Ravens Interview Kevin Stefanski For HC; Browns Plan John Harbaugh Interview

The Ravens and Browns will always be tied to each other. The Ravens are sometimes referred to as “the old Browns,” in reference to the old Cleveland franchise’s move to Baltimore in 1996. Now, according to Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com, the two cities could potentially see two coaches make the same (and opposite) move that the franchise made 30 years ago.

Cabot reports that former Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski interviewed with the Ravens yesterday for an opportunity to replace John Harbaugh as the team’s next head coach. Meanwhile, the Browns are planning to set up an interview with Harbaugh to fill the seat left vacant after they fired Stefanski on Monday. Cabot reports that Cleveland was one of the original seven teams to immediately reach to Harbaugh following his Tuesday dismissal, and they hope to meet with him as he begins his interview circuit in the coming week.

Harbaugh and Stefanski are two of the hotter names in the coaching market right now. After a stagnant Ravens team cut Harbaugh loose, he immediately jumped to the top of every team’s wish list, boasting a 180-113 regular season record, having made the playoffs in two-thirds of his seasons in Baltimore, and having brought the franchise its second-ever Lombardi Trophy. His reputation as a leader of men and culture-builder had every team with a vacancy (and some without one) reaching out to inquire on his availability.

Stefanski’s success in Cleveland wasn’t nearly as sustained, but it was still incredibly impressive. He came into his first head coaching opportunity to take over a franchise that hadn’t won a playoff game since 1994, made the playoffs since 2002, or even had a winning record since 2007, and he broke all three streaks in his first year with the team. Stefanski also maintained some level of success over the next few years, keeping the Browns competitive despite a quarterback carousel that, at times, felt beyond his control and taking the team to the playoffs a second time in 2023.

Stefanski’s ability to keep the team mostly afloat despite blow after blow being dealt to the quarterbacks room due to injury or legal trouble has teams giving the 43-year-old a strong look to remain a head coach in 2026. Now that we know Baltimore has been involved, aside from the Browns, the Cardinals are the only team with a vacancy that we haven’t seen linked to Stefanski in any way. He’s been a rumored candidate in Miami, plans to interview today with the Titans and later with the Falcons, and has already interviewed with the Giants, Raiders, and now the Ravens.

The Ravens’ head coaching search will be an extensive, competitive one as the job became, perhaps, the most attractive opening the moment Harbaugh was let go. Stefanski becomes the 11th name linked to the position and the fourth candidate to have interviewed for it. The distribution of candidates has been extremely even concerning offensive versus defensive background, and Stefanski’s addition to the list pushes the ratio in favor of offensive candidates 6:5.

In Cleveland, Harbaugh is one of eight candidates currently in the mix. The Browns have already interviewed two internal candidates (both coordinators Tommy Rees and Jim Schwartz) and one external candidate, Seahawks defensive coordinator Aden Durde. They have interviews scheduled with Harbaugh’s former offensive coordinator, Todd Monken, and Bengals OC Dan Pitcher. and have requested one with Chargers DC Jesse Minter.

You can follow along with all the team openings and candidates involved in PFR’s 2026 NFL Head Coaching Search Tracker. We’ll see if the cities of Baltimore and Cleveland trade pieces once again, but as the Tracker will show, there are many names in consideration for both teams and many teams interested in both candidates.