At the moment, eight NFL teams are looking for a new head coach for the 2026 NFL season, and one of them is the Cleveland Browns. After their participation in the 2025 season came to an end, the Browns parted ways with Kevin Stefanski, who had been with the organization since 2020 and won NFL Head Coach of the Year twice. Even so, he was ultimately fired.
Kevin Stefanski’s biggest flaw was the quarterback position. After moving on from Baker Mayfield following the 2021 season, the Browns signed Deshaun Watson prior to the 2022 season to a five-year, $230 million fully guaranteed contract, a move that turned out to be a major failure. Today, Stefanski is no longer with the team, while Watson still remains under contract with the franchise.
Two years ago, Stefanski won his last Head Coach of the Year award, but the 2024 and 2025 seasons were simply disastrous, largely due to the quarterback position, which became a major problem. Of all the options, Shedeur Sanders was arguably the best, starting the final seven games of the regular season and finishing with a 3-4 record.
The plan to convince John Harbaugh
Among all the available coaching options, there is no doubt that John Harbaugh is the most attractive candidate. He was fired after 18 years as head coach of the Baltimore Ravens, where he won a Super Bowl and totaled 180 victories during his tenure. Although the New York Giants are considered the favorites to sign Harbaugh, the Browns may have something compelling to offer him.
Nick Pedone, a Browns analyst, outlined four key selling points Cleveland could use to convince Harbaugh, one of them being the team’s elite defense:
“The Browns faced the Ravens twice last season, as they do every year as AFC North rivals. In the first meeting, Browns quarterback Joe Flacco was dreadful, but Cleveland’s defense held Derrick Henry to just 23 yards and sacked Lamar Jackson three times. The defense was just as dominant in the second matchup, sacking Jackson five times and intercepting him twice.”
“All of those key defensive players will be returning to the Browns. According to reports, the team would also prefer to keep defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, the architect of that success,” the journalist noted.
Because of this, the Browns could be a very strong option for Harbaugh. He already knows the AFC North extremely well, and on top of that, Cleveland will own two first-round draft picks and a total of 10 selections overall, giving the team significant flexibility to build the roster.
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