CLEVELAND, Ohio — Kevin Stefanski, with rumors swirling about his future, doesn’t feel the need to address it with the team heading into Sunday’s season finale in Cincinnati.

“No,” he said. “The most important thing is what’s in front of us, and that’s our game Sunday down in Cincinnati. That’s all we care about.”

ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported on Wednesday that former Browns receivers coach Mike McDaniel, head coach of the 7-9 Dolphins, will be a candidate for the Browns vacancy if both teams part ways with their coaches. He also reported that Stefanski would be a candidate for the Giants vacancy if he becomes free.

NFL Network reported recently that Browns GM Andrew Berry will be involved in the decision about Stefanski’s status.

On Monday, Stefanski was asked if he wants to continue beyond this season, his sixth with the Browns. Stefanski and Berry signed multi-year contract extensions in June 2024.

“As you can imagine, my sole focus is on this game versus Cincinnati, but I also would tell you I’m privileged to have this job,” said Stefanski, a two-time NFL Coach of the Year.

Have there been any discussions about how things might shake out after the finale? If the Browns win, they’ll finish 5-12. If they lose, it’s 4-13 on the heels of last year’s massively disappointing 3-14 mark.

“I understand the question,” Stefanski said. “I never get into those type of discussions. All I care about is finding a way to go win this week versus the Bengals.”

Hired as a first-time head coach in 2020, Stefanski has gone 44-56 and 1-2 in postseason, but is in the midst of back-to-back double-digit loss seasons thanks to enormous upheaval at the all-important quarterback position. 2024 starter Deshaun Watson got off to a poor start, in part because he was coming off shoulder surgery and in part because of numerous injuries around him and a new scheme installed by then-coordinator Ken Dorsey. Watson (1-6) ruptured his Achilles in October, and Jameis Winston (2-5) finished the season.

This season, the Browns went 1-3 with Joe Flacco, 1-5 with Dillon Gabriel, and 2-4 with Shedeur Sanders.

“We’ve had an explosive offense (in 2023),” guard Wyatt Teller said Wednesday. “He’s been a two-time Coach of the Year. He deserves all of that. I think that it’s hard when there’s injuries all over the place. It’s hard to have consistency and win a lot of games. So I think that the past couple of years it’s been difficult given the hard cards that we’ve all been handed. But whether coach is here or wherever, he’s going to be successful. He’s a great father, great husband, and a great man.”

Teller, who’s a free agent after the season and expects to be gone, believes Stefanski did the best he could this season.

“I feel like every week he gets us ready,” he said. “The last couple weeks we were tight with Buffalo, beat the Steelers. There’s a lot of good things. I know the season didn’t end up the way it was and there’s a lot of games we dropped early on that kind of demoralizes the team, but I feel like there’s a lot of good. And I know Kevin did a good job getting those guys here and I know he wants to coach them to success.”

Denzel Ward, just voted to his fifth Pro Bowl, said Stefanski is a great coach.

“We’re all in this together,” he said. “I know our record isn’t the best record, but it’s not just one person or one coach. It falls all on his hands in a sense. That’s what the outside world sees it as like, ‘oh, it’s just his fault.’ But it’s not just his fault. It falls on all of us, falls on myself.

“Every single player that’s going out there and playing and every single coach, we take this record upon all of us. We’ve got to all own it. And like I said, this is not the season that we necessarily wanted, but yeah, I mean, we are in it fighting with each other, and we’ve got each other’s back.”

He said the players can’t pay attention to the rumors.

“Whatever happens, happens,” he said. “That’s just life. Whatever happens, go from there and deal with it as it comes. But if you just try to speculate and guess, ‘oh, this could happen, this could happen,’ you’d go crazy.”

Stefanski could know his fate by Monday, otherwise known as Black Monday in the NFL coaching business.

Harold Fannin Jr. among five Browns who didn’t practice Wednesday

Fannin, who suffered a groin injury during the victory over the Steelers, was among five Browns who didn’t practice on Wednesday.

The others were guard Teven Jenkins (concussion), new center Kingsley Eguakun (knee, shoulder), David Njoku (personal), Carson Schwesinger (quad, ankle).

Stefanski said Fannin is rehabbing very hard and he’s “definitely not ruling him out.”

He added that Njoku, who’s missed the past three games with a knee injury, should be back with the team tomorrow. Stefanski said he’s still rehabbing his knee injury “but he can update you guys when appropriate.”

On Wyatt Teller finishing the season on IR with his calf injury

Stefanski said he was disappointed Teller’s season ended with a trip to IR with his calf injury.

“He fought, rehabbed very hard to get back to playing in that one, then reaggravated that injury early in that (Steelers game),” Stefanski said. “So that was disappointing for him and for us. Obviously, he’s played through a lot of injuries before in the past as well. He’s played really good football for us, so disappointed that it ended a week early.”

Zak Zinter could get the nod

Stefanski acknowledged that 2024 third round pick Zak Zinter could get the start at right guard with Jenkins in the concussion protocol and Teller on IR.

“Certainly, could be Zak,: he said We have options there. We’re working through all of that.”

He said Zinter, who played 16 snaps vs. the Steelers, has been working extremely hard behind the scenes.

“I’m seeing a lot of that hard work show up in these games,” Stefanski said. “So, I’m bullish on Zak.”

He explained that Zinter hasn’t gotten a chance because he’s had players in front of him.

“(He’s) a young player that has worked very hard, is ready to go at a moment’s notice,” Stefanski said. “Sometimes the opportunity comes for a variety of reasons, and obviously there’s opportunities coming here now potentially at the end of the season, but doesn’t mean that we’re not working very hard throughout the week with him.

“And all the work that he’s put in with Coach (Mike) Bloom(gren), with Coach (Ben) Wilkerson on the field, I think it’s been a really positive season. While it hasn’t necessarily been represented in a lot of reps in the games, I do think it’s been a positive season.”

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