The 2022 offseason saw a plethora of new head coaching hires around the league, though in some cases teams may very well have come to regret their additions. Two midseason firings took, but more dismissals could be coming in the near future or upon the conclusion of the regular season. 
One name which is being floated in that regard is Browns HC Kevin Stefanski. According to executives who have spoken to the Washington Post’s Jason La Canfora on the subject of coaches on the hot seat, Cleveland is a team to watch with respect to the 40-year-old.
Stefanski joined Cleveland in 2020 after a long tenure working on the Vikings’ offensive staff, including one full year as offensive coordinator. His inaugural season in Cleveland went well, as the team ended its playoff drought with an 11-5 season and earned a Wild Card round victory. That led to Coach of the Year honors, and significant expectations for the foreseeable future for both Stefanski and the organization.
Things have taken a turn for the worse since then, however. An injury-riddled Baker Mayfield hampered the Browns’ offense last season, one which ended up with an 8-9 record and a postseason absence. The team’s total – though not scoring – defense held up well, finishing fifth in the NFL, but it was not enough to avoid an early end to the campaign.
Expectations for the franchise changed once again this past offseason, with the acquisitions of quarterback Deshaun Watson and wideout Amari Cooper. To this point — a stretch which, in fairness, has consisted entirely of Watson’s suspension-induced absence — the Browns have seen little success outside of their rushing attack. The team sits at 4-7 on the season, which drops Stefanski’s overall record to 23-21. Defense has once again been a sore spot; the Browns rank 30th in points allowed per game (26), which has put increased pressure on their (previously) shorthanded offense.
Things could change with the return of Watson (who is under contract for four years after this), of course, but La Canfora notes that the next coaching cycle could favor defensive-minded candidates given the general success around the league on that side of the ball in 2022, and, perhaps, the struggles endured by the likes of Josh McDaniels and Nathaniel Hackett in Las Vegas and Denver, respectively.
After the recent firings of Matt Rhule and Frank Reich, Stefanski is now the 15th-longest tenured head coach in the NFL. How much higher up that list he is able climb could depend very much on the team’s performance to close out this season, and could become a talking point in the winter especially if a late turnaround does not take place.
What a joke of him being on the “ hot seat.” What about the GM who had a known QB problem last year and did nothing? What about the bone head owner who paid Mr Massage and knew he couldn’t play for 11 games. Stefanski would be out of a job about 5 minutes. Typical Cleveland
I don’t see how a head coach who was not on the hot seat before this year could suddenly be so after not even playing a game yet with his starting quarterback. The Browns knew that there were issues with Watson. They knew that he’d miss time. Brissett hasn’t been awful as a starter, and the run game has been good. The run defense is what has been terrible. The Browns are weak in the middle of their front seven, which is why they’ve been beaten up by other teams in the rushing phase. Their tackles in particular are bad. They play well on the edge, but teams can easily run at the linemen and take that advantage out of the game. Woods could be replaced, but the Browns need interior linemen badly and that cannot be adequately be addressed until the offseason.
Middle/inside linebacker help would be good, but the Browns play more DBs than linebackers. Owusu-Koromoah is a good player, but he’s been injured and he’s not very big as far as linebackers go. In the Browns’ current defense, the linebackers are lighter and more lateral than downhill players. That’s why the DTs are more important in preventing the running success.
Imagine selling your soul to defend a scumbag like Deshaun Watson and then getting fired before ever getting to use him in a meaningful way. That would be the ultimate kick to the groin.
Not saying Stefanski did or didn’t want him, but acquiring a QB–especially one Watson’s history–is definitely an ownership level decision.
They’re sixth in total yards with Jacoby Brissett at QB. Fifth per game. The fact that they’re middle of the pack in passing yards so far is frankly remarkable. Credit to Brissett, who’s done admirable work relative to expectations, but the only thing Stefanski has done this year to make himself look bad is embrace Watson as an addition to the team, which is a decision that was largely made above his pay grade.
This team’s great failing–other than the unscrupulous, all-in QB move that left them with a backup for 11 games–has been the defense. Injuries haven’t helped, but the interior line was a glaring weakness they did little to address in the offseason, and the defense has simply underachieved relative to its talent and cost.
