Coming off a five-win season in 2025 and a three-win season in 2024, expectations are understandably not too high for the Cleveland Browns in 2026 even though some big changes were made this offseason. Many doubters still point to the fact that the Browns don’t know who their starting quarterback is, the fact that they traded their best player this offseason, and the fact that they hired a first-time head coach in his 60s.
However, the people within the organization have much higher expectations, as they should. Those expectations start at the top with owner Jimmy Haslam, who recently spoke about what he wants to see from his team this year, and none of the expectations he set out were unreasonable.
Haslam recently spoke with the media at training camp and didn’t lay out any specifics in terms of wins or stats. He instead focused on the intangibles and what kind of team he wants to see take the field every week.
“To not play ugly. We want to be fun to watch. We want to play hard, not make mistakes, look like we’ve got our act together. That’s something we didn’t have the last two years…and expectations are we will this year,” said Haslam.
“To not play ugly. We want to be fun to watch. We want to play hard, not make mistakes, look like we’ve got our act together. That’s something we didn’t have the last two years…and expectations are we will this year.”#Browns owner Jimmy Haslam on what fans’ expectations should… pic.twitter.com/8Pu09AaWD7
— 92.3 The Fan (@923TheFan) July 31, 2026
The things Haslam pointed out aren’t outrageous, but he is right in pointing out that the team did not play clean and was certainly a drag to watch over the last two years. The Browns aren’t winning a Super Bowl this year, but there is a path for them to be competitive and interesting due to all the new faces in the building.
This is a young and exciting roster with a coach that demands accountability and prioritizes building a strong culture. In order to eventually be a contender, this team needs an identity, and Monken is a coach who can help build one.
If he isn’t happy with what he is seeing or if his guys aren’t living up to their potential, he is going to let them and everybody else know. He has already done this in training camp and is thankfully being hard on the offense, which has been committing a lot of pre-snap penalties in camp.
Haslam has seen enough losing over the years. It’s nice to see him expecting more in 2026, because everyone else should be expecting more as well.
NEXT: Adam Schefter Reveals How Browns Plan To Handle QB Decision
