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Season 2029

For 2028 :
Team Performance : 100/100
Franchise Value : 100/100
Profit Loss : 100/100 (!)
Difficulty : 73/100

YEAR END SCORE : 97 This is the highest score obtained so far.

Welcome the following players for induction into the Hall of Fame :
Nathan Ward (Kicker)
Pat Ross (kicker)
Cary O'Neill
Phillip Fennell
Jeffrey Hayes
Richie Tweedie

Two players retire : QB lee Clark (at last) and S Geral Dunkelberger.
Clark spent the ENTIRE 2028 season in casual clothes, being inactive all season. His retirement was expected and anticipated and comes as a relief for the defending SuperBowl Champions Browns.

We keep intact the entire headcoaching and scouting staffs since they did a great job once again last season.
As for ticket prices, we were obviously wise to raise them in 2028 because that gave us a perfect 100/100 in Profit (against only 58/100 the year before.)
Tickets will rise once again in 2029 since we won the SuperBowl.

Costs :
2027 $458,050,000
2028 $379,970,000 = -17%

Profit :
2027 $18,050,000
2028 $265,000,000 = + 1368% (!)

45 players are already signed for 2029 with 2 starter being FAs (LB Lamar Tubbs and G Duane Hanson). I decide to franchise Hanson even so he's a 15 year vet for three reasons :
1- He is regarded as the best FA available among all players this year
2- great Guards are very hard to find and we are loaded with top quality LBs already.
3- young QB McNight still needs to learn and I don't want to hurt the offense's cohesion this year.

With $61,840,000 under the cap we have enough room but we have great players already and no big needs. Therefore there is no need to spend bucks on the FA market.
It is more important to continue the process of rejuvanating the team with young players WE draft.

Trade Offers :
The Redsinks offer a backup WE + their 3rd round pick for our top Center Leo Sheldon...where do they think they are ?! common Mr Snyder, stop being ridiculous.
The Cowboys offer their 2nd round pick for 12 year starter FB Lee Clarence.
The Vikings offer QB Alan Page + their 2nd rounder for DT Brenden Swift.
The Bengals offer DE D.J Van Dyke + their 1st rounder (30th) for LB Gary Sapp.

I consider that last trade for a moment since Sapp is a 10 year vet with a $6M cap figure (highest among our talented LB Corp) but decided against it because these are the Bengals (we fought with them badly last year for the Central title) and their DE has a foolish $11M figure and he's clearly not worth it.
the other trades weren't accepted as well.

FA LB Lamar Tubbs is seeking for a $15M/year contract that would make him not only by far the highest paid player on the team but also probably the highest paid LB in the NFL.
No way we'll spend that much regarding how set we already are.
If he and his agent don't sign for much less, than unfortunately, he's gone.

After renegociating contracts (a lot of actually...) with our now only $32,580,000 under the cap.
Our star players and keepers are asking for a lot of money obviously and it is becoming increasingly difficult to please everyone.
I resigned all the keepers to -at least- 3 year deals for now.
All-League and SuperBowl MVP QB Sammy McNight is currently paid just under $3M dollar and wants $18M. He's set to become FA after the season.
I'll wait a bit to offer him something, because I don't want him to become "cocky" and, at the contrary, i'd like him to feel some pressure of having to succeed once again if he wants the money to be shown.

Anyways, we'll have to be cautious and careful now in our renegociating contracts.
LB Lamar Tubbs signed a 5 year $118M contract with the Bengals...
These guys want to beat us badly.

The 2029 NFL Draft :

We own two 1st round picks (13th and 14th) as well as a 2nd, 3rd and a 4th and a 7th rounder.

2029 Draft Report:

Rnd 1 (13th) - Troy Goldhammer, CB, Oklahoma (29/70 32/85 100 83 86 65). Currently ranked as the 4th best CB on the roster but as a potential of 92 which is best among all CBs.

Rnd 1 (14th) - Henry Berosik, S, Iowa (31/78 48/100 92), right now is 4th and last Safety on the roster but as a potential of 99 !

