With Mike Tomlin leaving the Pittsburgh Steelers, there are now nine NFL teams looking for a new head coach for the 2026 season, and one of them is the Cleveland Browns, who fired Kevin Stefanski, mainly due to forgettable 2024 and 2025 seasons. Even so, Stefanski remains one of the most sought-after coaches for next season.
Kevin Stefanski had been with the organization since 2020 and won the NFL Head Coach of the Year award twice. He also gave the Browns their first playoff victory since 1993, in the 2020 season, when they crushed the Steelers with a spectacular performance by Baker Mayfield. However, Mayfield was let go a year later, marking the start of the team’s decline.
After Mayfield’s departure at the end of the 2021 season, the Browns signed Deshaun Watson to a five-year, $230 million fully guaranteed contract-a move that turned out to be a major failure, as Watson has played only 19 games since then. This was undoubtedly one of the Browns’ biggest mistakes, and they are now seeking a new direction.
John Harbaugh will not interview with the Browns… for now
There’s no doubt that John Harbaugh is highly sought after by teams in need of a head coach, but currently, the New York Giants are the frontrunners to hire him. In fact, The Athletic reported that Brian Daboll, former Giants head coach, and Eli Manning reached out to Harbaugh to recommend working with Jaxson Dart.
Convincing Harbaugh to join another team won’t be easy. According to NFL insider Tom Pelissero, the former Baltimore Ravens head coach will interview this week with three teams: the Falcons, Giants, and Titans; for now, the Cleveland Browns are not on his interview list.
For the moment, John Harbaugh will not be interviewing with the Browns, who are still looking to hire a head coach. The upside for Harbaugh in Cleveland is that he knows the AFC North very well and has a strong defense, though the quarterback position remains unstable.
Speaking of quarterbacks, Browns insider Mary Kay Cabot revealed that Deshaun Watson, who hasn’t played since Week 7 of the 2024 season due to injury, will return to the roster in 2026 and will have a major opportunity to compete for the team’s starting job.
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