As 14 NFL teams prepare for the playoffs, the rest of the league is already in offseason mode. That has resulted in seven head coaches being fired, including Kevin Stefanski by the Cleveland Browns. Every offseason, when teams have coaching searches, people always like to rank the vacancies from most desirable to least desirable.
This time around, it’s no surprise that most people consider Cleveland’s job the worst opening; the NFL world is always ready to laugh at the Browns.
This isn’t a unanimous thought, though, as senior NFL columnist Judy Battista recently argued that the Cleveland job is one of the best available. In a piece ranking all the openings, and exploring the pros and cons of each, Battista ranked the Browns as the third-best vacancy.
Why the Cleveland Browns’ head coach job is more desirable than people think
Battista acknowledged all of the negatives in Cleveland — uncertainty at quarterback, Deshaun Watson’s contract, and holes along the offensive roster — but argued the next coach will inherit a more hopeful situation.
"There are other holes that need to be filled to get the Browns back to competitiveness. But the next coach inherits a more hopeful situation. Sanders made some improvement late in the season. The Browns' rookie class looks to be a strong one . And the Browns have two first-round picks…Plus, the new coach will only have to deal with the tail end of the disastrous Watson contract... This team is in a rebuild, but at least there are resources."Judy Battista (NFL.com)
Cleveland certainly has some problems it needs to work on this offseason, but people have been judging the opening through the lens of the Browns’ struggling history. An honest look at the current circumstances would reveal what Battista said: a situation with resources that needs to be turned around.
Cleveland has Myles Garrett and the best defense in the NFL, several promising young players, an intriguing young quarterback who has flashed good things, and premium draft picks. Additionally, the Deshaun Watson nightmare is almost over. Most importantly, with all that the Browns had going on this season, they won five games, and were a few poorly executed moments away from having a few more wins in the bag.
If a coaching candidate can’t look at Cleveland and see a situation that has the potential to quickly be competitive, maybe they aren’t cut out to be a head coach.