1 bold prediction for all 32 teams in 2023

Cleveland Browns’ Bold Prediction – Kevin Stefanski Gets Fired In-Season

The pressure is mounting in Cleveland as the Browns appear to have seen the window for an ascending young team closing quicker than they anticipated. Cleveland has already been lapped by Baltimore and Cincinnati in the AFC North while Pittsburgh surpassed the Browns in 2022 during what was supposed to be a rebuilding year, raising anxiety levels within the Dawg Pound.

The season was a bit of a mulligan for head coach Kevin Stefanski since the team had to weather an 11-game suspension for Deshaun Watson, forcing them to use Jacoby Brissett as a stop-gam until Week 13. Watson looked very rusty upon his comeback and didn’t get much better as the season progressed, raising the pressure on Stefanski to fix him this offseason.

Browns’ owner Jimmy Haslam is not a patient man and will want to see marked improvement from Watson since he handed him a fully-guaranteed contract and took on a significant public relations hit to get what Haslam perceived as his franchise quarterback. The division remains difficult and the AFC as a whole is stacked so the odds appear to be against Cleveland returning to the postseason for the second time in four years.

Haslam will want a fall guy and that could be Stefanski, who has just one year left on his contract after this one and would be a lame-duck coach entering 2024 without an extension. A poor start could convince Haslam to pull the plug early and begin looking for a new coach who can get the best out of Watson in the future.