Maybe this time . . .

The 2020 National Football League season for the Browns is loaded with question marks, most of them stemming from a virtually brand new coaching staff.

For the umpteenth time in the last two decades, the Browns enter a season not knowing what to expect because philosophies are different, coaching styles are different and talent evaluation is different.

Pre-season interviews by the new staff with the existing roster go just so far. It’s what follows when the pads go on that eventually ferrets out the direction in which the club heads. It’s a feeling-out process that takes time.

The Cleveland media received a taste of what to except this season when the Browns trotted out the club’s three coordinators – two newbies and one returnee – a few days ago.

Joe Woods brings Ohio-based coaching chops and a terrific job last season with the San Francisco 49ers to a Cleveland defense badly in need of a personality.

Alex Van Pelt brings a steady hand and valuable teaching experience to an offense and a quarterback, in particular, badly in need of a sense of stability and order that was AWOL last season.

Mike Priefer, who improved the special teams’ performance immeasurably last season, looks for more consistency from his sophomore-season kicking tandem in addition to finding a return specialist who can give the offense better field position.

Woods, who coached at Muskingum College and Kent State University on his way to the NFL, is coming off a season where he was a major contributor to the 49ers’ march to the Super Bowl.

While Niners defensive coordinator Robert Saleh gained most of the credit for the club’s resurgence on that side of the football last season, it was Woods’ efforts as secondary coach that stuck out in his only season with them.

The Niners picked off only two passes and created just seven overall turnovers in the entire 2018 season. Last season, they pilfered 12 passes and recovered 15 fumbles, improving a -25 turnover ratio in 2018 to +4 a year later. That, in addition to an offense that rarely turned the ball over, is why they went to the Super Bowl.

The key positions on defense, Woods pointed out, are “rushers and cover guys.” Not exactly new, but he said he likes to add wrinkles to what he shows opposing offenses.

“I want to make sure I give offenses a lot of the same looks, but play different coverages and make them figure it out at the line of scrimmage,” he said. In other words, show one thing and morph into something entirely different at the snap.

In order to properly pull off the disguised looks, Woods needs the proper personnel. There is no guarantee, though, the front office will be able to provide that kind of personnel.

It will be interesting to see how he adapts to the personnel he is given. A lot of coaches fail when attempting to cater to the talents of their players, choosing instead to force-feed something at which they don’t excel.

One thing Woods will emphasize is ownership of the football. “It’s all about the ball,” he said. “What we do, what they do on offense, what we do on defense, it’s all about the ball. We have to find ways to take it away.

“We will show (the players) the tape so they know how to do it and then it is drilled into practice and getting the guys to run to the ball. You can’t create turnovers if you’re not running to the ball.”

Last season, the Browns under defensive chief Steve Wilks produced just 20 takeaways (14 interceptions). The year before under Gregg Williams, that defense got the ball back 32 times (17 picks).

It appears the aggression fans wanted last season is on its way back with Woods. Every indication also points to him being in total control of that side of the football.

That cannot be said of Van Pelt, who was hired as the offensive coordinator after a two-year stint as the quarterbacks coach in Cincinnati. He is also the Browns’ quarterbacks coach although the club’s Web site does not indicate it. None of the other nine members of the offensive staff is listed as quarterbacks coach.

Most likely, Van Pelt will be the coordinator in name only for a couple of reasons, the most important being new head coach Kevin Stefanski probably will call plays this season, although that has not been officially decided.

“I could easily call plays,” said Van Pelt, who served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach with Buffalo in 2009.  “I work for Kevin and am expected to do whatever role he wants me to do. Right now, I’m the coordinator and helping set up this offense with some good coaches.”

In addition to crafting game plans, Stefanski is also counting on him to straighten out Baker Mayfield, whose disastrous and mistake-laden sophomore season all but wiped out the memory of his record-setting rookie season.

“My plan is to be the voice in the (quarterbacks) room,” Van Pelt said. “That’s very important. One of my strengths as a coach is coaching the quarterback, so I definitely want to make that part of my responsibilities.”

Getting Mayfield untracked is seemingly job one. “It’s our job as an offensive staff to help him and make him successful,” he said. “. . . We have to put him in the best position to have success.” And that position involves the feet.

“It all starts with the feet,” Van Pelt said. “The feet never lie. They get you through your progressions. Just some of the ways we will have him drop from under center and in the (shot)gun will change slightly to help him.”

The new coaching setup on offense can’t be any worse than last season when Todd Monken was the titular – and often ignored by head coach Freddie Kitchens – offensive coordinator and Ryan Lindley was the quarterbacks coach under whom Mayfield regressed.

Overall, it appears the defense will be much more hostile under Woods and the offense theoretically should flourish with all that skill-player talent and an offensive coaching staff that works harmoniously.