There’s always new energy with a new head coach. There was a seismic roster shift in June, five weeks after another intriguing draft class arrived. There was also a double down by team ownership on the current front office in early 2026.

Later this week, we’ll start to see what kind of product a Cleveland Browns franchise in transition puts on the field in a season that begins with low external expectations but warranted optimism for the future.

Ready for some season predictions, areas of concern, a fair look down the road and an honest glimpse at what’s right in front of the Browns? Here we go with a list of 26 such things, an homage to the year 2026 and 26 being the number of losses the Browns have suffered over the past two seasons.

26. I’m fairly certain the Browns open the 2026 season wishing there was a fast-forward button to 2027. What looks to be another strong draft class has arrived, but this is a future-focused project that likely won’t compete for the postseason. Team owner Jimmy Haslam acknowledged as much at the start of training camp, though he said he’d “take the over” on the projected season win total of 5.5.

25. Can this team really win six games? I tend to think it can’t, but there’s a fair amount of mystery involved. If the folks in charge really fixed the offensive line, maybe new coach Todd Monken’s offense can create big plays and support a defense that still has top talent. The Browns have added playmakers and strengthened an impressive young core. But Myles Garrett is gone — defensive mastermind Jim Schwartz is, too — and they have to play six of their first nine games on the road.

24. This is a rebuilding project. No one dazzled in a quarterback competition that Monken let play out deep into August despite always leaning toward Deshaun Watson’s experience. Watson hasn’t played in two seasons, hasn’t been good in six seasons and is only signed through this year. So why would one of the league’s youngest teams go back to a player who’s previously failed the franchise? Only Monken and those atop the organization know the answer. They also seem to be the only ones who think going back to Watson is a good idea.

23. The current outlook is somewhere between bleak and cloudy, but this is not 2016. The Browns have some young talent, headlined by the top of the 2025 draft class: Mason Graham, Carson Schwesinger, Quinshon Judkins and Harold Fannin Jr. The Browns insisted upon getting Jared Verse back as part of the Garrett deal. As many as five 2026 rookies could be full-time players soon, and rookie receivers KC Concepcion and Denzel Boston were summer stars.

22. General manager Andrew Berry and his staff have done a good job cleaning up their own mess caused by the 2022 Watson trade sinking the ship. The offensive line remake is on — really, the whole offense is in transition — and the Browns, partially by design and partially by necessity, will be one of the league’s youngest teams.

21. With a young roster and first-timers at head coach and in all three coordinator spots, this could be a fascinating experiment. It could be revealing on multiple levels. Could it be another outright disaster? Given the state of the quarterback position and the lack of proven depth, the Browns could end up being really bad again.

20. Maybe that’s OK. Maybe that’s actually the goal. I don’t think we’re going to see outright tanking, and obviously no one involved has talked about that being the plan. But let’s see where things stand after the Browns host the Pittsburgh Steelers in a short-week situation in Week 4, then travel to play the New York Jets in Week 5. By then, we’ll know a whole lot more about the 2026 Browns than we currently do.

19. What are realistic goals in Cleveland right now? Develop young talent. Identify areas of strength and weakness. Perhaps continue to acquire another young piece or two, but development and evaluation must be paramount before the Browns make big draft and contract-related decisions over the next 20 months.

18. In an ideal world — and in the bigger picture — the growth of this core would make up for the growing pains that surely will be a part of this season. Maybe there’s a part of the blueprint that says the folks in charge head to 2027 feeling pretty good about almost every position group except quarterback. Maybe that’s actually close to attainable.

17. After he was booed in a home preseason game last month, Watson said he wasn’t sure if he could handle the negativity and said he might have to approach the season like there are 17 road games. Two days later, he was announced as the starter. The inability to stay physically healthy has been a big part of Watson’s trouble during his Cleveland tenure, but can we really be sure he’s mentally ready to make a successful comeback?

16. The football gods usually watch non-Browns games on Sunday (and who could blame them?), but they have a sense of humor. We’re headed for Watson versus Baker Mayfield in Week 2, and we can only hope the CBS cameras get good looks at pregame on-field interactions and the visiting team’s owner’s box during the game.

