'Pray for a Miracle' Says Insider of Browns Offseason

Bleacher Report published its Offseason Goal NFL's Worst Teams Must Achieve to Contend in 2025, and while the Browns aren't listed as No. 1 on the list, the outlook is understandably bleak.

B/R appears to have gone in draft order when discussing each team, so that explains why the Titans are ahead of the Browns on the list. But that doesn't mean it pulled punches, opening with "Pray for a Miracle - That isn't sarcasm. OK, it mostly isn't sarcasm," B/R published.

That's a pretty brutal beginning, but it gets worse. The second line of the Browns piece is as follows:

"Simply put, the Cleveland Browns are a mess."

And it's possible B/R has never published truer words. The thing is a mess, and it's mostly due to the horrible (who would've known at the time, we ask tongue-in-cheek) deal to bring Deshaun Watson to town in 2022. 

But there's no point in crying over spilled salary cap space, and it's not coming back. Watson is still owed $72 million fully guaranteed. And he may have played his last down as a Brown - at least that's what fans are hoping for.

And that's not even the most recent disaster to strike the franchise as its best player over the past nine season, defensive end Myles Garrett, has decided he's also done in Cleveland and publicly demanded a trade.

That's where B/R picks up its commentary on Cleveland's "miracle" goals for 2025.

The team's best player appears to see it—star edge-rusher Myles Garrett recently requested a trade. But while speaking to reporters, general manager Andrew Berry said the Browns have no intention of dealing Garrett.

"We feel really good about Myles, obviously, as a big piece of our future," Berry said. "We're looking forward to him being on the field. Like I said in my (early January) press conference, we envision him going from Cleveland to Canton when his career is over. I think you can assume that we do anticipate at some point doing a third contract with Myles. We want him to retire here."

Berry *wants* Garrett to retire a Brown. Ok, so do the fans. What's that got to do with the price of tea in China? Berry also *wanted* Watson to play like a Hall of Famer over the past three seasons. How'd that work out?

B/R continues:

Frankly, if the Browns could trade Garrett, it might not be that bad an idea. The team's 11-win 2023 campaign was a fluke. This is a bad football team with multiple issues on both sides of the ball. But the dead cap hit for dealing the 2023 Defensive Player of the Year is a staggering $36.2 million. The Browns are already over $30 million over the projected 2025 cap thanks to the abomination that is Deshaun Watson's contract. They can't trade Garrett. Or make any big moves in free agency.

Garrett has the Browns right where he wants them. That's just how it is. But now B/R comments on the Watson effect:

The Watson trade (and the fully guaranteed contract that came with it) was the single worst move in the history of the NFL. It has crippled the entire franchise—and there's no reasonable path to digging out of that pit in 2025. Cleveland picks second in 2025. The first pick in 2026 is a distinct possibility.

So basically, the Browns won't get better in 2024, even if they make the right pick at No. 2 - whoever that is on whichever side of the ball - and could pick again at or near the top of the draft in 2026. 

It seems like another team has been in that position recently. ... A franchise in Chicago, maybe. How'd that work out for the Bears?