Cleveland Browns To Be Featured On "Hard Knocks"
The Cleveland Browns will be featured on this year's edition of Hard Knocks on HBO, the network announced.
The new five-episode season will start on Aug. 7 at 10 p.m. ET and end Sept. 4.
Hard Knocks follows an NFL team and its players during the entirety of training camp before the regular season starts.
“I’ve been a part of Hard Knocks and when you experience it first hand, you come to appreciate the inside look it really gives fans,” said Browns head coach Hue Jackson. “We are excited about what we are building within our organization and feel good about the progress we have made this offseason. Being able to bring our fans in so they can get to know our players and our organization in a different way will be a huge positive for us. I want people to see how much our players and coaches care, how hard they work and how badly they want to win for Cleveland. This will be a great opportunity for our team.”
The Browns were one of six teams eligible to appear on the show, along with the San Francisco 49ers, Denver Broncos, Los Angeles Chargers, Baltimore Ravens, Washington Redskins.
Those teams met the criteria to be on the show because they didn't have a first-year head coach in place, haven't made the playoffs in the past two seasons or haven't appeared on the show in the past 10 years.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were featured on last year's show.
Among the storylines expected to dominate the Browns’ preseason is the play of rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield, the Heisman Trophy winner, who was chosen by Cleveland with the first overall pick in the NFL draft.
The Browns have lost 17 straight games, including all 16 of their games in 2017, and haven't made the playoffs since 2002.
