Editor's note: Tony Grossi covers the Cleveland Browns for ESPN 850 WKNR.

HBO and NFL Films had been seeking to feature the Browns on the popular sports reality series Hard Knocks since media magnet Johnny Manziel was drafted by the team in 2014.

The Browns were in the first year of the Mike Pettine coaching era, so they were exempt from being drafted onto the program. The second year, Manziel was coming off his first stint in a substance abuse rehab clinic. So the Browns begged out that time in the interest of Manziel’s privacy.

Even after Manziel flamed out, the Browns were a compelling attraction. But they were exempt again after another coaching change to Hue Jackson. And last year, the Browns were saved again from appearing when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers volunteered.

All along, the elephant in the room keeping the Browns off the program was the ongoing federal trial of Jimmy Haslam’s Pilot Flying J company on counts of fraud and cheating. Haslam was never indicted or called to the witness stand in the trial that climaxed in February in guilty verdicts of three Pilot employees, including the company’s racist former president.

The NFL was never going to subject the Haslams to any more scrutiny beyond the trial itself – especially on a popular TV series it produced.

But now the trial is over and the clouds have lifted over the Haslams. The Browns are basking in a resurgence led by a true football man, John Dorsey, and the dysfunction and ridicule endured by the organization is fading. A new media magnet, Baker Mayfield, is the newest savior, and the awakening of the sleeping giant that has become the Browns’ long-suffering faithful is a storyline in itself.

All of which made the Browns a runaway choice to host the series this summer.

“We really felt like it was our turn this year and the timing was right,” Dee and Jimmy Haslam were quoted in the press release announcing the news.

The basics: Hard Knocks is “must” viewing no matter the featured team. Having the Browns as host is football porn.

The drama of players on the roster bubble trying to make the team is reality TV at its finest. The looks behind the curtain of player evaluation meetings are illuminating glimpses of how teams view their own players and make roster decisions.

Of course, there will be characters playing up to the cameras, and that in itself is comedic and entertaining.

Cameras are everywhere, but teams have veto power over what is shown.

The press release says that “camera crews will head to Berea, Ohio, in the next few weeks to begin filming,” and that “a 30-person NFL Films crew will be in Browns training camp at team headquarters … shooting more than 2,000 hours of footage over the course of the series.”

The series debuts on Aug. 7 and runs for five episodes every Tuesday night. The series finale is Sept. 4. The one-hour programs generally are divided into four segments.

Let’s assume the opening segment sets up the Browns’ current situation – once-proud franchise fallen on astonishingly hard times, bottoming out at an NFL record-tying 0-16 season. The final segment in the series probably would paint the picture of a franchise on the rise, hopeful and optimistic.

Four of the segments might be devoted to preseason game coverage.

So that may leave 14 segments out of 20 total to capture the personalities of the team and entertain an audience that surely extends beyond the Browns’ faithful.

Here, then, are 14 storylines for HBO to consider.

1. All about Baker: Baker Mayfield, the James Dean of quarterbacks, seeks once again to defy the odds and play his way into the starting lineup while the franchise tries to avoid starting a rookie QB for the third year in a row. He produced his own documentary prior to the draft, so he knows all the right moves.

2. Tyrod the sympathetic figure: Tyrod Taylor, unwanted by the Buffalo Bills despite breaking their 18-year post-season drought, tries to fend off the spunky No. 1 draft pick and set himself up for a free-agent bonanza in 2019.

3. Been there, done that: Drew Stanton was a member of the 0-16 Detroit Lions as a rookie quarterback in 2008. Now 34, he’s the hand-picked mentor for a rookie quarterback joining only the second NFL team to go 0-16.

4. The freak is back: Josh Gordon’s contract has been owned by the Browns for seven years. This is the first time he has been able to participate in the team’s offseason program from Day 1. If he can get through training camp unscathed from NFL intervention program protocol, a mature Gordon could exceed the record-shattering receiving numbers he put up in 2013.

5. Hey, buddy boy: GM John Dorsey was fired by the Kansas City Chiefs despite three trips to the postseason in four years and now is tasked with revitalizing a franchise that hasn’t made the playoffs in 15 years and is coming off an 0-16 season. The homespun Dorsey wears a dated Browns sweatshirt that can’t be found in any gift shop. He says he’s “no wordsmith,” yet his quotes and sound bites go viral.

6. Go jump in a lake: No doubt the HBO cameras will record when Hue Jackson honors his promise on June 1 to jump in Lake Erie following a season worse than his 1-15 first year as Browns coach. The only coach in history to survive a 1-31 start enters the 2018 season on the hottest seat in the NFL.

7. The big gamble: Antonio Callaway was considered the “first or second” receiver in the draft by Dorsey, yet fell to the fourth round because of a rap sheet thicker than some college playbooks. Can he stay eligible long enough to flash his certifiable play-making ability?

8. Jurassic World: Myles Garrett looks big enough in his second season to wrestle a Tyrannosaurus rex. Not that he would agree to it, mind you, because Garrett’s passion for paleontology originated in his fondness of dinosaurs in the Jurassic Park motion picture series. Garrett’s other passions – poetry, children’s books, sacking quarterbacks -- might also be explored.

9. Come get some: Gregg Williams is a self-admitted crazy man who spews F-bombs and loves the camera. He screen-tested for this gig in 2016 with the Rams.

10. Haley’s comet: Todd Haley had six successful seasons as offensive coordinator with the Pittsburgh Steelers, coaching drama king Ben Roethlisberger hard. For his efforts, he was banished to the place where quarterbacks go to die. He does not back down to any player. The daily competition of the units supervised by Haley and Williams may require a ring doctor rather than a referee.

11. Local boy makes good: Rookie cornerback Denzel Ward, of Macedonia, OH, lost his father, a highly respected educator in Bedford, unexpectedly to a heart attack two years ago. After Ward surprisingly was drafted No. 4 overall by his hometown team, he said the first thing he’ll do with his rookie signing bonus was take over his mom’s mortgage payments.

12. Corey’s last stand: Corey Coleman, Sashi Brown’s first draft pick after the executive VP bypassed Carson Wentz and traded down two times, is the No. 1 player on the hot seat. The underperforming receiver from Baylor lost his primary advocate and probably his coach’s patience after a fateful dropped pass in Pittsburgh that secured the 16th loss in a winless season.

13. Coach Joe: Joe Thomas’ retirement after 10 Pro Bowl seasons and 10,363 consecutive snaps on offense may lead to a coaching career. Thomas no doubt will be on the scene giving tips to the candidates to succeed him, which include Shon Coleman, second-round draft pick Austin Corbett and undrafted free agent Desmond Harrison.

14. The Juice: Free agent receiver Jarvis Landry seeks to energize his new team after catching 400 passes in four years yet not making a certifiable impact with the Miami Dolphins.