedule release has become a huge production over the last several years. With that comes tons of speculation and the anticipation for fans can make us all a little batty.
It might not be as exciting as the recent NFL Draft but it’s a highlight for many teams, especially those teams that generally struggle during the actual season. This is like a grand holiday like Christmas and New Year’s when you can dream a bit and get visions of your favorite players making spectacular plays and helping their team to a Super Bowl win!
For Cleveland Browns fans, after the schedule came out a year ago, they were giving their early guesses as to a season record. The team was coming off of a solid season where they won a playoff game and beat the Pittsburgh Steelers twice. Predictions of winning 11 or 12 games seemed in the cards. Instead, the team finished at 8-9 and missed the playoffs.
Much has changed in a year. The biggest news is that Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield is on his way out and former Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson is now the franchise quarterback. This abrupt change has made this schedule release even more anticipated because it might give us some hints as to how the NFL looks at all of this offseason shuffling by the Browns.
There are dozens of questions about what is going to happen to Cleveland over this next season and beyond. But first, let’s focus on this schedule release coming up at 8 pm eastern.
2022 NFL Schedule question No. 4: Who will Cleveland face in the season opener?
The Browns haven’t had any luck winning their opening game of any season in recent history. Since the team’s return in 1999, they’ve only managed one win against the Baltimore Ravens in 2004. So whoever, the Browns opponent is during the opening week, they sadly will have a pretty good chance at the win. However, if you like to take a gamble, maybe this would be the season to bet on Cleveland for the win.
In recent years, the Browns played the Pittsburgh Steelers twice in Week 1. The last game ended up in a tie, which was back in 2018. Is there any consolation in a tie?
So the Browns have teams like the New York Jets, Miami Dolphins, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers on their schedule being released later Thursday. Or does the team start with a game against a divisional foe like the Super Bowl participants Cincinnati Bengals? The battle of Ohio would get off to an early start.
If it were me making the schedule having the Browns face the Houston Texans (Deshaun Watson’s old team) down in Lone Star State in the first week would be an interesting twist to the start of the year.
2022 NFL Schedule question No. 3: How many prime-time games will the Browns get?
Last season, the Browns had four prime-time games and a fifth if you included the Christmas Day game against the Green Bay Packers. Unfortunately, they went 1-4 in those contests. That’s not exactly the type of record that would attract more games this season however the team has Watson now at quarterback and that might be enough to get them four or five games this season under the lights.
Games against the New England Patriots, New Orleans Saints, and Los Angeles Chargers would all seem like logical choices for prime-time games. A Monday Night game in Cleveland against the Bengals or Steelers would be fun too.
2022 NFL Schedule question No. 2: When will the Browns get their bye week?
Last year, the Browns had their bye in Week 13 and by then it was too late to salvage the season. The year prior that bye took place in Week 9 and that was a much better place in the schedule and the team had one of their better seasons in a while.
With a 17-game schedule now, would the NFL consider an additional bye week for each team? That might seem like too much to ask at this point but it might help the league showcase their teams better because teams would generally be healthier and the performances by squads would be better in general.
In the meantime, teams only have one bye. The Browns byes from 2017 to 2019 have been in Weeks 7, 9, and 11 so I’d guess the team would get a bye around week 8 or 9 this season. Last year when the Browns had that really late bye they had a strange sequence of games where they played the Ravens before the bye week and then right after the bye so we’ll hopefully not get that odd combination of games this season.
2022 NFL Schedule question No. 1: Who will be a sleeper team on the schedule?
The New York Jets come to mind. The Jets had a draft of their lives as they picked up several talented players including Ohio State Buckeye wide receiver Garrett Wilson. They drafted an outstanding cornerback in Ahmad Gardner from Cincinnati and they picked up Jermaine Johnson one of the best defensive ends in the draft.
The Jets got a lot of praise for their draft and they should be in the spotlight a lot this year. Their head coach Robert Saleh is a rising star in the league and will help make this year’s team a dangerous opponent for other squads.