2018 Season NFL Preview: AFC North

#4 Cleveland Browns

Browns found their future quarterback in Baker Mayfield

General Manager John Dorsey believes in the changes the Cleveland Browns have made. Modifications made in coaching and player personnel, Dorsey thinks this will be a different Browns team from before.

Can the fans finally hope that their time is coming? The time for Browns to be competitive? To start, they think they found their future quarterback in Baker Mayfield. Have we heard this song before?

Strengths

Hue Jackson is a formidable coach that has a lot of functional aspects as a head coach. The hiring of his two coordinators who have done very well on other teams is enormous.

Scandalous defensive coordinator Gregg Williams has been a defensive churning machine. He has in the past guided his teams to be one of the best defences in the NFL. Offensive coordinator Todd Haley has been the OC in Pittsburgh for the past six seasons and now comes to division rival the Browns, and will help the offence get some traction right away.

The quarterback area starts with the 1st overall pick this year Baker Mayfield. The Browns do not have to rush in Mayfield to be the field general just yet. The Browns went out and got a veteran quarterback in a trade with the Buffalo Bills, and got Tyrod Taylor.

Taylor is a good enough quarterback to take a team to the playoffs as he did last year with the Bills. Having this veteran quarterback who has been there taking the pressure off the Browns young quarterback will only help.

Now if Baker Mayfield shines and outduels Taylor for the job, that is another story. The trio of running backs for the Browns is formidable, for a team who was one of the top rushing leaders as a team in the NFL last year.

The trio led by free agent pickup Carlos Hyde, draft pick Nick Chubb, and previous year pass-catching running back beast Duke Johnson makes the job more comfortable for the quarterbacks as they can look at very few downs with long yeards.

The return of Josh Gordon and another free agent pickup in Jarvis Landry makes up a stout duo who will be seeking the quarterbacks to throw some balls at them. Adding to that is rookie Antonio Calloway, Rashard Higgins and Jeff Janis helping along the way.

Tight end David Njoku was a surprise for the Browns and should continue to approve and be used a lot on Todd Haley's offence.

On defence, the Browns have some dynamite playmakers in Myles Garrett and Emmanuel Ogbah upfront manning those offensive line monsters. Christian Kirksey and Jamie Collins make for a potent duo at linebacker.

Weakness

The Browns have a veteran and a rookie quarterback. That might be a weakness as well. Tyrod Taylor doesn't make mistakes, which means he doesn't throw a lot. When you have receivers like Gordon and Landry, you must give them a chance to make plays.

Taylor's drawback has always been the hesitation to throw the ball if that happens and the offence struggles it could be Mayfield time.

Having Baker Mayfield start right away might not be great either. Mayfield can be cocky and a fire pistol. Its the complete opposite of Taylor, it could lead to more turnovers if Mayfield at the helm. Mayfield needs to learn and study to be the best quarterback that has potential shows.

The offensive line is all back from last year that alone should make you question why the Browns are so confident in their front line when they went 0-16. With all the money and draft picks they had, why didn't they use that on an offensive line that was inefficient. The secondary group is very underwhelming for the Browns.

Selecting Denzel Ward with the 4th overall pick made many people scratching their heads, but we will see if he is the real deal. Jabrill Peppers showed some promise and free agent pickup EJ Gaines was decent in Buffalo to help himself to a raise in Cleveland.

Players to Watch: Nick Chubb (RB), Tyrod Taylor (QB), Baker Mayfield (QB), and Antonio Calloway (WR)