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Rewind to the beginning of the 2001 NFL season.
Miami Dolphins head coach Dave Wannstedt entered his second season at the helm replacing the legendary Jimmy Johnson. Both the Cleveland Browns and the New York Jets got off to a fresh start. The Browns hired Butch Davis to replace Chris Palmer as head coach, and the Jets moved on from the Al Groh and Bill Belichick debacle with Herm Edwards.
Hopes for all three teams were as high as they have been. The future looked bright.
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New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan talks to the referees before the start of the game against the Denver Broncos at Sports Authority Field on November 17, 2011. (Ron Chenoy/USA TODAY Sports)
Fast forward almost 25 years, not much progress has been made with any of the three franchises. As the 2025 season draws to a close, the Dolphins, Browns and Jets will all end up with losing records, missing the playoffs and a total of zero Super Bowl appearances.
The Browns are usually teased by NFL fans as a ridiculous franchise with the amount of futility the franchise has gone through since the 2001 season began.
Cleveland was the second team in NFL history to go winless through a season. The Browns have had 39 starting quarterbacks in that span, including three different ones this season in Joe Flacco, Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders. The Browns have had nine different head coaches in that span and have made three playoff appearances, including one playoff victory. The team was last in the postseason in 2023.
Things are bad in Cleveland, but the one playoff win in that span is exactly one more than the Dolphins have had since the 2001 season began.
Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders reacts on the sideline during the first half of an NFL football game against the San Francisco 49ers, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
The Dolphins have only been to the playoffs five times and have had names like Jay Fiedler, Daunte Culpepper, Chad Pennington, Jay Cutler, Ryan Fitzpatrick and Tua Tagovailoa all come through and start games in Miami. Quinn Ewers marked the 26th starting quarterback the franchise has trotted out. It has been 27 years since Dan Marino hung up his cleats after the 1999 season.
Mike McDaniel represented the eighth head coach the Dolphins have had on the sidelines, and while the team had shown bright spots with Tagovailoa and Tyreek Hill connecting on the field, there just hasn’t been the same amount of success in Miami since the Marino era.
New York has entered the same realm. While the Browns and Dolphins have both had their ups and downs in recent years, most of New York’s success came in the 2000s.
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Darrelle Revis #24 of the New York Jets reacts with Jordan Jenkins #48 before a game against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium on December 24, 2016 in Foxboro, Massachusetts. (Billie Weiss/Getty Images)
The Jets made six playoff appearances from 2001 to 2010 and were on the verge of a Super Bowl twice with Mark Sanchez at quarterback, Darrelle Revis locking down wide receivers and Rex Ryan running the sidelines. Since 2010, the Jets have had 12 losing seasons. They have not made the playoffs and only finished above .500 once.
Not to mention, New York has been through seven head coaches in that span.
It’s eerily amazing how three historic franchises have shared similar futility with the amount of parity in the NFL at the moment. There have been 12 different Super Bowl winners with at least 19 different teams appearing in the game.
And that’s not to say there hasn’t been excitement throughout each franchise. The Jets acquisition of Brett Favre was big news. The Browns drafted Johnny Manziel, who was a polarizing figure in college football and the NFL. The Dolphins had an electric running back in Ricky Williams and defensive stars like Jason Taylor and Zach Thomas.
But it just never paid off.
Miami Dolphins running back Ricky Williams (34) rushes the football as Green Bay Packers safety Nick Collins (36) lines up for a tackle during overtime at Lambeau Field on September 21, 2010. (Jeff Hanisch/USA TODAY Sports)
While 2001 was a big year of change among all three teams, more difficult decisions could be made as 2025 ends and the 2026 season officially begins.
McDaniel, Kevin Stefanski and Aaron Glenn are all on the hot seat with their respective teams. Only the Dolphins replaced their general manager (Chris Grier) in the middle of the year. Glenn is only in his first season as head coach, but rumors have varied as to whether he will be retained through 2026.
All three teams could be in the market for a quarterback trade.
The Dolphins benched Tagovailoa for the final few games of the season despite his massive contract. The Browns didn’t seem set on Sanders or Gabriel as QB1 heading into 2026, especially with Deshaun Watson and his albatross of a contract lingering. The Jets also tried three different quarterbacks in 2025, but a high draft pick could lead them to take a flier on someone like Fernando Mendoza.
Cleveland Browns quarterback Charlie Frye (9) is sacked by Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Napolean Harris (50) at Cleveland Browns Stadium on August 11, 2007. (Matthew Emmons/USA TODAY Sports)
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Things could always change for these three franchises, but as the 2025 season draws to a close, many things have remained the same as the new millennium began, and nothing looks set to change right now.
