Here are some thoughts on the 3-8 Cleveland Browns ahead of their Monday night game in Denver against the 7-5 Broncos.

Another prime time opportunity for Winston

The Broncos have the league’s best defense in yards allowed per game (4.7), red zone touchdown percentage (39.4) and sacks (44). One of the keys to the Browns’ offensive success with Winston was the quarterback’s ability to find open receivers against pressure. Against a defense that also recorded 15 takeaways this season, Winston will have to take care of the ball.

We know the Browns’ future at quarterback is completely uncertain, so any opportunity for Winston to show he can be efficient and productive against a good defense is important. He will be eligible for unrestricted free agency again in March. Winston has insisted since October that he is solely focused on becoming the best player he can be for the Browns, but last week he was asked if he could see himself staying in Cleveland.

“When I think about my family, I think about my kids having to move and my wife having to make new friends,” Winston said. “I think whenever you’re able to solidify a role and a spot and play well there, you’re happy to be at home. However, that is beyond my control. Again, my focus is on one piece at a time…and piling it up day by day.

“I feel comfortable wherever I go. I feel comfortable in every room I enter. But I really embraced this city. I love the stubborn (mindset). I love the beautiful trees, three months of the year. I’m grateful, and it’s as simple as that. Man, I’m grateful for the fans that challenge me. I’m grateful to the fans for lifting me up.”

If Winston avoids turnovers, the Browns will have multiple chances to be spoilsports the rest of the season, and he will have a starting spot at some point in 2025, even if it’s not in Cleveland. With the Broncos, Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs on the schedule in the next 14 days, Winston and his pass catchers, who are in some ways playing for their own future, still have some really important evaluation points ahead of them.

An unlikely newcomer

Undrafted rookie linebacker Winston Reid might be the least likely Brown. On a team that returned nearly all of its core players from last season and largely went the veteran route in filling its special teams lineups, Reid started in May as one of the final four or five players on the 90-man offseason roster. But through opportunities and the two Vs – violence and versatility – he has been in the active squad since September and has made an important contribution in several areas.

Reid has played on almost all of the Browns’ kicking units, a little on defense and in certain jumbo package plans at fullback. In Week 2, he made his first appearance as an active roster member when he delivered a monster hit on a kick return to Jacksonville Jaguars running back Tank Bigsby. The hit caused a fumble that was later wiped out by a penalty well past the tackle, but it was a play that introduced Reid to the Cleveland fan base and earned him respect in the locker room.

“Was it a hit when I knew I belonged? You could probably say that,” Reid said. “But that’s my job. A man in my position has to do everything that is asked of him, probably even more. If being on the kickoff team meant I got another chance, then that was the game I needed.”

Reid said he had played running back “only in Little League and high school” when the Browns needed to add a short-yardage fullback in October. His willingness to hit, demonstrated on the kickoff return in Jacksonville, gave him another chance to get on the field, and he volunteered to learn the point “because the more I can do, the more valuable I am.” .” He logged seven offensive snaps in a blocking role. According to Pro Football Focus, Reid has played fullback, tight end, wide receiver, slot cornerback and defensive end in addition to his 65 linebacker snaps and full-time special teams duties this season.

He will be on the pitch on Monday night wearing custom-made pink football boots that honor his late mother Lau Reid and her battle with breast cancer. As part of the NFL’s “My Cause My Cleats” weekend, Reid’s cleats will help raise money to support the American Cancer Society and honor his mother, who died when he was 13. During Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, Reid wore a pink arm warmer in honor of his mother.

“I still think about my mom all the time,” Reid said. “It’s hard to describe the feeling of being able to pay tribute to her on an NFL field on ‘Monday Night Football’ while living my dream and still playing football.”

Reid went from a walk-on at Weber State to an FCS All-American in his sixth and final collegiate season. He was good enough to earn a chance with the Browns in the spring. They cut Reid in late August but brought him back to the practice squad and after one game he was elevated to the active roster.

“The path for a player like me was always to stay on special teams,” Reid said. “So I embraced that straight away and I have to keep that mindset. I hope that I can prove that I can play wherever I’m needed, but I can never believe that I’ve arrived. If that goal (in Jacksonville) helped me get more chances, then I just have to keep going and keep earning them.”

Expect Surtain to keep up with Jeudy

Jerry Jeudy has been the Browns’ clear No. 1 wide receiver since Jameis Winston became quarterback, and this week the receiver returns to Denver, where he played his first four NFL seasons before being traded to Cleveland in March.

Jeudy has at least 70 receiving yards in all four of Winston’s starts, and the Browns would not have completed their Week 12 victory rally against the Steelers without two crucial Jeudy receptions in the fourth quarter. The Broncos obviously know Jeudy well and will likely use Pat Surtain II against him in most situations on Monday night.

According to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats, Surtain has allowed just 177 yards on 23 receptions and an opposing passer rating of 47.6 this season. The receiving yards and passer rating are the lowest allowed by a full-time cornerback player this season. The most receptions and yards Surtain allowed to a single player came in Week 1, when Seattle’s DK Metcalf had three catches for 29 yards. Surtain hosted the Steelers’ George Pickens and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Mike Evans for just one reception each in their meetings.

With Cedric Tillman out this week with a concussion, the Browns will have Jeudy and Elijah Moore as starting wide receivers. Tillman’s absence could mean more red zone targets for tight end David Njoku, and it also likely means Kadarius Toney will be promoted from the practice squad for the game. Expect Toney and rookie Jamari Thrash to see snaps at the back end of the wide receiver rotation.

Garrett is inching closer to 100 sacks

Myles Garrett enters the game with 98 1/2 career sacks. If he reaches 100 – and that could be this week – he will be just the fifth player since sacks became an official statistic in 1982 to reach 100 in his first eight seasons. The others are Reggie White, DeMarcus Ware, Jared Allen and TJ Watt.

What does 100 mean to Garrett whenever it happens?

“Well, I think it still took me too long in my eyes (to reach 100),” Garrett said. “Come to think of it, Mr. White was difficult to catch (124 sacks in his first eight seasons). I hope the next ones, but a lot of them, come quicker than the first 100, so let’s do what I do and try to go one step further.”

With six games left, the months of December and January can still take many different paths for the Browns. I don’t think any major decisions have been made about the future of the front office or football operations, and I think making sure to avoid a situation where Garrett asks for an exit is a reasonable short-term goal facing an uncertain future the franchise and all of its central figures, a list that certainly includes the five-time Pro Bowler.

We will continue to address the big issues and decisions in the coming weeks.

(Top photo: Jason Miller / Getty Images)