To say that the Cleveland Browns didn’t fare very well last season would be a massive understatement.
Kevin Stefanski’s team was only able to win three games.
While much of this was due to subpar quarterback play, the offseason additions also failed to improve the team.
With that in mind, Dalton Wasserman of ProFootballFocus looked back at each team’s worst free-agent signing of 2024, and he didn’t need to do a lot of digging to find the Browns’ one.
Unsurprisingly, he chose veteran defensive lineman Quinton Jefferson, who was let go after just five games:
“Jefferson played just five games in Cleveland and earned a 50.7 overall grade. He was cut just a few weeks later and joined Buffalo in time for their playoff run. He is currently in the midst of his fourth straight season with a sub-50.0 run-defense grade,” Wasserman said.
The defense, as a whole, was disappointing.
Jim Schwartz had helped them take a massive leap in his first year as defensive coordinator, but they weren’t able to keep that level and that consistency up in year two.
Denzel Ward and Myles Garrett were spectacular, with the latter even becoming a Defensive Player of the Year candidate again, but there was only so much he could do.
Hopefully, that won’t be the case next season.
The Browns have one of the best defensive minds in the league, elite defensive players at all levels, and will have an offense that – hopefully – won’t put their backs against the wall so early and so often.
The Browns are building off their defense; that should be their identity going forward.
Naturally, it will also depend on what they can accomplish in free agency, and signing players like Jefferson might not necessarily be beneficial.
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