Q: How many extra wins (or extra losses) do you think a coach really can take credit/blame for? In other words, how much does a “better” Browns head coach matter vs. getting better players on the roster?
— @adamjusko
A: Such a great question … with no definitive answer.
But I’ll try.
Like anything involving football, so many factors contribute to a win or a loss. Coaching certainly matters, as does the roster. They can’t be separated, which is why I didn’t think general manager Andrew Berry should be retained while coach Kevin Stefanski was fired after the Browns went 8-26 over the last two seasons.
Enough skirting your question. I think a coach can make a three- or four-win difference within a season. Part of that is game management and play calling. Part is game-planning and having the players prepared. The final major piece is establishing a culture, setting expectations and providing leadership.
Would the NFL’s best coach have taken the 2025 Browns to the Super Bowl? No. The roster had too many deficiencies. Would he have had them near .500 and playoff contention? Perhaps. It’s not a stretch to look at the season and say the Browns could’ve beat the Bengals, Jets, Vikings and Titans. Added to the five victories they got, that’s nine. Obviously close wins could’ve gone the other way, as well, and I’m not blaming Stefanski for all the regrettable losses. The roster was mostly to blame.
Getting the right coach can have a significant impact. I expect to see that with John Harbaugh and the Giants, and maybe Stefanski and the Falcons.
Q: Drafting a midround quarterback this year would probably be an odd move, with Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders around. But could the Browns take a shot on Drew Allar (Penn State/Medina) in the third-fifth? He was expected to be a top-15 pick prior to a few underwhelming games and season-ending injury?
— @ideashift
A: At first glance, it would seem like an odd move to take another quarterback in the middle rounds. Why not just give Sanders and Gabriel another year while trying to upgrade the position through a different avenue? I believe the Browns would be best served by acquiring a veteran, whether that’s Mac Jones, Daniel Jones, Malik Willis or someone else.
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But I would not rule out drafting a quarterback, whether that’s at No. 6, No. 24 or in any other round. The position is too important to assume Sanders is the long-term answer. He might be, but he didn’t prove that without a reasonable doubt in seven starts as a rookie. Therefore, the Browns should explore all options this offseason. That includes Allar and LSU’s Grant Nussmeier, who was also considered a potential high pick but had a disappointing, injury-affected season. If the Browns feel either of them, or someone else, has the chance to be a franchise quarterback, they shouldn’t pass just because they took two quarterbacks in 2025.
Allar would have to deal with the pressure of being the hometown kid, but he has intriguing physical abilities.
Q: Will the next head coach be the head coach the day JimmyWorld opens in Brook Park? More specifically, if the new HC is Jim Schwartz, can he make it to the dome opening?
— @ideashift
A: The dome is set to open in 2029, so the new coach would have to make it to a fourth season. I’d take the under. I just think it’s a smart bet given Jimmy Haslam’s hiring history and the climate of the NFL, which includes 10 coaching changes this year.
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As for Schwartz, I’d give him a better chance of making it to the dome than one of the young candidates who’s never been a head coach, but I would stop well short of guaranteeing anything.
Q: This is an (very) unpopular opinion, on which I’d like your thoughts. Denzel Ward seems to miss a few games each year but still has game and Myles Garrett had a season for the ages. Garrett is on record as stating he has no desire for another rebuild which, per your recent mailbag responses, the offense will certainly be undergoing in ’26. To those points, trade both and end up with four first-round picks in ’26 and two each in ’27 and ’28. I can’t think of a better way to immediately rebuild the offense.
Additional money might become available for a bona fide free agent that could offer immediate help.
Certainly there will be some drop off on defense, which would be offset by having an offense that will remain on the field longer and not put it in a constant hole.
Your thoughts are most welcome!
— Jim
A: Are you sure you’re not my buddy Tony? He can’t go two days without calling for Garrett to be traded.
There’s no doubt trading Garrett and Ward for draft picks would fast-forward a rebuild of the offense. It would also rob the defense of its two best players and further kill the salary cap, at least temporarily. I also think those who advocate for these trades overestimate what the Browns would get in return. Garrett, for all his greatness, is 30, which lowers his value. Plus, the teams that would want him or Ward would be drafting at the bottom of the first round and be likely to do so for the next couple of years, lowering the value of those picks.
These trades only make sense if the goal isn’t to win until 2028, at the earliest. Haslam and Berry have shown no inclination to accept that.
I agree with them that a complete rebuild isn’t necessary. I’m confident Garrett will continue to be the best defensive player in the league for multiple seasons and be in the top 10 for the length of his contract. Ward will turn 29 in April and should be a high-level performer for another two or three seasons at least. (As for his injury history, he played 15 games this year, 16 last year and has never played fewer than 12.)
The Browns’ issues are obvious: quarterback, receiver and offensive line. They can make a serious dent in fixing those this offseason through free agency, trades and the draft. Can they address all of them completely? Probably not. But the upgrades can be significant enough for the offense to support a great defense, which would lead to more wins and contention, at least, for the playoffs.
Q: This is not so much a question as an observation: It seems to me a major flaw in management’s personnel assessments is its failure to comprehend the value of what I’ll simply call “football character.” Those having it consistently exhibit the essential intangible qualities of a successful football player: toughness, intelligence, accountability, commitment, preparation, hustle, attitude, relentlessness, competitiveness, instincts, desire, durability, drive and the will to win above all else at all times.
— Mark Leonard
A: While the Browns have used slogans to express their commitment to such things — “Smart, Tough, Accountable” got a lot of run early in the Berry/Stefanski regime — I agree they’ve fallen short in following through.
After firing Stefanski and keeping Berry, Haslam went out of his way to stress how good of a “person” are several players added by Berry in the last year. Perhaps that’s Haslam’s way of reminding fans and Berry the importance he wants to place on the “football character” you mentioned. An improvement in that area would be welcomed by fans and have a positive impact on performance.
Q: Because the Browns are so secretive, as passionate fans we are forced to look under the hood. A deep dive into Paul DePodesta’s tenure leads me to conclude he badly wanted to disprove traditional NFL wisdom. Small, fast and inexperienced DTs was one plan that Schwartz thankfully and immediately ended. Another that jumps out are two of the most recent QBs drafted, Dorian Thompson-Robinson and Gabriel. Neither fit the traditional physical profile of an NFL QB. Could it be that DePodesta came to see the decades-long NFL tradition of QB size minimums as a form of bias and his analytics team collected data that led them to conclude academic intelligence combined with GPU-like processing speed render size at the most important position in all of sports to be less of a priority? And in general would you agree that the Browns went too far with their application of data to drive strategies during these last 10 years?
— John Palazzo
A: I’m not a fan of blaming analytics for all the Browns’ woes. But I do hold them responsible for many of the poor quarterback choices.
I don’t think it’s necessarily because they wanted to disprove conventional wisdom, but they certainly placed too much emphasis on areas that were easily identified but didn’t translate, such as high completion percentage. While that’s an important stat in the NFL, Cody Kessler leading the Pac-12 at 69.7 percent was never going to be enough to make up for his physical shortcomings. This applies to Thompson-Robinson and Gabriel, as well.
Q: Successful head coaches can come in different shapes and sizes. What three-five characteristics are most important for the Browns currently and into the near future? Experience, X’s and O’s, communication, organization, talent evaluation, ability to build a staff, play calling, etc …?
— @ideashift
A: I’d start with leadership. It’s a broad answer that encompasses communication, organization, consistent personality, relationships and motivation. I’d follow with ability to build a staff, X’s and O’s and play calling.
