Daniel OyefusiJan 8, 2026, 06:00 AM ETCloseDaniel Oyefusi covers the Cleveland Browns for ESPN. Prior to ESPN, he covered the Miami Dolphins for the Miami Herald, as well as the Baltimore Ravens for The Baltimore Sun.Follow on X
play2:17Stephen A. and Orlovsky clash over Kevin Stefanski’s legacy in ClevelandStephen A. Smith and Dan Orlovsky argue over Kevin Stefanski’s responsibility for the Browns’ inability to develop a QB.
Browns fire HC Kevin Stefanski (0:43)Daniel Oyefusi reports on the Cleveland Browns firing HC Kevin Stefanski. (0:43)
Stephen A. and Orlovsky clash over Kevin Stefanski’s legacy in ClevelandStephen A. Smith and Dan Orlovsky argue over Kevin Stefanski’s responsibility for the Browns’ inability to develop a QB.
Stephen A. Smith and Dan Orlovsky argue over Kevin Stefanski’s responsibility for the Browns’ inability to develop a QB.
Less than six months ago, he and his wife and co-owner, Dee, spoke to local reporters at the onset of training camp, and Jimmy said he remained “very supportive” of both Stefanski and general manager Andrew Berry.
But on this Monday — the day after the 2025 regular season concluded — he was explaining why they decided to part ways with Stefanski but retain Berry, who arrived in Cleveland alongside Stefanski in 2020.
In late July, Jimmy Haslam said the team would need to rebuild the foundation of its roster, which included identifying a franchise quarterback. He acknowledged a quick turnaround might not be on the horizon — but added that another three-win season like 2024 “won’t cut it.”
On the heels of a 5-12 finish in the 2025 season — and a combined 8-26 record the past two years — the Haslams determined a new voice and fresh leadership at head coach was needed.
“I don’t think there was one breaking point,” Jimmy Haslam said. “I think you got to look at the body of work and sometimes it’s just time for a change. And we felt like it was time for a change.”
The decision to fire Stefanski, a two-time NFL Coach of the Year (2020 and 2023) who led the franchise to two playoff appearances in six seasons, leaves the Haslams, who have owned the Browns since 2012, and the organization in an all-too-familiar position: looking for a new head coach. The next one will be the franchise’s 11th full-time coach since returning to the NFL in 1999, which trails only the Las Vegas Raiders (13) during that span.
But the work doesn’t stop there. Berry, whom Haslam praised for delivering a “cornerstone” 2025 draft class, will not only lead the head coaching search but will also be tasked with finding what has been an elusive franchise quarterback, either via free agency in March or in April’s draft. Forty-two passers have started for the organization since 1999, by far the most in the NFL.
“The next 120 days are crucial for the organization, OK?” Jimmy Haslam said. “We’ve got to find the right head coach, we’ve got to be efficient again in free agency, we have 10 draft picks, including two No. 1s, we have four of the top four picks in the top three rounds, OK? And we’ve got to get really good players who are really good people again, we’ve got to be opportunistic if trade opportunities come along.
The Browns had just endured their third straight defeat, a 23-9 road loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers that dropped them to 1-5. For much of the game, Cleveland’s elite defense kept Pittsburgh in check. The offense, with rookie quarterback Dillon Gabriel making his second career start, wasn’t able to manufacture enough points to support the other side of the ball.
“Losing the same way every time is frustrating as hell,” Garrett said from Pittsburgh’s interview room at Acrisure Stadium.
While Jimmy Haslam said there was no “breaking point” in the decision to fire Stefanski, the recurring theme of an offense unable to carry its weight became present in the Browns’ struggles over the past two seasons.
Stefanski arrived in Cleveland in 2020 as a coveted offensive mind who had served as a longtime assistant, including a season-plus stint as offensive coordinator with the Minnesota Vikings. During his first four seasons leading the Browns, Stefanski shepherded one of the league’s best running games with Pro Bowl running back Nick Chubb and a stout offensive line; Cleveland averaged 139.6 rushing yards per game during that stretch, third most in the NFL.
Over the past two seasons, though, Chubb’s production diminished following a 2023 knee injury and he departed for the Houston Texans last offseason. The offensive line also declined through age and injuries, leaving the offense a shell of itself.
The Browns made multiple staff changes during that time, bringing in Ken Dorsey as offensive coordinator in 2023 to help shape a Deshaun Watson-centric offense and then firing him after one season to promote Tommy Rees. The team also shuffled through two offensive line coaches in an attempt to replace respected position coach Bill Callahan. None of the changes materialized into a productive offense, as the Browns averaged a league-low 15.8 points over the past two seasons.
