The beginning of the 2024 NFL season has been a struggle at all levels of the offense for the Cleveland Browns. Quarterback Deshaun Watson is once again struggling to get anything going on offense and is continuing to make fans – and possibly some within the Browns’ front office – regret the trade that brought him to Cleveland.
In front of him, the offensive line has been a veritable mash unit through three weeks of the season. They lost starting guard Wyatt Teller to injured reserve with a knee injury he suffered last week against the New York Giants. They’ve been without starting right tackle Jack Conklin all season as he continues to rehab a knee injury of his own. They’re also going to be without left tackle Jedrick Wills on Sunday as he misses the game with, you guessed it, a knee injury.
Behind the offensive line and quarterback, the Browns have yet to see starting running back Nick Chubb take the field in 2024, as he continues to recover from his own gruesome knee injury he suffered last season. While the Browns may not be likely to make any moves during the season that substantially changes their fortunes on offense, they could look to the 2025 NFL Draft to address some concerns.
PFF NFL Draft analyst Trevor Sikkema recently published his thoughts on each team’s biggest needs heading into the 2025 NFL Draft through the first three weeks of the season. Unsurprisingly, Sikkema lists quarterback, offensive line, and running back as the top areas of concern for the Browns.
Sikkema is less concerned with the running back spot, as we have yet to see Chubb this season and thus don’t know if he’ll be able to come back and be an effective running back for the team. If he is, that need becomes significantly less relevant.
The needs at quarterback and offensive line, on the other hand, aren’t likely to go away anytime soon. Even if the offensive line is able to get healthy at some point this season, the injuries they’ve suffered so far have revealed the team’s lack of depth at the position.
The quarterback spot is another beast entirely. Watson has been nothing short of a disaster since arriving in Cleveland, and that has continued through three weeks this season – and isn’t likely to change at this point. However, the Browns are tied to him for the foreseeable future thanks to the monster contract they gave him. That contract makes it nearly impossible to move on from Watson, unless the team wants to pay him to sit on the bench.
The draft could provide them with their next quarterback, though. It’s feasible that Cleveland could be over the Watson experiment and accept having the world’s most expensive backup. They could also decide to draft a quarterback with the knowledge he won’t start for a couple of seasons, let him sit and learn from Watson, and be ready to take the helm when the Browns can move on from Watson after 2026 and “only” take on nearly $27 million in dead cap space.
