In many ways, the Cleveland Browns and every other team looking to hire a new head coach are in a hurry-up-and-wait mode. Yes, teams are busy setting up interviews with coaches as they are available, but
that availability is very limited by the NFL rules. On top of that, many teams have John Harbaugh at the top of their list of candidates and could see a couple of coaches who lost in the Wild Card round of the NFL playoffs hit the market .
With the opening round of the playoffs out of the way, the Browns are still unable to set up in-person interviews with any coach employed by another NFL team, even ones who did not make the playoffs or who have been eliminated from the playoffs. Unemployed coaches (Mike McDaniel, Harbaugh) and the ones currently employed by Cleveland (Tommy Rees, Jim Schwartz) are allowed to have face-to-face meetings at any time.
The first time teams can interview a coach from another team in person comes after the Divisional Round of the playoffs, on January 19th. Teams are then required to wait another week before conducting any second interviews with those coaches.
The NFL is doing everything in its power to keep coaching news from happening before the end of its conference championship games. In a league that prioritizes attention and profit, having coaches hired during the week off before the Super Bowl is their best-case scenario.
Given the timeline that the rules set up, you can expect the Browns and other teams to interview a wider variety of candidates for their head coaching position, knowing that many of the top candidates will not be able to be hired for a few more weeks.
