The Cleveland Browns are one of the NFL's laughingstocks, and mostly for their own doing. The franchise has made plenty of missteps in its recent history, and has routinely been one of the worst teams in the league. Unfortunately, that reputation often clouds an evolving reality.
As the NFL world starts to think about the 2026 season, it has become abundantly clear that many people are talking down on the Browns just for the sport of it, instead of honestly evaluating their current situation. This was recently on display in PFF’s ranking of the eight NFL teams that can go from worst-to-first in 2026.
NFL writer Bradley Locker analyzed the eight teams that finished last in their respective divisions last season, and ranked them on the likelihood that they will make the impressive jump to first in their divisions. Cleveland was ranked seventh on this list, which is one spot out of last place.
Predicting that the Browns won’t win the AFC North, fine. Having a higher outlook on teams like the Las Vegas Raiders and New York Jets, amongst others, ridiculous.
Browns ranked second-to-last of teams that can go from worst-to-first in 2026
If someone, who had no idea what happened in the NFL last season, only paid attention to league-wide discourse this offseason, they would never guess that Cleveland was in the same class of teams like the New Orleans Saints, the New York Giants, and Tennessee Titans. While the Browns finished the year with five wins, the Saints only had six, the Giants had four, and the Titans, Jets, and Raiders all had three.
However, of that group of really bad teams, Cleveland is the one being doomed to despair, while the others are being showered in optimism. In reality, there isn’t much that supports that being the case. In fact, the Browns were the only group that had something elite about them last season — their defense — so if anything, they should be one of the teams expected to have the quickest turnarounds.
Of course, with the whole worst-to-first premise, things like strength of division come into play. That’s why it makes sense that the Saints, who play in the abysmal NFC South, are ranked highly. As for teams like the Jets, Raiders, and Titans, there’s really no sound reason for them to be above Cleveland.
Locker’s main explanation for being so low on the Browns is the same as everybody else: concern about the quarterback position. Contrary to popular framing, though, quarterback is the most dependent position in football. If Cleveland’s defense continues to be elite, and the team’s rebuilt offensive line and receiver room improve as expected, the Browns should be able to make noise with either a past-his-prime Deshaun Watson or the polarizing Shedeur Sanders at quarterback.
More people would recognize that if they stopped looking at the Browns through the lens of history, and actually evaluated what’s currently happening.
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