Will there be a second group of Cleveland Browns HC candidates?

The Cleveland Browns are casting a wide net for candidates during their search for their next head coach, but will there be another group of candidates?

Cleveland Browns general manager John Dorsey is doing his due diligence with the search for the team’s next head coach, as the team has been connected to a long list of candidates.

Gregg Williams, Freddie Kitchens, Mike McCarthy, Matt Eberflus, Brian Flores, Dan Campbell, Nick Sirianni, Kevin Stefanski, and Jim Caldwell have all been interviewed, scheduled to interview, or the Browns requested permission to interview.

However, half of the candidates are first-time coordinators or young position coaches. The other half are veteran coaches that have been head coaches elsewhere. Some of the coaches are not even scheduled to interview for any of the seven other teams with head coaching jobs available.

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That has created the question of if the Browns plan to interview more candidates or are working through back-channels to talk to more candidates. Dorsey is known to keep his plans close to the chest, so his favorites may not be on the initial list of candidates.

There have are some notable omissions from the list of Browns candidates, as there are several coaches that are ‘hot’ coaching candidates not on the list. Two of the names that have been heavily linked to the Browns over the past several weeks, Matt Campbell and Josh McDaniels have either not been contacted to interview, or the Browns are keeping their interest behind the scenes.

Campbell has been reported to be Dorsey’s favorite candidate. However, the coach signed an extension with Iowa State University and has turned down an interview with the New York Jets, making it seem unlikely he is pursuing a NFL job. Despite that, Campbell fits exactly what Dorsey wants from his next head coach, so it would be extremely odd if they did not request an interview, even if they knew it was unlikely Campbell would interview.

McDaniels has also been heavily linked to the Browns job, as there have been reports saying that he is ‘well-positioned’ for the job and that he is also ‘very interested’ in the job. The Browns have reportedly showed their interest in McDaniels through ‘back-channels.’

However, the Browns have reportedly not requested an interview with the New England Patriots offensive coordinator. That means the Browns will have to wait until New England is finished with their playoff run if they want to interview McDaniels.

And it’s not just these two coaches that leads to questions about the Browns coaching search. The Browns have not been connected to candidates like Kris Richard and Eric Bieniemy. Both are interviewing with multiple teams, as they have made impacts with the Dallas Cowboys and Kansas City Chiefs.

The Browns lack of interest in Bieniemy and Chiefs special teams coordinator, Dave Toub, are even more interesting because of Dorsey knowing both after his time as the Chiefs general manager. With how well the Chiefs have done over the past several seasons, it would seem like Dorsey would want to interview coaches he knows first-hand.

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Since Dorsey is calculated in everything he does as the general manager, having a second group of candidates to interview would not be a surprise. If the reports about the Browns planning a long and exhaustive search are true, then it is likely that all of the candidates for the Browns job are not yet known.

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