This team gave up 4 passing touchdowns to Joe Flacco. They gave up 38 points to the Patriots, who have only otherwise managed to score more than 26 points against the rock bottom Lions. How much can Stefanski take the blame for a backup QB and a malfunctioning defense?
I’ve watched every game this year, and the problem with this team has been coaching. Stefanski’s playcalling at best has been atrocious, you have the best running back tandem in the league with a backup quality QB and more often than not he’s putting the ball in Brissett’s hands. This team should have been running the ball 40+ times a game especially knowing that Joe Wood’s defense hasn’t been up to snuff. They’ll fire Woods as the scapegoat but both should be fired.
That’s not a real plan. You can’t just run when you’re giving up 26 points per game. And no team is going to run 40 times a game. Only one team in the last dozen years has even averaged 36 rushing attempts for the season, and that was the 2019 Ravens, who not only had a run-first offense, but were more often than not running the clock out on leads. The Browns don’t have the latter luxury with their defense.
They’ve had a lead in almost every game they’ve played, when you have a bad defense and a average QB you HAVE to run, maintain leads and keep the D off the field. I completely disagree, when you have Chubb and Hunt and you average over 4 yards a run you need to run the dang ball. More drives have been killed this year by making Brissett pass than being stuffed running the ball. A good coach would run until they stop the run.
They do that about as much as they realistically can. They’re third in average time of possession and top five in rushing attempts (the teams ahead of them in the latter have four of the league’s six leaders in QB rushes, including the two worst receiver rooms in the league). And again, this has been a temp offense. Stefanski should be judged more for what he does with the actual plan at offense, which starts this week. The defense, on the other hand, has not kept up its end of the bargain.
If you run 40 times per game and refuse to pass, it gets really easy to shut down the offense. Clearly offense hasn’t been the issue anyway because Brissett has been plenty effective.
Who will Watson hire? He’s the new GM.
Hue Jackson.
Not fair to blame him for the QB situation.
Kingsbury and Hackett, and perhaps Allen belong on the list far ahead of him
If Stefanski got fired,it would be another bone headed move by this organization. He’s clearly not the problem this year. Many reasons why Cleveland has not won more games,but coach Stefanski would be snatched up rather quickly in my opinion.
JLC has seemingly had an issue with the Browns for a while now, so until someone else reports it, I don’t really believe it. To an extent, it makes sense, but I’d still give it at most a 20% chance that he’s actually fired.
Stefanski has his flaws, but I think they’re fixable and the Bucs game last weekend was pretty encouraging because it seemed like a few of them improved. His biggest issue is that he tries to be the smartest guy in the room and sometimes overthinks simple decisions trying to catch you off guard. He’s also not always great at making adjustments, like when they score a touchdown on their first drive (which seems like it happens every week) and then proceed to go 40 minutes without scoring another touchdown because they completely abandoned everything they did on their first drive. He seems to occasionally forget that he has Nick Chubb because there are too many times where they need a score at the end of a game and he’s on the sidelines. But they fed Chubb on the last drive last weekend and sure enough they scored to get it to OT and ended up winning, so I think he’s figuring that out. He’s pretty quiet and not really an emotional guy even though sometimes this team needs more of a fiery, no-nonsense type, but the players seem to like him and respect him so I don’t see that as an issue either.
He’s turned Brissett into a pretty solid player, and as recently as last year we were talking about Baker being a $200 million quarterback; in hindsight, Stefanski making him look like a good quarterback was really impressive. He’s great with quarterbacks and their offense has never really been the problem as long as he’s been there. I do think *something* needs to change this offseason because there’s no chance of them actually making the playoffs (even if they go 5-1 down the stretch, they’ll probably need some help), and most of their losses look like they could have easily been prevented. But Joe Woods pretty clearly has to go and they need a major talent upgrade in the front seven so that teams can’t run all game on them.
The Browns’ biggest issue is that they traded three first rounders and gave up a ton of future cap flexibility for a quarterback with baggage when Stefanski has proven that he doesn’t need an elite quarterback to win games. You can blame Stefanski for not making adjustments in a game or two that they could have won otherwise, but I think he deserves another year — at the very least to see what he looks like with Watson.
Maybe Watson doesn’t like Stefanski. Don’t forget that Wilson was stomping his feet like a spoiled child when he didn’t get to make player and personnel decisions while in Houston.
