TAKING STOCK: 2022 CLEVELAND BROWNS

BY ADAM GREENE

What can you say about the 2022 Cleveland Browns that hasn’t been said by the parents and loved ones of their former players? This is a team with one of the best rosters in the NFL and spun its wheels all season. Quarterback Baker Mayfield spent a lot of hurt and when he wasn’t hurt, he didn’t play particularly well, especially with a chance to win the games in the final minutes.

Regardless, the Browns lost four of their last six games to miss the playoffs after showing so much promise in 2020.

CLEVELAND BROWNS

2021-22 Record: 8-9, third place AFC North

Playoffs: N/A

NOW WHAT?

Here’s the thing. The only people talking about the Browns making a move at acquiring one of the big name quarterbacks and cutting bait with Mayfield are guys like me. And you don’t have to look any farther than the current Super Bowl Champions to figure out why. The Los Angeles Rams had a QB that couldn’t get them over the hump so they traded a lot of draft capital and their former No. 1 overall pick to get one that could.

Not team is set up for Rams like success more than Cleveland. While they did take a hit at the wide receiver position thanks to the aforementioned player parent that sent Odell Beckham Jr. to free agency and the also aforementioned Rams, they remain loaded pretty much everywhere else.

Sticking with Mayfield, in his fifth year, is a gamble the Browns appear to be making. So they need to shore up every single area of the team outside of the former No. 1 overall pick.

FREE AGENCY

With no push at all to sign Mayfield long term until after the season, the Browns are sitting on $28.869 million in available cap space and they need to spend it. The only key free agent they’re losing is Jadeveon Clowney and he’s not likely to return.

The first thing they need to think about adding is a wide receiver and there’s no better free agent acquisition than one that comes from a division rival. I’m thinking they sign JuJu Smith Schuster to make sure they’ve got that covered before the draft.

At edge, they could look at a return performance form Emmanuel Ogbah or maybe an older vet with Super Bowl experience like Jason Pierre-Paul.

DRAFT

With the No. 13 pick, I had the Browns taking Jameson Williams, wide receiver out of Alabama in my mock draft. Williams was injured in the National Championship Game and won’t be ready to play when the season begins. But this is a pick that pays off in November, December and, if they can get back on track, in the playoffs. Before he got hurt, Williams was probably a top five pick so this is a steal and maybe makes missing the postseason in 2021 worth it.

With one of the best offensive lines in the league and plenty of talent in the backfield, it’s linebackers, pass rushers and defensive backs in the rest of the draft. Of course, if I ran the team they’d package a couple of first round picks together with Mayfield and hit the field with Russell Wilson in September.

AFC NORTH

Cincinnati is so far ahead of every other team outside of Baltimore at quarterback that they’ll be tough to catch. The Browns have the roster to do it if they get Mayfield to perform anywhere near his draft position and make the most of the receiving options he’s been given. This is his final shot for a real payoff, or he’ll spend the rest of his career on the Mitchell Trubisky/Marcus Mariota journeyman path.

/Follow Adam Greene on Twitter @TheFirstMan.

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