As schedule release day rapidly approaches, fans can get their pencil and paper out, anxious to predict how the Browns will fare this year. It's an annual exercise in the dead period of the offseason where the NFL capitalizes on our unquenchable thirst for football by making it an event akin to the draft — even though it's just the date and time of a matchup we knew was going to happen.
In another sense, it reminds the entire city of Cleveland that, in 2025, the Browns didn't have a single primetime game.
Now, no one is arguing that the Browns are among the league's darlings or one of the best teams. By the same token, is anyone arguing that the country needed to be subjected to five games of Michael Penix Jr. and Kirk Cousins last year? What about the five times the Dolphins floundered on national television in 2025?
Don't get me started on the four times the Vikings and the J.J. McCarthy–Carson Wentz duo presented a master class on how to not utilize Justin Jefferson. Heck, even the Jets and Cardinals got a pair of games each. While I've needlessly riled up five innocent fanbases, the point is, the Browns should've been on primetime at least once last season. The fact that they weren't led to one of the biggest travesties of the year.
The NFL’s treatment of the Browns kept the country from witnessing Myles Garrett’s historic season (and the league knows it)
The Browns' defense in 2025 was dominant. What Myles Garrett accomplished, on the other hand, was out of this world. For the first time since at least 1982, a defensive player totaled 23 sacks in a season. Garrett now stands as the official record holder, a feat that hundreds have attempted but only one has been able to accomplish.
For as historic an accomplishment as it was, there was not a single time where Garrett and the Browns were on primetime television, in turn depriving the whole country of seeing what defensive dominance looks like. Not when he dumped the Patriots' Drake Maye five times in Week 8, nor when he corralled the ever-elusive Lamar Jackson four times in Week 10. It was a sporting feat for the ages, and neutral fans were forced to catch only a replay of his efforts on a mid-game highlight or a footnote recap of the game elsewhere.
It also effectively kept some of the Browns' other players under the radar. From new kids on the block linebacker Carson Schwesinger, tight end Harold Fannin Jr., and defensive lineman Mason Graham to wily vets who still deserve their shine such as Denzel Ward and Grant Delpit, they were shut out on primetime. The NFL should make sure this doesn't happen again in 2026, and the schedule provides more than one juicy matchup worthy of the country's eyeballs.
To start with, the AFC North always provides poetically ugly football. Fans can never get enough of the black and blue division. Beyond that, there's Kevin Stefanski's return to Cleveland that would be a compelling storyline. The most enticing of the options is obvious, though.
While it will unfortunately take place in Tampa Bay, the Browns face the Buccaneers this year. The always-salty Baker Mayfield — the closest thing the Browns have had to a franchise QB since their rebirth — will surely want to put on a show against the team that replaced him. In the same vein, Myles Garrett and his prideful defensive teammates won't want to see Mayfield dominate against them. The tilt is rife with drama, the exact kind of thing that raises the stakes for an inter-conference matchup.
Don't drop the ball this year, NFL. Browns fans will be watching, and after 2025, they deserve some primetime exposure. Browns–Buccaneers, under the lights. Let's make it happen.
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