The Cleveland Browns certainly look better than they did last season, but they still have a collection of problems that need to be addressed. For many fans and analysts, the team’s run game simply isn’t up to snuff yet and it needs to be improved.
Speaking on social media, former player LeCharles Bentley said that might be impossible unless the Browns focus on moving on from the sidecar position plays they have been employing.
He believes that the rest of the NFL has evolved from earlier in Deshaun Watson’s career, and the tricks that used to work are simply not enough anymore.
“When you’re running from the sidecar position, stalemates aren’t good enough to be consistent. Unless you got a special type back and the game is stuck in 2020 when the RPO, the read option, the defenses really haven’t figured it out, so you always had a safety valve, so to speak. But where we are today, where the Browns’ offense is at today, and where Deshaun Watson is at today, the game has caught up. What happens is the stress has to get dispersed out elsewhere, and in this instance, and what we’re seeing consistently with the Browns out of sidecar, the stress now goes to the tight ends, to the running back, to the offensive linemen. If they’re going to continue down this path, it’s going to be a very difficult journey with the Browns trying to establish a run game,” Bentley said.
More context on why the Browns’ run game struggles aren’t solely on the players, especially Judkins.
In 2020, Watson LED the NFL in passing. Houston avg 64yds rushing per gm, and the Texans were 4-12.
Watson BALLED…Run game was TRASH…TEAM sucked.
It’s 2026. Watson isn’t… pic.twitter.com/0HOhrruwau
— LeCharles Bentley (@64AMDG) October 13, 2026
This underlines a point that a lot of Browns fans have been making: no matter how much Watson has impressed during the first few games of the season, it’s time for Cleveland to focus on other players. Todd Monken and his staff should be building around younger players and shouldn’t be focused too heavily on Watson. The more they rely on him, the more they are using playbooks from the past.
Watson has been serving his purpose quite well so far this year, but there is no doubt he’s an aging QB surrounded by a bunch of players who are much younger and grew up playing a different kind of football. The team’s run game has to take a step up. The season will only get more difficult in the weeks ahead, and Sunday’s game proved that.
The Browns can’t just hope for great, long passes from Watson, and they should be fostering youthful, quick players who can run the ball and move the team’s offense forward.
NEXT: Insider Has A New No. 1 Quarterback Target For The Browns
