The Opening Drive 5/17: The Browns Offense Must Fix This Primary Issue in 2026
Heavy personnel drawing base defense will need to be a focal point. Then they must punish it.
The Browns were one of the more run-heavy teams in the league last season, deploying heavy personnel — two or fewer wide receivers — on 53% of their early downs outside the redzone. That usage rate placed them in the upper tier of the NFL in terms of commitment to a physical, tight-end-oriented offensive identity. As we know, though, that didn’t result in nearly enough success.
Whenever you put bigger bodies on the field, tight ends and fullbacks, you hope to force the defense into a look the offense can punish one way or the other. The results were mixed when it came to forcing defenses to respond in kind and no matter which route they went, the Browns didn’t punish them. When the offense lined up in heavy formations, opposing defenses matched them with base personnel only about 58% of the time — a middling rate compared to the rest of the league. Roughly 4 out of every 10 heavy personnel snaps were met with nickel or dime packages, suggesting that opposing defensive coordinators weren’t always willing to take the bait and match Cleveland’s physicality with their own. There was no fear.
If your heavy personnel groupings can’t draw base defenses then your ability to attack off play-action weakens. The Browns were 30th in passing EPA in these scenarios, and just 30th in success rate (37.2%), when using heavy-personnel and you can understand why — defenses didn’t feel inclined to put heavier bodies on the field. They kept those defensive backs out there more often and that resulted in tougher passing scenarios off play-action chasing the explosive plays.
It’s also not like the Browns were punishing defenses running the ball against those lighter bodies on the field either. Only the Falcons rans the ball more from heavy-personnel looks as the Browns ran it 309 times last season using the big bodies but they were only 24th in EPA. You can see how this is a problem to formulating a success modern offense.
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