As the Cleveland Browns Season Ends, it Was a Ride Worth Taking

Another Cleveland Browns season comes to a close. Like many before, it was a wild one that nobody could have predicted, and that's where we should start.I like to mock the "If I told you in August..." conceit, but it's not without value. The Cleveland Browns lost Nick Chubb, didn't have any of their starting offensive tackles, lost the guy who was supposed to be their star quarterback, and got Joe Flacco off the couch to finish with the second-best record in the division and a playoff berth. The Cleveland Browns got to sit out a meaningless final game against the Bengals and still finished 11-6! The Browns won a game against each of their division opponents, and again, the second loss to the Bengals doesn't really count. It required a last-second missed field goal, but the Browns defeated the San Francisco 49ers in a game of toughness. The Browns found a burgeoning star in Jeremiah Owusu-Koromoah, who I've been calling a "grown-ass man" for weeks, as his maturity seems to defy his actual age of 24.Yes, the Houston Texans outplayed the Browns in their playoff game. Yes, the team was undone by their own play and some awful calls by the officials, but the fact is that this team has nothing to hang their heads about. But what about the easy narrative that the Browns lost to the team that traded them Watson and the Texans' rebuilt with the Browns' assets? Who cares? The Browns and Texans made a deal. The Texans acted how they were going to act with their new reality, and so did the Browns. The Browns used free agency to rebuild their defensive line this season. The defense added Za'Darius Smith, Dalvin Tomlinson, Juan Thornhill, and Ovbonnia Okoronkwo. The Browns have one more pick to send to Houston and they'll deal with that reality and build the team the best way they can to compete. Once a trade is done, it's a sunk cost, and everyone's responsibility is to do the best they can for themselves looking forward. The Browns did a good job even though they lost a road playoff game to end this season to the team they traded with. Don't fall for easy woe-is-me narratives because they play into the misery index.Andrew Berry made sure to shake hands with everyone coming through the tunnel after the game. It's a little thing that I don't believe he expected to be on camera. Still, it's emblematic of a team and culture that's solid for the first time since I can remember following and covering the Cleveland Browns.https://twitter.com/AshNoelleTV/status/1746328396957708416?s=20Are there questions going forward? Of course! Will it be easy for the Browns to repeat as playoff contenders and hopefully advance further in their quest to not only get to a Superbowl but win the damn thing? Of course not! That said, I expect the Browns to acknowledge the task in front of them and try to put themselves in a good position.This year, the Browns learned a valuable lesson about not having a better backup quarterback. The team won games with PJ Walker, but they must protect their margin for error at professional sports' most important position this upcoming season. Deshaun Watson is coming off a serious surgery, and his performances have delivered more questions than answers in his brief tenure with the team. He's only played 12 games in two years between the suspension and the injuries. He was 5-1 for the Browns this season - 4-1 if you discount the Indy game, where he barely played - but I don't believe it. Do browns fans have any warm, fuzzy feelings about his prospects heading into next year? It's more of a wait-and-see.Same with Nick Chubb, who received a devastating knee injury at the hands of Minkah Fitzpatrick this season. (How glorious was it to watch the Steelers' season end due to a missed tackle by 39? I'll answer that. It was life-affirming.) Chubb will be 29 next season as he tries to return from an injury that required two separate knee surgeries in 2023. He's due to make about $12 million with a cap hit of almost $16 million. There's been internet speculation from national NFL reporters that Chubb could be cut. Still, I would expect the Browns to do something creative to take care of one of the team's beloved stars while reducing his cap number and giving him a chance to recover.Jed Wills should be back. Maybe Conklin will too? Dawand Jones? Joel Bitonio says he's coming back, but how many more seasons does he have in him? Wyatt Teller still looks strong too, but he's also about to be 30 years old. So, who knows?The secondary was good this season, but will the Browns make changes? Greg Newsome had a mostly good season. In three seasons with the Browns, he's played 41 games and been a valuable player. The Browns will need to do a value judgment on the former first-rounder simply because he's a tradeable asset on a team that doesn't have a lot of those or cap dollars.Make no mistake, the Browns will be fine with the cap after their maneuvers and restructures. They'll continue to punt that down the road and hope the cap continues to expand at a rapid rate. At some point, however, I expect this team to have to make some tough choices. Tough choices aren't necessarily bad, but they are tough because you grow to love these players. I would take no joy in seeing someone like Greg Newsome get traded anymore than I enjoyed saying goodbye to Jarvis Landry in free agency.Which brings me to my final point. I love having a feeling of trust in the general manager and head coach of my team. They're not perfect, but I feel like they do more things right than wrong. They lead with compassion and maturity with a focus on the right things and none of the wrong things like palace intrigue or unnecessary drama. You (and I) may not like that Watson is our quarterback. We'll never know who ultimately made that call, but how Berry and Stefanski handled it as a situation, downplaying the drama and just dealing with the facts in front of them, has been admirable. It makes me feel good about the process, even if there are some more bumps in the road like there were this year. And the Browns might face bumps that don't go their way as often as things did this season. The team easily could have been a six or seven-win team instead.I hope this season brought enough goodwill that we can get another five years of letting this group build and grow the team together. It was a fun ride, even if it had to end this past weekend.