The Browns dealt with a slew of injuries on offense in particular during the 2023 campaign, but they still managed to qualify for the postseason. In the wake of that performance, continuity on the sidelines and in the front office is expected. 
Head coach Kevin Stefanski and general manager Andrew Berry are each in line for extensions this offseason, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler writes. The pair arrived in Cleveland in 2020 and are under contract through 2024. Their collective showings would make it little surprise if ownership signed off on a new set of deals in the near future.
Cleveland ended a lengthy playoff drought and advanced to the divisional round in Stefanski’s first campaign at the helm. He earned Coach of the Year honors that season, but the team’s record dropped to 8-9 and then 7-10 in subsequent years. Amidst whispers in some circles about he and/or Berry being on the hot seat, things did not go as planned with running back Nick Chubb suffering a season-ending injury in 2023. The same was later true of quarterback Deshaun Watson, leading the Browns to rely on Joe Flacco under center down the stretch.
The latter won Comeback Player of the Year for his showings after arriving as a free agent midseason, which has helped his value considerably. The Browns are interested in retaining the former Super Bowl MVP despite having Watson atop the depth chart. Stability at the QB spot in 2024 would be a welcomed development as the team looks to build off a record of 11-6.
Stefanski earned his second Coach of the Year award as a result of the Browns’ ability to reach the playoffs despite their injury woes. Watson’s ailment marked another underwhelming development in his Cleveland tenure, which of course has been the defining aspect of Berry’s time with the franchise. The Browns sent Houston a package including three first-round picks to acquire the three-time Pro Bowler, something which was contingent on a fully-guaranteed five-year, $230MM contract. Watson’s suspension to open the 2022 season, his elbow injury this year and less-than-spectacular play in between led some to believe a change could be made in the organization.
However, a December report pointed to the Stefanski-Berry partnership likely being safe moving forward. This latest update confirms that sentiment, and Cleveland will be set up for stability if extensions are indeed worked out in the coming months. Both will have notable leverage in negotiations given the team’s performance this season as they aim to take a step forward in 2024 and beyond.
We’ll never know the truth, but I’m certain that Watson trade was pushed for, if not initiated by, team owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam. They absolutely had to sign off on acquiring Watson and guaranteeing Watson’s contract. These are the same people who fell in love with Johnny Manziel when he was at Texas A & M, and to nobody’s surprise, he was drafted by the Browns. It seems to be the same dynamics were at play with Watson. That’s why I don’t hold it against Andrew Berry for acquiring Watson, especially at such a heavy price; that’s on the Haslams. Both Berry and Stefanski proved this year to have the smarts and flexibility to overcome inevitable hiccups that occur during every season. Next big challenge: overcoming the loss of Bill Callahan.
the owners are the same people, but not the coach nor front office. that regime has long been “history”.
If Watson really was an ownership decision, then they might as well pay the guys whose careers are attached to that disaster. It’s not like they’ll find a better coach and GM willing to step into that whole situation.
Whole situation? You mean the situation where the Browns had the 2nd best record in the AFC and the most injuries? They were 11-6 and rested every starter against Cincinnati in the last game. They could have been 12-5 easily, but yeah, they are in a situation
I took “that whole situation” to mean working for owners that tell you how to do your job by insisting that certain moves be made, especially without regard to cost. If I’m right, then Berry and Stefanski deserve all the more credit for overcoming that major obstruction, because as you pointed out, the Browns 2023 season can only be viewed as a success. Credit also goes to Stefanski’s assistants and the players for not letting all of the injuries be used as an excuse not to continue to try to win.
By whole situation, I mean having committed the most guaranteed money in league history to a sex pest with a bad injury history and mediocre performance since he was acquired. Do you not think that’s a problem?
This was the first time he’s been injured since 2017. He was 5-1 this year. He beat Baltimore in Baltimore. The Browns averaged 26.6 points a game when he started. He beat Arizona, Cincinnati and Tennessee by a combined 78-6 score. When a team has that big of a lead, they don’t throw in the 4th quarter. As for his off the field issues, that’s over and most people don’t care about that anyway. Heck, Trump got 74 million votes and he’s just as bad, if not worse. He was forced to pay
He still has two torn ACLs in his past. He also didn’t play at all in 2021, so it’s been three seasons since he had a good year. Watson was not good this year, and it’s not because they had leads in the fourth quarter. (Also, now that you point it out, 4 of his 7 passing touchdowns were against two of the least talented defenses in football.)
I’m not saying Stefanski isn’t good or that the Browns aren’t good. I think Stefanski is very good. But Watson on that contract would be a negative factor in someone wanting to take on the Browns job if it came open.
So now we’re only counting quarterbacks TD passes when they are against good teams? Since Prescott didn’t really play many good teams, I assume you believe that Prescott is below average too? I thought you knew football. Of course having a big lead limits how many yards a quarterback is gonna throw for. Jackson threw for 152 yards against Houston and they won by 24 points. He threw for 272 yards against KC and scored 10 points and lost. According to you, his best game was against KC. You don’t think Jackson could have thrown for more yards against Houston if he doesn’t have the big lead? Watson did what it took to win. He was 5-1. He averaged 26.6 points a game. He beat Baltimore in Baltimore. He just needs to play more. If he doesn’t get hurt, there’s no doubt that the Browns would win 12-13 games this year. Honestly I don’t care what his stats are. I’ll take an .800 winning percentage
That was more of a funny fact made possible by playing so few games and throwing so few touchdowns. Watson was not a good starting quarterback this year, nor was he last year, and he has the most guaranteed money in NFL history. There were good players and coaches around him and the team was overall good. That doesn’t make the Watson contract not look like an albatross.
