CLEVELAND, OHIO (TheOBR.com) - Good morning, Cleveland Browns fans! Sorry about the gap — life happens — and I'm back to bloviate at you on this fine St. Patrick's Day. Despite my reputation, heritage, and typical morning writing output, I assert that I'm still sober as I pen these words.
THE DAILY BLOVIATION
If you're a regular reader of the bloviation, you probably could detect that I spent much of the last week traveling to and from a family wedding, which was held near Hilton Head, South Carolina. I'm at the point in my life where children, nieces and nephews are starting to tie the knot, so it won't be my last trip representing the "weird uncle" contingent at a gala celebration.
After several days on the road, I returned to Cleveland yesterday afternoon to find everything in disarray, with the power off across large swaths of the city, including my home, which prevented me from appearing on Gang of Three last night. The power returned yesterday evening, fortunately. A webdork without power is like a racehorse with a badly broken leg, and is basically a society's equivalent of an inflated appendix.
The time spent behind the wheel provided plenty of opportunity for me to get lost in thought about the state of the Cleveland Browns, the surrounding sports landscape, and the future of my beloved OBR and forums. I came away from the 20+ hours of driving with a slightly revised plan for the future. I have a day rife with meetings today to help prepare for that future.
Guinness St. Patrick's Day
I do enjoy the occasional Guinness (Photo: Unspash.com)
The core of the OBR's future will remain our community and message boards. My job is to help develop tools that enable that community to grow and thrive, while creating opportunities for the OBR's writers and other contributors to continue enjoying their work and receive the recognition they deserve. To do so requires constant evolution.
My goals are similar to those of the Cleveland Browns, who must constantly change and evolve to remain competitive in the NFL. To a large degree, they've failed in that objective since 1999, and a deep cynicism has set in among a large portion of the fanbase, as indicated by the comments on my last bloviation regarding the Browns' relatively unexciting postseason to date. (By the way, it has not escaped my notice that I often get more upvotes when I don't write than when I do.)
At any rate, combine a free agency period almost completely lacking in glamour with a fanbase that has been conditioned to expect little success will be forthcoming, and you have a ho-hum offseason to date. The draft, where the Browns hold three of the first 40 picks, should go a long way towards turning that around.
On the offensive line front, new addition Tytus Howard spoke to the media yesterday, and frankly, his quotes were eyebrow-raising in the best possible way. The former Texans tackle says he's locked in at right tackle, loves working with OL coach George Warhop, and had glowing things to say about both Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders. If Howard is already in the building mentally buying into the vision, that's a great sign — and his comments about Sanders specifically are worth some reading between the lines. Likewise, new guard Zion Johnson spoke of the "honor" replacing Joel Bitonio at guard.
That's all great. Will it bring back disgruntled fans or add new fans to the team's orbit? Of course not, but the hard work of rebuilding the team's battered and aged line will enable the stars of the future to shine. Hopefully. The film room piece on Johnson digs into why Cleveland thinks there's untapped upside there — he was a first-round pick who never quite broke out in San Diego, and the Browns are betting they can unlock it.
Elsewhere in the news, the NFL announced $542M in Performance-Based Contract Distributions, where Browns safety Ronnie Hickman was among the top beneficiaries. The Browns' free safety picked up nearly $1.3 million in extra money.
The Ask the Insiders board is absolutely buzzing about QB options — Russell Wilson, various draft alternatives, backup scenarios — the subject continues to clearly be the #1 topic heading into the draft, although it's certainly possible that the Browns will stand pat with their room of Deshaun Watson, Shedeur Sanders, and Dillon Gabriel.
The mock draft consensus appears to be solidifying around the Browns taking a Georgia left tackle — Monroe Freeling — with their first pick. Consider me skeptical that it's anywhere close to being locked in at this point, or, indeed, up until the second that the Browns turn in that card. Terry Pluto writes about the Browns' struggle with finding offensive linemen in the draft, which is he calls a "problem seldom mentioned", indicating that he doesn't visit our boards, or absorb their contents, because it comes up daily on there.
Have a good one! GO BROWNS! (shamrock emoji)
Newswire Bloviation Archive
OBR GOODIES
OBR VIDEO
- Gang of Three
OBR ARTICLES
- How Dead Cap Helps, Not Hinders The Cleveland Browns
- 2026 Free Agency Reset: What Moves the Cleveland Browns have Made on Defense so Far and What Do They Do Next
- Cleveland Browns Film Room: Browns Betting on Upside With Zion Johnson
- Why the Cleveland Browns are Interested in Oklahoma EDGE R Mason Thomas
- Newest O Tackle, Tytus Howard on Why He 'Bought In' to the Vision the Browns Presented to Him After the Trade
- Cleveland Browns News and Rumors 03/15/26: An Immersion of Tedium
FROM THE FORUMS
ASK THE INSIDERS (VIP)
- Jack, how common is it for backup QBs to have
- QB Options
- Attacking the Draft
- Russell Wilson
- F/U Bitonio
- another Bitonio question sorry!
- Follow Up on Fields
- Guardrail Attention (Jack great info)
- NFL Draft
- Quality of the WR room
- The curious case of Joel Bitonio (2nd attempt)
- O Line in that good of shape, huh?
- FU on Bitonio with jack
- Question for Pete and LANE- Settling at QB1??
THE WATERCOOLER
- Happy 70th Birthday Ozzie Newsome!
- Alabama's Aden Holloway arrested, facing felony charges
- FWIW Worst NFL WRs at Separating in '25
- Boredom Setting In: LT Sizes
- OT: Tuscaloosa, Bama
- Garafolo: Concepcion Has Preventative Procedure
- Newest O Tackle, Tytus Howard on Why He 'Bought In' to the Vision the Browns Presented to Him After the Trade
- Chiefs Trade for QB Fields
- LiveWire Thread for 3/16 - Twitter, Video, Articles
- OT: March Madness
- Where the Hell is the Bloviation?
- The Oscars!!!!!!!
- Where's Our Linebacker???
- 2026 Free Agency Reset: What Moves the Cleveland Browns have Made on Defense so Far and What Do They Do Next
- Start up Dynasty league
- LiveWire Thread for 3/15 - Twitter, Video, Articles
THE LIFT
Positive news from the world of sports and beyond...
The simplest secret to high-performing teams can fit on your wall (Big Think)
You might be tempted to shrug off the idea that putting artwork on the walls of a gigantic maze of cubicles can make any difference at all. Those TPS reports, after all, still are due and must be stapled correctly. But one of the most successful companies I ever worked with as a consultant, Progressive Insurance, devoted a lot of time and energy to putting challenging and inspiring art on its walls. It was a very big deal back then in the 1990s (I don't know if it still is) but added some much-needed panache to the workplace.
WRAPPING UP
When not still seeing the lines on I-77 every time he closes his eyes, Barry McBride is the Publisher and Founder of the OBR and bloviates this nonsense every morning. You can follow him on Twitter @barrymcbride or write him at barry@theobr.com if you are so compelled.
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