Cleveland Browns 2025 Profile

Coaching Staff

Head Coach: Kevin Stefanski
Offensive Coordinator: Tommy Rees
Defensive Coordinator: Jim Schwartz
Special Teams Coordinator: Bubba Ventrone

2024 Summary (W-L Record: 3-14)

The Browns went from a pleasant surprise and a playoff appearance in 2023 to a complete disaster in 2024. They had the worst offense in the NFL (as you can see below), and their defense took a major step back after being one of the best units in the league a year earlier:

The quarterback position, unsurprisingly, was at the root of Cleveland’s offensive woes. And it was largely the result of Deshaun Watson not being anywhere near the quarterback the Browns thought they would be getting when they traded for him.

Just think back to 2020. Watson was legitimately in the discussion as a top-5 quarterback and appeared to be ascending. That year, he completed 70.2% of his passes for 4,823 passing yards, 8.9 yards per attempt, with 33 TDs, just 7 INTs, and a 112.4 passer rating. He also added 444 yards on the ground and 3 rushing touchdowns.

But due to off-the-field issues, a suspension, and then injuries, he played just 12 games over the next 3 seasons. When he did play, he didn’t process or see the field as well as he used to (that’ll happen when you don’t play for two years). He made poor decisions and took too many sacks. His diminished physical skills were no longer enough to cover for his flaws.

That trend continued last season as Watson led the Browns to a 1-5 start before rupturing his Achilles in Week 7.

Receive breakdowns like this directly in your inbox by subscribing here:

Watson wasn’t the only issue with the Browns offense, however.

Injuries on the offensive line, particularly at the tackle positions, contributed to Cleveland finishing with the 3rd-worst pressure percentage allowed in the NFL.

Running back Nick Chubb couldn’t quite regain his pre-injury form.

Tight end David Njoku missed 6 games and fought through injuries all season when he did play.

The Browns also traded receiver Amari Cooper after just 6 games as the season spiraled out of control, reducing the number of play-makers on the roster.

They also benched Jameis Winston for the final 3 games of the season, ensuring a higher draft pick. And that certainly contributed to their terrible final offensive numbers to some degree.

But as a whole, the offense performed far below what we saw in 2023, even with the quarterback position being in disarray for most of that season too. Cleveland decided they couldn’t bring back offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey as a result.

This season, they’ll turn things over to Tommy Rees, who was the Browns’ pass game specialist and tight ends coach last year. This will be his first season as an NFL offensive coordinator, although it will be Kevin Stefanski’s offense that they’ll run.

On the other side of the ball, the defense took a big step back. After finishing 2023 at the top of the NFL in yards allowed, they dropped to 19th last season.

In 2023, it was very difficult to throw on the Browns with their combination of pressure and back-end play. They generated the 5th-most takeaways and allowed the fewest completions of 20 yards or more. Last year, however, the generated the 3rd-fewest turnovers and allowed the 7th-most 20-yard completions.

Injuries were certainly a factor on this side of the ball too. Linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah missed the final 9 games of the season with a serious neck injury and will miss all of 2025 as he continues to recover.

And similar to the offense, the Browns made the decision to trade pass rusher Za’Darius Smith midway through the season, reducing their capabilities over the second half of 2024.

Key Additions

QB Joe Flacco
QB Kenny Pickett
QB Dillon Gabriel (3rd Round, 94th Overall)
QB Shedeur Sanders (5th Round, 144th Overall)
RB Quinshon Judkins (2nd Round, 36th Overall)
RB Dylan Sampson (4th Round, 126th Overall)
WR Diontae Johnson
TE Harold Fannin (3rd Round, 67th Overall)
G Teven Jenkins
T Cornelius Lucas

DT Maliek Collins
DT Mason Graham (1st Round, 5th Overall)
EDGE Joe Tryon-Shoyinka
LB Carson Schwesinger (2nd Round, 33rd Overall)
LB Jerome Baker
S Rayshawn Jenkins
S Damontae Kazee

Key Losses

QB Jameis Winston
RB Nick Chubb
WR Elijah Moore
TE Jordan Akins
LT Germain Ifedi

DT Dalvin Tomlinson
S Rodney McLeod
S Juan Thornhill

Did They Address Their Holes?

