The Message Kevin Stefanski is Sending To Players: "Get In The Arena, We're All About Action"

Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski has done a lot of speaking to the locker room and opening that dialogue with his players.

"My big message to our guys is to get in the arena," Stefanski said on a conference call with local media Wednesday. "We're all about action."

In response to a question about his relationship with Cleveland Cavaliers head coach J.B. Bickerstaff, Stefanski talked about their hope to help encourage change.

"We want to be a strong part of this community. We want to be a strong part of positive change. I realize that from my platform that I have here I'm able to affect change. So something [former NFL receiver] Anquan Boldin said in a meeting a couple days ago that we were in, 'attach your name'. And that's something that I take seriously. I'm attaching my name. I'm leading a football team. I want these guys to know the impact that they can have."

"And now, J.B., our team, our players, we're gonna work towards some action items to make sure that we leave a positive impact out of all this."

Stefanski was asked about the NFL and its response to the situation, acknowledging they failed to listen to their players. While he did not address to the NFL, he did mention what he intends to do as far as listening.

"My big note to our players is that I got their back and that's not just their lip service. I'm standing right there beside them. They have my support. I promise you one thing. We'll just continue to listen to each other from a place of mutual respect."

Stefanski was asked, basically, for his position on kneeling and different ways players might protest in the upcoming season. He didn't plant a proverbial flag or commit on any individual issue or action, giving a general statement of support before talking about what he and his team intend to do as far as discussing these topics.

"I wanna make sure I support our players, but first things first, I wanna make sure I sit down with them and talk. We've started the process in that dialogue, but I can't speak to the future in that regard, I can just promise you this. We're spend as much time as needed that we're all on the same page and we are a united front from a player, staff, you name it.

We want to make sure that we're constantly staying in the dialogue on these issues because it's not something that's just going to go away. We want to make sure that we're constantly, constantly looking at this in ways that we can do better, so I really would love to first down with our social justice committee. Sit down with our captains. Sit down with the leaders of this football team before we talk about things in the future."

On the whether the conversation needs to carry over into the fall, Stefanski said yes.

"My message to our players right away- and we've spent every meeting addressing this. I got a team meeting here at one o'clock. We're gonna continue to talk about it. We're gonna bring in some guest speakers to talk about it. It's not- one Zoom meeting's not gonna solve this in any way, shape or form, but I think unified action over the course of time can make a positive impact.

J.B., myself, this organization, we are trying so hard to give our players resources to get in the arena and act, because dialogue is great. Listening is outstanding. That's part of the healing process, but now is the time to make sure we're making positive change in our communities."

Stefanski was asked for example of specific things he's doing.

"Simple things like donating. A lot of us are in a position to donate, so we gave them some resources, some places to go educate themselves on which charities maybe they should donate to. Gave them some reading material, some listening material, podcast-wise in terms of educating, because we talk about listening. We gave them some things they can listen to. I encouraged them to attend a peaceful protest, attend a rally.

I went with J.B.B., I brought my two young boys. My mom who's in town came with me. My wife stayed back with my daughter who's too young, but we went to a peaceful protest this past weekend [In Avon, Ohio]. And that was the first time I've ever been to one. It was empowering. You saw the passion. You saw the frustration. You saw the love. I think it was just really an elightening moment for me and I was able to share that with my boys at a young age. I think that's part of this, is making sure we are doing everything in our power to educate each other and especially the next generation."

The call comes on the heels of Stefanski being among 40 members of the Browns signing a letter to Congress regarding qualified immunity for police officers. Stefanski was asked about this issue.

"Credit to the Players Coalition, which is doing some amazing work in terms of educating our players and giving them resources. That was something that they brought to our attention, I guess last week. I did my homework. I did my research. Again, I go back to 'attach your name' and that's part of this. Knowing that we have to do better. I would say most of realize that there have to be reforms of some sort and I just felt like this was something that important to support moving forward."

Stefanski was asked if he was proud of guys like Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham for speaking out through this process.

"No doubt. We've pointed those guys out in our meetings throughout this time. The Browns are an important part of this community. I've seen it first hand, the impact that our guys can have in the Cleveland community and really around the country is something I know they are taking really seriously and I commend them for their efforts.

Finally, he was asked about his opinion of General Manager Andrew Berry's leadership.

"Andrew's been outstanding. He's my neighbor right now. My temporary neighbor. I think the world of the guy. He's not afraid from out in front. He's not afraid to put others in the spotlight and get behind others. He has my full support. I know he's been supporting me. In moments like this, you get to see guys like Andrew step up and he's certainly has stepped up in this regard. I'm really proud of him and I think he's doing a great job and I think there's more to be done and I think you'll continue to hear from Andrew on this topic."