Imagine a lineup with two star Wide Receivers, a star Running Back, and a ton of up and coming players. I am talking up and coming Quarterbacks, Running Backs, Cornerbacks, and yes even another Wide Receiver. This is everything the Cleveland Browns organization is holding in the palm of their hand. With a new coaching staff can the Browns find a way to utilize these Pros properly or will their fans have to suffer yet another year of disappointment. If you are a Browns fan this article will discuss all the reasons to be excited about the 2019-2020 season. If you are not a Browns fan be ready to read why NFL teams will fear the Cleveland Browns for years to come.
Let’s begin by discussing the Browns 2017 season. Cleveland had the first overall pick in the draft. They passed up on future star Quarterbacks, Deshaun Waston and Mitchell Trubisky. Instead they went with Defensive Tackle out of Texas A&M Myles Garrett. With Garrett as a rookie the Browns ended their season without winning a single game. Yup, an 0-16 season. During the offseason the Browns made a big trade with the Miami Dolphins. They traded a 2018 4th round pick and a 2019 7th round pick for star Wide Receiver Jarvis Laundry. It’s a start but as we all know one player can not lead a whole team to victory. Luckily for Cleveland being the worst team in the league has some perks. They were granted a first overall pick for the second year in a row. “With the first pick in the 2018 draft the Cleveland Browns select Quarterback Baker Mayfield out of Oklahoma.” They also draft Running Back Nick Chubb out of Georgia in the 2nd round and Wide Receiver Antonio Callaway out of Florida in the 5th round. Do not forget they also had a 4th overall draft pick which was used on Cornerback Denzel Ward straight out of Ohio State.
As the hype began to stir up the Browns organizations was featured in an HBO series called “Hard Knocks”. The show takes fans inside training camp and the preparation before the regular season begins. During the show Rookie Antonio Callaway was caught with the possession of marijuana. The organization knew before drafted him Callaway had some problems. During the scouting combine he failed a drug test and while playing in college he was suspended for fraud. There were some positives as Jarvis Laundry introduces us to his “Go Ahead and Bless ‘Em then” phrase. By this statement Laundry meant he was going to Bless the fans as well as his opponent by the way he played the game of football. Awesome catch? Awesome tackle? If Jarvis “Juice” Laundry witnessed it the phrase “Bless ‘Em'” was not far behind the awesome play.
Last season the Browns missed the playoffs after going 7-8-1. In the 2019 round draft they did not have another first overall pick. In fact they did not even have a first round pick. Why you ask? During the offseason the Browns made a better trade than the Miami trade they made last season. The Browns traded a 2019 17th overall 1st round pick, a 2nd 3rd round pick and Safety Jabrill Peppers to the New York Giants for Wide Receiver Odell Beckham Jr. Even without a first round pick the team did well and hopefully covered all of their needs. They drafted Cornerback Greedy Williams out of LSU in the second round. In the third Linebacker Sione Takitaki, in the fourth safety Sheldrick Redwine. With two fifth round picks they picked up Linebacker Mack Wilson, and Kicker Austin Seiben. Finally, in the sixth and seventh round they chose Tackle Drew Forbes and Cornerback Donnie Lewis Jr. Will this be the rookie team that helps lead the Cleveland Browns to victory?
Why don’t we discuss the real reason the Browns will be making it to the playoffs this season. That is the OBJ and Juice history. Laundry and Odell met at a 7-on-7 camp in Alabama while they were in High School. Both living in Louisiana, Laundry was the 1st best WR in the state while OBJ came in close second. The two quickly became friends and started planning on going to college together and make history together. LSU it was and go time! Everything took off from there. They became LSU’s first pair of receivers to each break 1,000 yards in a single season. Combined at LSU they had 132 catches, 2,289 yards, and 18 touchdowns! In 2014 when Laundry was asked about him and Odell he stated “Things we’ve done are going to be on the record books together and that’s what means the most to me and him” It will be a “story for the next generations”. You may be saying to yourself you continue to see the key word together. The ultimate goal for the two of them was to play on the same NFL team. A recent Nike commercial was released of the two of them, the ending statement said “Ready to make history… together”. Having two players that are great friends and are on the same NFL team playing the same position means great communication. No need to have to warm up to each other because they are already know each other well.
This season the Browns have a new coaching staff. Last season they fired Head Coach Hue Jackson and have brought in Freddie Kitchens. Last season the Cleveland Browns tied with the Steelers. Now the Steelers do not have WR Antonio Brown and Big Ben is one year older. My prediction is the Browns will crush the Steelers and Bengals twice this season! Their biggest threat… the Ravens. Ravens have QB Lamar Jackson and gained some big free agents this off season. Former Saints Running Back Mark Ingram and former Seahawks safety Earl Thomas signed with Baltimore this off season.
Lastly, let’s look at the Browns notable lineup for the 2019-2020 NFL season. At Quarterback Baker Mayfield, Running Back Nick Chubb as well as RB Kareem Hunt. Hunt will be out half of the season due to a suspension. Now we have Wide Receivers Jarvis Laundry, Odell Beckham Jr., Antonio Callaway and Tight End David Njoku. On the defensive side of things they have Defensive End Myles Garrett who is going into his fourth season with the team and Cornerback Denzel Ward who is going into his second. My final prediction for their record is 11-5. Can the Cleveland Browns win their first Super Bowl as the NFL enters it’s 100th season?
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