What Are the Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios for the Cleveland Browns in 2026?
For a franchise that’s only made the postseason three times since coming back from the graveyard in 1999, it’s hard to be excited for a season of Cleveland Browns football. Problems that have plagued the franchise year after year, such as a search for a franchise quarterback and a competent head coach, will continue in 2026. However, there is a surprising number of things to be hopeful for if you’re a Cleveland fan. General manager Andrew Berry nailed the 2025 NFL Draft, and his class from this year’s draft has been highly lauded as one of, if not the best, in all of football. Berry also handled free agency and the inevitable Myles Garrett trade well, bringing in Pro Bowl-caliber players like Elgton Jenkins and Jared Verse, both of whom could have a major impact for the Browns this fall. With plenty of positives and negatives for Todd Monken’s squad before the NFL Preseason kicks off on August 6th, here are the best- and worst-case scenarios for the Cleveland Browns this season.
The Quarterback Problem Is Solved, Monken Flourishes, and the Schedule Is Easy as Projected
Perhaps the biggest thing going for Cleveland is its schedule. The Browns will play the league's easiest schedule based on the 2025 win percentage of their opponents and won’t have to travel much either. Despite the Browns' lack of success these past two seasons, they’ve also managed to play decently well within the AFC North Division considering their mostly untalented roster. The mighty Pittsburgh Steelers have failed to sweep the Browns going back to 2021, and the Baltimore Ravens have had a propensity to struggle playing in Cleveland every other year.
However, a weak schedule can only be capitalized upon if the team that’s playing it is good. This season alone, the Browns will have to figure out who will lead at quarterback and if Monken has what it takes to be a serious NFL head coach. Starting with Monken, his pedigree certainly speaks for itself. In his last two stops as the offensive coordinator for the Ravens and the University of Georgia Bulldogs, both teams had immense success. As Kirby Smart’s offensive playcaller in Athens, the Bulldogs won back-to-back National Championships in 2021 and 2022. In Baltimore, the 60-year-old took over during a slow period of production for quarterback Lamar Jackson at the beginning of the decade. Jackson immediately flipped the switch during Monken’s first year at the helm in 2023, winning the second NFL MVP of his career. With a young quarterback in Shedeur Sanders and an experienced yet disappointing veteran in Deshaun Watson, don’t be surprised if Monken develops at least one of the two signal callers.
Speaking of quarterbacks, all signs point to Sanders either opening the season as the starter or taking over eventually. Watson could definitely revitalize his career under Monken, but his injury history is just too damning for him to be a part of a realistic contender at this point in his career. For the sake of this best-case scenario, let’s say the former Colorado Buffalo emerges as the franchise leader Cleveland has been looking for, and that he and Monken pair beautifully together. A world in which the ‘Young King’ is the leading man for the Browns is great for the franchise in both the short and long term, as it gives the team success in the regular season and doesn’t force them to draft a quarterback in 2027.
For Cleveland’s ceiling, let’s propose that they open up at either 3-2 or 2-4, with potential wins against the New York Jets, the Carolina Panthers, and the Steelers at home on Thursday Night Football, which has usually been a successful circumstance for previous Browns teams. From there, Cleveland succeeds in November and December, picking up wins against the New Orleans Saints, the Las Vegas Raiders, and a surprise win against a strong Cincinnati Bengals squad on December 6th, and a revenge road win against Kevin Stefanski in Atlanta on December 13th against the Falcons. Assuming that Baltimore sweeps the Browns again, but Cleveland draws with Pittsburgh and Cincinnati in 2026, an 8-9 or 9-8 record is very achievable in this scenario. The key for Monken and Sanders is not trying to punch above their weight, but instead, taking home winnable games against teams like the Saints, Raiders, Jets, and New York Giants, and any team that underperformed last season. Even if the record isn’t above .500 or doesn’t put Cleveland in the postseason, which is a pretty lofty goal for this team, this scenario would mark huge progress for the Browns.
Sanders Falls Flat, Monken Starts to Look Like Stefanski, and Cleveland Falls Back to Square One
Although this is a franchise that has experienced over a quarter century of ineptitude, for this season to be a true disaster like 2024 or 2017, a lot would have to go wrong. It all hinges on Sanders. If his turnover problems and pocket presence issues aren’t ironed out, then the team will be forced into rolling out Watson or the other signal callers on the depth chart. This would be a huge setback, and it would also force Berry to find a new quarterback next spring. He may be a work in progress, but the 24-year-old is crucial to Cleveland’s success this year.
What would also be incredibly destructive to their success is the offensive line prospects not performing as expected. The unit was totally revamped this offseason, to the tune of millions of dollars in free agency and draft picks on both the first and second days of the draft. Not only that, the success of the position group is directly tied to whoever is under center this year. If Jenkins, Zion Johnson, and first-round pick Spencer Fano can’t make it work in 2026, then Berry will have to go out and find an entirely new offensive line for the second straight offseason-if he still has his job.
That leads us to the other point of the disaster scenario. If Cleveland doesn’t work out this year, that’s likely the nail in the coffin for Berry. Following a potential dismissal, owner Jimmy Haslam, who isn’t known for being a sterling decision maker, would have to find the Browns' 11th leading executive since 1999. Assuming the season results in anywhere from 2-15 to 4-13, that new leading executive would likely want to start a new era of Browns football with a new head coach. If Monken’s canned, that would result in a search for Cleveland’s 14th head coach in nearly 30 years. All in all, another bad record could result in another regime change, and that’s something painfully familiar for the ‘Dawg Pound’.
