CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Browns finally feel NFL combine ready.
It has been a long offseason already with a coaching search that lasted three-and-a-half weeks and had fans tracking planes and talking themselves into coaches who didn’t exist in their consciousness two months ago.
The defensive coordinator saga finally ended on Monday, a little over a week after Jim Schwartz resigned after he reacted poorly to being passed over for the Browns head coaching job.
New head coach Todd Monken’s offensive staff, meanwhile, has quietly been taking shape and he even managed to find a new special teams coordinator.
The process of building to this point has been a little messy. When the Browns fired Kevin Stefanski on Jan. 5, few would have predicted coordinator hires wouldn’t be finalized until after Valentine’s Day. (They still haven’t officially announced most of them.)
Now that everything is in place and they’re off to Indianapolis next week, it really is time to start thinking about the offseason and the most pressing tasks at hand.
We continue 10 takes today with the looking at the questions the Browns have to answer soon:
2. So what is the plan at quarterback?
The Browns’ plan at quarterback last year wasn’t much of a plan at all. It was throwing darts.
A clear quarterback plan is a must this season. There can’t be a drawn-out quarterback competition. They have to be more targeted than they were a year ago.
It starts with the answer to this question: How important is it to see what you have in Shedeur Sanders?
There’s not much pointing to Sanders turning into a franchise quarterback. Even if you take out the disastrous half against the Ravens, he completed 59.2% of his passes, threw seven touchdowns against nine interceptions and had a 72.9 rating.
He also had little to work with around him and had moments that at least give pause to thoughts of just writing him off.
How much do GM Andrew Berry and Monken believe the flaws in his performance were structural? We’re going to find out.
Berry has already committed to rebuilding the offense this offseason. If they believe in Sanders, it wouldn’t make sense to go out and sign a player like Malik Willis, who would take over as the starter as soon as he signs the contract. The same goes for giving up draft capital from the first four rounds to add a veteran.
Then, of course, they have to weigh how willing they are to be wrong about Sanders. Does Berry believe he can survive another disastrous year at quarterback and get a shot to draft one in 2027?
Whatever their answer is, the Browns have to have a clearer plan than they had last season, when they set up a situation that didn’t position any of the four quarterbacks battling for the job for success.
3. How much offensive line is too much offensive line?
Is there such a thing?
Left guard Joel Bitonio hasn’t made his decision about retirement yet, but even if he does return, one of the tasks of this offseason is developing a succession plan, whether that’s getting Zak Zinter back on track or drafting someone.
Beyond Bitonio, every other starting spot needs attention.
Even with Dawand Jones still in the mix, both tackle jobs are wide open. It’s not Jones’ fault that a Packers defender hurdled into his knee last season, but it marked his third straight season-ending injury.
Maybe Wyatt Teller’s chances of returning improved with the change at head coach, but cost and age will remain a factor in any decision there.
At center, Ethan Pocic and Luke Wypler both suffered severe injuries. Pocic ruptured his Achilles against the Titans and Wypler was carted to the locker room in the season finale. Pocic, like Bitonio, Teller and right tackle Jack Conklin, is a free agent.
At a minimum, the Browns should plan to sign two offensive linemen and draft two more. At least three of those four should be acquired with the plan to start them right away.
Building in the trenches can be a boring slog, but in a year where the quarterback class is underwhelming and the Browns have 10 draft picks, they have a chance to solve some big problems for a long time.
4. How can they get 2024 Jerry Jeudy back?
Browns battle the Broncos on Monday Night Football
Can the Browns rediscover the fun of Jerry Jeudy?John Kuntz, cleveland.com
We know the deficiencies of the pass catchers outside of Harold Fannin Jr. It all needs to be addressed. But the lynchpin of it all might be what, if anything, they can do to find a version of Jeudy closer to what they had two seasons ago.
Jeudy is here to stay. The Browns extended him shortly after acquiring him from Denver and that contract doesn’t give them much flexibility to move on, even if they wanted to.
It really felt like the Browns had fleeced the Broncos at this time last year. Jeudy had 1,229 yards and set a franchise record with 90 receptions. He followed that up by being one of the top performers in the spring and summer. All signs pointed to an encore performance by the former first round pick.
Then it just didn’t happen. He had his lowest yardage total since 2021, when he played in just 10 games.
