Since the 2018 NFL season ended, the Browns hired the hottest young coaching candidate in Freddie Kitchens, signed the top free agent defensive lineman in Sheldon Richardson, traded for Pro Bowlers Odell Beckham Jr. and Olivier Vernon from the Giants, and added the 2017 NFL rushing champ in Kareem Hunt.
Yet for some analysts cited by ESPN in their latest article compiling offseason grades for all 32 teams, it leaves them singing some Shaina Twain.
“That don’t impress me much…”
All of the quotes were anonymously sourced from the ESPN insider article, so take that for what it is. But they are not favorable reflections on GM John Dorsey’s aggressive plan to remake a team that has played just one playoff game in the 21st century.
“Handing this roster to Freddie Kitchens, who has never been a coordinator, let alone a head coach, would scare me to death,” an exec said. “The talent might be good enough so that it doesn’t matter, but it is also combustible. You are already seeing signs with Odell.”
That sentiment was echoed by another unnamed exec: “Face it, with that ownership and these expectations, Freddie Kitchens is coaching for his job in Year 1, which is insane.”
The overall grade for the Browns is a C-plus. Not all of the comments were negative, however.
“I could be dead wrong, but I think they go 10-6 and have a good year. Then I think next year [2020] is the key for them, where they go one way or another.”
Our take
Skepticism in the youthful Browns is justified, but unless someone puts a name on it — which nobody here did — the comments come across more as biased potshots.
