To the surprise of no one, Kevin Stefanski and Andrew Berry are on the hot seat

Kevin Stefanski and Andrew Berry’s careers are on the line in 2023.

Whether you blame Baker Mayfield, Odell Beckham Jr., Joe Woods, Jimmy Haslam, Deshaun Watson or the ghost of Paul Brown himself, the Cleveland Browns are a mess right now. The team is in shambles after two bad back-to-back seasons. While many will claim that changes in the coaching position were all this team needed, that just isn’t true. The team is way over the cap, is in desperate need to make moves to add talent, and yet somehow keeps their cap number low enough so they can go into next season and not be obliterated.

An expensive, and average team is the worst thing you can have in the NFL. But whose fault is it? Is it Andrew Berry’s for allowing the cap to get out of hand? Is it Kevin Stefanski for failing to develop the talent he was given? Is it Haslam’s for simply being the owner?

It really doesn’t matter, what does matter is that the careers of Stefanski and Berry are on the line in 2023, at least according to Terry Pluto. This isn’t surprising, despite going to the playoffs in 2020, the Browns have now had two straight losing seasons and a third would seal their fate.

Could they rebound with other teams? Sure, the NFL is a copycat league, but should they? That’s the question.

Did Kevin Stefanski and Andrew Berry inherit and then screw up a good team?

Did the Browns’ front office really just screw up all of John Dorsey’s hard work? It’s possible. Some folks inherit good situations and then screw them up over time. You see it a lot in the college ranks, where a good head coach will be replaced, the new head coach finds instant success and then over a few years, everything falls apart.

Sound familiar?

Was it Stefanski’s coaching, Berry’s tweaking, or Dorsey’s building that got the Browns to the playoffs in 2020? It’s hard to say but since then the Browns have corrected, and dare I say, over-corrected, since 2020.

Now, many players from that 2020 team are gone. Maybe even most of them. The players they replaced them with aren’t panning out. Something’s gotta break. Either the team continues to make bad choices with who they keep and who they part ways with, or the team finally gets it right this offseason and sets things right going forward.

Either is possible, only time will tell which way this crazy thing ends up landing.