The Cleveland Browns have not been short in the drama department this offseason. It started with Myles Garrett demanding a trade and ended with the organization selecting both Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel to potentially compete with Deshaun Watson at quarterback entering the 2025 NFL season.
All of this uncertainty under center paired with a team fresh off of a 3-14 season has one ESPN NFL Analyst thinking Browns HC Kevin Stefanski could be on the hot seat in 2025.
Browns HC Kevin Stefanski Named as a Potential Hot Seat Candidate by ESPN Analyst
No matter how well a coach navigates injuries and a messy quarterback situation, the NFL will always be a results-driven league.
This has ESPN NFL Analyst Benjamin Solak thinking that Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski could be entering his final season as the man in charge in Cleveland… if the team has another three-win season.
Solak wrote, “I have no idea what the goalposts are for Stefanski this season, but the team was 3-14 last year, and another three-win season wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest.”
No matter how talented of a play-caller a coach may be, back-to-back three-win seasons would certainly make any coach a candidate to lose his head coaching job.
Solak did appropriately add some context to the recent struggles of the Browns due to injuries at the quarterback position over the last two seasons by adding, “I will say this with complete conviction: Stefanski seems like an excellent veteran OC retread option if and when the Browns clean house. He has made the best out of the Browns’ QB carousel and navigated major offensive injuries over the past two seasons.”
Think about it, since the start of the 2023 NFL season the Browns have seen Deshaun Watson, Dorian Thompson-Robinson, Joe Flacco, Jameis Winston, Jeff Driskel, Bailey Zappe, and P.J. Walker take snaps for Cleveland. The fact this team made it to the playoffs in 2023 is a major feather in the cap of Stefanski as a head coach.
To further Solak’s point, if Stefanski loses the head coaching gig at the conclusion of the 2025 NFL season, then he will likely be the top offensive coordinator candidate on the open market next offseason.
Could a Rookie Quarterback Playing Well Buy Stefanki Another Season in Cleveland?
Let’s put on our hypothetical tinfoil hats and pretend the Browns’ struggles continue into this season for a second.
This scenario likely means the organization is going to get a closer look at either rookie quarterback, Shedeur Sanders or Dillon Gabriel, in an attempt to see if they could be a potential franchise-caliber signal caller moving forward.
Organizations can be a bit more forgiving if the team has a bad record if their future franchise quarterback is in the development process.
Unfortunately, the Browns don’t have a clear-cut rookie option to turn to at this time because they drafted two quarterbacks to compete against one another for a roster spot.
The unsettled quarterback situation entering the 2025 NFL season does put Stefanski in a tricky spot, but we shouldn’t be too surprised if he manages to get this offense playing at a high enough level to compete for a Wild Card spot this season after the success he had with Joe Flacco in 2023.
