Newsletter: Emotional Self Reflection, Mock Draft Monday, and Defense Deserving Respect

We're back with our first mock draft of the season and some serious self-reflection on the emotions tied to this struggle.

(Photo - Getty)

Hello everyone and welcome into yet another Victory Monday-less round of Browns Film Breakdown content. I am bummed about only getting three of these in an entire season but I am also trying to get away from feeling sorry for myself. I will be the first to admit I have been too emotional lately. In a show, and now website, that was built on rational analysis I have drifted too far into the emotion of all of this. It is really hard to suppress those feelings when the Browns have had this type of season but I need to reel it in to an extent. Self reflection is necessary.

I will never lie about what I am witnessing on the field, but there are times for jokes and over-saturation of low-hanging negative analysis that even I am bumping up against closely. A key reminder is we haven’t seen depths this low in a long time. Not since the 2017 season. I wasn’t even covering the Browns at that point, let alone having a show or voice that matters. Against the expectations this season brought, while 2017 had next to zero, getting yourself into this emotional shoot is not that hard to see happening. I just want to see these guys win and give so many Browns fans the positive experience they so badly deserve.

I am going to be better about that emotion moving forward. The Browns have so many decisions coming that will require objective analysis and I don’t want to let those emotions tied to disappointment about the franchise, and honestly the timing of launching a new website parallel to this, get in the way of serving you guys best.

I am bummed. I know you are too. But you also care about how this gets fixed and less about the bad product you already know is bad. That is where the focus will properly be placed as we analyze how this went poorly and how it gets rectified into the 2025 season. We can make this struggle something enjoyable along the way. Let’s try to do that together. Feeling sorry for ourselves never solves anything. I hope the leadership in Berea is moving forward in the same way.

I have intentionally held off on mock draft season as best I can due to the volatile nature of who is going to declare for these drafts, and waiting to see just how bad the Browns record would end up being in 2024. The Saturday Prospect Spotlights have been there all season but mock drafts felt futile until we knew the proper range. I think we can all agree the range feels secure now with at least the third overall pick and from that range we can do some selecting. This will be frequent over the next six months. Buckle up my friends.

We will do deep dives as my time for scouting increases, but on Mondays we will always do something hasty and fun with a glance at possible outcomes. Let’s do that today. Away we go with our first mock.