15. The way for all involved to avoid (or at least temper) an all-time awkward situation for Watson and the franchise in Cleveland’s Week 3 home opener would be for the Browns to win one of their first two games in Florida. Just play well and find a way to win. Folks will start to believe if they see Monken and the young playmakers putting out a watchable and competitive product.

14. The Browns have led the NFL in punts in two straight seasons, and last year Corey Bojorquez had 15 more punts than the player with the second most. The Browns were 31st in the NFL in scoring last season and last in 2024. I think “watchable” is a fine place to start in the season directly ahead.

13. Defensive stalwarts Denzel Ward and Grant Delpit got extensions in July, and Ward looked like the best player on the practice field throughout training camp. The Browns now have the 2024 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year in Verse, and last year’s top defensive rookie, Schwesinger. Graham looks like a quicker, more confident player in his second season.

12. After the Buffalo Bills came to town for an August joint practice and quarterback Josh Allen looked like the All-Pro passer he is in every competitive drill, Allen told reporters he still believed the Browns would have a strong defense and pointed out that Schwesinger wasn’t participating in the practice. “He’s a stud,” Allen said. “He’s gonna be really good for a long time.”

11. Verse isn’t Garrett. No one is. But Verse is one of the strongest players the Browns have ever employed, and he’s heading toward a mega-extension after the season because the folks in charge believe Verse will be disruptive on the field and be the kind of leader they need in the locker room.

Jared Verse, the 2024 Defensive Player of the Year, will make his Browns debut Sunday vs. the Jaguars. (Nick Cammett / Getty Images)

10. It’s hard to know exactly what to expect from the Cleveland defense under new coordinator Mike Rutenberg. The attack-style scheme is the same, but there will be structural tweaks. Opponents used to start thinking — well, worrying — about Garrett on Mondays, and that continued all the way through Sunday’s game. The pass-rush group isn’t nearly as scary without Garrett, and that could affect every level of the defense.

9. If the defense is strong and Judkins drives the ground game, the Browns could find some early wins. From sideline (and occasional bleacher) observation, the most noticeable difference from Augusts of the recent past was the playmaking ability of the young receivers. Concepcion and Boston both appear NFL-ready and will be heavily involved.

8. Last year, the pass game was bad in every aspect outside of Fannin being much better than anyone expected. Concepcion and Boston might cut into Fannin’s overall opportunities, but Fannin is still really good — and needs to be heavily involved if this offense wants to make any kind of progress.

7. Jerry Jeudy’s NFL future is almost certainly not with the Browns. Defensive returnees Isaiah McGuire and Ronnie Hickman are playing for new contracts this season. The Browns are going to be young in most places, but they’re counting on 30-year old offensive linemen Tytus Howard and Elgton Jenkins to play to the level that matches Berry’s big-money commitments to them.

6. By November, it won’t be a surprise if half (or more than half) of the team’s 53-man active roster is comprised of players with two or fewer years of experience. Berry has said multiple times that he does not “necessarily agree with the implicit assumption that younger means worse.” We’ll see how things go.

5. Judkins didn’t participate in the joint practice against Buffalo. Schwesinger sat out almost all of training camp before returning to practice in late August. Fannin, Jenkins and cornerback Tyson Campbell were limited throughout camp. The Browns always envisioned defensive tackle Maliek Collins being activated from the physically unable to perform list in time to ramp up for the opener, and Collins is on schedule. Starting defensive end Alex Wright suffered a season-ending injury in practice with the Bills, but the Browns are fairly healthy to start the season.

4. The joint practice is really the only time all summer the Browns’ starters faced another team’s starters. The Chicago Bears had a handful of defensive regulars on the field early in the preseason opener, and the Browns had their veteran offensive linemen play two series. So there’s a mystery to exactly how the Cleveland offense will attack opponents — and how quickly the offensive line can click.

3. Given that Garrett was traded to the Los Angeles Rams, Browns assistant general manager Catherine Hickman probably should have worn team-issued gear instead of a sweatshirt that said “Los Angeles Made Me Do It” to her annual media availability last week. A scan of YouTube for post-roster-cut news conferences showed most executives wore team-issued gear. Why do the Browns continue to have avoidable public-relations blunders? It’s a fair question. Does anyone think Monken’s reluctance to name team captains is about anything other than a temporary quarterback situation? The years change, but the results mostly stay the same.

