Top 3 candidates for Cleveland Browns coaching job, for now

1. Kevin Stefanski, Minnesota Vikings Offensive Coordinator

Speaking of popular choices from previous searches, Kevin Stefanski was one of the finalists for the job last season. In fact, he was the No. 1 choice of chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta, who is leading the search this season.

While DePodesta won’t have the final say, he’s clearly been given a huge amount of responsibility this time around and it’s hard to see him wavering on this choice — since Stefanski has done nothing but raise his stock since the last time he interviewed.

Despite being just 37-years of age, Stefanski has been with the Minnesota Vikings since 2006. He worked his way up through the ranks before taking over as the interim offensive coordinator for the final three games in 2018. Minnesota had grown frustrated with the play-calling of John DeFilippo and handed things over to Stefanski.

The young offensive coordinator made great strides and changed from an offense that aired the ball out far too often (sound familiar?) to one that is built around their star running back Dalvin Cook. This led to Stefanski being promoted to the job full-time and he kept improving the offense.

This was the best season of Cook’s career but quarterback Kirk Cousins also reaped the rewards. With Cook drawing the attention of defenders, Cousins was able to pick teams apart with play-action passing.

There’s no reason to think this young offensive-minded coach couldn’t come in and have similar success with a team that’s really not too different than Minnesota on offense.

Cleveland has two strong receivers and a superstar running back to work with, as well as a quarterback who excels with play-action.

The only knock on Stefanski is the fact he has never been a head coach. Hopefully, the team’s mistake with Freddie Kitchens doesn’t hinder their judgment on this one.