Does No NFL Preseason Really Affect The Browns?

The question says it all.

The NFL world is erupting with questions as players call for the NFL to string together safety protocols to keep the players safe.

One proposal the NFL gave was to eliminate the preseason, which has been approved.

The NFL Players Association and league’s owners agreed to eliminate all four weeks of the NFL preseason and reduce the size of training camp rosters from 90 to 80. https://t.co/DXLtGI2CP1

— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) July 22, 2020

Granted, there are many takes on having and not having a preseason.

However, history has shown that the preseason has absolutely not mattered for the Cleveland Browns.

A Trip Down Memory Lane

Before we begin any dialogue, take a look at the last five years of the preseason and regular records.

2015: Preseason: 1-3; Regular Season: 3-14
2016: Preseason: 0-4: Regular Season: 1-15
2017: Preseason: 4-0; Regular Season: 0-16
2018: Preseason: 3-1: Regular Season: 7-8-1
2019 Preseason: 3-1; Regular Season: 6-10

For starters, the 2015 and 2016 seasons featured pretty bad Browns teams.

Quite honestly, those teams could have gone undefeated in the preseason and still lost.

Wait a minute.

Flash forward to the 2017 season where the Browns did go 4-0 in the preseason and finished winless in the regular season.

Even when the Browns had a winning preseason record, the team still couldn’t get over the hump on the winning side.

The real victims of not having a preseason are the first and second-year players.

Every preseason features diamonds in the rough.

There is a player that a team does not know about because he has not been given the exposure.

The Reaction

The players are likely going to be okay.

The debate on having a shortened preseason has been a topic for the past several years.

However, this is no ordinary situation given the state of the world in the pandemic.

Needless to say, there are mixed reactions.

…#NFL PreSeason 2020 cancelled…#WHY???!! it’s a damn contact #Sport …we are in a #PANDEMIC and people concerned with throwing a ball down a field and their entertainment…get a Xbox and play Madden or whatever..don’t risk human lifes..i thought that ish went without saying

— Meka Meka (@mekameka) July 22, 2020

no NFL preseason this year!?!?! Sounds a LITTLE extreme to me. How am I supposed to scout backup special teams, 3rd option utility players, and bottom of the depth chart secondaries??? It’s like fantasy team owners weren’t considered AT ALL 😤

— James Hartenfeld 🛀 (@hartenfeld) July 22, 2020

🚨🚨 There will be no NFL preseason games. Is this the beginning of the end? 😭

— i35sportsconnection (@i35SportsCxn) July 22, 2020

I don’t like the thought of no NFL Preseason games for the Browns. With implementing a new system we could see early growing pains for the Browns during the early weeks but, I still believe this team is an above .500 team. College does it every year so the NFL should be okay.

— Robert Norvell (@TheRobNorvell) July 21, 2020