What Positives Can Cleveland Browns Take Away from 2015 Season?

Following the Cleveland Browns' 37-3 Week 13 loss at the hands of the Cincinnati Bengals, Browns head coach Mike Pettine insisted during his postgame press conference that "there are some positives to take," from the game. He was roundly and rightly mocked for making such a statement.

But Pettine isn't wrong in a macro sense: There are positives to be taken from the Browns' 2015 season, though they are but 2-10 so far on the year. There are building blocks in place that Pettine and general manager Ray Farmer can use to try to improve the team next year, and barring any coaching changes, provide foundation pieces that a new regime in Cleveland can work with in 2016.

In terms of players, it's not hard to pick out the bright spots this season. Two of them are receiver Travis Benjamin and tight end Gary Barnidge. The pair has more than 800 receiving yards so far this year, with Benjamin catching 65.1 percent of the passes thrown to him and Barnidge, 75 percent.

Benjamin has scored five touchdowns, has 241 yards after the catch and has earned 30 first downs. Barnidge, meanwhile, has scored seven touchdowns, has 230 yards after the catch and has accounted for 39 of Cleveland's first downs this year.

The issue with these two, though, is that both are unrestricted free agents in 2016. Granted, they have proven worthy of new contracts from the Browns, whether from this front office or another, and the Browns will have more than enough salary-cap space to sign them both 20 times over. But that also assumes that the two will want to remain in Cleveland moving forward, especially if team owner Jimmy Haslam does clean house at season's end.

But it's hard to imagine what the situation in Cleveland would be like at present had Barnidge and Benjamin not accomplished what they have so far. They are a big reason why the Browns' passing offense has also been a positive thing for the team this season.

Player	Tgts.	Rec.	Rec.%	Yds.	TD	20+	YAC	1st Ds
Benjamin	83	54	65.1%	826	5	11	241	30
Barnidge	80	60	75.0%	817	7	11	230	39
Johnson	50	48	96.0%	440	2	6	316	19

Though Cleveland has cycled through three quarterbacks yet again this year—Josh McCown, Johnny Manziel and Austin Davis (with Manziel named the starter for Week 14)—they still have the 13th-ranked passing offense based on yards per game, at 257 on average.

As a whole, the passing game has netted the Browns only 18 touchdowns this year. Their quarterbacks have thrown only seven interceptions, which is among the fewest in the league. Though the Browns may not have that whole "quarterback of the future" thing sorted out, at least something that has been a struggle for them this year was not their biggest liability of the 2015 season.

What helped was the team's after-catch yardage. Rookie Duke Johnson, Benjamin and Barnidge each rank in the top 45 in yards after the catch this year. And this has been the big upside with Johnson.

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Cleveland's run game has been nonexistent this year, but Johnson has still had a role. He has caught an impressive 48 of the 50 passes thrown his way, for 440 yards, two touchdowns and a team-leading 316 yards after the catch.

On defense, the positives are harder to point out. As a whole, Cleveland's defense struggled this year—and that may be an understatement. Not only did the run defense remain as bad as ever, the pass defense and coverage regressed in a big way.

In 2014, the Browns ranked eighth in passing yards per game allowed and gave up 22 touchdowns to 21 interceptions. This year, the passing defense is 25th in yards per game allowed, has given up 25 passing touchdowns and has a mere eight interceptions. And with four games left to play, the Browns have sacked opposing quarterbacks just 17 times, which is on pace to come up short of the disappointing 30 sacks they totaled last season.

Jason Miller/Getty Images

But some individual performances have stood out on defense this year. They include hybrid defensive end/linebacker Armonty Bryant, who leads the team with 3.5 sacks on the season. Linebacker Karlos Dansby, the team's tackling leader, also has three interceptions this year, two of which have been returned for touchdowns.

Defensive end Desmond Bryant is the Browns' overall top defender this year, according to Pro Football Focus. This was mainly due to his pass-rushing abilities. He has three sacks thus far, plus eight quarterback hits and 10 quarterback hurries. And though linebacker Paul Kruger doesn't have double-digit sacks as he did last year, he does lead the team in hurries, with 30.

Cleveland's cornerbacks have struggled with giving up touchdowns this year. The safeties, Donte Whitner and Tashaun Gipson have each allowed two, while Jordan Poyer has allowed one. The safeties also account for three of Cleveland's interceptions this year.

Mark Duncan/Associated Press

Also worth noting is that the Browns do have a solid collection of proven veterans and promising young players on the roster that could mold into something good in the future. Granted, Farmer's Round 1 draft picks have, to this point, not proven much. But players like Joel Bitonio, Christian Kirksey, Pierre Desir and Jamie Meder can be future stars at their respective positions, if given that opportunity.

While wins are the most important thing—and what the Browns are clearly lacking the most—at least there aren't deficiencies across the board at every position or on every side of the ball. Whether these building blocks can truly serve as a foundation moving forward is unknown simply because we don't know the fate of the current crop of Cleveland decision-makers.

But this isn't a building that needs to be completely razed to forge something good, perhaps even great, from it. The Browns do have positives to be pleased with, as Pettine said. Maybe the best time for him to acknowledge that was not after Sunday's game. But at least any offseason housecleaning in Cleveland doesn't have to result in the roster being gutted.