The NFL has determined that the Cleveland Browns are a team most fans will not have interest in watching during the 2025 season, and veteran defensive tackle Shelby Harris recently delivered a message to the league about that.
The Browns do not have a single prime-time game on their schedule heading into the upcoming season. They have an international game against the Minnesota Vikings in London in Week 5, and there is always a chance one of their games could be flexed into prime time.
For now, it appears as though the NFL is not expecting much improvement from a Browns team that went 3-14 last season. Harris was asked about that during an appearance on the “Honor the Land” podcast after the full NFL schedule was released on Wednesday. The 33-year-old insisted he is not letting it bother him.
“I’ll say it like this, you know, they can count us out all they want to,” Harris said, via Bobby Cownack of NFL.com. “It’s up to us to go into the season and start whooping people’s a–es. I get it. Last year wasn’t the season that we expected, and now this year they’re going to say we didn’t get prime time because of all of the quarterback controversy. Who cares? Screw ’em.”
Deshaun Watson is expected to miss the entire 2025 season after he suffered a setback during his recovery from a torn Achilles. That has left the Browns with an open competition at quarterback between Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, and rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders.
While the Sanders storyline is an intriguing one, there is as much uncertainty as ever surrounding the Browns. The NFL obviously does not want to gamble on giving Kevin Stefanski’s team a prime-time slot given how things went last season and the lack of clarity at the most important position on the field.
If the Browns are competitive this season, most people would be surprised. Harris and his teammates would be wise to use that skepticism as motivation.
