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-2024 Off Season-

Starting of with our Evaluation from 2023:
Perf. 90
Value 100
Prof. 100
Diff. 75
Overall --> 95

Please welcome the following players for induction into the Hall of Fame this season:
Burt Milne - Kicker with the Browns for the last 7 of his 19 seasons and currently second all time in FG with 539. (Milne was not inducted into any Team HOF.)
Mario O'Donnell - Bucs QB who won the 2014 and 2019 Super Bowl
Chris Hill - Great Raider and Giant DE who played for 16 seasons and ammassed 163 sacks
Karl Cochrane - Minn. standout DE and number 2 all time sack leader w/ 179.5

We have no players retire, and no starters are unsigned. We do have two Very Good players shoping their wares on the free market. 2016-2022 starting C Antoine Coleman, and 3rd S Arnold Storey who was a number 1 pick back in 2018 but has yet to crack the starting lineup with aging vets Dunkelberger and Foster having never lost a step. We'll tag Storey and renegotiate later in the free agent signing period.

The big news of the offseason however is the dismisal of coach Horace Paniagua. Paniagua's tenure has been filled with seasons of missed chances. Our new head coach is Courtney Joseph. Courtney is a youngster who turned around the Dallas Cowboys, bringing a Super Bowl win to Dallas just last year. Coach Joseph is Excellent with developing the offensive skill positions and is also an excellent play caller on both sides of the balls. And, an area where Paniagua struggled, Courtney Joseph is has Excellent skill at keeping his players healthy.

We ignore the trade offers, including a scrub and the number one overall pick for Cpt. Kirk and a different scrub and the number two overall pick for Lee Clark.

We are currently 3 mil under the cap, and need 20 mil to sign our picks, including three number ones (4, 26 and 29). There's also a great 6 year vet. Tackle I'd like to get in FA to bolster our O-Line. The youngster, Sanderson hasn't recovered from his compund leg fracture yet, and Fleming and Hamilton are starting to show signs of aging. We could also use a backup FB, and a Future superstar Rookie Safety.

We trade overpriced 5th WR and return specialist Raymond Butkus and overpriced 6th CB Winston Mizukami plus our 3rd rounder this year, for KC's first pick next year.

We renegotiate and extend a bunch of contracts, but can't manage to get our salaries down quite enough to be competitive in Free Agency this year. There's no one else I'm really willing to give up to make the salary moves. Let's hope for a strong draft, and I'll look next year if there are any holes I really feel need to be filled. All in all though we are sitting very nicely. According to our scout we have the top set of players in almost every position.

With a very deep draft available to us, we try to trade to the middle of the first, and pick up some high second and third rounders to get players at a veriaty of positions.
We start by dealing our top first rounder (number 4) to the Mission, along with a 4th round pick next year, for the number 9 picks in the first 3 rounds of this year. Next we move up from 26th to 13th in the first by giving up 5,6,7th rounders for 2026, and up from 29th up to 16th giving up our 5th and 6th next year.

We get three nice prospects in the first round(Potentials listed):
9: T Rondell Finch 95/94/94
13: WR Jim Henderson 96/96/100/100/96/x/x/83
16: S Graham Theophilakos 98/100/100/x/x/100

After the first round passes, we look at the board and see some VERY nice prospects left.

We trade our remaining 3rd rounder this year, and in 2026 to get the numebr 3 pick in the 2nd round this year.
We pick up 3 more future impact players (Potentials listed):
TE Jimmie McCullough 100/98/100/100/100/98/100
LB Cole Scarlett 97/100/100/76
FB Brett Jelinek 96/100/96/87/100/100/96/100/71

We massage the cap a bit to get everyone in, and try to extend a few more contracts. We also make a few more trades, our number 4 DE in the last year of an overpriced contract, for a third round pick in 2026, we pick up a 1 year minsal player to fill the roster spot and help the cap a bit more. We trade an extra OT (number 6 on the depth chart) to Miami for a pair of second rounders. We ship off our disgruntled 5th CB Andrew Derby to Buffalo for a future number 1 and number 2.

