CLEVELAND — I already feel bad for first-year Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski.
Sure, he’s only in the first year of a five-year contract that’s paying him a healthy amount, but this is downright unfair for the former Minnesota Vikings offensive coordinator, even by 2020 standards.
Click here for more Browns coverage
Where do we begin?
The lack of time Stefanski got to spend this offseason with his new players and coaches amid a global pandemic?
Endless virtual Zoom meetings with players and staff rather than in-person correspondence to help build personal relationships, trust and team building? Not to mention a whole new offensive system that Stefanski is trying to implement with a quarterback he’s never worked with.
Of course, other NFL teams are having their own respective issues while trying to navigate how to operate under this “new normal” in the era of COVID-19. But for a team coming off a disappointing season, with a first-year head coach and plenty of new faces on both sides of the football, that can only exacerbate these issues even more.
Then there was Sunday’s COVID-19 testing mess involving a New Jersey lab that revealed a widespread number of false positives, including Stefanski himself and other Browns players that canceled practice only to resume practice shortly after. What a confusing disaster. And the season hasn’t even started yet.
Meanwhile, are the Browns practicing on an ice rink at training camp in Berea?
On Monday the Browns added to (an already long) laundry list of injuries as second round pick Grant Delpit was carted off the practice field and is now undergoing additional testing for an Achilles injury. In addition to Delpit, cornerback Greedy Williams was also injured during Monday’s practice session.
Add Delpit and Williams to an injury list that already included Terrance Mitchell, Kevin Johnson, Karl Joseph and JC Tretter. Fortunately, both Nick Chubb (concussion protocol) and Myles Garrett (hamstring) made their way back to the practice field recently.
No wonder the Browns haven’t been doing much tackling at camp yet.
On top of that, the offense has hardly been able to run any sort of 2-minute drill situations.
Have I mentioned no preseason games?
And to think, I haven’t even addressed a team that was a major disappointment last season, while relying on a quarterback in Baker Mayfield that regressed following a promising rookie campaign or the fact that in less than three weeks Lamar Jackson and the Ravens will be awaiting the Browns in Baltimore.
This is cruel. Damn near unfair.
And while I’m the first person to objectively assess the Browns, gladly leaving the pom-pom waving to the die-hard fans and almost always taking a “show me don’t tell me” approach with the guys in orange helmets, even I’m willing to show some patience and understanding for the uphill battle this team and its first-year head coach are dealing with.
Maybe they’ll somehow overcome all these unfortunate circumstances. Maybe the Browns finish above .500 for the first time since the 2007 season. Maybe they’ll make the NFL Playoffs for the first time since 2002. Maybe, just maybe, with everything going against them, the Browns will finally come through for a fan base that’s been craving a winner since 1999.
It's 2020, so anything seems possible.
Then again, it’s the Browns. Let’s not get our hopes up just yet.