The latest batch of NFL power polls is coming out. With the preseason kicking off this week, it’s a good time to check on how the Browns are viewed nationally.
From The Athletic, there is both respect and worry. The pollsters there rank the Browns at No. 10 overall. The strong finish to the 2018 season brings excitement, but the weight of decades of struggle before that is heavily evident in their explanation, too.
Our panel is clearly excited about the Browns, though we’re not quite all-in yet. But if you would have told us a year ago that the Browns would open this training camp No. 10 in the power rankings with Freddie Kitchens as the head coach, we definitely would have called you crazy. Now it’s time for the Browns to prove that the progress we saw in the second half of last season was just a start of what’s to come.
The good news is, the Browns are up from where they finished last season at No. 16. And they are one notch ahead of the division rival Steelers, who are next in the AFC North at 11.
New England is at the top, as the defending champs should be until proven otherwise. Kansas City, Indianapolis and the Los Angeles Chargers are the other AFC teams above the Browns.
