Despite being crowned two-time coach of the year, the Browns have only won seven games and have lost 27 in the last two seasons. 

At the start of the season, owner Jimmy Haslam stated that they didn’t have a specific number of wins in mind. However, he expected things to get better. Unfortunately, it didn’t, and the front office is making quiet moves to replace Stefanski with another personnel. 

ESPN Insider Jeremy Fowler pointed at the Miami Dolphins’ head coach Mike McDaniel. “My sense is that McDaniel would be a candidate in Cleveland, should the Dolphins move on and Cleveland’s job open. He still has some support in Miami. We will see if that’s enough,” Fowler wrote.

McDaniel’s start for Miami this season was something similar to the Browns. The former Super Bowl winners won only one out of the first seven games. However, McDaniel forced a comeback, winning 4 back-to-back games. Unfortunately, after losing two more games, the Dolphins’ playoff hopes were shattered for the second consecutive year. 

Meanwhile, the front office’s confidence in Stefanski is slowly fading away, despite a 13-6 win over the Steelers. They are already eliminated from playoff contention with a 4-12 record, having one more game to go. It’ll be intriguing to see what Stefanski’s strategies are for ending a season on a positive note, beating the Bengals. 

Mike McDaniel’s connection with the Cleveland Browns 

The Miami Dolphins’ head coach is a familiar name to the Cleveland Browns and their fans. Mike McDaniel was associated with the team back in the 2014 season as a wide receiver specialist. 

Unfortunately, his time in Cleveland wasn't stable at all. The team failed to qualify for the playoffs, finishing fourth in the AFC North division with a disappointing 7-9 record. The logs revealed the Browns ranked 20th in passing yards and were the worst team in scoring passing touchdowns with just 12. 

Andrew Hawkins led the Browns in receiving yards with 824, but he only scored 2 touchdowns in 15 games and 63 receptions. Other wide receivers weren’t impressive at all. While Taylor Gabriel scored only 1 touchdown for 621 receiving yards, Miles Austin just managed a couple of scores for 568 yards. 

Although these numbers won’t give much confidence to the Browns fans, McDaniel has‌ improved a lot since then. He led Miami to a respectable 11-6 record in the 2023 season and scored the second-most points in the league with 496.

If he does come to the Browns as a head coach, will he be able to change their fortune? Let us know in the comments! 

Written by

Kalp Thaker

Edited by

Oajaswini Prabhu