What I'm Buying and Selling About the Cleveland Browns After Week 6

It’s hard not to feel good about the Cleveland Browns’ 4-2 start to the season, including wins over divisional rivals Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens so far in 2026. 

After all, this is the team with the lowest winning percentage in all the NFL (.346) since it grew to 32 teams divided in eight divisions back in 2002, and the longest active drought without a division title league-wide (36 years and counting). Winning just isn’t a common occurrence here. 

Buying: Defense is legit

The Browns began their regular season getting their teeth kicked in by the Jaguars on Opening Weekend. Since then, this unit has been one of the best in all the NFL. Cleveland is currently ranked second in the league in sacks in their first year without Myles Garrett and zero sacks by his nominal successor Jared Verse, and fourth in total quarterback pressures. Cleveland has also surrendered just one rushing touchdown all year long. 

Granted, there are still some issues that need to be resolved, mainly in the secondary, but this unit is going places. Denzel Ward is enjoying one of his finest seasons as a pro, Carson Schwesinger is proving to be the real deal in his second season, and free agent addition Quincy Williams has been playing a very high level of football, too. The D-Line has been the team’s best group, nonetheless. Isaiah McGuire and Maliek Collins have been phenomenal, while Mason Graham has been living up to his billing when healthy. Sam Williams has also flashed on the edge, and Verse is getting the pressures, if not the sacks. 

Selling: Deshaun Watson

The Browns went all-in on Watson and, so far, there are reasons to be skeptical about his performance so far. His 4.0 percent touchdown percentage is his second worst as a pro, and his numbers across a few other metrics line up exactly to what he’s done before in Cleveland, very distant to what he did before in Houston, including QBR, success rate, yards per attempt, and sack percentage, while his 70.3 on target rate is his personal worst. 

So no, Watson isn’t playing better under head coach Todd Monken than what he did under Kevin Stefanski, in any sense. He’s just being backed by a much better defense and has some top notch weapons at his disposal in the ground game, along with a trust-worthy placekicker in Andre Szmyt. 

The Browns are winning despite Watson, and that means they can’t change quarterbacks now, but things are likely to get rocky at some point ahead. 

Buying: Rookie offensive linemen

Playing on an island on the left side is inherently more difficult than playing guard but make no mistake, Austin Barber has been as good if not better than Spencer Fano for the Browns. Either way, both are outplaying their respective counterparts in veteran left guard Zion Johnson and especially veteran right tackle Tytus Howard, so far. 

There’s still a ton of improvement to be made here, and blocking for a quarterback that’s been responsible for a number of sacks is suboptimal, but expect these two to become cornerstones in Cleveland for the long run. 

Selling: Quinshon Judkins

The team as a whole has been struggling mightily in the ground game, no doubt. But Judkins’ woes should come as no surprise when you take a good look at his rookie season. 

He’s averaging 3.0 yards-per-rush this year, which is actually worse than his 3.5 yards-per-rush average from a year ago, and hasn’t been able to reach a 4.0 yard-per-carry average since Week 13 of last year, one of only four games all year long he was able to reach or surpass that number. And this year, he’s scored just once despite receiving the lion’s share in snaps on offense (60 percent, compared to 50 percent last year).

Run blocking has been a problem for the Browns, especially in terms of first contact for the backs, but Judkins’ numbers are worse off than last year’s underwhelming stats, neatly disguised by his seven rushing scores as a rookie. 

Buying: Rookie wideouts

If the rookie offensive linemen have been a hit for the Browns, the rookie wideouts have been even better.

KC Concepcion recovered from a concussion in time to play this past Sunday for the Browns, and he’s still leading the team with 22 catches for 186 yards. Meanwhile, Denzel Boston has 17 catches for 345 yards and a league-leading 20.3 yard per reception average to go along with his three scores.

Yes, the numbers for both could be better by this point, but they truly don’t have much to work with at the quarterback position. Even so, Boston should be seriously considered among the league favorites to take home the Offensive Rookie of the Year Award. 

Selling: Play-action passing

Currently, Cleveland is using play-action at a 18.5 percent rate -- 29th in the NFL -- down from 21.9 percent last year. The team’s EPA per pass attempt is at -0.04, meaning the Browns are faking handoffs at a very low rate, and are not a successful team at passing the ball when they do fake the handoff.

Again, the offensive line has had some protection issues and Watson is not playing good football right now, but a solid ground game would probably earn more respect from the defenses than what’s currently going on. Plus, play-action is known as a good countermeasure to pressure, which would be a good development for a team leading the league in sacks allowed.