Missing the playoffs two years in a row is a good way for a coach to find himself on the hot seat, but Browns owner Jimmy Haslam stopped short of igniting a blaze under Kevin Stefanski this week.
Stefanski took the Browns to the postseason in 2020, but they’ve gone 15-19 over the last two seasons. The 2023 season projects to be the first with quarterback Deshaun Watson on hand for the entire campaign and Haslam was asked this week if that meant the Browns have to advance beyond Week 18 in order for Stefanski to return for a fifth season in Cleveland.
Haslam didn’t issue an ultimatum, but did say that “everybody has a sense of urgency that we need to play well this year.”
“I don’t want to say that, but I think that we have expectations to go to the playoffs,” Haslam said, via Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com. “But I’m not going to say if we don’t make the playoffs, X, Y, Z happens because that’ll be the headline tomorrow. Listen, the AFC is tough. You’ve all been around. Our division is tough.”
Haslam declined to talk about extensions for Stefanski or General Manager Andrew Berry, who both signed five-year deals when they joined the team. Given ownership’s expectations, it seems likely that topic will remain on the back burner until the results of the coming season are in.