Rnd 2 - Alfred Bueter, LB, Northwestern (42/84 28/66 35/84 78). Our LB corp is the deepest and most talented in all of the NFL so Bueter will serve as the 6th LB. He has a potential of 81 but this is still not enough to make him one of our top 5 LB...He'll fill the LB hole on the roster left by Tubbs' signing with Cincy.

Rnd 3 - Clarence Rodgers, QB, Notre Dame. Nothing great about him, he'll be a career backup. Taken in case we make a trade with Dwight Benson and then he would be our 3rd string QB. If we don't trade Benson this year, Rodgers will be probably cut.

Round 4 & 7 traded to Arizona for their 4th rounder in 2030.

After the Draft, QB Sammy McNight is an idolized player, his ratings top Benson's and he now asks for $26M per year...

After signing our draftees, we found ourselves in a very very tough salary cap situation with ONLY less than $7m left under.
We have 51 players signed.
WE have to make a trade and/or release some players.

We decice to trade WE Bud Porter since he's in the last year of his contract (14 year vet) and clearly will not be resigned next year. He has a cap figure of almost $7M and the scouts now rate him no better than 4th wideout on the depth chart.
Last year he didn't start any game and had 28 receptions for 355 yards.
He's clearly a player past his prime and we can't afford him anymore unfortunately.
He played as a starter for 11 years with us, most of them alongside Robbie Jeffries.
Twice he topped the 1000 yard receiving mark
His two best years were 2019 (72 catches 1044 yards) and 2023 (58 cacthes 1129 yards and 11 TDs).

Porter is trade to Charlottesville Spangles for a 2nd round pick next year.

Trade Offers
The Rams want DE Kurt Wiese, and prose T Rondell Briggs and next year's 1st round pick.
rejected of course.

We sign 1 FA WR (Marty Ackerman) and resign another (Calvin Douglas) that played with us last year but who went on to test -unsucessfully- the FA market and came back with us for $2M.
Browns legend Robbie Jeffries (the team's all time leading receiver - he now has more catches and yards than Hall of Fame Harvey Wallace) is now the 3rd WR on the chart behind Raymond Etaton and Jim Henderson.

Then we waive 2nd year CB Warren Lewis whom I drafted last year as a backup. Our 1st round pick CB this year is a much better player, or will be a much better player.
We sign FA Tackle Scott Riti to a 1 year deal because we only had 3 tackles on the roster.

We trade backup QB Dwight Benson to the NFC's New York Giants along with a 6th and 7th rounders for their n°1 pick next year.
We now have two former Browns QBs playing in the NFC East (Benson with the Giants and Roger Brentlinger with the Redskins).
I believe we would have made a megatrade last year with Benson but that was not possible at that time, unfortunately his value
decreased a little since he didn't play much during last year's championship season.
That trade also gives us a little bit of room and helps us sign 2 FA players to fill our 53 man roster.
We are now just $2,100,000 under the cap after trading Benson and signing the DT and the DE.

The Browns sold 99,900 season tickets for the season
out of a capacity of 99,900.

The RB controversy:
Casey Beyer is ranked by our scout at 74 and Nate Borders at 68
Beyer's future is estimated at 78 while Borders' would drop to 60.
This is almost certainly because of the bookstore's season ending injury in a pre-season game last year.

I won't favor any of the two RB but instead will let them battle in preseason games and see who plays the best before making
a decision regarding my starting RB.

The Browns are "worth" $2,568,720,000 (1st NFL)
Stadium (93) 2nd
Roster (100) 1st
Support (99) 1splay
Economy (58) 10th

Pre-season :
We finish 2-2 with most of our starters being inactive. Also we rested Sammy McNight is games 3 & 4 so that he did not risk an injury.
With the starters inactive, our offense struggled but the defense, once again, looked fine.
The RB situation is a tough one with Borders clearly being the most efficient in games 1 & 2 and Beyer being better in games 3 & 4.
I will start Casey Beyer in the season all opener and see what happens.
Nate was the starter before getting injured in pre-season last year and Casey had a great season for me. Therefore he'll get the start and we'll
see from there.

