Whispers surfaced in November long before the Cleveland Browns ended the 2024 season with a record of 3-14 that team owner Jimmy Haslam could part ways with head coach Kevin Stefanski this winter. However, Haslam stuck with both Stefanski and general manager Andrew Berry before All-Pro pass-rusher Myles Garrett made it known earlier this month that he wants to be traded because he doesn’t “feel like our future is aligned with winning right now.”
In a mailbag published late Sunday night, Browns insider Tony Grossi of ESPN Cleveland/The Land on Demand indicated one reason Haslam retained Stefanski is that players didn’t give up on the final month of what quickly became a lost season for the organization.
“Stefanski did not lose the locker room,” Grossi shared. “Did you hear Myles Garrett say he wants to be traded because of coaching? No, he said he didn’t align with the vision of the ‘higher-ups,’ aka, the GM. In my opinion, the coach has outperformed many others in that building over the last five years.”
Stefanski won the Associated Press Coach of the Year Award for the second time during his Cleveland tenure when he guided the 2023 Browns to the playoffs as veteran quarterback Joe Flacco became the Associated Press Comeback Player of the Year Award winner for that season. However, the 2024 Browns were a lost cause even before Week 1 starting signal-caller Deshaun Watson suffered a torn Achilles on Oct. 20, so much so that one unnamed Cleveland player acknowledged after the club fell to 2-7 that he had “never been in a spot where the season is over before the bye week.”
Later, multiple media personalities said they felt certain Browns players “quit” during what became a Week 11 35-14 defeat at the New Orleans Saints. Cleveland ultimately beat the Pittsburgh Steelers four days after the Saints debacle but then didn’t earn another win through Week 18.
Stefanski, Berry and others within the Browns reportedly feel the club is a good quarterback away from making a second trip to the playoffs in three seasons. If Berry ends up acquiring a proven signal-caller such as Kirk Cousins of the Atlanta Falcons but the Browns again fail to qualify for the postseason in January 2026, Haslam presumably could blow things up to officially move the franchise into its post-Watson era.