The Cleveland Browns have more than enough candidates for their vacant head coaching position. Notably, they haven't satisfied the Rooney Rule yet, so they can't make any hires at the moment. Even so, they've moved on with several candidates, including Jim Schwartz.
The Browns' defensive coordinator was granted a second interview with the team, and rightfully so. And, now that the Buffalo Bills parted ways with Sean McDermott, there might be a clear path for him to be Kevin Stefanski's replacement.
The rest of the league will probably try to hire McDermott, either for head coaching or defensive coordinator vacancies. As such, the Browns may not face much competition — if any — for Schwartz's services.
The Browns' familiarity with Jim Schwartz cannot be overlooked
While Browns insider Mary Kay Cabot hinted at the team potentially being interested in McDermott, keeping someone they're familiar with would probably make more sense. Schwartz is well-liked and respected in Cleveland and the locker room, and he's earned that right with what he's done in three years in charge of the defense.
Granted, one can talk about his previous head-coaching experience and how it didn't go well. Also, sometimes the defense regresses when a defensive coordinator is promoted, and that's clearly something the Browns cannot afford right now.
That being said, Schwartz has been in total control of that unit for three years now. He has his players ready to play week in and week out, and they respect him — maybe even more than they did with Stefanski. He's a leader of men who has previous head coaching experience, and there's no better in-house candidate than him.
Of course, the Browns should've probably fired Stefanski and given him a shot as interim head coach if they intended to keep him around. It would've made more sense to give him a chance to audition and actually show his capacities for, say, a month or two.
But if the Browns truly don't want to lose him and believe he's going to walk away if he's bypassed in favor of a younger head coach, they might want to consider just giving him the reins of the team. Whether that will be the right call remains to be seen, but if that's the direction they want to go in, having McDermott as another high-end, defensive-minded coach up for grabs helps clear the way for them to do so.