Just Cleveland being Cleveland…
A lack of leadership and accountability is a major problem with this Browns team, and the head coach is supposed to be a leader of men, period. A toxic locker room and poor leadership has plagued the Browns for two consecutive seasons now. And as for accountability, Grant Delpit got benched for ONE PLAY. That’s it! John Johnson gives little effort and he keeps his starting job. Jordan Elliot is horrible and he keeps his job. When it comes to leadership and accountability Kevin Stefanski has failed miserably and he completely deserves to be fired for it! Additionally, I would fire Andrew Berry as well. His drafting has been lackluster at best and he is the one responsible for making roster decisions. Therefore, he is the one who built the toxic locker room that has no leadership in it. Furthermore, I would fire Paul DePodesta. Paul DePodesta has been the Chief Strategy Officer for seven years and the Browns have ONE winning season. It is time to bring in someone who has a strategy for WINNING.
It’s not so great to have a truck stop owner, he thinks hiring coaches is like hiring cashiers…..
Then horrible haslem hires (sorry, not sorry-but I will throw the tramps a few bucks) Watson to be QB. What could possibly go wrong?
What do you expect out of a
TRUCK STOP OWNER!
The sleaze just precedes and follows hm…..
Yeah, I’m calling BS on this. JLC seemingly has a grudge and isn’t right about the Browns very often. The offense isn’t bad (the side Stefanski is most associated with). I could see a DC change, and maybe a change of play calling duties.
Next year is Stefanski’s price it year with a full year of Watson, unless things spiral and they were to lose the rest of their games.
I’m not sure who wants this guy in the hot seat, the GM or the owner but whichever it is clearer doesn’t know football. How can you put him on the hot seat when you traded for a QB who isn’t gonna play until week 12 and even when he does comes back he will have not played in almost 2 full seasons. Kind of wild. Actually its idiotic and its just another example of what this team hasn’t won in such a long time. Browns will be the Browns. Sucks, I’m not a Browns fan but they got a lot of players I like and I really been pulling for them for a while now but they just can’t figure it out.
That’s been the hottest seat in America for 20 years.
Not a fan of Stefanski but my goodness, what did you expect given the QB controversy.
Leave K. Stefanski alone!!! The problem is stability and organizational confidence in leadership. Guys are unsure of their future and won’t perform when the HC keeps changing every 3 years.
As a Steelers fan, I think Stefanski is a good coach. If anything, the owner, GM and personnel department have provided him a three-ring circus in which to coach. The Browns will be fine if ownership and the front office stay out of his way
The Browns need to get this defense fixed and hire a better coordinator. I’d like to see Stefanski get a little fired up and lean on these guys more, he’s to soft.
It would be rather silly for Stefanski to play the tough guy and threaten players with punishment…they already live in Cleveland.
Coaches need to assess their team and compare them to the team they are playing that week and come up with a scheme to win. Last year and this year we did not have a QB and we lacked in receivers. We did have one of the best running backs and offensive line tho (yes there were injuries to the line) yet he passed the ball constantly and when he ran the ball with chubb (usually in 1st half and chubb disappeared in 2nd half) he ran him stupidly. Lined him up in shotgun in a dead stop. He had to run 6 yards to get to the line of scrimmage. WE had great tight ends and a full back. ADAPT – Bellicheck would have ran two tight ends and full backs w Chubb getting the ball w/ blockers ahead of him til they stopped it. Please see SF 49ers 2021. Do it until they stop you. Then play action and passing will be there. I don’t understand it. It is not hard. If Stefanski didn’t recognize this, then now only should he be on the hot seat, St Ignatius shouldn’t consider hiring him for their head coach or OC. Been watching this and season ticket holder for 20 years and its always something. Next year it will be “well its the QB’s first year back and we had some injuries” then following year or so Chubb will be gone. Nick – I hope you get picked up by someone who uses you they way you deserve. Stef doesn’t see that you get stronger the deeper you go into a game. I used to watch it when you out ran Sony and Holifield. I was the happiest person in the country to see you in a Browns uniform, but it seems they are going to waste your abilities (see Joe Thomas). I will always be a Nick Chubb fan. Oh and our team leader and decision maker continuously pulls his pants down. My 6 year old son stopped doing that after we told him to stop. Why would anyone follow his lead?