Last Points
Zoom out to the first month. The opener is the Bengals at home on Sunday, Sept. 7, then a trip to Baltimore, then Green Bay back in Cleveland. That order matters for how Stefanski scripts the offense with a 40-year-old starter. It will be a heavy diet of drive starters, quick wins on first down, and two to three vertical shots a game when the run action and spacing set it up.
What does that look like with these pass catchers? Johnson’s short area separation pairs with Jerry Jeudy’s option work. David Njoku is a seam and glance threat when safeties widen. Isaiah Bond adds the vertical juice the room lacked, and the contract tells you the team intends to use him. His three-year, fully guaranteed deal is not normal for a UDFA, and it signals snaps once he is up to speed.
Two variables remain fluid, and both are worth calling out. First, Quinshon Judkins remains unsigned as of today while the league review runs its course. That affects running back rotation and special teams cards at the bottom of the roster. Second, Bond’s ramp and the receiver room’s final shape. If Bond is active in Week 1, Cleveland can show three distinct receiver groupings without tipping tendencies. Both items are real but not fixed, and both should be clarified before final cuts.
The bottom line: The Browns chose certainty for September. They set the depth chart to protect the rookies and maximize the defense. The offense will look like the Flacco offense looked here before, only with different faces catching the ball.
You want a steady script, a few calculated shots, and a kicker who cashes in. If the young quarterbacks get healthy and stack clean weeks, their turn will come on better terms than the brutal opening six weeks of the season. That is how you thread the needle between now and the future.