The Opening Drive 1/5: Now Begins The Reputation Game
With Kevin Stefanski fired, now is when you start to see leaks on responsibility for those key decisions.
When the Browns hired Kevin Stefanski and later Andrew Berry, the belief was always that the two were a package deal. The franchise treated them that way as well, offering extensions to both at the same time ahead of the 2024 season. But as things moved toward the conclusion of a second miserable year — just eight wins across two seasons — the Browns decided this morning to fire Kevin Stefanski while retaining Andrew Berry in his current role and placing him in charge of selecting the next head coach.
With that now known, this is when you begin to see the jockeying for reputation and blame — especially as Stefanski pushes for his next NFL job, which could come during this hiring cycle.
Some of that has already started, and we’re likely to see much more of it in the coming days. During a segment on CBS this morning, Pete Prisco noted something interesting about Stefanski’s position on the Deshaun Watson trade while discussing Stefanski’s immediate NFL future.
We will never know the actual truth, but now is when you begin to see the massive cracks in the unified front the group has always put forward about the decision. When it comes to keeping or leaving NFL jobs, there is always a degree of gamesmanship involved.
When you have two straight seasons like the Browns have endured, these types of decisions become possible — and this morning, they became reality. It may ultimately prove to be the wrong choice one way or the other, but action tends to be forced when losing compounds across multiple seasons.
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Something I just want to highlight the day after the game was the performance from Devin Bush, both just yesterday and from the season at large. He was all over the field yesterday. He finished with 14 total tackles and the interception returned for a touchdown. With Carson Schwesinger out he stepped up in an even more meaningful way.
Coming into the year there were plenty of nerves about what would happen at the linebacker position as Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah was set to miss the season, Jordan Hicks surprise retirement, and the idea of leaning on a rookie MIKE linebacker. He needed a steady veteran presence around him and some thought that might come from Bush in a backup role.
The theory was Mohamoud Diabate would be the WILL while Schwesinger was the MIKE but an injury in training camp to Diabate opened the door and Bush never relinquished the role. He has been stellar alongside Schwesinger and helped stabilize the position group. The Browns would be well-served to try and get a deal done with him before free agency but Bush, who will be 28 next season, might look to test the market. Some of this also leans on how the team feels about JOK returning in the future as well. Many pieces of the puzzle to solve there, but Bush did more than enough to deserve another meaningful NFL contract.
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Stefanski signed an extension with the Browns well after the Watson trade and after seeing a large sample of him on the field and in the locker room. We’re supposed to believe that Stefanski didn’t want to trade for Watson AND he decided to continue to tie himself to Watson after working with him. Sorry this version of history doesn’t make any sense.
If Stefanski didn’t want Watson he would have let his contract expire and taken another job elsewhere.
Stefanski’s offenses the last three years have been abysmal. Of course he is going to try and pin it all on Watson and that he never wanted the guy. It gives him a built in excuse for not getting the job done.