CLEVELAND — About 48 hours before Sunday’s home finale of a hopelessly miserable season, the Cleveland Browns began putting out alerts regarding a sinkhole that formed on a high-traffic street adjacent to Huntington Bank Field and alternate routes that would be necessary for fans brave enough to attend.
Around that same time Friday, Browns fans were reminded of the sinkhole the team created for itself in March 2022 when it traded three first-round picks for the right to give Deshaun Watson a fully guaranteed $230 million contract. With Watson on season-ending injured reserve (again), the Browns restructured his contract (again) by adding additional void years to the end as a prelude to the next restructure, a near-mandatory one that will create cap space and flexibility for the team in 2025 but further push Watson’s guaranteed money down the line.
If all that gives you a headache, try watching this Cleveland team play offense. There’s only one more opportunity to do that now that the Browns have slipped to 3-13, which isn’t terrible news for anyone involved. The defense showed up again Sunday, but turnovers and general ineptitude kept Cleveland from keeping pace with the Miami Dolphins, who won 20-3 with backup quarterback Tyler Huntley throwing short, safe passes and creating with his feet.
On the other side, Browns quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson consistently threw it at players’ feet. The thought of playing the second-year quarterback at the end of a lost season made sense, but Thompson-Robinson’s two starts have only reinforced that the Browns are lost. The organization’s future is uncertain, but it’s clear that the Browns are pretty much starting from scratch at quarterback in the spring.
Watson is almost certain to never play a meaningful down for the Browns again. Though the salary-cap gymnastics might help the team keep some other experienced players, it would be hard to make much of a case that trying to keep this group together — the roster, front office or coaching staff — is the best plan. Or even somewhat of a good plan. The Browns have proven they’ll spend big, and Myles Garrett might get the raise he’s been angling for. But his public worries about the team’s overall direction and ability to put out a competitive product next season bring up fair questions.
Is this — scoring three points in the home finale and 16 total over the last three games — rock bottom? Or can the Browns draft well, invest (or re-invest) in keeping the right veterans and either uncover a gem of a quarterback on his third (or fourth) NFL stop or draft one who can at least provide some hope?
GO DEEPER
Patriots in control of 2025 NFL Draft No. 1 pick after Giants’ win
It seems like a big ask, but the Browns may have put themselves in a spot to get the young, franchise-type quarterback they likely need. Though Cleveland has lost by double digits eight times and committed multiple turnovers for the sixth straight game, it actually had a positive Sunday for the first time since October because three other results from the NFL’s early window helped the team’s draft positioning. After one more bludgeoning Saturday in Baltimore, the Browns almost certainly will own either pick No. 2 or No. 3 in April’s draft. They could still end up with the No. 1 pick if they lose and New England upsets a Buffalo team that’s likely to be playing backups.
In this spot, scoreboard-watching elsewhere beats watching the one in your own stadium. The 2024 Browns were the most expensive team in NFL history before they had to sell off key veterans Amari Cooper and Za’Darius Smith, and the next round of Watson restructures will be necessary to offset a still-growing pile of dead money on the cap. Garrett summed things up when he said the only year that was more disappointing was his rookie season in 2017 when the Browns didn’t win a single game.
The Browns thought they’d be real AFC contenders this season. Instead, they played a second straight game that had been flexed out of a prime-time spot and finished the season 2-6 at home. A premium draft choice might eventually be a consolation, but the picks surrendered in the Watson trade combined with others that have been squandered have left this roster top-heavy in both money and age. Add the penalty problems — even beyond the yards Thompson-Robinson accumulated with three intentional grounding penalties versus Miami — to the turnover problems and general inconsistencies, and the urge to not overreact to a season that started spiraling in September clashes with the reality of the situation.
If Garrett thought the Browns were just in a slump or made one bad move, he’d have never started publicly wondering about the future for himself or the organization. Starting from zero at the game’s most important position is one thing, but the Browns also have major issues that must be addressed at offensive tackle, across the defensive front seven and with their offensive skill group. Jerry Jeudy is having a good season despite a slow start and some drops against Miami, but the Browns don’t exactly have a pipeline of offensive playmakers awaiting more opportunity.
On his 29th birthday Sunday, Garrett became the first player to record 14 sacks in four consecutive seasons. He’s clearly still a weather-changing force and is under contract for two more years, but his hints about his future being uncertain were a clear reversal from his previous stances. He doesn’t want to rebuild, understandably, but the Browns might have to. And stubbornly avoiding that reality could turn this undisciplined, overpaid team into an even less flexible and similarly uncompetitive version going forward.
GO DEEPER
Myles Garrett makes NFL history with 14-plus sacks in 4 consecutive seasons
Just about 10 weeks ago in the run-up to the annual trade deadline, the organization viewed moving Garrett as something they absolutely would not do. Now, the Browns probably have to at least consider it. There was always a potential downside to gambling on Watson and doubling down on big contracts, and there was the chance Watson might flop. He did, the team did and January’s surprise revamp of the offensive coaching staff only led Cleveland to decide on more change — and led to folks wondering who made or forced those decisions. There’s no indication that the Browns will fire either general manager Andrew Berry or head coach Kevin Stefanski, but no one thinks another round of assistant coaching changes will help anything. Something has to change. Probably, a lot of things have to change — and the only way the direction will ever change is with a run of strong draft picks.
The Browns don’t have enough good players. They don’t have any answer at quarterback. They had eight listed starters Sunday who are 30 or older, and they had at least four others who clearly won’t be in the team’s plans going forward. Nobody wants to trade Garrett, but it’s hard to see a path toward a significant turnaround in the next 12 months. For at least the last three seasons, the organization’s overarching strategy has been to spend its way out of problems and then spend more when necessary. It’s all led to this.
The sinkhole down the street is going to get fixed. With help from city workers, Cleveland Police and team officials, traffic still flowed on Sunday. We won’t know for months if Garrett wants a path out of town or if the Browns need to give him one instead of a big raise, but all around are reminders that the team isn’t just facing one minor detour or a project that requires a simple patch. This thing is a complete mess.
(Photo of Dorian Thompson-Robinson: Jason Miller / Getty Images)
