{"id":16244,"date":"2021-03-20T04:49:42","date_gmt":"2021-03-20T04:49:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/?p=16244"},"modified":"2021-03-20T04:49:43","modified_gmt":"2021-03-20T04:49:43","slug":"taking-stock-cleveland-browns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/nfl\/taking-stock-cleveland-browns\/","title":{"rendered":"TAKING STOCK: CLEVELAND BROWNS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BY ADAM GREENE<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As disappointed as the Cleveland Browns were to fall in the AFC Divisional Round to the defending Super Bowl champion (and eventual runners up) Kansas City Chiefs, my guess is, if asked in the preseason after two decades of futility, any Browns fan would have taken it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not only did Cleveland make the postseason for the first time in 18 years, but they won their first playoff game since the 1994-95 season. More than that, they did it by dominating the hated Pittsburgh Steelers in the process. Like I said, if you tossed this out at a Browns backer in August, 2020, they would have wept as they hugged you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, of course, winning changes everything and, more than that, just makes you want it more. So what can the Browns do to ensure that happens? We\u2019ll dig in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Taking Stock series, we\u2019re looking at each playoff team, going from worst to first, and outlining exactly what they must do to avoid being one of the five or so franchises who miss the postseason the year after making it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CLEVELAND<\/strong> BROWNS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2020-21 Record:<\/strong> 11-5, AFC Wild Card<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Playoffs:<\/strong> Defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 48-37 in the AFC Wild Card Round, lost 22-17 to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Divisional Round<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2021-22 AFC Championship Odds:<\/strong> +900<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Previously:<\/strong> Los Angeles Rams<\/a>, Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a>, Seattle Seahawks<\/a>, Tennessee Titans<\/a>, Indianapolis Colts<\/a>, Chicago Bears<\/a>, Washington Football Team<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NOW<\/strong> NEW QB DEAL FOR MAYFIELD<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baker Mayfield is, without question, the best quarterback the Browns have had since they came back to life in 1999. He\u2019s also the owner of one single winning season and playoff victory. Last year, Mayfield completed 62.8 percent of his passes for 3,563 yards, 26 touchdowns and eight interceptions. It\u2019s a fine season, but nowhere near elite statistically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, you don\u2019t need an elite stat QB to win a championship as long as you have other winning pieces on your team. How do you build or keep those pieces? By not paying your quarterback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayfield is entering his fourth season and, in conventional NFL terms, this is where he could expect the massive pay raise to put him in regular franchise quarterback salary territory. Mayfield and his agent have no reason to expect Dak Prescott or Deshaun Watson money, but they would certainly go for the $30 million mark. Considering Kirk Cousins makes $33 million a year, I\u2019d pick that as a starting point and go forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only the Browns should have no interest in listening to any of that right now. Yes, Mayfield had a decent season and got Cleveland to the playoffs, but look at the mess the Los Angeles Rams and Philadelphia Eagles got themselves into playing the regular QB deal game with their former first round picks. And they both at least got Super Bowl appearances out of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayfield is due to make $10.4 million this year and, if\/when the team picks up his fifth year option, that\u2019ll jump to $18.8 million. And that\u2019s just what the Browns should do. Play it out, stick with that rookie deal and then worry about an extension after that fifth season if they feel Mayfield is worth it. Because the Rams and Eagles certainly didn\u2019t. Nor did the Tennessee Titans with Marcus Mariota and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with Jameis Winston. Those teams, who did let the deal play out, are certainly in better shape now than if they\u2019d hit up Mariota and Winston with monster deals after their third years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I ran a team, I\u2019d much rather pay Mayfield $45 million a year in 2023 if he\u2019s proven he\u2019s worth it than $35 million for the next two when there\u2019s a very real chance, going from recent first round QB deals, I\u2019d be looking to move him by 2024. If Baker plays exactly the same as he did this past season, he\u2019ll make plenty of money. And get all the commercials he can stand to do in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE DEFENSE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cleveland can boast that they had the worst-ranked defense (No. 21) in the playoffs and it showed, especially in their Wild Card win where they still managed to give up 37 points to the Steelers in a game that shouldn\u2019t have been anywhere near that close. Joe Woods is now in his second year coordinating the defense, but, frankly, I\u2019m not sure I would have kept him. And it\u2019s not the Steelers game that troubles me as much as two absolutely horrific coaching performances against the Baltimore Ravens\u2019 Pop Warner offense in the regular season. I would have fired him in December.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That all being said, maybe Woods just needs to build with his guys, improve some talent and grow as a coach. He\u2019ll get a couple of do-overs against Baltimore this upcoming season to show that keeping him was the right call.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FREE<\/strong> AGENCY<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Browns have a squad full of free agents, but for a team with plenty of salary cap space that isn\u2019t a problem. Cleveland has already signed one of the best safeties on the market, former Los Angeles Ram John Johnson III. I\u2019m a big fan of a move like that, bringing in good players from winning franchises. It\u2019s an underrated way of turning your franchise around quick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As free agency progresses, they need to be thinking edge rushers, offensive line and wide receivers. They\u2019re getting Odell Beckham Jr. back to go with Jarvis Landry, but their No. 3 WR leaves a lot to be desired. I would look hard at a guy with speed to open up the defense for OBJ and Landry like Will Fuller or Sammy Watkins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NFL DRAFT<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With their first pick coming at No. 26, this is rare territory for Cleveland to say the least, so they shouldn\u2019t get too enamored with their pick here. Bottom first rounders are good trade bait to pick up thirds and fourths and maybe even a first next season, so I would remain open for business up until the last second.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Cleveland stays put, I expect corner to be a high priority and, lucky for them, there are a bunch rated at about that spot like Georgia\u2019s Tyson Campbell, Florida State\u2019s Asante Samuel Jr. and South Carolina\u2019s Jaycee Horn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AFC<\/strong> NORTH<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The biggest thing separating the AFC North from the NFC West is multiple recent Super Bowl appearances. This is, without question, the second best division in football with three teams making the postseason last year and every reason to think it could happen again in 2022. There is no easy path for the Browns, but the bright side is, if they make it, they\u2019ll be battle hardened and a tough out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Projected 2021-22 Record:<\/strong> 11-5, AFC North Champions<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Follow our BetOnline Twitter accoun<\/a>t for the latest sports news and betting odds, and stay tuned on the Instagram feed<\/a> for more good information too.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY ADAM GREENE As disappointed as the Cleveland Browns were to fall in the AFC Divisional Round to the defending…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":16245,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[129],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16244"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16246,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16244\/revisions\/16246"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}