Browns had the second-most double-digit blown leads in 2022

It doesn't take a rocket scientist (although we know one) to see what the Cleveland Browns plan was this offseason — they were out to improve their defense.

Cleveland parted with defensive coordinator Joe Woods and brought in Jim Schwartz who won a Super Bowl in that same role with the Philadelphia Eagles. They then added a lot of talent in free agency, the 2023 NFL Draft, and made a huge trade to add Za'Darius Smith.

Anyone who watched the Browns in 2022 could see the defense was an issue but Warren Sharp highlighted how bad it was. He tweeted out which teams blew big leads Cleveland came in second with two losses after being up by at least 13 and third with three losses after taking more than a touchdown lead.

The two losses of 13-plus points came early in the year. The first was the most infamous as they blew a 30-17 lead with just 1:55 to go against the New York Jets. To make matters worse, the Jets had no timeouts remaining and a special teams gaffe aided in that loss.

Not long after this, they had a 14-point lead against the Los Angeles Chargers but ended up losing. Sadly, they even still had a shot to win that one but an interception from Jacoby Brissett and a missed 54-yard field goal from Cade York kept that from happening.

For a 7-10 team, those two losses were huge. Win them both, and we could be talking about how this club went 9-8 while Deshaun Watson was suspended for 11 games.

Instead, we're banking on the major defensive improvements to prevent similar heartache in 2023.