Cleveland Browns

The Cleveland Browns finished 2025 at five and twelve, watching another January from home in Northeast Ohio. This was a year defined by a rookie quarterback room trying to find its footing, a defense that played like a top-tier unit for stretches, and an offense that could not get out of its own way. There were real moments — a Week 7 demolition of Miami, a Week 12 road win at Las Vegas, and a Week 18 closer over Cincinnati that gave the fan base something warm for the offseason. But the opener set the tone, a one-point home loss to Cincinnati, and the middle months were a slow bleed of close games and blowouts. The Browns didn't get smashed on the scoreboard every week, but the offense got absolutely muffed.

Put some numbers on it. The Browns' offense posted a total passing expected points added — the stat measuring how much each play improved their scoring chances — of minus 175.5, and per dropback it was minus 0.29, meaning every pass attempt, on average, actively hurt this team. The run game produced just 97.4 yards per game at a per-carry expected points added of minus 0.05 — below break-even. Turnovers were the killer: 24 giveaways against 16 takeaways, a differential of minus 8. The red zone was a graveyard — 20 touchdowns on 129 snaps, a 16 percent rate near the bottom of the league. The offense was boom-or-bust in the worst way — 31 on Miami and 24 at Las Vegas, but single digits against Pittsburgh, San Francisco, and Chicago.

Now let's talk about the passing offense. A total passing expected points added of minus 175.5 tells you most of what you need to know — one of the worst team-level passing seasons in football, and it gets uglier with 51 sacks allowed on top. The Browns averaged 185 passing yards per game, threw 16 touchdowns against double-digit interceptions between the two rookies, and converted just 34 percent of third downs. The headline was the quarterback carousel — Shedeur Sanders started eight games with 1,400 passing yards, 7 touchdowns and 10 picks, and a passing expected points added of minus 59.3; Dillon Gabriel started ten with 937 yards, 7 touchdowns, and a minus 44.9. Neither rookie stabilized the unit. This passing game was boom-or-bust — a few big shots on a given Sunday, then vanishing for three quarters the next week. The unit got muffed.

Now let's dig into the rushing offense. The ground game averaged 97.4 yards per game on 24.6 carries, found the end zone just 10 times, and posted a total rushing expected points added of minus 20 — below average but not catastrophic. The one legitimate bright spot was rookie Quinshon Judkins, who rushed for 827 yards and 7 touchdowns on 230 carries in 14 games, giving the Browns a real lead back to build around, including a 46-yard touchdown burst through the right side in the Week 7 win over Miami. The unit as a whole was steady-mediocre rather than boom-or-bust — rarely hitting 130 yards, rarely buried under 60, and the explosive run was a rare guest. When a team only produces 41 plays of 20-plus yards across the entire offense in 17 games, the ground game isn't tilting fields.

Next up, the pass defense. Here the story flips. The Browns' pass defense posted a passing expected points added allowed of minus 71 — on defense, a big negative is a good thing, because opponents' passing plays were actively losing them scoring chances. Per dropback that was minus 0.13, elite territory. They racked up 53 sacks and limited opponents to 189 passing yards per game, and Myles Garrett authored one of the defining plays of the year in Week 12, strip-sacking Geno Smith late in the fourth quarter at Las Vegas to seal a two-score win. Week to week, this was the steadiest thing the Browns had — they held opponents under 20 points six different times. If anything let it down, it was a takeaway total of just 16, modest for a group generating this much pressure. By every efficiency measure, the pass defense absolutely smashed.

And the run defense. This is where the margin got squeezed. The Browns allowed 117.5 rushing yards per game and 14 rushing touchdowns on 454 carries, with a rushing expected points added allowed of minus 24 and a per-carry number of minus 0.05. On a per-play basis, opponents weren't gashing them — the efficiency numbers are solid — but the volume and red-zone finishing hurt. Opponents converted 20 percent of red-zone trips into touchdowns against this front, and several losses turned on late-game drives where the Browns couldn't get off the field on the ground. Steady, not spectacular — a reliable unit that complemented the pass rush without ever dominating a game on its own.