The Cleveland Browns get an early start to the offseason yet again and these are the three biggest needs for the team in order to be contenders in 2023.
For the second straight year, the Cleveland Browns get a head start on their offseason plans and hit the ground running on Monday morning. This team has a lot of talent to compete, but they need some window dressing to make sure 2023 doesn’t go south as the 2022 season did.
Over the next two months, there will be a lot of homework and restructuring of contracts leading up to NFL free agency where the Browns will look to sure up this roster. Then two months later, the NFL Draft arrives, where general manager Andrew Berry will get his fourth crack at making the right draft picks that can contribute early and develop for later seasons.
Here are the three biggest offseason needs for the Browns.
3 Biggest Offseason Needs for the Browns
3: Find a New Defensive Coordinator
Monday was a day many fans were heavily anticipating; defensive coordinator Joe Woods was fired, meaning the Browns are in the market for a new one. Woods spent the last three seasons with Cleveland, but in the past two years, the defense got off to slow starts and in 2022, it cost the team a playoff opportunity.
Woods became the scapegoat for the Browns’ failures, for better or for worse. The team definitely needed to go in a new direction as many players have come out and criticized the coaching staff on numerous occasions.
Head coach Kevin Stefanski and general manager Andrew Berry wasted no time in their search for a new man to lead the defensive unit. On Monday, the team requested to interview a bevy of big names including Steelers linebackers coach Brian Flores, Patriots linebackers coach Jerod Mayo, Seahawks associate head coach and defensive assistant Sean Desai, and Titans senior defensive assistant, Jim Schwartz.
Any of those names would be a breath of fresh air should the Browns be able to land one of them. Flores has been a name that fans have been salivating over during the course of the season. Cleveland must get this right which is step one in fixing this defense.
2: Fix the Defense
Hiring the right defensive coordinator is priority No. 1 in fixing this defense. Priority No. 2 is getting the right cast of players to go out and execute the game plan of the new coordinator.
The Browns struggled mightily against the run for most of the season, allowing 135.2 yards per game, the eighth-most in the NFL. Time after time, the defense would get gashed by the opposing teams rushing attacks and that led to a lot of long days and finger-pointing.
The defensive line should be the thing, roster-wise, that is fixed first and foremost. Jadeveon Clowney appears to be on his way out, and that could benefit the Browns in the offseason. They can use the money they’d be giving to Clowney to younger guys who won’t complain about the best player on that side of the ball, Myles Garrett, getting put in the best positions to succeed.
Cleveland needs some beefy dudes to clog the rushing lanes while also being able to get after the opposing quarterbacks, especially playing in the AFC North where Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson reside. Garrett was tremendous this season, tying his own franchise record with 16 sacks, but he had little help opposite him, even when he was being double and triple-teamed.
When Berry signed John Johnson III in free agency two years ago, many fans, myself included, were excited about what he brought to the table. Well, that didn’t go as planned and now he is also likely heading out the door. What the Browns need is a true free safety that can roam the field and make plays on the ball. Too often this season the Browns had blown coverages and opposing teams made them pay dearly.
They’ll also need to add some linebacker depth as the unit was riddled with a myriad of injuries in 2022, some of which will be impactful to this roster in 2023.
No. 1: Get Deshaun Watson More Comfortable in the Offense and Get Him Another Receiver
There are a ton of Browns fans out there on the app with feathers that thought the six games Deshaun Watson played this season would have the team in Super Bowl contention. Now, many of those same fans are questioning whether or not the team made the right decision to give up three first-round picks and give Watson the highest guaranteed contract in the history of the league.
First off, when the trade was made, it was never about this season, but 2023 and beyond. The team knew the suspension was imminent, just without the knowledge of how many games it would be. When it went from six games to 11, the season was practically over. When Watson took the field in Week 13 for the first time as a Cleveland Brown, it marked his first start in 700 (!) days. That’s a lot of time to be missing from NFL game speed.
The final six games, in which the Browns went 3-3, were all about getting Watson some much-needed reps in a new offense in actual games. It was a glorified preseason to get Watson acclimated to his teammates and head coach. He showed flashes of the player he was back in 2020, but he also showed a ton of rust, which was always going to be the case.
This offseason, Stefanski must get Watson comfortable in this offense if this team wants to compete in 2023. He has all the talent in the world and we have seen Stefanski have success with much lesser of quarterbacks in Baker Mayfield and Jacoby Brissett. The duo will have an entire offseason to work out the kinks with (hopefully) no off-the-field issues weighing down everything.
One way that Berry can help matters is if he goes out and gets another wide receiver weapon for Watson to throw to. In 2023, the only two wideouts to catch touchdown passes, from either Watson or Brissett, were Amari Cooper and Donovan Peoples-Jones. That needs to be fixed during the offseason.
One name that could be a potential target is Brandin Cooks, who played with Watson in Houston and saw great success. Cooks said he doesn’t want to be part of a rebuild in Houston, so that is an avenue Berry can explore. Another option could be Cardinals wideout, DeAndre Hopkins, as Arizona is going through a rebuild of their own, after firing head coach Kliff Kingsbury and general manager Steve Keim deciding to step down.
Sources: #AZCardinals plan to try and trade All-Pro WR DeAndre Hopkins this offseason. DHop has 2 yrs and $34.36M left on his contract and is likely to seek a new deal. Owner Michael Bidwill plans to express this to GM candidates.
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) January 10, 2023
My story, via @theScore: https://t.co/xX8NHkULYH
The Browns could have another third-round pick at their disposal to trade if assistant GM Glenn Cook gets hired by another team this offseason. The Tennessee Titans requested permission to interview him on Monday.
This will be another long offseason that the Browns must get right to be in contention in 2023. Monday was a good start, now it’s all about executing off the field prior to executing on the field.