CLEVELAND — In case you hadn't heard, the Cleveland Browns are entering the 2019 season with no shortage of hype.
So much so, that Sports Illustrated chose a pair of Browns players to grace the cover of its 2019 NFL Preview.
Perhaps unsurprisingly to most, it's Cleveland wide receivers Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry who are featured on the latest S.I. cover. In addition to the cover of the historic sports magazine, the Browns serve as the subject of a lengthy feature by Ben Baskin, who chronicles Cleveland's rise from 0-16 in 2017 to the hottest team in football entering the 2019 campaign.
This week's issue marks the eighth time the Browns have been featured on the cover of the magazine and first since Johnny Manziel was drafted in 2014.
"The Browns are back," reads the cover of the magazine, which also features a blurb predicting Cleveland will win the AFC North, which would mark the franchise's first division title since 1989.
The optimism surrounding the Browns dates back to the 2018 season when Cleveland compiled its best record since the 2007 campaign as No. 1 pick Baker Mayfield emerged as a franchise quarterback. That hype, however, got taken up another notch in March when the Browns acquired Beckham in a trade with the New York Giants in what marked one of the most high profile trades in recent NFL history.
Teaming with Landry, Mayfield, Nick Chubb, David Njoku, Antonio Callaway, Rashard Higgins and Kareem Hunt, Beckham has not only helped give Cleveland one of the NFL's most potent offenses, but one of its most famous too. That much has been made clear in the weeks leading up to the 2019 NFL season, where Mayfield has graced the cover of ESPN The Magazine and Beckham has been featured on the cover of GQ.
Now Cleveland has another magazine cover to add to its collection.