ESPN took a vicious shot at the Cleveland Browns.
ESPN believes the Cleveland Browns are the second-worst team in the NFL entering Week 1 of the regular season.
Only the Miami Dolphins rank lower than the Browns in ESPN's preseason NFL power ranking.
The Browns play the Jacksonville Jaguars, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Carolina Panthers, Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Jets, Baltimore Ravens, Tennessee Titans, New Orleans Saints, Houston Texans, Las Vegas Raiders, Cincinnati Bengals, Atlanta Falcons, New York Giants and Indianapolis Colts this season. That's a pretty tough schedule.
All signs point toward Cleveland missing the playoffs in Year 1 of the Todd Monken era and having one of the worst records in the league.
The Browns named Deshaun Watson the starting QB for Week 1. It was the wrong move. Of the 50 quarterbacks with at least 15 starts since Watson joined the Browns in 2022, only Will Levis has a lower QBR.
The odds of Watson turning back the clock after an Achilles tear are pretty low, which is why many NFL pundits believe Cleveland should have started Shedeur Sanders so the team could fully evaluate him for an entire season.
Watson has 3,365 passing yards and 19 passing touchdowns with Cleveland. He's thrown 12 interceptions.
Many Cleveland fans wanted Sanders to start because Watson has been horrendous since being traded to the Browns. He also dealt with off-the-field stuff, as more than two dozen women accused him of sexual assault and inappropriate conduct during massage sessions.
When Watson tore his Achilles in 2024, Browns fans cheered. Watson was also booed on Saturday (8/22) during Cleveland's preseason game against the Buffalo Bills and he wasn't happy about it.
"I think the whole world knows it has nothing to do about the performance," Watson said Saturday. "It's a little bit [more] personal than that. So I think it's a disrespectful thing. So yeah, I mean, I'm going to keep whatever I feel with me and my family internally on how I feel about that. And yeah, just move on."
After the Browns named him the starter for Week 1, Watson opened his news conference with a two-minute statement in which he apologized for his postgame comments.
"I thought I was going to get a little different response," Watson said, "but I think my emotions got the best of me. My comments wasn't intending to go at any of the fans around in the city, because there's been a lot of great fans that have been supporting me. And I know the frustration. This organization has put a lot of investment in coming to get me back in '22, and things haven't been going the right direction that we thought it was. A lot of injuries, a lot of time off, and not putting the best football and my foot forward.
"I understand the frustration. I understand everything that kind of goes into that. And moving forward, I just want to focus on football, making sure that I'm putting the best product out there, having the best ability, because I thrive off the energy. I thrive off the energy of the fans. I thrive off the energy of the community. I thrive off all that stuff."
Watson will get booed in the home opener in Week 3 against the Panthers. This season is going to be a PR disaster for Cleveland.
Browns fans deserve better than this. The only hope is that Cleveland has the worst record in the league and gets Arch Manning in the 2027 draft.
