Juan Thornhill Relishing ‘Underdog’ Challenge With Browns

Browns safety Juan Thornhill says winning a Super Bowl in Cleveland will be more satisfying than with the Chiefs. 

Juan Thornhill joins the Browns after winning two Super Bowls in four years with Kansas City. He’s excited to bring his experience to Cleveland – a team which has still never won a Super Bowl.

“I like to be the underdog a little bit going into the season,” Juan Thornhill said. 

Want $250 to bet on NFL futures?

Sign up here!

“Not everyone thinking that you’re going to be, like, the No. 1 team. Kansas City, everybody put them up there, No. 1, they think they’re going to win every year. But me coming here, I feel like I can add something to the team and bring something to the team to get us to that top level, and I just will feel accomplished if we did that well.”

“It’s all good,” Thornhill said. “Like I said, it’s a new start. Whatever happened last year is last year. This is a new year and this is what we’re working for — to get to the Super Bowl this season.”

Another new addition, defensive end Za’Darius Smith, says the key to winning the Super Bowl is winning your division. Cleveland has not won the AFC North since the NFL restructured the divisions in 2022.

“So that’s the No. 1 goal is help this team win a Super Bowl,” Smith said. 

“Well, first of all, win the (AFC) North, well, win the division, sorry, and then go on and play in the Super Bowl.”

Read: Jon Gruden Helping Derek Carr With ‘Learning Curve’ With Saints’

“Cause that’s where it starts,” Smith said.

“I feel like if you set goals, it got to start from there. If you don’t win a division, it’s really not a possibility of going to the Super Bowl. … A lot of guys don’t focus on that, they just talk about the Super Bowl, but the main goal is to win the division first, be on top and hopefully go the playoffs, get a bye and go from there.”