2. Only winning can change outside perceptions. Only ending the quarterback carousel can really make folks believe the offense is ready to take off. The Browns have had 10 starting quarterbacks since they acquired Watson. They’ve had at least three different starters in each of the last three seasons. What will this season bring? Shedeur Sanders is next behind Watson, but the most likely outcome is that the Browns launch an all-out quarterback search in early 2027, perhaps with some of the draft ammo they’ve acquired via trades.

1. The Browns fly to Jacksonville Saturday for Sunday’s first regular-season game of the Monken era. The first round of the NFL Draft is 233 days away.

The Pulse Newsletter 📣 | This is The Athletic’s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox.

Good morning! Turn on the lights today. Coming up: 

Lights? SMU wins electric game

Don Juan Moore / Getty Images

I am unsure even where to start with what happened in Tallahassee, Fla., last night. 

The game itself? An entertaining 27-24 win for No. 19 SMU on the road in the Mustangs’ season opener. The circumstances around the game? A 90-minute delay thanks to a power outage that left both teams without most of the technology they’re used to playing with. The fallout? Despite showing some resilience, Florida State coach Mike Norvell remains on a sizzling seat after getting outgained 585-329 last night. 

Read our full report here. What a strange evening.

Characters: A player, a coach and an owner walk into a bar

Yesterday, we took a 30,000-foot view of the NFL season. Today, I want to home in a bit on three people in particular, at three different stations of the league. They’re all pretty important, though. Let’s start on the field: 

1. DK Metcalf, conspiracy theorist
Metcalf intrigues me. He is one of the best physical specimens we’ve ever seen play football, but his career has taken a strange turn after a blockbuster trade to Pittsburgh last offseason. He had the worst year of his career while his old team, Seattle, won the Super Bowl. And at 28, how many more years of prime does he have left? 

Jonathan Jones got Metcalf to open up in a great story out today, which touches on the receiver’s perceived anger management issues, Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and, yes, his love for conspiracy theories. Metcalf believes there is another civilization, a secret one, located underneath the ice of Antarctica. 

“Yeah, I’m a big conspiracy theorist,” Metcalf said in the story. “Shout out to my quarterback.” Click. 

2. Zac Taylor, pressure lover
There may be no team under more scrutiny than the Bengals, who have a quarterback in Joe Burrow who’s a leading MVP candidate and also loudly talking about how the team needs to win a Super Bowl very soon. Forgive my speculation, but all this seems to indicate a breaking point if Cincinnati doesn’t find success this year. 

Which makes Taylor, the Bengals coach, the No. 1 scapegoat should things go wrong. As Paul Dehner Jr. wrote today, the proverbial stars are aligned in Cincinnati in ways they haven’t seen in years. Everyone’s done their job. Now, Taylor has to do his.

Ed Mulholland / Getty Images

3. Woody Johnson, a changed man?
The Jets owner does not have a great track record with this franchise. Ask any Jets fan about that. And, in recent years, your first thought about Johnson is how he used “Madden” ratings in real-life decisions. Not great. 

But, as Zack Rosenblatt wrote this morning, Johnson, 79, is apparently making amends. There is a culture, a plan and some perspective. Johnson won’t be around forever and, according to those around him, he cares deeply about the franchise, despite his failures. He wants to leave it in good shape for his family when he departs. 

I don’t know if it helps the Jets this year. But read this and try not to be swayed, at least a bit.

News to Know

Zheng does it again
For the second straight U.S. Open match, Zheng Qinwen came back from down 5-0 in a set to win both the set and ultimately the match, wielding her incredible karmic weapon against poor Iga Świątek yesterday. For Świątek, it’s another unfortunate stumble this year. On the other hand, Zheng, the 2024 Olympic gold medalist, is a real threat to win this tournament. 

Whittingham offers wan support of Underwood
Michigan coach Kyle Whittingham said Wolverines quarterback Bryce Underwood is the team’s starter “for now,” which comes two days after Underwood & Co. got saved by a controversial last-second Hail Mary touchdown pass to eke by Western Michigan. It’s early, but to consider this reality after Michigan’s massive recruiting coup to land Underwood two years ago is astounding. The pressure is on this weekend. See Whittingham’s full statements. 

