It doesn’t appear that the Cleveland Browns upper management was all too willing to accept participation in the annual HBO documentary series “Hard Knocks,” but the Browns brass has warmed up to the idea since. The NFL – and presumably HBO – have a say in who gets the limelight in the series, so whether the Browns’ reservations didn’t really matter at the end of the day.
Hard Knocks with the Cleveland Browns debuts Tuesday, Aug. 7 (10:00-11:00 p.m. ET/PT). Other hour-long episodes of the Browns will debut subsequent Tuesdays at the same time.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) May 17, 2018
The series started in 2001, documenting the Baltimore Ravens. Generally, HBO’s cameras give an all-access view of an organization as it starts training camp and heads into the preseason. Many highlights of the series thus far revolve around trades, cuts, and/or position battles within the featured team’s depth chart. The most obvious plot to follow as it concerns the 2018 Cleveland Browns is the quarterback battle between newly-acquired Tyrod Taylor and number one draft pick Baker Mayfield.
“Once we sat down and talked about it as an organization, I feel a lot better and understand why the time is right,” said Browns’ general manager John Dorsey, in reference to the team’s initial hesitancy to welcome HBO’s cameras. Head coach Hue Jackson added that it will be a good opportunity to give fans a chance to get to know and embrace the current members of the team. For a team that has as much turnover as the Browns the past few seasons, being on HBO couldn’t hurt their familiarity with the fans.
Cleveland has won just four games since the start of the 2015 season. Perhaps having a high profile through training camp will give the team a chance to exorcise their demons, so to speak. (Although that would go against the general thinking of being the team on the show, those organizations don’t exactly have a sterling record of success during the season in which they participated in the show.)