So now we’re saying that if a quarterback has good players around him that he’s just not that good. I heard that when Watson put up great numbers in Houston, it was because his defense was bad and he kept having to throw to play catch up. As for his TD’S, the Browns run the ball inside the 20. Lamar Jackson only threw 24 TD’S in 16 games. He was MVP. The only thing that hurt Watson is that he didn’t play enough. I will take those numbers for a full 16/17 game season. As for the money, I don’t worry about that. Haslem is willing to spend and the Browns can manipulate the cap as well as anyone in the league. Dorsey will do wonders with him next year. They finally have a OC that knows how to coach mobile quarterback
I didn’t say he’s not good because he had good players around him. I’m saying the Browns were good because of coaches and players other than Watson. He was inaccurate and took a lot of sacks (which he did in the best of times, too). He fumbled a lot, too. If you extrapolate what he did out over a full season, it’s still a disastrous contract (and trade). He needs to play a lot better.
14-3 record
3811 yards
24 TD’S
13 interceptions
480 rushing yards
That’s Watson’s numbers over a 17 game season.
You know Mahomes had a very unMahomes year but their defense played a lot better. I mean it’s ok if you don’t like Watson but his projected numbers look a lot like MVP Lamar Jackson’s numbers. Don’t believe me…check it out. The Browns didn’t acquire Watson to achieve numbers
Wins aren’t a QB stat. Watson had a much worse completion percentage and TD-INT ratio. He got sacked at a higher rate and fumbled at a higher rate. He also missed most of the season with injury. He’s also more expensive.
You used to be brownsbacker, didn’t you?
I don’t worry about money. Of course wins are a quarterback stat. That’s another stupid comment. I noticed that you didn’t respond to my comment about Mahomes not being as good this year. Watson doesn’t have to throw for 5000 yards. His job is to win. He beat Burrow and he beat Jackson and he outplayed both. His only loss was by 2 points to the Steelers in Pittsburgh. The Browns aren’t the same Browns. They were 37-30 in the last 4 years. Not great but probably in the top half. You are constantly on this site all day
So Watson’s wins don’t have tons to do with the defense? And I didn’t respond to your Mahomes comment because it had nothing to do with Watson not being very good with the Browns. And you unfortunately need to worry about money in a salary cap sport. You didn’t respond to anything I said about Watson’s actual performance.
Meanwhile, I’ve barely been on this site the last couple of days. That’s why I was late in seeing your nonsense. I wish I hadn’t at all. Have a good one, brownsbacker.
You’re constantly on here. Of course you didn’t mention Mahomes because it doesn’t fit your agenda. Unless you don’t know this, football is a team sport and I’ll take my quarterback winning 80% of his games. Watson will be better next season under Dorsey. You’ll just have to get back on here next year which I’m sure you will because you don’t seem to have a life
lol. I’m doing just fine, thanks. No need to try getting nasty on a personal level just because someone disagrees with you about Deshaun Watson’s performance and contract. Most people would disagree with you here.
Over a 17 game season Watson would have thrown for 3808 yards.24 TD’S and rushed for 480 yards. Jackson threw for 3678 yards. 24 TD’S and rushed for 821 yards. By my math, very similar numbers. Watson just needs to play but people were saying the same thing about Jackson last year on here. I was the few sticking up for him. Injuries happen. They happened to Rodgers, Burrow, Cousins, Richardson, and a few others. I’m done. I don’t consider this my full-time job like you do. You’ve commented on 7 articles today only. That’s sad
You keep leaving out interceptions, fumbles, and any measure of accuracy, while also imagining he played a full season, when he didn’t even play half of one. As for injuries, he tore his ACL twice before the Browns spent a bunch of draft picks and the most guaranteed money in history on him.
Also I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’ve commented on two articles today and this is one of them.
How come I see your name in the comment section of about half the articles. Guaranteed money is nothing. Burrow got 219 million guaranteed. Jackson, Hurts, Herbert all got nearly 200 million guaranteed. It’s not like any of these guys are getting waived. They were always going to get their full salary. Same with Watson. As for Injuries, the one took place in his sophomore year in college and the other was 6 years ago. I think he’s proven the surgeries were a success. Any quarterback or player for that matter is a hit away from a major injury. As people like to use as an excuse for other quarterbacks, Watson’s interceptions were tipped. Watson was 5-1 and the rest of the Browns quarterbacks were 6-5 with the same defense. Sounds like Watson was the biggest reason the Browns made the playoffs. I’m done with you. You’re a weird dude. You’ll have me on here for 16 hours a day like you. No thanks. I have a life. Dooooofus
My life is just fine. You’re the one who makes stuff up about me and ignores anything that might make Deshaun #$%&ing Watson look less than great. I’m muting you now. I’ll mute your next account, too. You deserve to root for a team stuck with Watson, you weird creep.
Meh.
You rarely see teams maintain continued success in any sport without solid continuity in the leadership roles. It’s taken a while but the Browns seem to finally understand that.
no brainer: sign them both.
After several seasons of very favorable Cap position, the Browns are now going to have to make tough personnel decisions. They are currently ~$20M over the cap and also have $15M of dead cap hits. The Watson contract that likely brought chuckles and high fives for its Cap charges 2 years ago now kicks in fully with a $64M hit this season.
Unless Watson helps with a restructure, it could be a tough trip back to the playoffs.