Browns Fans 'Not Optimistic' for 2024 Per National Poll

The Cleveland Browns enter the 2024 campaign on Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys at Huntington Bank Field and have reasons to be optimistic about the season.

Cleveland boasts maybe the top defensive unit in all of the NFL and quarterback Deshaun Watson is supposed to be healthy for the first time since arriving in town.

But, for some reason, a national poll conducted by The Athletic finds Browns fans anything but optimistic.

The poll showed just 35.1 percent of Cleveland fans thought good things would happen in 2024.

28. Cleveland Browns: 35.1 percent optimism

Optimist Cooper: The roster, especially the defense, has way too much talent not to get double-digit wins and make the playoffs. Will we win the Super Bowl? No chance Deshaun Watson has that in him. Bummer we’re wasting such a fantastic defensive run with him at QB, but as a lifelong Browns fan, winning double-digit games is something to enjoy.

Optimist Mike: I always feel optimistic about the Browns when expectations are low. The roster is loaded, but there isn’t an unreasonable buzz around the team that has plagued us in earlier seasons.

Pessimist Steve: I’ve been a Browns fan too long to be optimistic about anything. Plus Watson hasn’t shown hardly anything since the trade.

Pessimist Steve: God hates the Browns.

In this inaugural "Hope-O-Meter" from The Athletic, it seems that quarterback stability pushed fanbases to the most optimism. Obviously, when a team has stability at that position, it creates hope.

Related: Cowboys at Browns: What's Dallas' 'Troublesome Trio' in Week 1? Tracker

But the teams that have questions there were the teams with the least optimism about their teams.

The problem in Cleveland is that no one really knows what Watson can offer these days. With just 12 games played over the past two seasons, it's hard to judge the former Clemson Tiger's current abilities.

But those questions can begin to be answered on Sunday against the Cowboys.

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