We are one player over the roster limit, so due to his still being listed as "Out" we place our young T Norman Sanderson on Injured Reserve. I couldn't bring myelf to cut or trade anyone else to free up a spot on the roster this year. We still have 3 active, and one inactive OT's on the roster, with the additoion of rookie Rondell Finch to the team.

Our cohesion is 94/93/100/100 nice and strong.

Clark starts at QB, and the youngster Borders carries the Rock
Porter, Jeffries and Cole are the outstanding Wideouts (with 8, 1000 yard seasons among them and each with a double digit TD year)
Clarence Lee is the longtime starting FB and Bruce Pearson has been the TE for years. New coach Horace Paniagua hopes to make them more active this season.

The line consists of Fleming and Hanson on the left, the youngster Sheldon at Center, and Vanderclute and decorated 13 year vet Hamilton on the right.

Our biggest weakness in the starting lineup is at Left Defensive End where Copeland(83/46/95) starts, and Duncan(61/67/77) comes in on passing downs. Wiese(100/88/100) anchors the other side. Kirk and Swift bottle up the middle.

Gordon, Sapp and "18" Wheeler(Browns career leading tackler with 887) are the hard-hitting Linebackers

The All-pro secondary consists of Whiting, Mathews, Foster, and "The Dunk" who leads Cleveland's active defenders with 7 TD's

We get through the pre-season 4-0 with only a few scratches.

Week 1
Cleveland(0-0)-3 @ Dallas(0-0)
We win a grudge match as the Browns new coach goes against his former team and reigning Bowl champions.
Clark 44/20/391/2/2 and 1 QB sneak for a score
Borders 18/94/2
Jeffries 6/99/0
Porter 5/165/0
Dunk had 2 picks, Foster had 1
Wheeler and Gordon led with 8 stops a piece
Wiese had 2.5 sacks, Swift and Sack had 1 and Kirk added a half
The O-line allowed only 1 sack in 44 pass attempts
Browns 41 Cowboys 34

Week 2
Cleveland(1-0)-3 @ Greensboro(1-0)
It took 2 fourth qtr. field goals to come back in this low scoring game.
Clark 23/18/239/1/0
Borders 23/49/0
Jeffries 7/111/1
Sapp 8 tackles
Dunk and Foster each had another pick
Kirk had a solo sack, and Copeland and Weise combined for another
Browns 16 Generals 14

TE Pearson goes out with a disloacted elbow, the Rookie McCullough will get the start.

Week 3
Cleveland(2-0)-8 vs. Jax (0-2)
A triumphant home opener against an out matched opponent.
Clark 25/14/160/2/0
Borders 9/59/1 in a half of play before sitting with a bruised rib-cage
Beyer 19/153/1 in relief for Borders
Porter 5/82/1
Dunk and Whiting got picks
Foster led w/ 5 tackles
Copeland and Weise combined for the team's only sack
Riley was 4 for 4 in both FG and PAT's
Browns 40 Jaguars 7

Beyer gets the next start, but the slightly injured Borders will play...

Week 4
Cleveland(3-0)-7 @ Baltimore(1-2)
Another dominant game by the Browns, carried by the D who only allowed 6 points and forced 5 turnovers
Clark 31/19/255/2/3
Beyer 24/49/1
Jeffries 5/91/0
Gordon 9 tackles, 1 sack, and 1 fumble recovery for player of the game honors
Dunk, Foster, Whiting and Storey each had a pick
Sapp added an additional sack
Browns 27 Ravens 13

Week 5
Cleveland(4-0)-9 vs. Cincy(3-1)
Our first big conference game, and we crush the opponent
Clark 23/16/216/3/0 and a 3 yard scoring run.
Borders 20/69/1
Jeffries 6/91/2
Sacks: Duncan 2, Wiese 1.5, Kirk .5
Bel had our only Int
But Swift recovered 2 fumbles, and Duncan and Whiting each recovered 1 in another 5 T.O. game
Browns 45 - Bengals 13

After 5 games, our only 2 players who have any injury are TE Pearson and OT Sanderson who is on IR. Let's hope this trend continues for the rest of the season.

