General Manager Andrew Berry is convinced the Browns’ 2024 3-14 record does not reflect the talent on the roster he cobbled together in five years on the job. “We have a lot of good people in our organization from a core group of players, good coaches, good people in football operations,” Berry said during his season wrap-up news conference Jan. 6. “We will make adjustments, and we will learn from this and grow from this. “Obviously, what we put together this year wasn’t good enough. We didn’t play well enough on (offense), but we have full faith that Kevin (head coach Kevin Stefanski) will be able to put it together and allow us to have better results. …Our best players, they have to play up to their potential. That’s also an element of it.” The Commanders and Eagles play for the NFC championship at 3 p.m. Jan. 26. The Bills and Chiefs play for the AFC championship at 6:30 p.m. the same day. That makes this a perfect time to do a position breakdown to compare the Browns to the playoff teams. Let’s start with quarterback. • Anyone who cares knows quarterback is the position on the Browns’ roster that needs the most attention, but these numbers show how bad it is. And there is no Jayden Daniels in the 2025 draft to engineer for the Browns a turnaround like the one Daniels led for the Commanders. Josh Allen of the Bills (28 touchdown passes, six interceptions), Jalen Hurts of the Eagles (18-5) and Daniels (25-9) combined threw one less interception than the 23 thrown by Browns quarterbacks Deshaun Watson, Jameis Winston, Dorian Thompson-Robinson and Bailey Zappe in 2024. Bills quarterback Josh Allen motions for a first down during the first quarter against the Broncos on Jan. 12 in Orchard Park, N.Y. (Seth Wenig – The Associated Press) Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw 26 touchdown passes and 11 interceptions in the regular season. That is not unusual. He threw 41 touchdown passes and 12 interceptions in 2022, then 27 TD passes and 14 picks last year. But Mahomes is a different cat in the playoffs. He threw seven touchdown passes and no interceptions in three playoff games two years ago. He threw six touchdown passes and one pick last year in four playoff games. The Chiefs won the Super Bowl both years. He threw one touchdown pass without an interception last week when the Chiefs eliminated the Texans in a divisional playoff game. • Running back isn’t as high a priority as quarterback for the Browns, but it needs an upgrade. It is wishful thinking to expect Nick Chubb to come back from a broken foot when in 2024 he wasn’t fully recovered from the knee injury he suffered in 2023. Plus, Chubb isn’t under contract for 2025. Jerome Ford emerged as the primary back in 2023 after the injury ended Chubb’s season, but he is not the back the Browns can ride to a championship. Saquon Barkley signed as a free agent with the Eagles in 2024 and rushed for 2,005 and 13 touchdowns. He caught 33 passes for 278 yards and two touchdowns. The Chiefs signed Kareem Hunt after the season started. He led Kansas City with 728 rushing yards and a team-high seven touchdowns. The Browns as a team rushed for eight touchdowns. Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt runs carries against the Panthers on Nov. 24. (Brian Westerholt – The Associated Press) Think of the Bills and you automatically think of Josh Allen, but running back James Cook rushed for 1,009 yards and 16 touchdowns. Commanders running back Brian Roobinson rushed for 799 yards and eight touchdowns. • Edge rusher goes to the Browns because of superstar defensive end Myles Garrett, but the Browns don’t have a pass rusher to bookend Garrett because they traded Z’Darius Smith to the Lions in early November. Myles Garrett rushes during the Browns’ loss to the Commanders on Oct. 6. (Daniel Kucin Jr. – The Associated Press) Garrett finished second in the NFL behind only Trey Hendrickson of the Bengals (17.5) with 14 sacks. Garrett is a finalist to repeat as Defensive Player of the Year. At the end of 2024, he was ranked No. 1 among all edge rushers by Pro Football Focus. His pass rush win percentage of 23.1 was the best in the league. PFF credited Garrett with 83 pressures, which tied Hendrickson for most in the league. Chris Jones of the Chiefs is the highest rated defensive lineman still in the playoffs. He had 74 pressures from his defensive tackle position, but only five sacks. Greg Rousseau (eight sacks) and Von Miller (six) give the Bills a strong pass rushing duo. Pro Football Focus ranks three players from Philadelphia among the top 20 edge rushers. Milton Williams (ranked sixth, pass rush grade of 90.4), Moro Ojomo 16th (82.6 pass rush grade) and Jalen Carter 19th. Carter batted down six passes in 2024. • Cornerback could be considered a weakness of the Browns compared to the secondaries of the teams in the playoffs despite Denzel Ward being voted to the Pro Bowl. Pro Football Focus ranked 118 cornerbacks in 2024. Martin Emerson was ranked 113th, Greg Newsome 106th and Cameron Mitchell 104th. Ward, who led the league with 17 forced incompletions and a league-leading 24.3% forced incompletion rate, ranked 30th among cornerbacks. Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown scores a touchdown as Browns cornerback Martin Emerson Jr. defends Oct. 13. (Matt Slocum – The Associated Press) The Browns gave up 26 touchdown passes — three more than in 2023 — and intercepted only four passes. Each playoff team has one cornerback that ranked among the top 12 for 2024. Trent McDuffie of the Chiefs, ranked first among all NFL cornerbacks by Pro Football Focus, is a dominant player and one Allen will try to avoid. Likewise, Mahomes should try to stay away from Bills cornerback Christian Benford. Benford intercepted two passes in 2024. McDuffie picked off two passes and broke up 13. Noah Igbinoghene of the Commanders was ranked third at the end of 2024 despite having no interceptions. He made 55 tackles in the regular season. Emerson led the Browns’ cornerbacks with 80 tackles. The Eagles are going to challenge Daniels with veteran cornerback Darius Slay, rookie corner Quinyon Mitchell and veteran safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson. Gardner-Johnson intercepted six passes in the regular season. • Back in 2020 and 2021, with Bill Callahan coaching the unit, when Chubb and Hunt formed a dynamic 1-2 punch, the Browns had one of the best offensive lines in the league. Alas, it is another segment of the team that needs a major facelift to be on a par with the lines of the teams still in the playoffs. Ten different linemen played at least 170 snaps for the Browns in 2024. By contrast, Bills right tackle Spencer Brown missed one game this season, but otherwise Buffalo’s line was intact throughout the season. The offensive line of the Eagles is a major reason Barkley rushed for more than 2,000 yards. The Chiefs started four different players at left tackle in 2024. Slippery Mahomes was sacked 36 times — up nine sacks from 2023. Browns quarterbacks were sacked 66 times in 2024. Deshaun Watson was sacked 33 times in 6.5 games. Dawand Jones looks to make a block against the Titans, on Sept. 24. (Kirk Irwin – The Associated Press) The Browns need a left tackle. Jedrick Wills won’t be back. Dawand Jones finished his rookie year of 2023 and 2024 on injured reserve. Left guard Joel Bitonio is contemplating retirement after 11 seasons. Mike Bloomgren was hired to coach the line when Andy Dickerson was fired after one season. That might help, but a coaching change won’t fix everything. A year ago, Pro Football Focus ranked the Commanders 25th in pass blocking efficiency. That number improved to eighth this season. • Andrew Berry hit a home run when he acquired Jerry Jeudy from the Broncos last March for a 2024 fifth-round and sixth-round draft pick. Jeudy caught 90 passes for 1,229 yards. Both are career bests for Jeudy. David Njoku missed six games with injuries but still caught 64 passes for 505 yards and five touchdowns. Jerry Jeudy heads up field after catching a pass against the Dolphins on Dec. 29. (Tim Phillis – For The News-Herald) Berry has to find a receiver to pair with Jeudy. Cedric Tillman could be that player, but finding one in the draft would give the next quarterback depth. Strange but true, the Browns finished fewer than 100 receiving yards (3,879) behind the Bills (3,938) and Commanders (3,932). Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce (97 catches, 823 yards, three touchdowns) is the most dominant pass catcher remaining in the playoffs. The conclusion is the Browns’ receiving corps can be on an even playing field with the playoff teams if Berry can solve the quarterback dilemma. I didn’t know that … until I read my Snapple bottle cap: At birth, a Dalmatian is always pure white. … Jousting has been the official sport in Maryland since June 1, 1962. Maryland was the first state to declare an official state sport. Now 18 states have one. Ohio is one of the 32 that doesn’t. … Dragonflies have six legs but cannot walk. … A fresh cranberry can bounce like a rubber ball because of the air pockets it contains. Old or damaged berries won’t bounce. Fresh berries are bagged and sold. Berries that don’t pass the bounce test become cranberry juice. … A human adult skull is made of 29 bones. … Kangaroos can hop up to 30 feet on a single jump. They are capable of hopping up to 35 MPH.