Did the Cleveland Browns have the best offseason in the NFL?

Which teams made the best moves this offseason in the NFL? Did anyone do better than the Cleveland Browns? The NFL Mocks Podcast explores.

In many ways, the NFL offseason is more entertaining than the NFL regular season.

Of course, the games will always reign supreme but there’s no doubt about the fact that the drama does not end in the NFL when the Super Bowl clock hits 00:00 and the season is officially over.

Teams get to work immediately in January, even, changing coaches, making roster moves, re-signing and releasing players, trading others, and signing free agents leading up to the NFL Draft which has literally created the demand for this site and our podcast, the NFL Mocks Podcast.

By the way, there’s a brand new episode of the NFL Mocks Podcast — available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Spreaker (below) — discussing which teams in the NFL had the best offseason, and host Brooks Austin and I discuss this topic not in a traditional way, but by drafting the teams we felt had the best offseason, alternating picks 1-10.

Brooks is a nice guy and gave me the number one overall pick. I won’t spoil picks 2-10, but I’m going to let you in on a not-so-secret: the best offseason in the NFL award, given by me, goes to the Cleveland Browns.

The Browns were already a team on the rise, and they went into this offseason armed with cap space, decent draft capital, and an aggressive general manager in John Dorsey who is motivated to get this team from 0-16 to playoff contender in just two offseasons on the job.

How did the Browns put themselves in position to compete for the AFC North this season? There are a number of moves they made in 2017 that helped set this situation up, and a number of moves made in years prior to that, but obviously Baker Mayfield is the huge game-changer for this franchise.

With Mayfield’s development, the Browns were in a position that every move they made was looked at through the lens of how Mayfield can make this guy better, or how this guy can help get Mayfield the ball more.

In other words, they have the best QB prospect to come from the last few draft classes (I think he’s a better prospect than Patrick Mahomes was, we can’t use hindsight there) and every move they make is better because Baker is in place.

There’s not much guessing whether a move is going to be good in Cleveland, it’s simply a matter of how good the move could end up being for them.

Here are some of the top moves the Browns made.

Trading for Odell Beckham Jr.

I said it on a previous podcast (listen here) that no player in the NFL benefits more from his QB change than Odell Beckham Jr.

Beckham is going from a pretty dysfunctional situation in New York to a great situation in Cleveland, where the receivers around him can take pressure off of him and Mayfield’s skillset actually enhances Beckham’s game, he won’t have to be force-fed the ball just to be effective.

Signing Sheldon Richardson

Did you forget about this one?

Yeah, the Browns signed Sheldon Richardson to put inside next to Myles Garrett and another guy they traded for, Olivier Vernon. And they already had Larry Ogunjobi, who is a solid interior defensive lineman.

Richardson may not be the borderline dominant player he once was with the Jets, but he’s a really good player and he’s going to do well in this Browns defense.

Especially if this team is able to pair him with Gerald McCoy. Can you imagine?

Drafting Greedy Williams

Greedy Williams may not be the type of physical player Denzel Ward was coming out of Ohio State, but he’s got the type of ball skills and athleticism to excel in the NFL right away and I think he will do a good job with the players the Browns have up front rushing the quarterback.

By the way, the Browns didn’t have a first-round pick and almost everyone expected Greedy to be a first rounder at one point.

If they had kept the 17th pick and taken Williams there, it might have been a criticized pick but nobody would have been surprised.

They got Greedy in the second round.

Signing Kareem Hunt

Hunt will be serving a suspension for his off-field transgressions, and there’s little doubt that a large number of people would prefer if he never played again.

Hunt has obviously royally screwed up off the field, but on the field he’s a top three back in the NFL.

The Browns have a potential top 10 back already in Nick Chubb. Getting Hunt back after the first half of the season could give this team the NFL’s best 1-2 punch at the position.

It’s clear the Browns, overall, had the best offseason of any team in the NFL in terms of the progression of their previous core of players and the guys they brought in to enhance that development.

Having Baker Mayfield on a rookie contract is highway robbery at this point, and they’ll be able to contend with that situation for the foreseeable future.