The injury Report :
Clarence Lee, FB - Dislocated Shoulder, full strength in 3-5 Weeks
Brenden Swift, DT - Dislocated Shoulder, full strength in 3-5 Weeks
Reggie Ogden, DE - Bruised Ribcage, full strength in 0-2 Weeks
Otis Hawkins, RB - Stretched Knee Ligament, full strength in 3-5 Weeks
Gene Woodson, DE - Stretched Knee Ligament, full strength in 3-5 Weeks

Our rookies first round picks CB Troy Goldhammer and S Henry Berosik had very good pre-season games both of them.

Roster Cohesion :

passing (80)
Off Line (96)
Deff front (98)
secondary (83)

Week 1 Browns Vs Falcons (were 13-3 last year, best NFL record) - 9pt fav : W 26-19
A good win against a tough Atlanta team. Our secondary came up big intercepting the QB 3 times but we allowed a 93 yard TD pass
early in the 4th quarter that brought the game back on the line (almost).
QB McNight had a strong game before being intercepted on the last play of the game and seeing it returned 98 yard for a TD.
The game was already out of reach for the Falcons though.

McNight 14/33 194 yards 2 TDs 1 INT.
Beyer 19 for 93 yards
Henderson 5 catches for 91 yards
Sapp, Petine and Theopilakos each had an interception
Ogden had 1.5 sacks and Givens 1.
Still had 9 tackles

Week 2 Browns (1-0) Vs Texans (0-1) - 6pt fav : W 40-10
No problems here with Sammy McNight playing again so very well, the game was already over after 1 quarter since he had completed
by then 11 of 14 passes for 185 yards and 3 TDs !!! we were up 21-0 after just 1 quarter and never let go afterwards.

McNight 25/42 for 342 yards 3 TDs 1 INT and another TD rushing
Beyer 14 for 84 yards
Etaton 7 catches for 88 yards 1 TD
Hutchins had 1 interception
Ogden had 2.5 sacks

Week 3 Browns (2-0) @ Jaguars (2-0) - E : L 29-34
A tough game we were behind most of the time trying to catch up. We made a nice rally towards the end of the game but that
clearly wasn't enough and failed to recover the onside kick on the next series. game was over.
McNight was good again, his 2nd interception was due to forced bombs at the end to gain needed yardage.

McNight 15/25 345 yards 3TDs 2INTs
Beyer 24 for 40 yards (1.6 yards per carry !) one more game like this and Borders gets the nod.
Jeffries 6 catches for 126 yards 1 TD
Ogden had 1.5 sacks
Still had 9 tackles.

Week 4 Browns (2-1) Vs Ravens (1-2) - 6 : L 20-23
this loss is awful, i have rarely seen a less disciplined football team. 14 penalties...most of the time Holding by the offense
on the 1st play of the series...2nd & 20 to start off.
McNight was sacked 8 times in the game, for big yards.
We now find ourselves 2-2 having lost two straight critical games to divisional rivals. We're next to last in the division
but Jaguars and Bengals also both lost this WE and lead the division at 3-1.
We must win next week.

McNight 22/42 255 yards 2TDs 2INT
Beyer 16 for 70 yards
Etaton 5 catches for 79 yards
TE Welch had 2 TDs.
Peterman and Hutchins each had an interception
Ogden had 1 sack
Sapp had 10 tackles.

Week 5 Browns (2-2) @ Bengals (3-1) - 6pt dog : W 17-16
the all important win...that wasn't pretty at all. Our defense against the run allows big plays all the time and the
offense is not clicking well so far. Still we are 4 teams with a 3-2 record atop the division. Nothing's lost, or won yet
but we'd better play now. I'm concerned as well with our secondary that doesn't produce any big plays...
By the way, LB Tubbs who signed that mega buck contract win Cincy had 5 tackles and 4 assists today..

