2023 Is Undoubtedly A ‘Prove-It Year’ For Kevin Stefanski
Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
Preseason is under way and the Cleveland Browns are embarking on arguably their most anticipated campaign of the 21st century. With an offense that is more expensive by leaps and bounds than any other in the National Football League and a defense that features four-time All-Pro Myles Garrett and three-time Pro Bowler Za’Darius Smith as its pass rushing anchors, expectations are more than warranted for this ball club.
However, our friends in Las Vegas remain slightly skeptical on the NFL’s lovable losers that reside in northeast Ohio. At a 9.5 win total, the betting markets forecast the Browns to finish third in the AFC North, behind both the Cincinnati Bengals (11.5) and Baltimore Ravens (10.5). But is a third-place finish in the division and backing its way into the postseason acceptable for a franchise that is paying their offense a combined $152 million this season?
most expensive 2023 offenses
$152M – CLE
$151M
$150M
$149M
$148M
$147M
$146M
$145M
$144M
$143M
$142M
$141M
$140M
$139M
$138M – KC
$137M
$136M – DET
$135M
$134M
$133M – LV
$132M
$131M – DEN
$130M
$129M – BAL
$128M
$127M
$126M
$125M
$124M
$123M
$122M – BUF, CIN, JAX
$121M – NYJ…— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) August 2, 2023
Along with the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs, Cleveland has earned every bit of having a seat at The League’s Best Offensive Line table. With a combined nine All-Pro notches on their collective belt between left guard Joel Bitonio, right guard Wyatt Teller, and right tackle Jack Conklin, Cleveland’s big uglies can go toe-to-toe with anybody and everybody. Throw in All-Pro running back Nick Chubb, a three-time Pro Bowl and 27-year-old Deshaun Watson that will be making the second-most total cash in the NFL this season ($46 million) behind Lamar Jackson ($80 million), and a four-time Pro Bowl receiver in Amari Cooper.
With the good fortune of having a clean bill of health across the board at the moment, what excuses do the Browns have from being, at the very least, a top-10 offense with realistic aspirations of landing in the top-five?
As former New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan said through HBO’s Hard Knocks prior to the 2010 season:
Last year. Hey, we were under the radar. That’s a good place to be. F*** that. The best place to be is when expectations are high. Get used to it. It’s always gonna be that way. Now let’s go out and prove everybody right. We know we’re better than you. We don’t give a f*** if you know it or not. We don’t give a s*** if you give us your best game. We’re gonna give ya our best game and we’re gonna beat the f*** outta ya. How’s that? Let’s go get it.
One of the biggest questions circulating around the entire league is whether or not fourth-year head coach and 2020 NFL Coach of the Year Kevin Stefanski can answer the call of elevated expectations that accompanies an offense of this magnitude.
Like former Chicago Bears head coach and current Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy, Stefanski earned the highest honor for an NFL head coach during his debut season in the big chair. But an inability to not only sustain success, but to build on it ultimately led to Nagy’s demise in the Windy City. Is Stefanski writing a different chapter in the book we’ve already read with Nagy in Chicago? Only difference is Stefanski has the luxury of talent being stockpiled up and down his roster, whereas Nagy was stuck trying to make Mitch Trubisky anything more than slightly tolerable.
Which begs the question: What does success look like for the 2023 Cleveland Browns? Or better yet, what needs to happen for Stefanski to continue roaming Cleveland’s sideline a year from now?
After receiving a fourth-place schedule following the results of 2022, the Browns draw fellow fourth-place divisional finishers in the Denver Broncos, Chicago Bears, and New York Jets in the final stretch of the season. But with the additions of Sean Payton in Denver and Aaron Rodgers in New York, these aren’t your typical bottom-feeders. But neither are the Browns. The rest of the schedule includes the AFC South and NFC West, which expect to be two of the weaker divisions in football.
There’s no sugar coating it: Reaching the playoffs and going one-and-done with this roster (and a relatively clean bill of health) simply won’t be enough for Stefanski. The same can possibly be said for general manager Andrew Berry. Because like everything else in this world, you get what you pay for. And believe you me, the Browns are expecting Watson to be a franchise-changer after cutting a $152 million check for this offense. If Stefanski can’t help Watson revert to his Pro Bowl-caliber self from 2018 through 2020, Jimmy Haslam will find someone else who can.
And with young, up-and-coming offensive coordinators like Mike Kafka with the New York Giants waiting in the wings, the Browns would likely be the premier destination for 2024’s head coaching cycle. Although Stefanski won playoff games as a coordinator in Minnesota with Kirk Cousins in 2019 and in 2020 with Baker Mayfield and the Browns, the NFL has always been a What Have You Done For Me Lately? corporation. And Kafka is the offensive coach who has more recent proof of concept by maximizing quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes in Kansas City as quarterbacks coach and just last season with Daniel Jones en route to winning playoff games in each of the past five seasons.
And a head coach which can elevate his signal callers and only knows winning football in the playoffs is precisely what the Browns are after. The bare minimum for Stefanski is to win a wildcard game and earn the right to play on divisional round weekend. Anything less and the Kafka’s of the NFL world will be on Jimmy Haslam’s speed dial by mid-January.
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