For the second year in a row, the Cleveland Browns have one of the most talented offenses in the league. They already had Odell Beckham Jr., Nick Chubb and Jarvis Landry. This offseason they added offensive tackle Jack Conklin and tight end Austin Hooper in free agency and then used their first-round pick on Alabama offensive tackle Jedrick Wills. They have everything they need to be an offense that razes defenses to the ground on a routine basis.
The onus is all on quarterback Baker Mayfield and first year head coach Kevin Stefanski to guide the offense to its sky high potential. Stefanski, who spent last season as the offensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings, was specifically hired to ignite the Browns’ offense and justify the investments they made on that side of the ball. Cleveland has a plethora of big contracts and high draft picks on offense, it’s time to capitalize on all that work.
Stefanski just might be the man for the job. The Vikings had the 10th ranked offense according to Football Outsiders’ DVOA metric and Kirk Cousins ranked seventh in the league in yards per attempt (8.1). This Browns’ unit has arguably more talent than last year’s Vikings’ offense.
The Browns have skill talent that just about every team in the NFL would die for. Their tight end room is headlined by Hooper and David Njoku and they added talented receiving tight end Harrison Bryant in the NFL draft. Beckham and Landry are as good of a receiver duo in the league when both healthy. Chubb was arguably the best running back of 2019 and his backup Kareem Hunt is a starting-caliber player.
On paper, this is an offense that should be able to score 30 points in their sleep. For this group of players to play up to their potential, Mayfield needs to perform better than he did in 2019. Outside of the back half of his rookie year, Mayfield hasn’t produced all that much on the field. Mayfield ranked 19th (out of 30) in ESPN’s Quarterback Rating (52.4) and 31st in passer rating (78.3).
Luckily, this is the perfect situation for him to rekindle the magic from his rookie year. By the time the season starts, Beckham should be fully healed from a sports hernia that plagued him all last season. Stefanski has all the toys he needs to continue to work his magic from his time in Minnesota.
Say it with me now: this is finally the year the Browns will have an explosive offense.
Yes, the Browns have failed to meet expectations in the past. Yes, they’ve made countless analysts look silly. The Browns are always liable to be the Browns, but there’s just too much firepower for this to completely implode again.
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