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Head coach Sean McDermott, formerly of the Buffalo Bills, has not entered the fray for the Cleveland Browns.
For the Cleveland Browns, it seemed like an outside glimmer of hope and luck. When the Buffalo Bills surprised the NFL and bungled their way into the firing of coach Sean McDermott last week, it appeared that owner Jimmy Haslam had been gifted the opportunity to right a wrong. In 2016, the Browns’ executive board was set to hire McDermott as the team’s head coach, until Haslam stepped in and hired Hue Jackson, against all advice.
Jackson went 1-31 in his first two seasons, of course, and was fired in his third year. McDermott went on to get the Buffalo job the following year and went 98-50 in nine years with the Bills.
With McDermott on the market and Cleveland in need of a coach, perhaps serendipity was at work–the coach the Browns should have hired a decade ago could now land where he was supposed to be. Alas, there was a problem: Despite a report of the Browns doing “homework” on McDermott, the whole thing went nowhere.
Sean McDermott Sitting Out
Now, it appears, any hope of McDermott returning to the NFL in 2026–with the Browns or elsewhere–has in all probability vanished. That’s according to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, who said that McDermott probably will not be on a sideline in 2026.
Said Rapoport: “Sean McDermott, who was fired recently and would no doubt be one of the top candidates for basically any job around, if he wanted to take one. It remains unclear what Sean McDermott will firmly decide to do but to my knowledge, has not engaged with any of these openings. … I believe it is likely that he ends up taking a year off.”
GettyJimmy Haslam co-owner of the Cleveland Browns
Browns ‘Homework’ on Sean McDermott Went Nowhere
Again, there is some debate as to how ardently teams were pursuing McDermott in the first place, including the Browns. Doing “homework” is not quite putting on the full-court press to get the guy to take your job. There were no reports that the Browns sought an interview with McDermott, whose firing came in the middle of the Browns’ second round of interviews.
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk noted that when John Harbaugh was fired in Baltimore, teams scurried to get him into the building, including the Browns. But Harbaugh quickly settled in with the Giants.
“There had been no groundswell from the teams that have vacancies, once McDermott entered the fray,” Florio wrote. “Neither the Dolphins nor the Titans pressed pause on their impending hires for a shot at McDermott. And there were no reports of a Harbaugh-style land rush for McDermott.”
Ultimately, Florio concluded, McDermott is better off waiting rather than taking a bad job, and with the Cleveland Browns, Arizona Cardinals. and Las Vegas Raiders the only openings besides the Bills job, McDermott would be wise to wait.
Browns Could Hire New Coach as Soon as Monday
As for the actual Browns candidates, with the Rams’ loss to the Seahawks on Sunday, the team is now free to interview and hire Nate Scheelhaase, the Rams’ passing game coordinator. That interview is reported to be taking place on Monday in Los Angeles.
Scheelhaase will be the fifth in-person candidate, with three older veterans–defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, ex-Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken and former Chargers coach Anthony Lynn–in one column and two bright young assistants on the other. Scheelhaase is 35 and Jaguars offensive coordinator Grant Udinski, one of the favorites for the job, is 30.
Sean Deveney is a veteran sports reporter covering the NBA, NFL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has written for Heavy since 2019 and has more than two decades of experience covering the NBA, including 17 years as the lead NBA reporter for the Sporting News. Deveney is the author of 7 nonfiction books, including “Fun City,” “Before Wrigley became Wrigley,” and “Facing Michael Jordan.” More about Sean Deveney
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