Browns fans express confidence in the defense, but know the offense still has to iron out some issues

Also, fans are cautious about their optimism for new kicker Dustin Hopkins.

Each week during season, Cleveland Browns fans vote in SB Nation Reacts to express their confidence level in the team or their thoughts on other topics.

This week, we conducted a poll to sort of gauge fan perception on the offense, defense, and special teams units heading into the regular season. Let’s start with kicker, where we were more narrow in our question by asking what fans thought of the trade for K Dustin Hopkins.

67% of fans think the deal wasn’t bad, but they aren’t really sure if we’ve solved our problem. 29% think it’s great and that the kicker position is fixed, while 4% think we should’ve just stuck with K Cade York.

Next up were questions asking how fans felt about the Browns’ offense and defense. The answer choices were the same, in attempt to compare the two units directly. As you can see, fans are much more optimistic about the defense — 68% of fans think the defense is “Ready to go!” for the regular season, compared to only 32% thinking that about the offense.

Most fans aren’t concerned about either unit, but when it comes to the offense, 60% of fans think the group will be OK, but still has a good amount of things to work on. I think the results are on point — and we still have to figure out how the Browns will handle QB Deshaun Watson throwing the ball a lot, without under-utilizing the best back in the league in RB Nick Chubb.

Last, but not least, there was a national poll asking who the Defensive Player of the Year will be. You knew there was no way league-wide fans would vote for DE Myles Garrett; among the five contenders, he received the least number of support with 12% of the vote. Cowboys LB Micah Parsons led the way with 34% of the vote.

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