Why the Browns QB Mess Clouds Kevin Stefanski’s and Andrew Berry’s Futures

Cleveland’s coach and GM are still dealing with fallout from the Deshaun Watson trade. Plus, how to fix the Chiefs and much more in Albert Breer’s NFL mailbag.

Amid another poor year, the futures of Browns general manager Andrew Berry and head coach Kevin Stefanski are up in the air. / Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

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1. Cleveland Browns
2. Seattle Seahawks
3. Miami Dolphins
4. Breer’s best quarterbacks
5. Curt Cignetti
6. Jacksonville Jaguars
7. Las Vegas Raiders
8. Kansas City Chiefs
9. Atlanta Falcons
10. Jeff Hafley and Brian Flores
11. Trey Hendrickson
12. New York Jets

It’s Week 15. We have a lot of questions this week, so let’s get to answering them.

You brought the questions this week—and I’m starting with a string of them on the strangely relevant Cleveland Browns. Let’s go!

Cleveland Browns

From JAG (@justinsanity67): How bad does Kevin Stefanski want out of Cleveland and will he get his wish?

JAG, I don’t know that he wants out of Cleveland. He has good relationships with Jimmy and Dee Haslam and GM Andrew Berry, so I don’t think this is an untenable situation.

Now, if you’re asking if everyone should go forward together, that’s a different question.

Stefanski and Berry inherited a nice young core upon their 2020 arrival, led by, Baker Mayfield, Nick Chubb, Odell Beckham Jr., Jarvis Landry, Wyatt Teller, JC Tretter, Joel Bitonio, Myles Garrett, Larry Ogunjobi and Denzel Ward. They plugged their biggest hole, at offensive tackle, that offseason, and won 11 games, which matched the team’s highest win total since the 1980s. You could argue that at that point, the franchise was in the best spot it had been in since reentering the NFL in 1999.

The team took a small step back in an injury-marred 2021. Then, the Deshaun Watson trade happened, and undermined any opportunity that nucleus of players had to pursue a championship. It took Mayfield off the roster. It stripped the team of first-round picks in 2022, ‘23 and ‘24. The impact of that decision cannot be overstated.

The question from there becomes whether a coach and GM can come back from that. It’s fair to say Stefanski did an admirable job in 2023, getting the team to 11 wins, in the midst of this messy four-season stretch. This year, Berry effectively created a pivot point for a team that had aged, trading the second pick, bringing in a bumper crop of rookies with the return, and setting the team up with two first-round picks for 2026.

So, on one hand, you could say Stefanski has done as well as could be expected considering the mess at quarterback, and Berry’s started to build a road out from under that mess. On the other hand, those two guys were part of the mess in the first place.

And in the future, their roles in that will be the backdrop to everything they do until they can recreate what they walked into in 2020. To be clear, I believe Stefanski and Berry are still good at their jobs. What I’m less sure of is whether having both is best for the team, given that backdrop.

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From . (@sunlnmyeyes): Why do you report lies and narratives from coaches/gms instead of just reporting facts? Should your credibility be in question?

So this question was in reference to a tweet of mine from early August, where I said, “I don’t know how many times I have to say this, but it’s reality—Dillon Gabriel is ahead of Shedeur Sanders right now, and has been since both arrived in Cleveland. Sanders has worked to catch up, but he’s got a lot of ground to make up.” And I’ll always answer for stuff I say, write or opine.

In this case, I reported this as fact. What I’d heard at the time from a variety of people was that Gabriel had taken a clear lead on Sanders in the Browns’ quarterback derby, with both chasing veterans Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett.

The order held through camp, with Flacco the starter, Pickett battling injury (but the backup when healthy), and Gabriel and Sanders behind them. After Pickett was traded, Gabriel was named the backup. When the team moved off Flacco, Gabriel became the starter. Which is why I’m confused about what I was lying about, or what narrative I was creating. I said Gabriel was ahead of Sanders, which was proved, repeatedly thereafter.

Sanders has taken strides during his rookie year and will start for the Browns for the rest of the 2025 season. / Scott Galvin-Imagn Images

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From coachweider (@footballcoach79): Is Shedeur starting QB Week 1 for Browns next year?

