Unpacking the Wild Reactions to the Kevin Stefanski Hire

The Cleveland Browns franchise has been a coaching graveyard. 

The last TEN full-time head coaches all left the franchise with losing records. That includes Bill Belichick who made the playoffs just once before being dismissed with a 36-44 record.

New Atlanta Falcons head coach Kevin Stefanski is just the fourth of the previous ten Browns coaches to land a second NFL gig. To say that Falcons fans dislike the hire would be like saying “Usain Bolt is kinda fast” or “Victor Wembanyama is kinda tall.” The hire has generated one of the most vitriolic fan reactions in recent Falcons memory. 

The more rational discourse seems to be outweighed by a lunatic fringe calling Stefanski racist, falsely casting Matt Ryan as a nepotism hire, and painting the move as a slap in the face of Deion Sanders and his family. Stefanski’s handling of Shedeur Sanders has generated manic outrage from much of the extensive black fanbase, while his 8-26 record the last two years and 45-56 overall record are sticking points for nearly all fans critical of the move. Why did Atlanta hire ANOTHER losing coach? 

As always, context matters.

What Happened in Cleveland?

Yes, Stefanski has been a losing coach. After a 37-30 start in Cleveland that included two playoff appearances and two AP Coach of the Year selections (2020 and 2023), the bottom fell out following an ugly divorce with former quarterback Baker Mayfield and the ill-fated Deshaun Watson trade and extension. That infamous transaction cost Cleveland three first round picks and is universally considered one of the worst contracts in NFL history. Watson has played just 19 games in four seasons while collecting a FULLY guaranteed average salary of $46 million a year. 

It’s impossible to discuss Stefanski’s failures in Cleveland without acknowledging the effects of Watson’s injuries, the lost draft capital, and the injuries to former All-Pro running back Nick Chubb. Chubb played in just 10 games in 2023 and 2024 following four consecutive Pro Bowl seasons of over 1,000 rushing yards. That along with Watson’s lack of availability provides some context for an offensive coach whose units have finished 31st and 32nd in

points scored the last two years. 

On the other hand, Stefanski has managed just one top-10 finish in scoring offense with his best unit averaging 25.5 points per game (2020). That’s not exactly sexy to a fanbase that watched former play callers Arthur Smith and Zac Robinson fail to produce a league average offense with four consecutive top-ten draft picks on the offensive side of the ball. While Raheem Morris was hired on the selling points of high character, culture building, and strong relationships with players, Stefanski’s selling point is clearly his offensive playcalling. To put it bluntly, new football president Matt Ryan brought him in to score points and win football games and the fanbase is largely unconvinced of his ability to do either. With only one top-10 offense, two winning seasons, and no division titles – why Stefanski over other available candidates?

Why Stefanski?

The Falcons began the hiring process while the NFL had eight head coaching openings. That means 25% of the league was hiring with John Harbaugh as the undisputed top candidate on the market. Harbaugh was quickly scooped up by the New York Giants, leaving a list of interesting but flawed candidates for the Falcons to sort through. The options essentially consisted of (A) successful coordinators that would be first time head coaches or (B) retreads hoping to get it right in their (usually) second stop. That’s it…those are your options.  While many fans have openly lobbied for former Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, Tomlin is under contract until 2027 meaning the Falcons would have to give up some sort of compensation to secure him. 

So in the first bin of realistic options you have candidates like Klint Kubiak, Jesse Minter, Jeff Hafley, Vance Joseph, Joe Brady, Anthony Weaver, Davis Webb, and Aden Durde - all

successful coordinators with no head coaching experience that interviewed with Atlanta. In the second bin you have Antonio Pearce, Matt Nagy, Jim Schwartz, Mike McDaniel, and John Harbaugh – fired head coaches who also interviewed with Atlanta. Other realistic retread candidates not interviewed included Mike McCarty, Brian Callahan, Brian Daboll, Brian Flores, Jonathan Gannon, Pete Carroll, Robert Saleh, Doug Pederson, Dennis Allen, and Matt Eberflus. 

