It’s not bad that the Cleveland Browns are in no rush to find coach

The Cleveland Browns seemed ready to hire Josh McDaniels on Friday but it never happened. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing though, and fans shouldn’t worry.

If you were like most Cleveland Browns fans, you probably spent all day Friday refreshing your Twitter feed looking for the news to break that they had hired Josh McDaniels as the head coach. I mean, he was flown in on Jimmy Haslam’s private plane and McDaniels even brought his wife with him — it was all but done.

Except, it wasn’t. Instead, the news never broke and we enter the weekend still without a coach for the Browns. But that isn’t exactly a bad thing, even if some fans are ready to panic.

Entering this offseason, there were five head coaching vacancies, including the Browns. All but one have been filled as the Washington Redskins hired Ron Rivera, the Dallas Cowboys went with Mike McCarthy, the Carolina Panthers lured Matt Rhule away from Baylor, and the New York Giants took Joe Judge.

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Out of all those names, McCarthy is the only one who was ever seriously linked to the Browns job. However, that seemed more realistic when John Dorsey, who worked with McCarthy in Green Bay, was on staff. With him gone, it seemed as though the team was leaning in a different direction with Josh McDaniels and Kevin Stefanski leading the way.

Now heading into the Divisional Round of the playoffs, those two remain the most likely to be hired. And the fact that Cleveland didn’t just hire the last guy they interviewed shows they’re doing all they can to make sure they pick the right guy this time — something they failed to do in 2019 when they took Freddie Kitchens over Stefanski — who was the favorite of chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta at the time.

As for Stefanski, he’s busy right now preparing his Minnesota Vikings offense for a game against the San Francisco 49ers in the Divisional Round. Speaking of the Niners, there was a dark horse candidate there in defensive coordinator Robert Saleh, who also impressed the Browns and could also be in contention still.

So while it may seem frustrating, fans need to remain patient. The front office isn’t going on their first instinct here. They also haven’t rushed to hire someone such as Stefanski — who they wanted last season — or McDaniels — who has been a candidate several times.

This isn’t a guarantee they’ll get it right, but they’re at least doing their due diligence. And for those afraid they can lose their guy, they’re no longer competing with anyone else.

Another fear is they could push a coach away with their “indecision,” which also shouldn’t be a worry. Cleveland has their pick of coaches at this point and if the team trying to get it right scares off a coach, so be it. That would tell us what we needed to know anyway.

So as hard as it is, just relax and let it all play out. It’s a long offseason and the Browns will have plenty of work to do once they decide who will be in charge of the team on the field.