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Mike Tannenbaum Predicts Kirk Cousins Will Lead the Browns to AFC North Supremacy

The ESPN analyst has a foolproof plan for Cleveland to overtake the Ravens, Steelers and Bengals.

Stephen Douglas

Kirk Cousins warms up before an Atlanta Falcons game.
Kirk Cousins warms up before an Atlanta Falcons game. / Brett Davis-Imagn Images
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The stars of First Take are enjoying the holiday today which means that some other ESPN personalities had to step up for the first broadcast of the new year That's how America ended up with Mike Tannenbaum telling Jason McCourty and David Dennis Jr. that Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins would lead the Cleveland Browns back to the playoffs next season.

It could be a long year of people trying to top this take.

"Kirk Cousins will lead the Browns to the AFC North division title," said Tannenbaum. "And to me this one's really easy because you reunite with Kevin Stefanski. They need a quarterback. They have a really good defense. And if Kirk Cousins plays B or better they win the division."

The Browns did recently rework Deshaun Watson's humongous contract to ease the salary cap ramifications down the road, but Watson still has a cap hit of $73 million in 2025. Even if Cousins got cut and could play on a cheap deal, he did just play so poorly that he got benched and then, in this hypothetical case, also got cut.

There's no reason to believe that Cleveland will acquire Cousins and if it does, there shouldn't be much optimism that he can deliver a B-graded performance on a regular basis at 37 years old.

Which is probably why McCourty and Dennis Jr. had such a good laugh at the idea that Cousins could suddenly make this three-win Browns team pass the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers—both of whom are headed to the playoff this year. Not to mention Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals, who are competing for the final Wild Card spot in the AFC this weekend.

Still, we'll continue to monitor the situation.

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Stephen Douglas
STEPHEN DOUGLAS

Stephen Douglas is a senior writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has worked in media since 2008 and now casts a wide net with coverage across all sports. Douglas spent more than a decade with The Big Lead and previously wrote for Uproxx and The Sporting News. He has three children, two degrees and one now unverified Twitter account.

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