The Cleveland Browns have three games remaining before they close out their 19th season since 1999 with double-digit losses.
While there is always the possibility that the Browns pull off a holiday miracle and pick up a win before it all comes to an end, it seems more than likely they will enter the offseason on the back of consecutive 3-14 seasons.
That has led the darker corners of Browns Town to rise up and demand that someone’s head be delivered to them on a platter. Special teams coordinator Bubba
Ventrone? Most definitely on the list! General manager Andrew Berry? The mob is eyeing him strongly, as well.
And no list would be complete without head coach Kevin Stefanski’s name being on it.
Never mind that Stefanski is by far the most successful head coach the Browns have employed since 1999, and that the past two seasons have shown how difficult it is to win in the NFL without a quarterback. The mob wants what the mob wants, and it wants Stefanski out of town as soon as possible.
The speculation about Stefanski’s job security has been percolating for weeks, which NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero added to on Saturday with a look at where each of the 11 teams that have been eliminated from the playoffs stand in regard to their head coach.
As it relates to the Browns, well, there really is no news:
No decisions have been made on the future of Kevin Stefanski, the two-time NFL Coach of the Year. The Browns know Stefanski can coach, and he has maintained a consistent approach amid the adversity of a transition year with a young roster. But the hard reality is the Browns are 6-25 over the past two seasons, putting everything up for evaluation.
The organization has already undergone a major change this year: chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta, who presided over football matters for 10 seasons remotely from his San Diego home, left the organization last month to become the Colorado Rockies’ president of baseball operations. A Harvard graduate who appeared in the book Moneyball, which was later adapted into the movie of the same title, DePodesta influenced the hires of fellow Ivy Leaguers as head coach (Stefanski) and general manager (Andrew Berry). He also built out one of the NFL’s most robust data and analytics staffs — infrastructure that will largely remain in place, though it’s unclear if his old role will continue to exist.
The Browns’ rookie class has been one of the NFL’s best, and it’ll look even better if quarterbacks Dillon Gabriel or Shedeur Sanders can develop into a long-term option. How Stefanski and his staff continue to bring along Sanders will be part of the evaluation over the final three games as Cleveland approaches a QB crossroads. Deshaun Watson is (finally) entering the final year of his $230 million fully guaranteed contract in 2026. And the team has significant draft capital — including two first-round picks — to potentially target another QB in April.
Does owner Jimmy Haslam believe Stefanski is the right coach to bring a young team and young quarterback(s) into the next phase of the Browns’ build? If not, Haslam might opt to move on, and Stefanski would immediately become a top candidate elsewhere.
None of this comes as a surprise, of course, although it will disappoint those who have been expecting the Browns to fire Stefanski basically since the game against the Minnesota Vikings in London.
The takeaway is that there is only one person who knows what comes next – owner Jimmy Haslam – and he is currently busy making sure the new stadium in Brook Park stays on schedule.
Until Haslam steps up to the microphone, which will likely come on January 5, and makes an announcement one way or another about the future of Stefanski and everyone else, it doesn’t really matter what anyone says or claims to know about the situation.
The mob can rage on for the next three weeks, or better yet, have an empty stadium for the final two home games to signal their displeasure, but it seems fairly certain that no decision will be made or announced until the season is over.
Which gives everyone three more weeks to consume the speculation and rage, a December tradition that Browns fans know far too well.