Week 6
Cleveland(5-0)-15 vs. Tenn.(2-3)
Another important conference game, and the Browns keep on rolling with their amazing D
Clark 24/14/182/1/1
Borders 22/68/1
Porter 6/66/1
Jeffries 4/76/0
DT Swift led with 8 tackles and a fumble revocery
Kirk had 2 sacks, Gordon had one and Weise had a sack, and a tackle for a safety
Foster had a pick and Dunk had 2
Browns 21-Titans 14

Two more injuries: Copeland and Whiting each go down for an extender period of time.

Week 7 sees the bye.

At 6-0 we lead the division and are one of 3 undefeated teams. We currently domninate in turnovers with a +16 differential (+10 is second place), Dunk leads the league with 7 picks in only 6 games!!

Clark has a 93.8 QB Rating; Porter and Jeffries both have over 400 yards.

Due to the injury to Whiting, and our lack of a 5th CB on the roster, we have to put him on IR, and pick up a halfway decent min-sal scurb to fill the requirement of 4 CB's. I toyed with the thought of changing return man Stegman from S to CB, but figured this was a bit safer.

Week 8
Cleveland(6-0)-8 vs. Baltimore(3-3)
And the band played on
Clark 25/15/256/1/0
Borders 25/46/1
Jeffries 4/127
Storey, Sapp and the Rookie Theophilakos each had an INT
Storey also had a sack as did Swift
Duncan led a team effort with 5 tackles
Time of possession: 37 min. to 23 min. our favor
Browns 29 Ravens 0

Week 9
Cleveland(7-0)+0 @ Cincy(5-2)
A rematch of the big week 5 game, with a similar outcome
Clark 18/11/285/3/0
Borders 23/137/0
TE McCullough 5/136/0
Porter 2/104/1 (he had an 88 yarder that started the scoring)
Stegmen returned a punt for a score (the first for him this season)
No int's this game
Gordon led with 11 tackles, Foster had 8
Wiese and Theophilakos each had a solo sack, Gordon and Swift combined on another
Browns 44 Bengals 17

Week 10
Cleveland(8-0)-5 vs. Charlottesville(7-1)
The AFC west division leader is our coming off their first loss, and may be our toughest opponent to date.
A great second qtr by them, couldn't be undone by an attempted 4th qtr. comeback
Clark 34/12/230/1/2 - a very inaccurate day
Borders 16/59/0 - didn't have the time to get things going
Jeffries 4/95/0
Sapp had an amazing 15 tackles (perhaps a Browns single game record?)
Dunk had 2 picks, Bell had 1
Gordon recorded our only sack.
Spangels 24 Browns 19

A few more injuries force us to shuffle some personell.

Week 11
Cleveland(8-1)+2 @ Tenn.(4-5)
With our first loss, and a few more injuries, the bookies have sided against us; foolish bookies
Clark 38/21/249/1/0
Borders 16/125/1 and 9 catches for 48 yards
Bell had a pick
Gordon led with 10 tackles and a sack
Duncan and Kirk had 1.5 sacks, Tubbs and Wiese each had a half
Browns 27 Titans 14

Week 12
Cleveland(9-1)-6 @ Jax.(4-6)
Another weak division opponent to beat up on
Clark 29/20/346/2/1
Borders 26/96/1
Jeffries 6/118/1
Riley 4 for 4 FG 3 for 3 PAT
Foster led with 6 tackles and the only Int
Wiese got to the QB 3 times!
We outgained them 476 yards to 112!!
Browns 33 Jaguars 3

Rookie TE McCullough goes out with a broken wrist, Pearson's not ready to come back so we pick up ex-Redskin and 2 time all-pro TE Shawn Salaam.