The Browns didn’t seek to address their holes with a lot of big-splash free agent moves. Instead, they sought to do it predominantly via the draft with all 7 of their selections coming in the first 144 picks.

Their focus on the defensive side of the ball was in the middle. They used the 5th and 33rd picks to take interior D-lineman Mason Graham and linebacker Carson Schwesinger.

The latter will replace the hole left by Owusu-Koramoah. Both should help improve a run defense that finished 20th in yards per attempt allowed and gave up the 2nd-most runs of 10 yards or more last season.

The Browns also added one of the better interior pass rushers in Maliek Collins via free agency. Both he and Graham will hope to take some of the pressure and attention off of Myles Garrett. It wouldn’t hurt to get something from Mike Hall (their high-ceiling 2024 2nd-round draft pick) either.

The 4-man pass rush is critical to Jim Schwartz’ defense, which used the 2nd-lowest frequency of coverage disguise last season (according to

Cody Alexander

of Match Quarters) and were middle of the pack in blitz frequency. While Garrett is one of a kind, the interior needs to play a much bigger role in helping Cleveland generate pressure with just 4.

On offense, the Browns have to get back to running the ball effectively. Last year, they just couldn’t do anything on the ground. They finished 29th in yards per game, 23rd in yards per attempt, 27th in frequency of runs gaining 4 yards, and 30th in runs of 10 yards or more.

Looking deeper beneath the surface, they ranked 11th in yards before contact per attempt and just 30th in yards after contact. That’s somewhat of an indicator that the offensive line was largely doing its job but the running backs were not.

That explains the decision to draft Quinshon Judkins in the 2nd round and then Dylan Sampson in the 4th. Judkins will bring a physical presence to Cleveland’s ground game and run through contact consistently, which should help improve that yards-after-contact ranking. Sampson slates to be the quick, change-of-pace back to complement Judkins’ power.

Up front, the Browns’ biggest issue last season seemed to be depth as they dealt with several injuries, particularly to their tackles. They added guard Teven Jenkins and tackle Cornelius Lucas to help shore up this area and put them in better position to win the battle of attrition that is the NFL season.

Biggest Questions Entering 2025

The quarterback position is still the biggest question mark for the Browns (Stop me if you’ve heard that before). This offseason, they added 4 quarterbacks via trade, free agency, and the draft. It’s a marbles-in-the-sink approach. All you need is one to go down the drain (Good analogy?…Great analogy!).

Still, you can make the argument that a team with 4 quarterbacks actually has none. As it stands right now, I can see a situation where any of these 4 is the starter at some point during the season.

Joe Flacco might be able to provide some short-term stability at the position, and either he or Kenny Pickett will likely start the season at the helm. Dillon Gabriel and/or Shedeur Sanders will probably also see some time as they fight to become the quarterback of the future.

Either way, you’re likely to see more than just 1 quarterback getting starts this season, which doesn’t bode well for their chances of being a serious contender in 2025, to say the least.

Another question for the Browns is their receiving corps. They didn’t do much to address the position this offseason. Aside from Jerry Jeudy, they’ll be putting their faith in Diontae Johnson, a huge question mark, as well as 3rd-year receiver Cedric Tillman, who has just 50 catches for 563 yards and 3 touchdowns in his 25 games across two seasons in the NFL.

Almost every team in the NFL uses 3-wide-receiver sets a majority of the time. You can’t comfortably say that the Browns have 3 reliable options as they head into the season.

That said, this might be somewhat by design. We are likely to see a greater emphasis on Kevin Stefanski’s run game this season, and that might include more frequent use of 2-tight end sets. Cleveland took Harold Fannin with the 67th overall pick. That’s not a spot where you draft a player and don’t intend to use him.

He should pair nicely with Njoku.

2025 Outlook

The Browns play in a division that is arguably the toughest in the NFL, and each of the teams they’ll play twice (Ravens, Bengals, Steelers) have a better quarterback situation. Until that changes, the hope for anything more than a middling season is low.

The most interesting thing about this team will be watching to see if Dillon Gabriel or Shedeur Sanders can emerge as “the guy.” Both have question marks, which is why they were drafted in the 3rd and 5th rounds respectively.

The larger question is how long of a leash each will be given to prove they can become the quarterback of the future. Especially since it wouldn’t be a stretch to see the Browns picking near the top of the 2026 NFL Draft.