4 unknowns heading into the Cleveland Browns 2023 season
By Greg Newland
As two teams prepare for a Super Bowl, the Cleveland Browns still have a lot of big questions as they start to prepare for the 2023 season.
As the Chiefs and Eagles prepare to fight for a Super Bowl victory next weekend, the Cleveland Browns remain far from the action with another pivotal offseason. After a magical run in 2020 where Kevin Stefanski and Baker Mayfield led the team to 11-5 and a playoff victory, it’s been back-to-back disappointing seasons.
On one hand, it still feels like the Browns are close. Andrew Berry went all in by trading for star quarterback, Deshaun Watson, but there are still a lot of holes on this roster. Each game left you scratching your head and wondering what went wrong.
It’s not time to panic yet if you’re a Browns fan, but we must not overlook these four huge unknowns as we head into the 2023 season.
Cleveland Browns unknown No. 4 – Who’s the third wide receiver?
One of the biggest questions over the last five years has been at wide receiver for the Cleveland Browns. Odell Beckham and Jarvis Landry were brought in to solve the issues, but it is still a bit of a mystery for this organization.
Amari Cooper and Donovan Peoples-Jones have both shown a lot of promise, but 2022 was the first season where we saw a lot of consistency from DPJ. The biggest hole now is at the third receiver spot where Anthony Schwartz, David Bell, and Michael Woods have come up short thus far.
Part of me thinks that Berry will once again punt on fixing the position in free agency and give a guy like Bell or Woods another shot. I also believe that Berry knows his seat could get warm if 2023 is a complete failure so he may be motivated to fix the position in free agency.
Cooper is a solid No. 1, and DPJ is an average No. 2, but given those two circumstances, the Browns need an above-average No. 3 which needs to come in free agency.