How the Buffalo Bills Are Subtly Sabotaging the Cleveland Browns Head Coach Search

At this point, it’s fair to say that the Cleveland Browns have had their fair share of struggles in an effort to hire their next head coach.

Three weeks ago, the Browns fired Kevin Stefanski, who had won just eight games in the team’s last two seasons. Stefanski was quickly gobbled up, hired by the Atlanta Falcons as their next head coach once John Harbaugh was hired by the New York Giants.

Browns fans everywhere probably cringed when the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers fired Harbaugh and Mike Tomlin after nearly 20 seasons coaching their respective teams. Surely, these AFC North powerhouses would add unwanted competition to the Browns, who are trying to solve their opening, right?

Not entirely. The Ravens hired Jesse Minter, and while he cancelled his second interview with the Browns last week, nobody really anticipated that he would be the next head coach in Cleveland. The Steelers abruptly ended their search once they hired Mike McCarthy, who the Browns never chased.

Instead, the Buffalo Bills are the team sabotaging the search in Cleveland.

The Bills were the last team to fire their coach when they let go of Sean McDermott after their divisional round loss to the Denver Broncos in the NFL Playoffs. While McDermott is likely to take the year off of coaching, it oddly feels like the Bills are copying Browns general manager Andrew Berry’s every single move.

How the Bills messed up Grant Udinski's candidacy

The Browns were the first team to request an interview with Jacksonville Jaguars offensive coordinator Grant Udinski, a fast-rising 30-year-old whiz kid who is credited with Sam Darnold’s career resurgence with the Minnesota Vikings and Trevor Lawrence’s career-best season in Jacksonville.

After the Browns met with him the first time, the Bills requested an interview that was held on Sunday.

Following two lengthy interviews with the Browns on Friday, Udinski told the team he was no longer interested in their head coach position on Monday morning – less than 24 hours after his interview with the Bills. He received a pay increase from the Jaguars, but will continue to have the opportunity to interview with the Bills.

Now the Bills are tampering with Nathan Scheelhaase's candidacy

So all attention in Cleveland shifted to Los Angeles Rams passing game coordinator Nathan Scheelhaase, who was the other frontrunner with Udinski. After the Steelers and Ravens hired other coaches, and the Las Vegas Raiders didn’t seem interested in speaking with Scheelhaase for a second time, it looked like the path was clear for the Browns to hire the 35-year-old.

But while he was in his second interview with the Browns, it was reported that Scheelhaase had an interview with the Bills lined up for Monday night. The California-based interview concluded, and he’s now set to meet with the Bills.

Whether it is inadvertent or not, the Bills are subtly sabotaging Cleveland’s search for their next head coach. Hours after the Bills met with Udinski, he informed the Browns that he was no longer interested. Some had assumed that’s because the Browns were on a plane preparing to offer the job to Scheelhaase.

And maybe that still happened. But now he’s meeting with Buffalo, and the Browns will seemingly wait yet another day to hire their next head coach.