Kevin Stefanski is on the hot seat going into the 2025 season. Don’t take my word for it though: Take it from his own players. In a report card the NFLPA released from a survey that involved nearly 1,700 players, Stefanski was one of three coaches to receive a C grade, the lowest rating for a coach.
The NFLPA has released team report cards based on survey results from nearly 1,700 players.
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) February 26, 2025
Here are the 2025 rankings: pic.twitter.com/Jmv0AMJQnu
So yeah, it’s not a question of whether Stefanski has lost the Cleveland Browns locker room; it’s a question of whether he can recapture it before he gets canned. The players see how he’s let them down this past season, and you can’t blame them for turning on him a bit.
Stefanski went from winning Coach of the Year to being one of the worst teams in the NFL seemingly overnight. Why wouldn’t the players lose faith in the head coach? He’s mishandled Deshaun Watson in the offense since he’s arrived, he’s been non-committal on exactly who calls the plays and he hasn’t had consistent production from his coordinators. It’s been an up-and-down tenure for Stefanski, so it’s no wonder the players don’t believe in him.
If the NFLPA survey is any indication, Kevin Stefanski has way more than Myles Garrett on the line this season
Stefanski can’t afford another failed season, if not for retaining Myles Garrett then at least for retaining his own job. If the Browns can’t figure it this year, it could be the last in Cleveland for both Stefanski and GM Andrew Berry: Both feel not just tied to each other, but equally have to deliver this season. For Berry, he has to put together a roster that can contend in the AFC in essentially one year. And Stefanski has to win with that roster.
The duo does have the No. 2 pick in this year’s draft, which is a blessing and a curse. They have to decide if the want to take yet another gamble on a rookie quarterback or whether they want to trade back and amass more picks for a true rebuild. But if they go down the latter route, then what do they do after that? Who do they turn to as the quarterback for the 2025 season? There are a lot of questions this front office and coach have to answer.
That’s why the locker room has no faith in things heading in a positive direction. Stefanski came to Cleveland and seemed to be the coach the Browns waited so long for. Then the team traded for Watson and it’s been all downhill from there; even making the playoffs in 2023 couldn’t be celebrated like it should have because it was with Joe Flacco under center, and a reminder that getting whooped by Houston in the Wild Card Round meant that we had to endure yet another season of Watson under center.
Stefanski is on the hot seat. That’s not just coming from a Browns fan. That’s coming from a locker room that is echoing the same sentiment of Garrett: They’re sick of losing.