The enhanced scrutiny on Underwood, as Joe Rexrode writes, is an unfortunate sign of the times.

Banks still undecided
Soccer player Noahkai Banks, the dual German-American citizen, has not decided who to play for internationally, despite being in consideration for the 2026 World Cup. USMNT coach Mauricio Pochettino gave an update on the 19-year-old yesterday, as he represents a critical demographic for recruiting if Pochettino wants the Americans to level up by 2030. Banks, who plays for Bundesliga side Augsburg, said he will likely decide in the next two months. Read more here.

More news:

• North Carolina coach Bill Belichick was terse when asked about the ongoing internal investigation into his program. Read his comments.
  
• The Big 12 withdrew its lawsuit against Texas Tech. What a time.
  
• Team USA did indeed bounce back from a tight win over Italy with a blowout victory against Czechia in the FIBA Women’s World Cup. Read our recap.
  
• Tigers general manager Jeff Greenberg removed himself from consideration in the Red Wings’ GM search. Detroit’s strange offseason continues.
  
• The Kansas City Current parted with sporting director Vlatko Andonovski, who’s a former NWSL Coach of the Year and U.S. women’s national team manager. More details here.
  
• Tua Tagovailoa is the starting quarterback in Atlanta for the moment.
  
• Cowboys guard Tyler Smith will miss four to six weeks with a thumb injury. More details here.
  
• Meanwhile, Colts wide receiver Alec Pierce will play in the season opener this weekend against the Ravens. Pierce had ankle surgery in March.

📰 Find more news here 24/7.

Watch Guide

📺 Soccer: Champions League
12:45 p.m. & 3 p.m. ET on Paramount+ and CBS Sports Network
Here begins the full bore of European soccer season, with each country’s top leagues in full swing, and now we have the Champions League making exquisite cameos. See the full slate of six matches here. We have a long road ahead, too, in the best way. 

James Horncastle wrote a really great guide on what to expect.

📺 Tennis: U.S. Open quarterfinals
11:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN
We have four matches staggered today, all of them great. On the women’s side, Aryna Sabalenka faces Linda Noskova in the early window, with Jessica Pegula and Emma Navarro in an all-American matchup in the late portion. On the men’s side, Frances Tiafoe and fellow American Alex Michelsen are first, with Ben Shelton and Carlos Alcaraz serving up a tantalizing final match of the day. Just watch. 

📺 MLB: Astros at Phillies
6:40 p.m. ET on TBS
Philadelphia is eight games better than Houston in the standings, yet the ‘Stros are AL West leaders and the Phils still sit four games back in the NL East. Such is life in MLB sometimes. Still, these are two playoff teams fighting for positioning.

Pulse Picks

It’s always nice to know about a young star before any of your friends. Jourdan Rodrigue has a list of 15 young players the NFL is buzzing about before the regular season starts. Study up. 

I thought this story from Mark Puleo, on the scene in State College, Pa., about Jerry Sandusky’s case coming up again while Penn State tries to embrace Joe Paterno’s legacy was great. Make time for this. 

We have college football quarterback overreactions after Week 1. Alabama QB Keelon Russell might be really good,

The end of NHL training camp always brings a roster squeeze. Here are 11 interesting names that could hit the waiver wire. 

If you missed it yesterday, our Premier League Briefing was great, led by the biggest question: How ominous does Arsenal look?

Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: The latest in the Cardinals hat-tilt scandal. 

Most-read on the website yesterday: Bold predictions for every NFL team.

Under the rules as they stand, England are unable to call on players such as Toulouse back row Jack Willis – who was voted the best player in France in 2024-25 – as well as Kyle Sinckler, Manu Tuilagi, Billy Vunipola, Lewis Ludlam and former Exeter star Sam Simmonds.

Prem clubs benefit from central payments from the Rugby Football Union (RFU) for their England players, with the national side having a greater say on their management as a result.

England’s policy is similar to that of Ireland and New Zealand, while nations such as Scotland, South Africa and Australia do pick players from overseas.

“You can’t pick and choose a model just to decide this is what will be good or bad for a country,” added Baxter.

“For some countries they’re very strict on it and it works really well for them. We’ve got to decide what we’re comfortable with and stick to it.”