McNight 15/25 185 yards 2TD 2INT
Beyer 21 for 128 yards
Henderson 5 catches for 36 yards 1 TD
Wiese, Ogden and Swift each had one sack

Week 6 Browns (3-2) @ Steelers (2-3) - 4pt fav : W 32-25
still unpretty but it is a win and this is what counts. Defense's still a source of concern. We head into the bye week at
4-2 atop the division along with the Bengals. RB Casey Beyer had a career game but was robbed of OPW honors, stangely he
wasn't even the game's MVP.

Duane Hanson, G - Torn Thumb Ligament, full strength in time for the playoffs

McNight 16/28 230 yards 0 TD 1 INT
Beyer 24 for 130 yards 4 TDs !!!
Henderson 5 catches for 88 yards
Bell had an interception returned 35 yards for a TD, also led the team with 7 tackles.
Wiese had 1.5 sacks, Tubbs Ogden and Swift each had one

Week 8 Bye Week

Week 9 Browns (4-2) @ Ravens (3-3) - 2pt dog : W 38-10
A huge game by RB Casey Beyer. The offense played well and the defense held. This win is a revenge from a home loss to those
same Ravens earlier in the season. We seem back on track in sole 1st place in the division.

McNight 13/29 153 yards 2 TDs 2 INT
Beyer 26 for 166 yards 1 TD
Henderson 5 catches for 67 yards
Still had an interception
Wiese had a sack;

Week 10 Browns (5-2) Vs Bengals (4-3) - 3 pt fav : L 11-21
There is something wrong with this football team ; for some reason we don't seem to take advantages of our opportunity and
we make silly costly mistakes. QB McNight leads the league in TD passes and is 2nd in yards but he trows too many picks.
looks like a young Brett Favre. He must settle down a bit in the second hald if we want to make the playoffs.

McNight 20/36 313 yards 1 TD 2INTs
Beyer 16 for 53 yards
Henderson 5 catches for 56 yards
Peterman had one interception
Swift had 2 sacks and Tubbs one.

Mid-Season Report :

Injuries :
Duane Hanson, G - Torn Thumb Ligament, full strength in time for the playoffs
Seth Gordon, LB - Sprained Ankle, full strength in 0-2 Weeks
Jumbo Bell, CB - Sprained Knee, full strength in 0-2 Weeks
Casey Beyer, RB - Turf Toe, full strength in 0-2 Weeks

McNight : 53.4% comp (1st) 2010 yards (2nd) 15 TDs (1st) 12 INTs Rating : 78,5 (should be much better by season's end)
Beyer : 160 attempts for 764 yards (3rd) 4.7yards/c 5 TDs
Henderson : 38 catches for 624 yards 16,4yards/c 4 TDs
Sapp : 53 tackles
Odgen : 9.0 sacks (!)
Hutchins : 2 interceptions

Week 10 Browns (5-3) @ Broncos (1-7) - 2pt fav : W 45-21
RB Nate Borders gets his first start of the year with Casey Beyer being questionnable.
It is a win or what ?! ok so the Broncos are clearly not among the best in football this year but still, what a performance
by Sammy McNight !!! and the Bookstore made a great comeback

McNight 27/45 402yards 5TDs 1INTs (best game of the year by any QB in the league !)
Borders 19 for 116 yards 1 TD (should earn a comeback player of the week honor lol)
Henderson 8 catches for 126 yards 3 TDs (whaoo)
Theophilakos had 2 interceptions & Petine had one.
Wiese had 1.5 sacks

Week 11 Browns (6-3) Vs Steelers (4-5) - 11pt fav : W 33-2 !
For the second straight week, McNight was unstoppable and led the Browns to yet another offensive showdown.
The team is playing much better right now, hopefully everything will continue in that way.
Also, RB Nate "the bookstore" Borders had another consecutive 100+ yard game...

