For the first time since 2020, the Browns are in the market for a new head coach.
Cleveland fired Kevin Stefanski on Monday following the club's second straight losing season, NFL Network Insiders Ian Rapoport, Mike Garafolo and Tom Pelissero reported Monday. The team later announced Stefanski's ouster.
"We have tremendous gratitude for Kevin's leadership of the Cleveland Browns over the last six seasons," Browns owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam said in a statement. "He is a good football coach and an even better person. We appreciate all his hard work and dedication to our organization but our results over the last two seasons have not been satisfactory, and we believe a change at the head coaching position is necessary."
General manager Andrew Berry will continue to lead Cleveland's football operations, the Haslams announced.
"I am disappointed that we could not accomplish more together and the collective underperformance of our group is something I own," Berry said in a statement. "We will remain steadfast in our commitment to our fans in building the Browns into an organization that sustains success. Now, our attention turns to the search for the person to lead and develop what will be a young offense with heavy investment over the next six months to match and build on the performance of a young defense that is already playing at an elite level."
Stefanski's tenure ends with a 45-56 regular season record -- a total that dipped below .500 after 3-14 and 5-12 finishes in 2024 and 2025, respectively -- and a 1-2 mark in the postseason. He owns the rare honor of being the only coach to lead the Browns to the playoffs and record a win in postseason play since the club returned to the NFL as an expansion franchise in 1999, but that accomplishment (plus another postseason appearance in 2023) were not enough to preserve his job.
The coach leaves Cleveland with two AP NFL Coach of the Year honors earned in 2020 and 2023, the two seasons in which he guided the Browns to playoff berths. In 2020, Stefanski was forced to stay home due to a positive COVID-19 test but was fortunate to watch special teams coordinator Mike Priefer lead the Browns to a 48-37 postseason win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Wild Card Round before returning and suffering a heartbreaking loss to eventual AFC champion Kansas City in the Divisional Round.
In between those playoff seasons, Stefanski's squad endured challenges typical of an NFL club, battling through significant injuries -- which included a 2023 season in which Stefanski started five different quarterbacks en route to an 11-win season -- and remaining competitive until the Browns took significant steps backward in 2024 and 2025.
Those declining seasons can be largely pinned on the destructive decision to trade for former Pro Bowl quarterback Deshaun Watson during the 2022 offseason, a move that required the Browns to send the Texans three first-round picks and also fully guarantee a five-year, $230 million extension for the signal-caller. Watson never came close to delivering on the expectations set by such a significant move, sitting out the first 11 games of the 2022 season due to a suspension before struggling to acclimate to Stefanski's offense and suffering multiple injuries that cost him half of the 2024 season and the entire 2025 campaign.
By the time an Achilles injury ended Watson's 2024 season, he was generally considered to be one of the worst starting quarterbacks in the NFL.
Jimmy Haslam conceded last March that the decision to trade for Watson was a "big swing and miss."
The Watson deal happened only after former No. 1 overall pick Baker Mayfield struggled to produce in 2021 while battling injuries, prompting Cleveland to make a drastic change by pursuing Watson, acquiring him via trade and alienating Mayfield in the process, leading to his departure for Carolina via trade.
To Stefanski's credit, he overcame the blunder that was the Watson trade by leaning on the likes of Jacoby Brissett and Joe Flacco (among many others) to keep Cleveland's ship afloat. In 2023, an elite defense coordinated by Jim Schwartz complemented an offense that was good enough with Flacco at the helm to win games, helping the Browns complete one of the more improbable playoff runs of the decade.
Ultimately, however, the Watson trade dealt a crushing blow to Cleveland's chances of success with Stefanski at the helm. Without three years' worth of top draft capital, the Browns were unable to field a consistently competitive roster, bottoming out in 2024 before finally returning to the first round of the draft in 2025, trading back from No. 2 to 5 to acquire an additional first-rounder in 2026 and select Michigan defensive tackle Mason Graham.
The Browns' 2025 draft class was the best of Berry's tenure, which ran concurrently with Stefanski's time with the Browns. The collection of talent reinforced the Browns on both sides of the ball, producing Defensive Rookie of the Year favorite Carson Schwesinger (Round 2, pick No. 33), a skilled pass-catcher in tight end Harold Fannin Jr., rugged running back Quinshon Judkins and tandem runner Dylan Sampson, as well as young quarterbacks Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders. The latter passer took over as starter in the second half of the season and showed signs of potential, though Sanders is far from a guaranteed commodity entering 2026.
A new coach will be tasked with extracting the most from Sanders while Cleveland also mulls adding another quarterback in April's draft.
With demonstrated success on his résumé, Stefanski isn't expected to be unemployed for long. How Cleveland proceeds, meanwhile, remains to be seen.