When the Cleveland Browns travel to Pittsburgh to take on the Steelers on Sunday, the calendar will flip to Nov. 1 and we’ll essentially be at the midpoint of the 2026 regular season.
The weeks are flying by, at a rate Browns fans are probably coping with right now.
Sundays feel a lot more fleeting when your team is winning and genuinely fun to watch.
The Browns have been the NFL’s best story, and that won’t change entering Week 8 as Todd Monken and company look to break a 22-game curse at Pittsburgh. Cleveland hasn’t won a regular-season road game against the Steelers since 2003.
If there’s a year for Cleveland to break such an omen, it would be 2026. The NFL world has been waiting for the Browns’ magic to run out. Each week they seem to be celebrating on the field with the same — can you believe it? — look on their faces.
With the good times rolling, here are Dawg Pound Daily’s midseason superlatives for the 5-2 Browns.
Handing out the hypothetical hardware after a remarkable first seven games for the Cleveland Browns
Offensive Rookie of the Year: LT Spencer Fano
The Browns selected Fano with the ninth overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft hoping that he could develop into a franchise left tackle. He’s spent the first seven games of his pro career proving GM Andrew Berry and the front office right.
Fano has arguably been the best offensive rookie in the entire NFL. According to Pro Football Focus, he’s allowed 14 total pressures and one sack in his first 280 pass-blocking snaps, and he’s only getting better.
Defensive Rookie of the Year: DB Emmanuel McNeil-Warren
McNeil-Warren hasn’t been as impactful as Fano. To be fair, there isn’t another defensive rookie on the roster who can really challenge the second-round safety. The Browns only drafted two defensive players in McNeil-Warren and linebacker Justin Jefferson.
But McNeil-Warren still deserves mention here. He’s been solid when called upon for increased usage due to injuries and has flashed the instinct that made him a top Day 2 target for the Browns. He’s been impactful on special teams as well. Browns fans are excited about the Toledo product, and they should be.
Comeback Player of the Year: QB Deshaun Watson
It’s been a remarkable turnaround for Watson, who went from being booed off the field during a home preseason game in August to orchestrating five game-winning drives in the fourth quarter in the span of seven weeks.
All after recovering from a twice-torn Achilles tendon and no real football since midway through the 2024 season.
Running back Quinshon Judkins was expected to be the engine of Cleveland’s offense, a la Derrick Henry when Monken was the offensive coordinator of the Ravens. But that engine has been Watson, who has avoided turnovers (0.5 per game) and has played his best football in the biggest moments.
Watson’s been finding a better rhythm in the passing game as of late and has supplemented the running game with 215 yards and a touchdown on 48 attempts. It hasn’t been nearly consistent enough, but Cleveland wouldn’t be 5-2 right now if not for the play of their veteran QB — who everyone had written off at the start of the spring program.
Offensive Player of the Year: WR KC Concepcion
This award came down to Cleveland's pair of rookie wide receivers, Concepcion and Denzel Boston, but we’re giving Concepcion the slight edge at the midpoint.
Concepcion leads the team in targets (45), yards after the catch (170), and big plays (6) despite missing the majority of the Browns’ Week 5 loss to the Jets with a concussion. He’s been as advertised as the No. 24 overall pick in the draft, and has a scary amount of room to grow in Monken’s offense.
Concepcion is fresh off a game that saw him turn 11 total touches into 152 scrimmage yards. Boston has been trending down of late, with 88 total receiving yards in Cleveland’s last three games.
Defensive Player of the Year: CB Denzel Ward
The Warden has been dominant to start the season.
He’s only being targeted about four times per game, which is typical for one of the game’s top cover corners. Ward is still making a major impact. His interceptions against the Steelers and Titans were both momentum-swinging plays that helped lead the team to wins.
Per Pro Football Focus, opposing quarterbacks have an ugly 53.8 passer rating when targeting Ward. He’s off to one of the hottest starts of his career at the age of 29, and the Browns are looking smart for getting his latest contract extension done prior to the season.
MVP: LB Carson Schwesinger
The Browns have already dealt with a litany of injuries this year. Only one player has been on the field for 100 percent of the snaps through seven games, and that’s Schwesinger.
That’s a good thing, because the Browns would be a different team if their superstar middle linebacker had to miss time.
Through seven games, Schwesinger has a team-leading 64 tackles to go with three tackles for loss, one sack, and two forced fumbles. He sprained his ankle in the Jets game and played through it against both the Ravens and Titans.
The reigning NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year has quickly become the heart and soul of the locker room.
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