Coach, we’ll see. There are four weeks left in the regular season, and that’ll give Sanders opportunities to prove himself further. Within a month, we’ll have seen Sanders play against the Bears, Bills, Steelers and Bengals, and that’ll give us a lot more information than we have right now about whether he’s a viable option to start in 2026.

My hunch is that he’d have to do a lot to win the job outright next year, but I could see a scenario in which he’s part of a real competition, unlike this year. And that’s a great credit to him. His improvement has been steady. In the process, this whole thing has gone from being a morning-TV sideshow to a pretty cool story.

I’m excited to see where it goes next.

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Seattle Seahawks

From kodebug (@youbetchadak): Seahawks in the Super Bowl?

Kodebug, I think they’re a very real contender. Right now, I’d put the Seahawks right behind the Rams among the NFC’s contenders.

The strength of Seattle’s team lies in its apparent lack of weaknesses. The one you could look at is the one they’ve had: that’s interior offensive line. First-round pick Grey Zabel has helped shore that up, but there are still two other spots with some level of vulnerability. But if that’s your one issue? I’d say you can manage it.

Can’t wait to see them welcome the Rams to the Pacific Northwest next week.

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Miami Dolphins

From Dan Fahringer (@danpru2023): What are the Dolphins’ chances of landing a quality GM if they try and “force” McDaniel and Tua on them?

Dan, this is a good opportunity for the Dolphins.

Let’s start here: I believe there’s a good chance that Miami comes out of this year with a Rams or Lions type of structure. My understanding is that cap chief Brandon Shore has already taken a bigger role in the organization, as part of a three-headed monster that Mike Disner has in Detroit or Tony Pastoors has in Los Angeles. In that setup, you have a head coach, GM and cap/analytics chief reporting to the owner.

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So a new GM (or incumbent Champ Kelly, if he wins the job) would be coming in with Shore working alongside him as a resource, and a head coach who realistically gets a year to evaluate. Meanwhile, Tua Tagovailoa has one more year of guaranteed money left, with the flexibility to draft another quarterback in 2026 or wait for what could be a strong class in ‘27.

That, to me, isn’t bad. You have a playoff coach and a playoff quarterback on hand, and you get a year to test-drive them. Then you either go forward with one, the other, or both, or blow it up and bring in your own guys in 2027 (barring a collapse from the Dolphins down the stretch this year that might create another set of decisions for the team).

Now, with all that established, it will be worth prospective GM candidates investigating the future of ownership, as Stephen Ross’s son-in-law, Dan Sillman, becomes increasingly involved.

Breer’s best quarterbacks

From Ronnie (@Tray4o): Albert, who are your Mount Rushmore of All-Time NFL quarterbacks?

Ronnie, if you base it on historical significance, I’ll go with Tom Brady, Joe Montana, Johnny Unitas and Otto Graham. As for the best quarterbacks, and I’ll keep this to my lifetime (since the 1980s), I’ll say Brady, Montana, John Elway and Peyton Manning, with Patrick Mahomes coming strong around the corner to steal a spot.

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Curt Cignetti’s rapid rise through the college coaching ranks has generated buzz around the football world about his future possibilities. / Grace Hollars/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Curt Cignetti

From Derek Nelson (@_derekn): Would Curt Cignetti work in the NFL?

Derek, I wanted to do some research on this, so I reached out to people who’ve evaluated his players and gotten to be around him on the college scouting trail. One scouting director texted, “I mean, he’s identical to Nick Saban, so really figure out why Saban didn’t work and go from there.” Personally, yeah, I think he could. He’s not a cheesy rah-rah guy. He’s brutally honest with his players. He has a lot of NFL-type qualities from that standpoint.”

Another personnel man said, “No, he’s too much of a d---.” The premise, from this guy, was that Cignetti is set in his ways, where in the NFL, you need to be more adaptable to what players will respond to. Which more often than not, is what’ll make them rich, something that, of course, is dictated by their ability to succeed between the lines.

For what it’s worth, Cignetti’s good in that area, too, with a mastery of the game that goes beyond one side of the ball or the other. So that would give you some hope. And he’s obviously doing something unprecedented in a program that has distinct disadvantages.

