5 Biggest Things That Must Go Right For Browns in 2026
From quarterback play to the learning curve of a new coaching staff, these are the key factors that need to work out if the Cleveland Browns are going to produce a winning season in 2026.
Video Transcript
The schedule came out a couple weeks ago.
Everyone likes to play the schedule game and predict how many wins they think the Browns are going to have next season, and I've always kind of settled on seven to this point, and I feel like that's a pretty fair number.
I think a lot of Vegas odds are saying six and a half, so I'm slightly above that.
I think it's fair to project that with a better roster, new coach that maybe is a little bit better suited for what this-- where this team's at, you can squeeze two more wins out of this team than what they had a year ago.
Now, all that said, people who are projecting higher than that, people who are touching nine, o- which would be over 500, obviously, 10 plus wins, maybe being a playoff team, any of those things, I just think you're asking for so many things to go right this season to get to that point.
You're talking about a first-year head coach and a coaching staff with all, a, a bunch of assistants that are also doing their jobs for the first time.
Mike Greenberg's a first-time DC.
Travis Switzer is a first-time OC.
Bryant- Byron Storer is a first-time special teams coordinator.
So it's a lot of firsts with the coaching staff.
You need the defense to not take any steps back, still be as dominant as it was a year ago.
And I know a lot of people just assume that's gonna be the case 'cause Myles Garrett is still here and Mike Greenberg isn't changing the s- the, the s- the scheme.
But year to year, defenses can be so different, and there are gonna be some different tweaks.
It's a different voice, all those things.
I'm just anticipating there's probably gonna be some changes there.
Plus, you gotta think about the fact that this is a young team, counting on guys in their first with this rookie class and second year to click quickly, adjust quickly, understand the NFL quickly, and play at a high level to help the team win.
There's a lot of growth that has to happen in that regard, and some of that's gonna come along the offensive line where your top pick, Spencer Fano, is playing left tackle, the most important position on the offensive line.
And offensive line is one of the positions that probably takes the longest to adjust to at the NFL level and actually get good at at the NFL level to play at an elite pla- at, at an elite, level.
So there's just a lot that has to kinda come into play, and that's on top of the fact that the quarterback play is obviously first and foremost among everything.
And the Browns still don't know exactly what that's gonna look like this season.
They're in the middle of a quarterback competition.
Whoever emerges from that has to be more consistent than the play they got at that position last year.
It always comes back to quarterback play.
That's the most important position of the game for obvious reasons.
So there's a number of other things as well, but you add it all up, and I just have a hard time believing that the Browns can put together a winning season with so many things that have to be right and go well for them in 2026.
That's why I'm settling on about seven wins.