Week 13
Cleveland(10-1)-6 @ Washington(4-7)
In a game that has nearly no significance the Browns play well enough to down yet another inferrior opponent.
Clark 32/15/175/1/1
Borders 23/170/1 rushing 4/29 receiving - coming on strong in the second half of the season
Stegeman took another punt back for a score
A farily quite second part of the season for Dunk who led with 7 tackles, but again no INT's
Wiese added 2 sacks, Theophilakos and Duncan each had 1 more
Browns 21 Redskins 13

Week 14
Cleveland(11-1)-2 @ Pittsburgh(8-4)
We go visit the second place team in the division, who we will meet again in the season finalle. A win here would lock up the division, and bring us one step closer to home field advantage.
Clark 30/23/315/1/1
Beyer 22/72/1 - replacing Borders who went out with a pulled groin
Salaam 8/145/1
"18" Wheeler led with 8 tackles, and also got a sack
Mathews also added a sack on a CB Blitz
Dunkelberger got his first INT in a while, Gordon also had a pick
And the play of the game, well it would have been if there where more then 3 min. to go and had we not already been up 27 to 6., was an 84 yard Int return by Nickle-back Peterman, his first pick of his 2 year career
Browns 34 Steelers 6

Week 15
Cleveland(12-1)+2 @ Seattle(10-3)
Another dangerous game against an AFC west powerhouse. Based on the Spangles game, we are a 2 point dog... Foolish bookies
Clark 41/25/317/2/2
Beyer 23/127/1
Porter 7/101/0
Cole 6/62/2
Foster led the team with 10 stops, and also grabed an INT and returned it 68 yards for a TD
Bell had another pick
Gordon, Kirk and Tubbs had a sack a piece, Hamilton and Dillon combined for one more
Browns 38 Seahawks 20

Week 16
Cleveland(13-1)-14 vs. Buffalo(4-10)
This game screams upset, screams rest the starters, and so many more things... but I decide to play it like it means something.
Clark 33/18/302/2/1
Beyer 24/146/2 - I think I am going to have an RB controversy when Borders is back
Jeffries 4/95/2
Mathews led with 6 tackles
Dunk had a pick, and also a fumble recovery he took in from the 11
Tubbs and Kirk had 2 sacks, Mathews, Banks and Wiese each had one
Browns 48 Bills 14

Week 17
Cleveland(14-1)-8 vs. Pittsburgh(8-7)
We close out with only our second ever perfect division record. The only other time was back in 2007 (when we won the Bowl!)
Clark 27/16/223/1/1 - in what some whipser may be his final regular season home game
Beyer 22/77/1
Foster led w/ 6 tackles
Duncan had 5 stops, and 2.5 sacks
Banks had another sack; Godon, Kirk and Hamilton each had half a sack
Browns 21 Steelers 17

At 15-1 we have the best record in the league, the Giants are second 14-2
We have an 88 Power rating behind Charlottesville's(11-5) rating of 90

AFC Central
Browns 15-1
Steelers 8-8
Titans 8-8
Bengals 8-8
Jaguars 7-9
Ravens 4-12

Just a note on the comment about Clark, I could see him retiring if we win the big one. After watching the fall of Davies I could see Clark wanting to go out on top. I could be wrong of course.

