USA Today ranks Browns 27th
By STEVE KING
Heaps of praise in one regard, and heaps of condemnation in another.
That’s how USA Today NFL writer Nate Davis sees the Browns right now.
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He recently gave the Browns an A for the job they did in free agency – they were one of just three teams to score so highly – but then the next day he had them ranked only 27th out of 32 teams overall as they continue to prepare for the NFL Draft late this month. For those of you keeping score at home, that’s just five spots from the very bottom.
Davis wrote about the Browns: “The talent that tantalized pundits last year mostly returns. But new coach Kevin Stefanski likely won’t have sufficient time to blend it for a 2020 resurgence.”
So, USA Today ranks Browns even behind the 26th-ranked Detroit Lions, who finished an abysmal 3-12-1 last year, and just ahead of, in order, the Chicago Bears, Washington Redskins, New York Giants, Carolina Panthers and last-place Jacksonville Jaguars.
Ugh.
What’s even more disconcerting is that the Browns are two spots in arrears of last year’s AFC North cellar-dwellers, the No. 25 Cincinnati Bengals.
Double-ugh, accelerated!
Of the Bengals, Davis observed: “They took the unusual step of spending in free agency, tagging WR A.J. Green, and are poised to welcome QB Joe Burrow. This could be quite a reset for a group that consistently played hard for rookie coach Zac Taylor in 2019.”
Not surprisingly, the two-time defending champion Baltimore Ravens were the highest-ranked North team, being third, behind only the front-running, defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs and defending NFC champion San Francisco 49ers.
The Ravens look like this, according to Davis: “Last we saw them, CB Marlon Humphrey labeled the dynamic club playoff chokers. But the arrival of DL Calais Campbell might be enough to clear Baltimore’s airway.”
The Pittsburgh Steelers were 10th. Davis wrote: “Even with (in spite of?) QBs Mason Rudolph and Duck Hodges, last year’s team would have been good enough for the 2020 NFL playoffs. How good can it be with the return of Ben Roethlisberger, plus its top-five defense?”
But back to the Browns. Just as they have nowhere to go but down in terms of free agency, they have almost nowhere to go but up overall.
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