Browns owner: I’ll take over 5 1/2-win projection
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BEREA (AP) -- The Cleveland Browns made the postseason the last time they had a first-year head coach on the sidelines.
If Jimmy Haslam has the same thing in mind for Todd Monken, he’s not saying it publicly.
The Browns owner said after Friday’s practice he has “improved expectations” for the upcoming season. The franchise went 5-12 last season and 3-14 in 2024 after making the playoffs in 2023.
“I would say this, and we never do this, but I think the odds are for us to win 5 1/2 games. I’ll take the over,” Haslam said.
“I think we have made giant strides in our talent level the last two years. And it takes these young guys a lot of time. I think we could have a chance to start double-digit first- and second-year players. We’re really excited about the roster we’ve assembled.”
Any sign of playoff contention or improvement would be welcome. The Haslams assumed ownership in October 2012, but didn’t change the head coach or general manager until the end of the season. Cleveland has a 73-139-1 regular-season mark since 2013, the second-worst in the NFL.
In those 14 seasons, the Browns have had only two winning seasons and finished with double-digit losses eight times, including going 0-16 in 2017.
The best year Cleveland has had under the Haslam regime was 2020, when Kevin Stefanski was hired as coach. The Browns were 11-5 and won their first playoff game since the 1993 season at Pittsburgh before losing at Kansas City.
It helped that Cleveland had an established quarterback that year in Baker Mayfield. This year, the team goes into camp with Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders vying for the starting job.
The relationship between Haslam and Watson has improved since Haslam said at the 2025 owners’ meetings that the team “took a big swing and miss” when they sent three first-round picks to Houston for Watson in 2022 and signed him to a fully guaranteed five-year, $230 million deal many consider one of the worst trades and contracts in NFL history.
Watson has played in only 19 games with the Browns. Sanders remains the popular choice nationally and among fans after playing in eight games and starting seven as a rookie last year.
Monken hasn’t specified how quickly he wants a starter before the Sept. 13 opener at Jacksonville.
“We all know that the quarterback position is one that we need to figure out at some point in time,” managing partner JW Johnson said. “A lot of guys have franchise quarterbacks, but we’re excited about how hard the guys are working. We’re excited about Todd and staff working with them to put them in a position to be ready to go this season.”
Stefanski was a two-time NFL Coach of the Year, but was fired in January after six seasons. During his tenure, Stefanski started 13 different quarterbacks, including seven over the past two seasons.
Monken was hired in January for his first NFL head coaching job despite turning 60 on Feb. 5.
Haslam said he wants the Browns to be a contending playoff team in 2027, but later said that doesn’t mean they are punting on this year.
Haslam has a rebuilding job not only in Cleveland but also with the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks, where he is a co-owner. Both teams traded franchise icons in June: Two-time AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett went to the Los Angeles Rams on June 1, and Giannis Antetokounmpo was dealt to the Miami Heat on June 22.
“My dad’s 95 1/2. He called me and said, ‘Do you know that in the last month you traded Myles Garrett and Giannis?’ I said, ‘Yes, sir, I know that.’ Listen, it’s all about what you get. Giannis, a generational player, won a championship, but we felt the need to get younger. He was the best asset we had,” Haslam said. “We had mortgaged our future going forward, and I think we got four really good players and two draft picks, No. 1 picks, a couple of swaps, and a second. So time will tell.
“We’ve got to use those picks wisely just like we have to do with the Myles trade. But cautious optimism, although you’ve got to be realistic. I think it’s actually harder to rebuild in the NBA than I do in the NFL, but we’ll see.”
Deplit happy with extension
Safety Grant Delpit signed his three-year, $48 million extension with the Cleveland Browns on Thursday.
The two sides agreed to the extension on Wednesday right before the first practice of training camp. General manager Andrew Berry told Delpit that everything was completed right as individual drills were about to start.
“It says a lot to make it to this third contract and to be locked in for the long haul,” Delpit said before Thursday’s practice. “I knew it could probably happen at any moment, but AB came jogging on the field and told me it was done and that if I wanted to practice, they’d honor my deal since I had not signed yet.”
The 27-year old Delpit is going into his seventh season in Cleveland after being a second-round draft pick in 2020. He had 80 tackles, three sacks and an interception last season. Delpit had a career-high 108 tackles in 2024, which led the Browns defense.
“It’s a young team, man. And I feel like I’m not old. I’ve just been here for a little while,” he said.
Delpit’s extension includes $35 million guaranteed and followed cornerback Denzel Ward signing a two-year extension worth $62.2 million -- including $52.3 million guaranteed -- on Wednesday.
Both Ward and Delpit will be under contract through the 2029 season.
They will be part of a new-look defense after the departure of defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz and the trade of AP Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett to the Los Angeles Rams.
“Those guys are still really good players, playing at a high level, and like I said yesterday, the money isn’t for what they’ve done, it’s for what we anticipate. We still anticipate them playing at a very high level, or you don’t give them extensions,” coach Todd Monken said.
Defensive end Jared Verse, whom the Browns got for Garrett, continues to make an early impact. There could be more upgrades coming to the defensive line after free agent Jadeveon Clowney visited on Wednesday. Clowney played for the Browns in 2021 and ’22 and had 8 1/2 sacks for Dallas last season.
“Watching his film from college and everything like that, that’s one of the biggest reasons I even wanted to play on the defensive line,” Verse said. “So having that dude in the room would be monumental for me. But I will say having that vet presence is probably even bigger than just my personal honor of him. Having that vet presence, someone that’s been around the game, someone that can teach you things like that. That’s why I went to the Sack Summit (earlier this month in Las Vegas) to be around Von Miller, Max Crosby, all these high-end rushers because you can learn so much from them.”