Pro Football Focus attributed 12 drops to Jeudy and his 18.8% drop rate was the highest of his career and the first time it reached double digits since his second season in the league.
Maybe the version of Jeudy we saw in 2024 was an outlier, but it’s hard to believe the version we saw in 2025 is going to be what he is for the remainder of his time with the Browns.
One of the top priorities of new wide receivers coach Christian Jones will be to get to the root of what caused Jeudy’s issues last season. The Browns will add some young receivers in the draft, but it can take time for rookie receivers to figure it out. A better version of Jeudy will matter significantly to whoever plays quarterback.
5. Is there a defensive player good enough to pass on offense at No. 6?
college football action
Could the Browns be tempted to pass on offense if Caleb Downs is available at No. 6?David Petkiewicz, cleveland.com
This is the Caleb Downs questions and there’s a lot to unpack if the Ohio State safety is sitting there when the Browns go on the clock.
First, do you sell off the pick to someone who wants him and add more draft capital, maybe even next year?
Second, if the Browns would consider taking him themselves, is a safety a higher value pick than a long-term tackle, even if that safety might be the best player in the draft. If he’s there at No. 6, after all, it means five other teams have prioritized other positions over him.
Third, if they pass on him, would they be OK with him ending up somewhere like Cincinnati, who picks at No. 10, and terrorizing them in the division for the next decade? (He probably wouldn’t get that far, but who knows?)
Stacking good on good — in other words, making an already dominant defense even more dominant, isn’t a bad thing, especially with all the picks the Browns have. Some of this would depend on how they rate the next tier of tackles compared to the top of the group. Maybe they see a potential decade-long starter at tackle in the 20s or even on Day 2.
It’s safe to say new defensive coordinator Mike Rutenberg might have some thoughts.
Speaking of Rutenberg, here are two thoughts off the bat:
6. How quickly can he get buy-in?
This is the hardest and most important piece for the 41-year-old who has never run a defense.
Schwartz was a popular figure and earned endorsements for the head coaching job from players over the last few days of the season, including Garrett.
Those players got hit with the double whammy of Schwartz not getting promoted and then resigning.
We can sometimes make too much of stuff like this. In the end, this is their job and guys show up, say the right things and do what they’re supposed to do.
This does present an interesting scenario, though.
My argument against retaining Schwartz as defensive coordinator was about the potential to undermine Monken if a young offense struggles early and it leads to losing winnable games.
The other side of that is the Browns have now turned their most talented side of the ball over to someone who has never run a defense. If suddenly the defense takes a step back and players feel like they aren’t being put in the best position to succeed, it could undermine Rutenberg.
In other words, the same concern that applied to keeping Schwartz now applies to hiring Rutenberg — except the risk may be greater since he’s untested.
Retaining most of the defensive staff should help. But just like when any team makes big changes, there’s going to be some fallout. Rutenberg is inheriting a talented, veteran unit, which is a good thing. It also means he doesn’t have much runway when it comes to learning on the job.
7. Can he continue finding the right roles for the role players?
The main thrust of any argument about the defense playing well post-Schwartz starts with the talent. Myles Garrett is still here. So is Denzel Ward. Carson Schwesinger is a star in the making.
The key for Rutenberg is what he does with the other guys.
Safety Grant Delpit, for example, thrives in a specific role playing a certain way. Same goes for linebacker Devin Bush, if they bring him back.
Part of the reason they swapped cornerback Greg Newsome II out for Tyson Campbell was the fit in Schwartz’s system.
Garrett is going to get after the quarterback, Ward is going to continue to run routes step-for-step with receivers and Schwesinger will continue to impact the game sideline-to-sideline.
Rutenberg’s vision for the role players — and adding the right role players in free agency and the draft — will make the difference between good and great for this unit.
We wrap up this week’s column with three random thoughts:
8. We’ll hear from Monken again at next week’s combine. Maybe this is a little too inside baseball, but I’m interested to hear the tone he sets after six years of Kevin Stefanski and Berry teaming up to say very little.
9. The same can be said for Berry, who has been open about how the Browns are in a rebuild. Will he continue the same messaging next week?
10. Of the Browns’ 10 picks, five of them are in the fifth round or later. Berry loves to use Day 3 picks in trades. That could make for some very interesting discussions between Berry and other GMs in Indianapolis next week.
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