Last March at the league’s annual meeting, Jimmy Haslam called the Watson trade a “big swing-and-miss.”
Watson’s lack of availability and production — his 33.1 Total QBR since making his debut in Cleveland would rank last among qualified passers — led the Browns to remodel their quarterback room last offseason. The team signed two veterans — Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett — and drafted Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders in the third and fifth rounds, respectively.
The signing of Flacco marked a reunion with the quarterback who helped save the Browns’ 2023 season after Watson sat out the final eight games because of shoulder surgery. Flacco, in part because of a hamstring injury to Pickett in the first week of camp, won a quarterback competition and opened the 2025 season as QB1 (Pickett was traded to the Las Vegas Raiders ahead of roster cutdown day).
There was familiarity with Flacco and a return to Stefanski’s scheme after tweaking it to fit Watson’s skill set the previous year. With that came hope for an offensive resurgence that could complement a defense led by Garrett — who went on to record 23 sacks and break the NFL’s single-season sack record.
Instead, Flacco struggled behind poor blocking and a young, unproven pass-catching corps. Cleveland started 1-3 and benched Flacco on Oct. 1, turning to Gabriel ahead of a Week 5 game against the Vikings in London. Six days later, the Browns traded Flacco to the Cincinnati Bengals — a move that Steelers coach Mike Tomlin called “shocking” before he faced the veteran passer in Week 7.
“Andrew Berry must be a lot smarter than me or us because it doesn’t make sense to me to trade a quarterback that you think enough of to make your opening-day starter to a division opponent that’s hurting in that area, but that’s just my personal feelings,” Tomlin said.
The trade was perceived locally as a possible rift between Stefanski and Berry, but Jimmy Haslam pushed back on that Monday, as well as any notion the Stefanski-Berry relationship had soured.
“Is there tension in the building? Of course. I mean, this is a hard business and there’s lots of stuff going on,” Haslam said. “The two of them work together extremely well, extremely well. … If anybody says this is dysfunctional or the two of them did not work well [together], that’s dead wrong.”
Berry on Monday said his relationship with Stefanski “goes beyond football” and called him “family.”
THE MOVE TO Gabriel — a team source said Stefanski’s input weighed heavily in the decision to draft him at No. 94 — didn’t turn things around, and the midseason changes continued. When the Browns returned from their Week 9 bye with a 2-6 record, Stefanski announced he was turning over the playcalling duties to Rees. It marked the second consecutive season that Stefanski gave the responsibility to his offensive coordinator amid offensive struggles.
The source added the move was as much symbolic as it was schematic — Stefanski previously said the issues weren’t limited to quarterback and he would look at all options to fix the offense — with the understanding that Rees wasn’t making wholesale changes. The playcaller shift allowed Stefanski to take on a broader handling of the offense and devote more time to fixing the struggling special teams unit, as well as focus on in-game management.
Gabriel started five consecutive games — the Browns went 1-4 — before a concussion in the first half of his sixth start, a Week 11 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, sidelined him and opened the door for Sanders to make his debut. Sanders, the No. 144 pick, led Cleveland to a road win against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 12 and started the final seven games, but the Browns dropped their next four and were eliminated from playoff contention in a Week 14 loss to the Tennessee Titans.
The defeat on Dec. 7 saw Sanders rally the Browns late with two touchdown drives, but after the second score, he was taken off the field for the potential tying 2-point conversion try. The Browns turned to their often-used Wildcat formation, but the play went awry with rookie running back Quinshon Judkins seemingly failing to execute a reverse and then tossing an aimless pass across the field.
After the game, Stefanski — who had given up playcalling duties over a month ago — took the blame for the failed attempt.
The Browns had one of the NFL’s youngest rosters this season — 6,001 snaps came from their rookie class, and 2,932 came on the offensive side of the ball, according to ESPN Research, both ranking as the most in the NFL.
With that, as well as an offensive line that used the third-most combinations in the league (25), came growing pains. But when Jimmy Haslam was asked if he thought the roster — one that wasn’t projected to win more than four or five games — underachieved, he answered, “Yeah, I think it was good enough to win more games.”
Stephen A. and Orlovsky clash over Kevin Stefanski’s legacy in Cleveland
“Ultimately this decision is born from the fact that we ultimately felt like we did not see enough progress in areas that were controllable — independent of certain game outcomes,” Berry said.