The Cleveland Browns could travel down one of two equally valid paths in the 2026 NFL offseason. They could either wipe the Kevin Stefanski and Andrew Berry slate clean after yet another poor season, or they could give them one more chance to prove they can get this team back up off the mat.
Those who support Stefanski, who has won Coach of the Year twice and taken the Browns to the playoffs twice in his tenure, will be quick to point out that being saddled with the whole Deshaun Watson mess makes it close to impossible to build a winner.
ESPN's Jeremy Fowler seems to believe that Stefanski may indeed get a mulligan for this season (and last) due to the Watson contract hanging over the entire franchise.
"One thing that helps Stefanski's case is that Browns owner Jimmy Haslam finally found a dependable infrastructure with Stefanski and GM Andrew Berry, and the two-year struggle can be directly tied to the failed Deshaun Watson experiment," Fowler said. "The team is very young but should be good in 2026 due to their exciting 2025 rookie class. That said, 6-24 is 6-24."
Browns may keep Kevin Stefanski, blame 2025 on Deshaun Watson
Watson has played horribly since arriving in Cleveland, and his albatross of a contract is the worst of its kind in the league. Haslam has acknowledged the Watson trade might be one of the worst in NFL history, and his Achilles injury created such a nightmarish situation at quarterback that no coach could win consistently.
The Browns have been bad this year by alternating between Joe Flacco and Dillon Gabriel, but they may have someone who could be a fringe NFL-starting talent in fifth-rounder Shedeur Sanders. Adding him in the same draft class as Mason Graham, Quinshon Judkins, and Harold Fannin Jr. was a masterclass from Berry.
Cleveland has two first-round picks in the 2026 NFL Draft, which could help them either land a franchise quarterback or improve a terrible offensive line. It might behoove the Browns to have an experienced coach like Stefanski lead this core into the future instead of just starting from scratch.
It takes one heck of a coach to survive two unwatchable seasons in a row, but Stefanski might be able to do so if he can convince Haslam that he and Berry are the 1-2 punch this team needs to get back on track and move forward with a sustainable core.