Wild Card
Chicago 14
Carolina 24

Denver 10
New England 35

Philadelphia 7
Green Bay 14

Seattle 19
Indianapolis 9

Quarter Finals

Carolina 20
Detroit 24

Green Bay 11
New York G 14

New England 31 uh-oh
Charlottesville 14

Cleveland(15-1)-9 vs. Seattle(11-6)

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It all came down to the fourth quarter. We were tied 11 All going in, after a Clark to Jeffries scoring pass brought us back into the game in the middle of the third. Early in the fourth Seattle got a field goal, but we couldn't do anything on our ensuing posession, as penalties (which plagued us all day) killed our drive. The Seahakws then put together their most impressive drive of the game, going 77 yards in 6 min. and scoring a TD to pull ahead 21-11 with still 5:30 left to go, we needed to do something we hadn't done all day, play solid football. We started off with a pentaly, but then a 33 yard pass to the rookie WR Henderson got us close to mid field. Clark then fired incomplete, then was preassured out of the pocket. On third and 5, the Seattle pressure forced him to throw it away. Coach Joseph decided to punt, feeling our D could give us back the ball with plenty of time. They couldn't, and we got the ball back with less then 30 seconds, and still a 10 point deficit. The last play of the game, Clark heaved a 40 yard hail marry, that was picked off and returned 52 yards for one final humiliating TD.

I guess we were just looking forward to beating the Patriots (winners the day before) to advance to the bowl, we forgot to play this game.

Clark 30/10/153/1/2
Beyer 17/92/0
Dunk, Gordon and Banks each had 9 tackles
Weise had 2.5 sacks, Copeland had a 1.5 sacks
Dunk had a fumble recovery, which was the only turnover we could force
Seahawks 27 Browns 11

Conferance Finals
Detroit 23
New York 31

Seattle 21
New England 27 -those bastards

FOF Bowl
New England 21 -the 10-6 AFC Eastern Champs snuck in another bowl win *grrr*
New York G 9

Season Stats
Team:
Turnovers: +21 (1st by a mile, 3 teams were tied at +13)
Offense
Passing 4245(1) Rushing 2325(1) 3rd Down .372(8) Points 504 (1)
Defense
Passing 2644(1) Rushing 1564(4) 3rd Down .292(1) Points 223 (1) (a browns season record)
One sour note, we were first in the league in penalties and penalty yards.

QB Lee Clark 477/277 58.0% (7), 4141 yards (1) 8.68 avg.(1) 26 TD(2) 15Int 91.7 Rating(1st) 1st Team QB
RB Nate Borders 12 Starts 226carries 980yards(17) 4.3 avg.(12) 9TD's(6)
RB Casey Beyer 4 Starts 162 Carries, 691yards, 4.2 avg, 7TD's
FB Clarence Lee 45 carries, 208 yards, 4.6avg, 5TD's and 27 catches, 246 yards, and 2TD's 2nd Team FB
WR Robbie Jeffries 16 Starts, 65 catches(17), 1209 yards(3), 18.6(2nd) avg 10 TD's(1st) 1st Team WR, League MVP
WR Burt Porter 13 Starts, 45 catches, 843 yards, 18.7(1st) avg, 3TD's
WR Desmond Cole 3 Starts, 38 catches, 532 yards., 14.0, 6TDs
C Leo Sheldon 16 Starts, 32 of 89 blocks (35.9%) 1 sack allowed
PR/KR Gerald Stegeman 8.8 punt return averge and 2 TD's
K Moe Riley 37/48 (2) FG 55/55 PAT (1) 2nd Team K
P Curtis Norris 42.5 average per punt (7)
LB Seth Gordon 91 Tackles, 6 Sacks, 1 Int, 1 Fumble recovery
S Trevor Foster 78 Tackles, 6 Int's (14), 1TD
LB Alvin Wheeler 67 Tackles, 1 Sack, 1 Fumble recovery
DE Kurt Wiese 22 Tackles, 13.5 Sacks, 1 Fumble recovery
DT Louis Kirk 29 Tackles, 9 sacks, 1 Fumble recovery
S Gerald Dunkelberger 59 tackles, 11 Int's (1st), 1 Fumble recovery for a TD 2nd Team S

We were again clearly the dominant team, that couldn't go the distance. Maybe as Coach Joseph gets more aquanited with his personell he can put together what we all want, another Bowl Win.