Brenden Swift, DT - Hip Pointer, full strength in 3-5 Weeks

McNight 21/35 298 yards 3 TDs 1 INT
Borders 23 for 127 yards
Henderson 7 catches for 86 yards
Welch 5 catches for 49 yards 2 TDs
Hutchins and Theophilakos each had an interception
Odgen & Chapman each had a sack

Week 12 Browns (7-3) Vs Jaguars (3-7) - 10pt fav : W 17-10
Casey Beyer, who was having a very fine season before being injured 3 weeks ago and missing 2 games, comes back in the
starting lineup. Borders was so good during his own 2 starts that I won't hesitate to switch if needed.

McNight 12/31 146 yards 2 TDs 2 INT
Beyer 23 for 95 yards
Etaton 3 catches for 45 yards 1 TD
Hutchins had an interception
Ogden had 2.5 sacks

Seth Gordon, LB - Turf Toe, full strength in 3-5 Weeks

Week 13 Browns (8-3) @ Saints (5-6) - 5 pt fav : W 24-21
We had the game in hand leading 24-7 with just under 10 minutes to play but our secondary came up short allowing 2 big play
TDs that brought the game back in reach for the Saints with just a minute to go...we escaped this, this time...

McNight 16/34 256 yards 2 TDs 1 INT
Beyer 17 for 15 yards
Henderson 5 catches for 83 yards 1 TD
Hutchins had 1 interception returned 69 yards for the score.
Tubbs had 2 sacks and Wiese had one.

With 4 games left in the regular season, we are in sole first position in the AFC Central with a 9-3 record.
The Bengals are second with 8-4 and the Titans third at 7-5.

Week 14 Browns (9-3) Vs Titans (7-5) - 7pt fav : W 20-13
A very solid game both on offense and defense, this is our 8th win in 9 games and along with the Titans & Bengals losses
we are now well intranched ready to capture the Central title.
Ross Borders, the Patriots starting QB is out now and NE has now lost 3 in a row so we are tied with them at 10-3 for
homefield advantage.

McNight 20/33 221 yards 1 TD OINT
Beyer 21 for 43 yards
Henderson 7 catches for 59 yards
Sapp has 10 tackles and 4 assists

Week 15 Browns (10-3) Vs Spangles (9-4) - 6pt fav : W 7-6
An important one against the current AFC West leaders for a first round playoff bye.
former Brown WR Bud Porter is the Spangles leading receiver with 64 catches for 855 yards and 4 TDs.
a disgusting game to watch...missed opportunities, missed FG...low score. Nothing was good, except that we won again.

McNight 14/26 161 yards 0 TD 0 INT
Beyer 22 for 61 yards 1 TD (Borders will start next week)
Etaton 5 catches for 39 yards
Theophilakos had one interception
Wiese had 2 sacks.

Week 16 Browns (11-3) @ Jets (9-5) - 2pt dog : L 3-30
For the second straight week, we are awful. This loss is well deserved and though we have now won the AFC Central title,
we are in a three place tie for a bye week with the Patriots and the Spangles. Next week's game is a must. Today's loss marks
the end of a 6 game winning streak.

McNight 14/33 165 yards 0 TD 1 INT (only 1 TD pass over last 3 games for league's TD leader)
Borders 8 for 0 yards (!) Beyers comes back next week in starting lineup.
Jeffries 6 catches for 54 yards
Chapman had 2.5 sacks

Week 17 Browns (11-4) @ Titans (9-6) - E : L 20-46
Another disturbing loss. Our december month was not a good one obviously and i'm not pleased at all.

McNight 14/33 169 yards 2 TD 3 INT
Beyer 17 for 84 yards
Jeffries 5 catches for 53 yards 1 TD

We finish the regular season 11-5, AFC Central Champions but we have to go through the Wild Cards. For once we are the
onmlly team of the Central division to play in the Post-Season.

