Cleveland Browns: 3 biggest concerns entering the NFL season

Can the repurposed defense actually do its job?

The defense is returning five starters from last year to open up the season against Baltimore. That’s it. That might be a problem. While the rush defense last year was a joke – the Browns were third-worst in the league against the run – the pass defense was actually quite good. The Browns were seventh-best in the league in fewest yards given up in the air.

Granted overall, they were 11th in the league in most yards given up by a team, but they were 20th in the league in points allowed. The team wasn’t that bad, it just needed some improvements at left end, a new outside linebacker, maybe a new defensive tackle, and one new safety. Instead, the team got gutted. Gone were the team’s two best linebackers to save salary, both starting safeties of a solid passing defense were gone, and the defensive line, the united that needed the most work, was brought back intact.

It’s entirely possible that this new, revamped defense is stellar. That it breaks the league, leads the team to a 16-0 record, and sets a new league record for points given up. It’s more likely though that a team of cast-offs from other teams on one-year deals, most of whom are inconsistent or injury-plagued, ends up being even worse than the year before.

Who knows? It could go either way.

It should be noted that the team, outside of Myles Garrett, spent no real money on the defense. They signed two backup defensive linemen and drafted two guys in the second and third rounds and everyone thinks that’s going to be enough. Maybe it is, but there’s no way to know until they play. Maybe a team full of misfits can do the unthinkable.

We’ll know fast too, as the defense was re-tooled mostly with the idea of stopping the Baltimore Ravens in mind. They’re up first, Week 1 against the Cleveland Browns. If the Ravens put on another 500-yard performance on this defense, then you know holes and issues that existed before are still here to worry about.