Let me preface this Cleveland Browns season in review with a quick monologue. I grew up in Cleveland and, as a child, saw the team lose in every manner possible even when they were on the cusp of going to the Super Bowl. Then the team was taken away when I was in college and I turned my football focus to fantasy, figuring I liked statistics and football (after all, I don't write for a website called PoetryFire), so fantasy football is where I naturally belonged.

In 1999, the Browns made their NFL return and I was left with figuring out how to balance my allegiance to them with my new love of watching and tracking my fantasy football players. Since then, I've made the same vow Week 1 of every year: I will watch the Browns until I deem them "unwatchable", and then start flipping games to see how my fantasy teams are doing.

My eternal hope is that I'm rarely changing the channel because the Browns have an engaging and dynamic team, even if they aren't winning. I typically make it through a quarter or two of the first game before they start spiraling downward. Then, my fantasy team tracking begins.

After an inauspicious start in the 2014 season opener where I flipped the channel as year-long suspension for Gordon with Manziel's rehab, the mumbling about the same old Browns comes to the forefront.

The team is one of the youngest in the league. Getting Mack back should help boost the running game that features youngsters Crowell and West. By virtue of trading down with Buffalo in 2014 in the walk in free agency, driving up the need for a pass-catcher in a shallow offense.

With the timing of Manziel returning from rehab up in the air, the Browns may bring back Hoyer to compete for the starting job if the price is right, as the free agent quarterback market is significantly depressed. Additionally, the top draft quarterback prospects won't make it down to their first pick, and the front office may not be ready to admit a potential mistake or write off Manziel yet. Either way, after many years of trading picks away and trading down, the Browns need to hit a home run with their first rounders to placate their restless fan base and improve their team.

Getting help in stuffing the run is another huge offseason priority for the Browns, who have significant cap space available per OverTheCap.com. In fact, the Browns have the third-most space available (approximately $49.3 million available) of all teams. While Cleveland isn't necessarily a free agent destination, the Browns should be able to get some help on the defensive side of the ball to stop the run in the AFC North and could possibly afford the huge contract of Ndamukong Suh if he is chasing paper.

While the team is heading in the right direction record-wise, it's critical that the Browns move quickly and decisively to deal with their offseason setbacks and figure out their quarterback situation first and foremost for 2015. Then, they'll have to make some other moves to bring the talent level up further to turn "watchable" into "AFC North contender" in a year that the division has to play both the AFC and NFC West divisions.