CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Browns’ decision to move on from head coach Kevin Stefanski earlier this week brought out some of the usual jokes about the team.
Hey, that’s life when you’ve won one playoff game this century.
The Athletic, in its Scoop City newsletter on Tuesday, when there were six openings, ranked the Browns’ job sixth.
Browns alum Robert Griffin III, the one win in 1-31, called it the worst head coaching vacancy in the league.
Listen, it’s not great. There’s no clear path to a quarterback. There’s a lot of dead money that needs to clear. Owner Jimmy Haslam cited the Maliek Collins signing as reason to keep GM Andrew Berry around.
The thing is, most teams looking or new coaches aren’t exactly model organizations and they all have flaws. It’s rare that a Super Bowl-ready team like the Ravens has an opening.
Are the Browns actually worse off than the Titans, Raiders or Giants? If you want to cite Cam Ward and Las Vegas’ ability to draft Fernando Mendoza, that’s fine, but those teams have underlying issues, too.
And do you trust Giants GM Joe Schoen that much? Do you trust that Jaxson Dart can stay out of the medical tent long enough to become a franchise quarterback?
No one should hold the Browns up as a model organization here, but it’s not a total lost cause.
As far as I’m concerned, hang the banner today: This isn’t the worst opening in the league.
Here’s why:
The defense
Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett is lifted by teammates after breaking the NFL record for season sacks in the second half against the Cincinnati Bengals. John Kuntz, cleveland.com
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin called the Browns defense “the No. 1 unit in our division, offense or defense.”
Is it the best unit on any of the teams with current head coach openings? It’s in the running.
That’s the biggest selling point: A ready-made defense with a soon-to-be two-time Defensive Player of the Year and a shutdown cornerback who just made his fifth Pro Bowl.
There are promising young players like linebacker Carson Schwesinger and defensive tackle Mason Graham.
Most importantly, there are other quality starters at all levels, including cornerback Tyson Campbell, safety Grant Delpit, linebacker Devin Bush and recently-extended edge rusher Alex Wright.
Among the starters, only Bush and safety Ronnie Hickman are free agents.
This is a good, stable unit that finished fourth in total yards per play, fifth in passing yards per play and 10th in rushing yards per play. They had the third most sacks per pass attempt and allowed the second-fewest first down per game.
They’ve also been consistent. While 2024 was a step back, they still managed to rank ninth in sacks per pass attempt, second in first downs allowed per game and eighth in third-down percentage.
Defense can be inconsistent year-to-year, but the bones of a good defense remain intact for whoever takes over as head coach.
The assets are in place to improve the offense
On the other side of the ball, things aren’t as optimistic.
There’s no long-term option at quarterback in the building. The offensive line is set up for a full makeover. The receiver room is thin.
Hey, at least Harold Fannin Jr. is a real guy at tight end and Quinshon Judkins looks like a starting-caliber running back.
Is there a way to sell this?
It depends how much you trust Berry.
He said during his press conference on Monday that the focus of this offseason would be the offensive side of the ball.
The biggest infusion of talent needs to once again come from the draft. The Browns hold two first-round picks, four total picks on the first two days of the draft and a high pick to start Day 3. They have 10 total picks in April’s draft.
There has always been a path forward for this team as long as they were willing to admit where they were in this roster’s life cycle. Berry actually used the word rebuild when he spoke on Monday, acknowledging this was Year 2 of digging out of the roster hole he dug.
They’re not going to build the 1999 Rams in one draft and offseason, but they should be able to lay the foundation of a competent unit around either a young quarterback in the draft or a veteran added in free agency or a trade.
Berry has struggled to find solutions at offensive line and receiver over his six seasons as GM, so this might be one to take with a grain of salt, but there’s a path to get this turned around.
The owner is going to spend
This is not necessarily a defense of the Haslam ownership — the record speaks for itself — but having a super rich owner who is going to spend money is a lot better than having an owner who either can’t or won’t.
And let’s give credit where it’s due — if nothing else, Jimmy Haslam seems to be embracing the idea of stability.
He earned a reputation early in his time here as being impatient and impulsive. He fired five coaches before landing on Kevin Stefanski in 2020 and ripped through GMs until Berry came back the same year.
Recent history shows that Haslam actually hasn’t been all that meddlesome.
Stefanski had six years as head coach and Berry is about to get his seventh as GM. Even if you disagree with the decision to fire Stefanski and keep Berry, it’s impossible to call the decision a knee-jerk reaction.
He’s shown a willingness to spend on facilities and write checks when necessary. His ability to spend has helped mitigate a salary cap disaster from Berry’s failed all-in attempt when he traded for Deshaun Watson and built an expensive, aging roster.
It seems like he has stayed out of the way of the personnel and coaching side for the most part. Yes, he called the Watson trade an organizational decision and refused to blame Berry or Stefanski, but that trade falls on the front office. Haslam trusted them and wrote the check to get it across the finish line.
How much of a buffer was former Chief Strategy Officer Paul DePodesta over the last few years here? We might find out, especially if his departure leads to Haslam acting more like he did last decade as opposed to how he’s approached the first half of the 2020s.
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