Ever since Art Modell packed his bags and took the original Cleveland Browns out East where they subsequently became the Baltimore Ravens, an unfortunate stink has hovered over the new Browns. Countless regimes have tried and failed, but the stench persists, almost like it learned and adapted just to torment the Dawg Pound.
Since 1999, the Browns have lost 290 games. This is the most in the league in that time frame by a shamefully large margin. They're joined at the bottom by the Raiders (265), Lions (260), Jaguars (257), and Cardinals (254). It's that pesky sixth-worst team, however, that in reaping praise from an anonymous NFL executive led to the Browns becoming an unsuspecting casualty in a beef they have no part of.
Mike Sando penned his annual "NFL execs unfiltered" piece for The Athletic, where he accumulated quotes from a variety of executives under the condition of anonymity to give fans a look behind the curtain. The New York Jets — who were spared the indignity of that fifth-most-losses spot by one measly game — were being given the benefit of the doubt for their 2026 offseason, before the source hammered the Browns, just for fun.
"'People were crushing them for getting old guys, but you gotta give Aaron Glenn a chance,' one exec said. 'To completely tank next year to try to get the quarterback the following year and build around the draft capital they got from the Quinnen Williams and Sauce Gardner trades, you still gotta raise the floor and turn the culture. You don’t want to be like Cleveland with a tanking culture hanging over your franchise.'"
The Browns have a reputation the NFL won’t let them forget
In 2016, Browns owner Jimmy Haslam decided to cave into the "tanking" craze that was taking other leagues by storm. Evidently, he thought he'd be the pioneer whose foresight and example would be lauded for generations. Instead, he will be remembered in the same vein as the guy who just had to test what happens when you play with fire.
They successfully implemented former MLB executive Paul DePodesta's vision, which can pretty much be explained as: burn it all to the ground. One year of disgusting football wasn't enough. A 1–15 2016 campaign gave way to a gloriously grotesque, 0–16 2017 season. History! This is about the time Haslam thought the Browns were about to take over the league.
Instead, he got the cold, hard lesson that football isn't won on spreadsheets. The game is far more complex, with infinitely more variables than its inferior pastimes. It's one thing to dive into freezing cold water by yourself. It's quite another to drive a bus full of millions of Browns fans (or hostages) with you.
The aftermath that Browns fans can only hope is reaching its own end
There was a change after all that losing. After being the losingest franchise from 1999-2017 (216), Browns fans saw their team improve to having the ninth most losses from 2018–2025. Certainly not the kind of improvement folks were expecting after all that suffering. The Jets are last with 94, so I suppose they can eat that, but as far as Cleveland goes...
Naturally, the first question is: was it worth it? Most fans would probably lean no. The archaic concept of drafting and signing players that make your team better was too old-school, not risqué enough. It turns out artificially weakening your team to the point of barrenness doesn't work either. Who could've thought? The Browns just had to test it out.
The unintended consequence of it all — and certain other less-than-popular decisions — is the crushing blow after blow to the once-proud Cleveland Browns reputation. Now, when fans, players, or rival executives think of the Browns, they think dysfunction, tanking, and above all else, losing. It wasn't always that way, and it won't be easy to wipe that stain off.
Browns fans have stayed loyal through it all, and thus deserve better. The only way to go from here is up. With a promising 2026 draft haul about to make its way to town and a subsequent 2027 draft class that's expected to be historic, perhaps the Browns will get on the straight and narrow. As long as Jimmy Haslam doesn't get in the way, it could happen.