Could Jim Schwartz be the Browns’ answer? Why promoting from within makes perfect sense if Kevin Stefanski is fired
January 2, 2026
Someone wanna tell us what this says?
Personally? I’m warming up to it.
25 comments
I’m good not doing that.
If only there were a guy like Mike Vrabel in the building a year ago. . .
Hard pass
That’ll fix the offense for sure
Does he want to be a Head Coach again? He’s had health issues before.
He hasn’t been a head coach since 2013. Has he applied to many HC jobs?
We have seen enough history on Jim Swartz to say this is a bad idea. He definitely adds the most value to a team when he is a DC. He was the DC for the eagles when they won the SB in 2017. As a head coach his losses are twice as many as his wins and he only made the playoffs once with a 10-6 record.
He’s perfect as a DC.
Gross
Kev isn’t going anywhere.
He is going to take playcalling back next year.
“If we just keep running it up the middle we’ll really catch the defense off guard”.
No. No he could not.
I hope all this coaching smoke is just the front office looking for internal leaks or something because these discussions are unserious and dire. Jim Schwartz as HC is so uninspiring in 2026
All of these posts around who we would replace Stefabski with lead me to ask… why bother? If you’re not going to upgrade what’s the point? None of these names are good enough to be the guy, so firing him just to fire him makes no sense.
The team clearly hasn’t quit on him, he’s shown he can take us to the playoffs, and if we are going to blow the ship up after Watson is finally off boarded why not just wait till then?
I’m not interested in him being coach. If that’s a possibility they might as well keep the entire band together.
Yes his defenses have been good, but do ppl have amnesia? They dont travel well. Ints are extremely rare.
Hiring him, your basically telling me, he’s more than likely going to be a 1 and done.
Hiring a defensive head coach with a rookie QB is a disaster almost every time in today’s NFL. Hell the Texans defense is great but after year 1 has CJ improved much?
The Browns problems are offense and special teams. Promoting Schwartz will fix none of that and the replacements he hires would be the key. Those are largely unknown and it’s very possible he likes the current coaches of those respective parts of the team.
Jim Schwartz also appears to have little desire to be a head coach again. His name is rarely if ever in the rumor mill even with his defense this year and two years ago.
That may change if he left with Stefanski but I would wager he’d end up a DC again if that happened.
Nothing would surprise me come Monday. I am about 50% he’s going to stay, 30% he gets fired and 20% he like, resigns? If Kev actually has a potential job lined up elsewhere, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s looking for a change. Especially if it means he gets his play sheet back. Who knows?
Great DC, mediocre HC
“Tommy Rees is still your offensive coordinator.”
Tommy Rees specifically mentioned that he came here to work with Stefanski. If Stefanski goes, Rees is likely gone, too. Yes, he’s under contract, but teams generally do not hold prisoner coordinators during a coaching change or force them onto new head coaches.
Click bait nonsense
Love it.
I remember Jim Schwartz in Detroit. I don’t want that.
This is t even good clickbait
What’s the point of firing the coach given this situation we are currently in? What are we trying to achieve by replacing Kevin? Just seems like we are firing a competent coach with a team that’s in a middle of a rebuild
if we fire stefanski we need an offensive head coach. Especially if Swartz stays.
No reason to fire Stefanski. We need consistency and it isn’t his fault they sold the farm for Watson and we have been punished for years over it
25 comments
I’m good not doing that.
If only there were a guy like Mike Vrabel in the building a year ago. . .
Hard pass
That’ll fix the offense for sure
Does he want to be a Head Coach again? He’s had health issues before.
He hasn’t been a head coach since 2013. Has he applied to many HC jobs?
We have seen enough history on Jim Swartz to say this is a bad idea. He definitely adds the most value to a team when he is a DC. He was the DC for the eagles when they won the SB in 2017. As a head coach his losses are twice as many as his wins and he only made the playoffs once with a 10-6 record.
He’s perfect as a DC.
Gross
Kev isn’t going anywhere.
He is going to take playcalling back next year.
“If we just keep running it up the middle we’ll really catch the defense off guard”.
No. No he could not.
I hope all this coaching smoke is just the front office looking for internal leaks or something because these discussions are unserious and dire. Jim Schwartz as HC is so uninspiring in 2026
All of these posts around who we would replace Stefabski with lead me to ask… why bother? If you’re not going to upgrade what’s the point? None of these names are good enough to be the guy, so firing him just to fire him makes no sense.
The team clearly hasn’t quit on him, he’s shown he can take us to the playoffs, and if we are going to blow the ship up after Watson is finally off boarded why not just wait till then?
I’m not interested in him being coach. If that’s a possibility they might as well keep the entire band together.
Yes his defenses have been good, but do ppl have amnesia? They dont travel well. Ints are extremely rare.
Hiring him, your basically telling me, he’s more than likely going to be a 1 and done.
Hiring a defensive head coach with a rookie QB is a disaster almost every time in today’s NFL. Hell the Texans defense is great but after year 1 has CJ improved much?
The Browns problems are offense and special teams. Promoting Schwartz will fix none of that and the replacements he hires would be the key. Those are largely unknown and it’s very possible he likes the current coaches of those respective parts of the team.
Jim Schwartz also appears to have little desire to be a head coach again. His name is rarely if ever in the rumor mill even with his defense this year and two years ago.
That may change if he left with Stefanski but I would wager he’d end up a DC again if that happened.
Nothing would surprise me come Monday. I am about 50% he’s going to stay, 30% he gets fired and 20% he like, resigns? If Kev actually has a potential job lined up elsewhere, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s looking for a change. Especially if it means he gets his play sheet back. Who knows?
Great DC, mediocre HC
“Tommy Rees is still your offensive coordinator.”
Tommy Rees specifically mentioned that he came here to work with Stefanski. If Stefanski goes, Rees is likely gone, too. Yes, he’s under contract, but teams generally do not hold prisoner coordinators during a coaching change or force them onto new head coaches.
Click bait nonsense
Love it.
I remember Jim Schwartz in Detroit. I don’t want that.
This is t even good clickbait
What’s the point of firing the coach given this situation we are currently in? What are we trying to achieve by replacing Kevin? Just seems like we are firing a competent coach with a team that’s in a middle of a rebuild
if we fire stefanski we need an offensive head coach. Especially if Swartz stays.
No reason to fire Stefanski. We need consistency and it isn’t his fault they sold the farm for Watson and we have been punished for years over it