The Cleveland Browns are in an unfamiliar position this year on facing soaring expectations. The Browns General Manager John Dorsey has made several huge moves this year to their roster, he punctuated on the roster by a trade with the New York Giants to land superstar wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.
The most important part comes next: delivering on the field. Owner Jimmy Haslam acknowledged on Monday.
“It’s exciting,” he said at the NFL’s annual league meeting. ” The town is very excited. We’ve got great fans, and were looking forward to the season. But we’ve got to perform on the field, right?”
Hope returned for the Browns last season when rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield, the first pick in last years draft, helped them to 7-8-1 record and kept them in playoff contention until late in the season. That was after the browns posted a 1-31 record over the previous two seasons, cementing their status as a laughingstock.
But Dorsey has turned things around quickly. And the trade for Beckham made the Browns the “it” team of the offseason.
” We went through a couple of tough year, tearing down the roster and stockpiling draft picks,” Haslam said. ” And John and his team have done a great job of using those picks and assets wisely, and hopefully they’ll continue to do so. Although we don’t have as many picks as we had and don’t have the number one, we need to get good players in this draft.”
The trade for Odell was put together quickly by Dorsey and the Giants Gerneral Manager Dave Gettleman. The Browns sent a first- and third-round draft picks and safety Jabrill Peppers.
The Browns’ offense now includes quarter back Baker Mayfield, running backs Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt, wide receivers Odell and Jarvis Landry, and tight end David Njoku. The coach tasked with making all of this talent work is Head Coach Freddie Kitchens, who had finished last season as the Browns’ offensive coordinator.
“Pro football started in Ohio , and northeastern Ohio is a huge football community,” Haslam said.” And even as poorly as we’ve performed the last several years, the fans support has been tremendous. Cleveland is a great sports town. It’s a great football town. Everybody’s really excited.”
Lakewood High school’s very own Alexander Blinky said, “I can’t wait for the browns season to start, they have a great roster now and they can have a great playoff run.”
