Kevin Stefanski had just signed a multi-year contract extension with the Cleveland Browns, after going 37-30 with two playoff berths from 2000-23. And while his team obviously regressed during the 2024 and 2025 seasons, the roster also got a lot younger, and they did will themselves to wins over the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals as a final bow.
It wasn’t enough, and Browns fans were aligned with owner Jimmy Haslam’s decision to relieve Stefanski of his duties last week on Black Monday. While this year’s hiring pool, at that time, lacked a slam-dunk candidate, there wasn’t a ton of competition at that point, outside of maybe the New York Giants.
But the NFL is known as a week-to-week league — and Week 2 of the 2026 offseason has officially flipped the 2026 hiring cycle on its head.
On Tuesday, the day after his team’s ugly wild-card playoff loss to the Houston Texans, Mike Tomlin officially stepped down as head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Tomlin wasn’t fired, so the team will retain his rights — a la the situation with Sean Payton and the New Orleans Saints a few years ago — but while Tomlin takes a break and mulls over TV opportunities, the Steelers have suddenly jumped into a pool that’s all knees and elbows.
Cleveland was one of three teams to fire its head coach on Black Monday, but there’s now been four additional openings since. That brings the total to nine — the NFL’s highest rate of turnover since 2023, when some blockbuster names like Mike Vrabel, Bill Belichick, Pete Carrol, and Ron Rivera were all sent packing.
So far, the Browns have cast a wide net, requesting nine total head coach interviews so far, with a few of them already completed. They’ve shown interest in offensive backgrounds, defensive backgrounds, younger coaches on the rise, and older coaches with some experience.
They also now have a ton of competition, and what started as a methodical process now feels like a situation that calls for some urgency.
Firing Kevin Stefanski suddenly looks a lot riskier for the Browns
Nine interview requests in as many days may feel like a lot, but the Browns aren’t the pack leaders in that category. The Titans, who got a bit of a head start after firing Brian Callahan mid-season, have now requested interviews with 18 head coach candidates. The Ravens, who dismissed John Harbaugh last Tuesday, are up to 12 requests — including Stefanski.
Stefanski figures to be a shoo-in for one of these jobs, as he’s reportedly set to speak with the Miami Dolphins, and has already interviewed with the Falcons, Giants, Titans and Ravens. That’s good news for the Browns, as they’ll obviously be focusing on other candidates for their job.
But the timing of the decision, given the state of the Browns’ roster, and the fact that general manager Andrew Berry’s job was safe all along, is becoming a bigger second-guess by the day. Stefanski’s not only one of the headliners of this hiring cycle, but his laundry list of meetings serves as a reminder of the Browns’ rising competition from now over 25 percent of the league’s 32 teams.
Former Browns coach Kevin Stefanski is interviewing in person for the Dolphins’ head coaching job today, per me and @RapSheet.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) January 13, 2026
Stefanski, the two-time NFL Coach of the Year, previously interviewed with the Titans, Giants, Falcons and Ravens. pic.twitter.com/wjwQGZFvDY
The Browns may love Mike McDaniel, the offensive guru who worked on Mike Pettine’s staff as a wide receivers coach back in 2014. But he already has four other interview requests (and counting). They were the first to call on Jacksonville Jaguars offensive coordinator Grant Udinski, but that could change in the blink of an eye, with eight other teams in the market for a coach who screams the next Sean McVay.
Somehow, the Cincinnati Bengals are the model of consistency in the AFC North, as Zac Taylor is now the last coach standing within the division — after a 6-11 season, no less. The Browns, Ravens and Steelers will all be breaking in new coaching regimes in 2026.
Perhaps the Browns should have held their water for at least one more year with Stefanski, who even after a pair of rough seasons, was easily their best head coach of the franchise’s expansion era. But that’s all water under the bridge now.
The Browns are officially out in the trenches, wading through an underwhelming talent pool in search of the next guy — and they suddenly have a boatload of competition to get that guy to Cleveland.