Duane Hanson, G - Concussion, full strength in 0-2 Weeks
Arnold Storey, S - Concussion, full strength in 0-2 Weeks
Leo Sheldon, C - Broken Jaw, full strength in 2030
Brenden Swift, DT - Hip Pointer, full strength in 0-2 Weeks
Jim Henderson, WR - Hyperextended Elbow, full strength in 2030
Al Pettine, S - Sprained Back, full strength in 2030
Dale Still, LB - Broken Nose, full strength in 2030

Regular Season Stats :

QB McNight 16/16 52,2% comp 3828 yards (4th NFL) 30 TDs (1st NFL) 21 INTs Rating : 77,9 (very prolific but the rating is down, too
many interceptions and a low completion percentage.)

for comparisons :
Dwight Benson (traded to NYG) was the second to last ranked QB in the NFL this year with a 60,3 rating, 12 TDs and 22 INTs and
2422 yards in 15 starts.

RB Casey Beyer 13/16 268 attempts for 1122 yards (21st) 4.1/c 7 TDs (26 RBs went over 1000 yards !!!)
WR Jim Henderson 16/16 70 catches for 1055 yards 8 TDs (looks like a breakout year)
WR Robbie Jeffries 0/16 63 catches for 919 yards 3 TDs (and he DIDN'T START ANY GAME
WR Raymond Etaton 16/16 54 catches for 763 yards 8 TDs
TE Marvin Welch had 37 receptions and 8 TDs.
DE Reggie Odgen 14 sacks (11th NFL)
LB Gary Sapp had 109 tackles
Hutchins and Theophilakos both had 5 interceptions

Playoff teams :

AFC
Seahawks (12-4)
Colts (11-5)
Browns (11-5) Defending Super Bowl Champions
Jets (11-5)
Patriots (11-5)
Chiefs (10-6)

NFC
Lions (11-5)
Rams (10-6)
Cowboys (9-7)
Bears (9-7)
Texans (9-7)
Eagles (9-7) Defending NFC Champions

Playoffs this afternoon

Houston @ Chicago : 22-39
Philadelphia @ Dallas : 17-31
New England @ New York Jets : 14-38 ( )

Cleveland Browns (11-5) Vs Kansas City Chiefs (10-6) - 1pt fav : W 58-25 (!)
The Chiefs come to town to play ONLY their 3rd ever postseason game !!! in 30 seasons, the Chiefs have made the playoffs twice and are 0-2.
On the other hand, we will play the franchise's 65th postseason game today (44-20).
The Chiefs are totally inexperienced in the playoffs and it shows as we put on the best game of our season (so far) dominating like we did last year in the playoffs.
QB Sammy McNight seems to be a clutch player who raises his level of play when great games come (remember the SuperBowl last year?), as he, too, played his best game of the year (Offensive Player of the Week).

McNight 25/39 343 yards 5 TDs 1 INT (10 TD passes for him over last 2 playoffs games -SuperBowl 2028 + WildCard 2029-)
Beyer 17 for 108 yards 1 TD
Douglas 7 catches for 148 yards 3 TDs !!! (he was the 5th WR this year w/ only 16 catches for 307 yards and 1 TD all season ...)
Bell had 2 interceptions (Defensive Player of the Week)
Swift had 2.5 sacks
Ogden and Woodson each had 1 sack

Dale Still, LB - Broken Nose, full strength in 2030

Divisional Playoffs

Chicago @ Detroit : 17-23
Dallas @ St Louis : 24-27
New York Jets @ Seattle : 12-27

Cleveland Browns (12-5) @ Indianapolis Colts (11-5) - 3pt dog : L 14-27
a mirror of our 2029 season...
we didn't exist in that game.
The SuperBowl Champions Browns will not repeat as they are knocked out early in the post-season. Down 7-20 at the half, things looked already bleak and it didn't get any better afterwards.
Time to move on, we have some VERY DIFFICULT decisions to make regarding our cap...

McNight 10/33 190 yards 2 TDs 2 INTs
Beyer 19 for 53 yards
Jeffries 3 catches for 57 yards 1 TD
Gordon, Swift and Odgen each had 1 sack
Theophilakos had 9 tackles.

Championship Games

AFC Championship
Indianapolis @ Seattle : 13-17

NFC Championship
St Louis @ Detroit : 20-24

2029 SuperBowl
Detroit Lions Vs Seattle Seahawks : 14-35
The Seahawks are SUPER BOWL Champs for the 1st time.