Browns fire coach Stefanski, will keep GM Berry

BEREA, Ohio -- The Cleveland Browns fired head coach Kevin Stefanski after six seasons, the team announced Monday.

The Browns finished the 2025 season with a 5-12 record en route to their second straight last-place finish in the AFC North and their fourth losing season under Stefanski.

"We have tremendous gratitude for Kevin's leadership of the Cleveland Browns over the last six seasons," Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam said Monday in a statement. "He is a good football coach and an even better person. We appreciate all his hard work and dedication to our organization but our results over the last two seasons have not been satisfactory, and we believe a change at the head coaching position is necessary."

The Browns also announced that Andrew Berry, who arrived in Cleveland with Stefanski in 2020, will remain in his position as general manager.

"The entirety of our focus is on building a team that brings our fans the success they long deserve, and we will continue to work relentlessly towards that goal and invest whatever resources necessary to build a winning football program," the Haslams said. "Andrew will immediately begin our thorough process to find an outstanding new head coach and leader of our football team. We have an exciting young core to build upon, and Andrew and his team are intent on adding talent to this core and building out a roster that can achieve sustainable success."

The decision to part ways with Stefanski comes two seasons after he won his second NFL Coach of the Year award and less than two years after he received a contract extension.

From 2020 to 2023, Stefanski led the Browns to two playoff appearances and the highest winning percentage (.552) for the team over a four-year stretch since 1986-89. But Cleveland has struggled over the past two seasons with a combined record of 8-26. This season marked the Browns' fourth losing season under Stefanski.

"After six seasons as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns, I leave with an immense sense of gratitude," Stefanski said in a statement released by the team. "When I arrived in January of 2020, this organization, this community and Browns fans embraced me and my family with open arms. I cannot express properly in words how good we have been treated. A sincere 'Thank You' to everyone who I have been so blessed to work for and with over these six seasons. I'd like to especially thank my coaching staff and the players who did everything that was ever asked of them. They fought through injury and adversity, while always putting the TEAM FIRST. I wish all of you nothing but success."

Stefanski posted a 45-56 regular-season record and guided Cleveland to the playoffs in 2020 and 2023. He won his first Coach of the Year award in 2020 following a season in which the Browns defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers in the wild-card round of the playoffs, the franchise's first postseason victory since 1994. Stefanski was not on the sideline for the game and was unable to coach after testing positive for COVID-19. He won his second Coach of the Year award for helping guide Cleveland back to the playoffs in 2023 despite a litany of injuries, which forced the team to start five different quarterbacks.

The Browns' next head coach will be the franchise's 11th since 1999. Stefanski's firing marks the second high-profile departure from the organization in the past few months. Paul DePodesta, who served as the team's chief strategy officer for almost a decade, left the organization in November to become the Colorado Rockies' president of baseball operations.

"This was a difficult decision and today is a tough day for our organization because of the impact Kevin has had and the deep, meaningful relationships he has built across our building," Berry said in a statement. "We have great respect for Kevin, who has led our organization through both unique and challenging circumstances over his six seasons. Over that time, he has been more than a coach but also a partner, friend and stabilizing force for our team. He has always led authentically and cared deeply for Browns players, coaches and staff all while investing every ounce of energy into improving the team daily. Most recently, Kevin's steady hand led us through the most turbulent part of our strategic pivot and transitional period. Working with a young team and imperfect roster, he laid a foundation of professionalism while also creating an environment of learning for a new wave of Browns players.

"I am disappointed that we could not accomplish more together and the collective underperformance of our group is something I own. We will remain steadfast in our commitment to our fans in building the Browns into an organization that sustains success. Now, our attention turns to the search for the person to lead and develop what will be a young offense with heavy investment over the next six months to match and build on the performance of a young defense that is already playing at an elite level."

Cleveland's issues in recent seasons were highlighted by ineptitude on offense, which was supposed to be Stefanski's calling card as playcaller. The Browns scored fewer than 20 points in 11 games this season, tied for the most in the league. When Cleveland returned from its Week 9 bye, Stefanski announced that he was handing playcalling duties to offensive coordinator Tommy Rees. It marked the second consecutive year that Stefanski relinquished the responsibility.

The Browns used three different starting quarterbacks in 2025 -- Joe Flacco and rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders. Flacco, who helped lead Cleveland to the playoffs in the 2023 season after Deshaun Watson was sidelined by a season-ending shoulder injury, started the first four games but was benched following a 1-3 start and then traded to the Cincinnati Bengals on Oct. 7.

Gabriel, a third-round pick, started six straight games until he suffered a concussion against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 11 that paved the way for Sanders, a fifth-round pick, to make his first start. Sanders started the final seven games of the season.

Watson, whom the Browns traded three first-round picks to the Houston Texans for and gave a fully guaranteed $230 million deal in March 2022, did not play in 2025 after suffering a torn right Achilles tendon in Week 7 of last season. He underwent a second surgery in January after tearing his Achilles again and spent the first 13 weeks of this season on the physically unable to perform list. The Browns designated Watson to return to practice on Dec. 3 but decided not to activate him to the 53-man roster at the conclusion of his 21-day practice window.

League sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter in December that the Browns are planning to have Watson, 30, on the roster in 2026. Sources told Schefter that Watson's practice window was opened so that he would not be away from football until next spring.

Watson has played in only 19 games because of suspension and injuries since making his debut with the Browns in 2022. He has a 33.1 Total QBR since joining Cleveland, a figure that would rank last in the league (tied with Tennessee Titans rookie quarterback Cam Ward) among qualifying quarterbacks for this season. Watson has one more year remaining on his contract and a $80.7 million cap hit in 2026, the largest in the NFL.