Dawgs By Nature
Kevin Stefanski and Andrew Berry have been talked about but Paul DePodesta’s future is also up in the air
Usually, when an NFL team crumbles and isn’t very good, the first head-to-roll is one of the coaches. Or two.
The 2-7-0 Las Vegas Raiders have already let go of three of their offensive assistant coaches. The New Orleans Saints and New York Jets have fired their head coaches after disappointing starts.
There are at least five other coaches on the hot seat this season.
The Cleveland Browns, sitting at 2-7-0 themselves, will most certainly be firing some folks when the final gun sounds in Week 18 against the Baltimore Ravens. We are not talking players mind you, although that is a given, but front office people as well as coaches.
Is head coach Kevin Stefanski safe? Or will his five-year tenure be the anomaly that Browns fans aren’t used to?
Stefanski was last year’s NFL Coach of the Year, his second designation in five seasons. Normally such distinctions would make a coach safe. But the NFL is a “what have you done for me lately” league. The only thing billionaire owners care about is winning. They become embarrassed at owner’s meetings and public gatherings when their ballclub is the butt of so many gags. They want positive results. Consistently.
Stefanski is an offensive mind but the offense of this year’s offering is the largest problem area. He was given the keys to a $230 million quarterback, Deshaun Watson, and has not gotten him to play at his previous three time Pro Bowl level whatsoever.
All of those signatures written in ink on the Declaration of Independence were a huge deal because if the infant United States faltered, every single man who signed the document would have been tried for treason against the mother country of England, and subsequently hung.
The same is true with the Watson trade. Every person who agreed with the trade is responsible for its failure to bring elite status to the Browns’ offense.
So, expect heads to roll after this season. They normally do. If the current employment generates dismay, failure, inconsistency, embarrassment, malfunctions, and collapse one year after being so successful the year before, then changes must be made. They must.
The Browns won 11 games in 2023. They threw the final game which means they could have captured 12 wins. They placed second in their division. The head coach and DC were honored by the league as the best the NFL had to offer. Cleveland qualified for the playoffs. They featured seven Pro Bowlers, one All-Pro, plus the Defensive Player of the Year.
How does a franchise go from the above scenario to a total collapse?
A look at this year’s schedule doesn’t see much as far as any probable win streaks. Maybe six wins? Five? Definitely a last-place finish in the division.
Who is the first to get fired? Maybe it is Chief Strategy Officer Paul DePodesta.
After 20 years in [Major League...