So, sure, in a year when there aren’t many obvious candidates out there, he’s worth at least a proper investigation from NFL teams that are out there looking for coaches.

Jacksonville Jaguars

From Shawn (@trilwil92): Why do you hate the Jaguars?

Shawn, I do understand the sensitivity here. For those who missed it, I had an online dust-up with Duval this week, after I forgot to include them in a tweet about the teams with the top records in the AFC. It was not a good tweet on my part.

My sincere apologies to everyone who was affected.

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Las Vegas Raiders

From Holiday Scott (@slewis3775): Would it be reasonable to bring Brian Daboll to Las Vegas to be the OC, especially if they get the No. 1 draft pick (Fernando Mendoza)?

Scott, sure, assuming you’re moving forward with Pete Carroll in 2026, I think Brian Daboll would be a hire that would make sense, maybe even enough so that you’d evaluate Daboll as Carroll’s eventual successor. But certainly, discussing next year in a vacuum, Daboll would make sense, with the potential that a quarterback-of-the-future will arrive in Vegas.

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Kansas City Chiefs

From Brian T. Jones, Sr. (@BJonesSports): Realistically, what do the Chiefs need to do this offseason to correct the wrongs from this season?

Brian, I think the Chiefs need to develop their offensive line, health and reliability at left tackle from Josh Simmons, and then potentially add a coverage-drawing weapon as their significant offseason acquisition. I’d inquire about young receivers such as Chris Olave or Jordan Addison, who will soon command new contracts and might, as a result, be available.

I don’t think there’s a significant downturn talent-wise, to be honest. I think more than anything, a lot of things have gone wrong at once for the Chiefs this year. It happens.

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Atlanta Falcons

From Bernd Backhaus (@BerndBackhaus): Will there be changes by the #Falcons? Who is more at risk—Raheem Morris or Terry Fontenot?

Bernd, I think it’s tough to look at that situation and not feel some level of change is in the offing. They’ve lost seven of eight after a 3–2 start. They’re in Tampa for a Thursday night game this week, and everyone knows the effect that standalone games can have on owners who don’t like being shown up on a national stage. And the rest of their schedule is set up in a way that could either build momentum or bury the guys in charge.

No one expects the Falcons to beat the Rams in Week 17. But that game is sandwiched by matchups with the Cardinals and Saints. So you could legit finish 3–1, and then you’re 7–10, and maybe ownership wants a chance to see what the current brass can do with better luck at quarterback next year. Or if you somehow lose those games, the outlook would be grim.

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Jeff Hafley and Brian Flores

From John O’Callaghan (@J_OCallaghan93): Who is more likely to be a head coach next year, Jeff Hafley or Brian Flores?

John, I’d say Hafley, because defensive coaches need a lot of things to go in their favor to get shots, and the Packers right now are a lot better than the Vikings (that’s not Flores’s fault). And I’d agree, for what it’s worth, that teams should be able to look at a little more on the details of these things, maybe comparing the quarterback situations in both places to add some context, but they often don’t.

I think both guys are good candidates, for what it’s worth.

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After a tense offseason standoff ahead of the 2025 season, Trey Hendrickson is poised to become a free agent next spring. / Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Trey Hendrickson

From Greg Borchers (@GregBorchers): How do you see the Trey Hendrickson situation playing out this offseason? Will the Bengals tag him, or will he reach free agency? How does his injury situation impact him?

I’d be pretty surprised if Hendrickson is a Bengal in 2026. I don’t think that relationship is in a great place. And I think the tag number is too high to make him a tag-and-trade candidate. So my guess is the Bengals let him go as part of a bigger defensive overhaul.

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New York Jets

From STΞVΞ (@RacingDFS): How serious are the Jets about Brady Cook potentially being the guy? Could he be good enough, at least, for them to forgo taking a QB this year and holding off for 2027?

Steve, I’d be surprised. But I do agree that if you’re the Jets, you should get a viable starter to at least give yourself the option to wait on drafting a quarterback in 2027, when you’ll have three first-round picks at your disposal, and a better class could be waiting.

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