Out of the retread list only Mike McCarthy had a winning record (49-35) with his previous team. McDaniel went 35-33 in the regular season with two playoff losses that dropped him to 35-35 overall. That’s the entire the list of “available” winning coaches. [Sean McDermott was fired after the Falcons concluded their search]. When Falcons fans complain about hiring another “losing’’ coach it’s certainly understandable, but it also shows a lack of understanding about what’s actually available on the coaching market. Winning coaches generally keep their jobs. That’s why the firings of coaches like McDermott and Harbaugh generate so much buzz. When a winning coach DOES get the axe they typically don’t remain on the market because the overwhelming majority of available coaches are losing coaches. 

So how do you distinguish between losing coaches? 

That’s the real question. That’s where context matters. What did the roster look like? Did they have a quarterback? Did the team have cap space? How did the team perform in close games? Did the coach directly oversee an elite unit? Did the team have playoff success? Did players like playing for them? Did the coach underperform or overperform historic expectations?

So again…why Stefanksi? The logic for the Falcons probably goes something like this:

1. There are only a small handful of winning coaches, and we were not able to secure the top available candidate in John Harbaugh. 

2. Of the remaining options, we prefer an offensive coach that can develop our young quarterback and maximize Bijan Robinson and Drake London. We already have Jeff Ulbrich in place as a strong defensive coordinator. This also ensures that we won’t lose our offensive playcaller if we have a successful year. 

3. Among the top offensive coordinators, Kubiak has only one year of experience, Webb has never called plays, and Joe Brady has had mixed success as an NFL coordinator. 

4. Stefanski put together winning teams for one of the worst NFL franchises of the last 30 years. He was successful until catastrophic injuries and terrible roster management tore apart the team.

5. Stefanski has built successful (though not elite) offenses around Case Keenum and Kirk Cousins in Minnesota and Baker Mayfield and Joe Flacco in Cleveland.

6. Stefanksi has boasted strong running games in both Minnesota and Cleveland generating career years for Dalvin Cook, Jerome Ford, and Nick Chubb. His Cleveland offense finished top-five in rushing for three consecutive years. 

7. With the Falcons having young talent on both sides of the ball, an established defensive coordinator and full draft capital in 2027, a competent offensive coach should be able to generate a winning record in one of the weakest divisions in the NFL.

It is logical? Yes. Is it exciting? Not for most fans. Flores has a better winning percentage. McDaniels headed more elite offensive units. Saleh headed elite defensive units. Kubiak looks like a rising star. It’s hard to argue with anyone that wanted one of those candidates over Stefanski. But fans need to temper their outrage. Too much of the conversation revolves around things other than X’s and O’s and wins and losses.

The amount of reps Shedeur Sanders took in Cleveland practices has ZERO bearing on Stefanski’s success with the Falcons. The cult-like extreme of the Sanders followers would have you think Stefanski refusing to elevate Sanders earlier in the season is tantamount to him pissing on a Deion Sanders Falcons jersey and burning it on top of Mike Vick sneakers. Deion Sanders, a Falcon for five years who bolted for the rival 49ers during his first shot at free agency, still carries a strong and vocal fan club who hate Stefanski for slow-playing the ascent of a fifth round draft pick at quarterback. They conveniently omit the fact that Stefanski stuck with Sanders despite him posting the worst QBR in the NFL during his time as a starter and keeping him in the lineup after higher pick Dillon Gabriel returned healthy. 

This is not to defend Stefanski’s initial handling of Sanders, but rather to point out the absurdity of the objections. To criticize a coaching hire for how he managed reps for the

Shedeur Sanders received a substantial amount of coverage despite entering camp as QB4.

backup quarterback is just a bizarre line of thought. Coaches don't typically keep or lose their jobs over the performance of backup players. It’s very similar to the zeitgeist that led to vocal outcries when Tim Tebow was cut from the Patriots and the Jaguars; for fans, the love for the player sometimes overshadows the reality of their production. Stefanski enters Atlanta with that baggage as well as claims of racism -- odd for a coach that started Deshaun Watson, Dorian Thompson-Robinson, P.J. Walker, Jameis Winston, and Shedeur Sanders over the last three years.

The Bottom Line

Whether you boycott, write an open letter, cancel your PSL, or sell your season tickets, this is the path Atlanta has chosen. As a fan you either see an overrated offensive playcaller with a losing record or an average-to-good coach who led a poverty franchise to their most success in 30 years before injuries and organizational dysfunction derailed his tenure. Only time will tell which assessment of Stefanski is correct.

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