The Cleveland Browns have had a lot of work to do this offseason to move on from last year’s disastrous 3-14 campaign, and while the team wasn’t too active in free agency, the 2025 draft class has restored a lot of hope on both sides of the ball.
With a season as disappointing as the one they just had, it makes sense why critics would pile on the Browns after a relatively quiet offseason, but one analyst recently defended the team against that criticism, some of which he called “utterly ridiculous.”
Sam Monson said on a recent episode of ‘Check the Mic’ that after receiving an offseason grade of a 2.08 GPA from The 33rd Team, the assessment is entirely incorrect.
“I think this is a crazy grading. I think this is utterly ridiculous, in fact. Starting point: Myles Garrett demanded a trade. Instead of trading one of the best players in the NFL, they’ve extended him and got him locked into a new contract. They’ve gone from their best player wanted out the door, to he’s happy again. I thought drafting where they were [at] no. 2 overall was a potential gift in a way out of their quarterback hell. They ended up taking the quarterback I would’ve taken at no. 2. I would’ve taken Shedeur Sanders just because they need a way out of that—they got him in the fifth round. They got the same guy, and they’re paying him a fraction of the money they would be paying if they got him at no. 2,” Monson said.
The Browns’ offseason has been CRIMINALLY underrated by the national media 😳 👀
"I think this is a crazy grading—utterly ridiculous, in fact."@SamMonsonNFL explains three reasons why👇 pic.twitter.com/6xpFpb50Lh
— Check the Mic with Steve Palazzolo & Sam Monson (@CTM_Show) June 26, 2025
A lot of media members are struggling to accept the fact that their pre-draft assessments were wildly incorrect and have pivoted to the common take that the Browns crushed the draft by taking Shedeur Sanders in the fifth round because so many members of the media believed he should’ve been the second overall pick.
There is also the unfortunate timeline where the team is bad again and now has Myles Garrett’s money on the books instead of the multiple first-round picks he could have fetched in a trade to speedrun a rebuild.
What Monson is saying makes sense, but only time will tell if what the Browns did this offseason was productive, as there is a real possibility that the big moves made this offseason could backfire in a devastating way.
If Travis Hunter lives up to his astronomical hype, the trade down from No. 2 will age poorly as well unless the Browns land a franchise cornerstone with their extra first-rounder in 2026.
It’s too early to tell if the Browns had a good offseason, but overall, the team didn’t do a whole lot, which can be disconcerting coming off a 14-loss season.
We’ll just have to wait and see how this plays out.
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