Bet on Who Will Coach the Cleveland Browns Next Prop

It’s been a tumultuous couple of seasons for the Cleveland Browns.  Last year saw another losing start to the season followed by the firing of head coach Hue Jackson midway through the campaign.  Capable defensive coordinator Gregg Williams took over on an interim basis and from that point on the Browns looked like a different team.  The strong finish plus the revived offense led by quarterback Baker Mayfield resulted in offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens’ promotion to permanent head coach.

‘Permanent’ didn’t last too long for Kitchens.  The Browns became a NFL betting darling in the offseason and were even considered a mid-level choice to win the 2020 Super Bowl.  They didn’t even come close.  Cleveland finished 6-10 and nowhere near the playoffs after a season full of disappointing performances.  That cost Kitchens his job and opened speculation over who would replace him.   It could be the beginning of a chaotic off-season that could see a variety of scenarios transpire—even the possibility of Tom Brady coming to town should he decide to leave New England as a free agent.  BetOnline.ag has Cleveland posted as the favorite to land Brady should he choose to move on from the Patriots.

BetOnline.ag has been at the forefront of posting odds on the NFL head coaching vacancies ever since the end of the regular season.  Now, the Cleveland Browns are the only team remaining with a head coaching vacancy.  They missed out on the two top candidates with previous head coaching success as Ron Rivera took over the Redskins and Mike McCarthy replaced Jason Garrett in Dallas.  The other two new head coaches—former Baylor University coach Matt Rhule who is headed to Carolina and former New England assistant Joe Judge who is headed to the NY Giants—were never really on the Browns’ radar.

BROWNS WANT TO LAND THEIR NEW COACH BY SATURDAY

It looks as if Cleveland wants to move quickly to land their next head coach.  The risk they face is that with the rest of the head coaching vacancies filled some of the other candidates could re-commit to their current teams or accept other openings on the staffs of the new men in charge.  With so many coaching dance cards already full who has the inside track to become the Browns’ next coach?

There’s a lot of speculation and little in the way of concrete information.  New England Patriots’ offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels was a top candidate for every team’s vacancy but some media reports suggest that he’s been holding out for the Browns gig since it is his ‘dream job’.  Then again, other media reports have suggested that McDaniels is unlikely to be the next Cleveland coach.  Even this line of thinking has contradictory information being floated in the media.  Some have indicated that Cleveland has cold feet over McDaniels due to his poor performance as head coach in Denver and his decision to back out of the Indianapolis Colts’ head coaching job one day after accepting it.  Other reports suggest that McDaniels is leaning toward staying in New England due to his own concerns over the constant state of turmoil in which the Browns’ franchise exists.

The most recent betting favorite at BetOnline.ag is starting to look like the most viable candidate.  Minnesota Vikings offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski is the most recent candidate to interview for the Cleveland Browns job.  He was the opening favorite in BetOnline.ag’s Cleveland Browns’ coaching market at +275 and although he initially had interest from the other teams with vacancies they decided to go a different direction.  It might be the perfect time for him to leave Minnesota and he comes without much of the ‘baggage’ that accompanies McDaniels.  
There was briefly a frenzy of reports in both the local and national NFL media that Jim Schwartz could become the Browns’ head coach.  Schwartz is the current Philadelphia Eagles’ defensive coordinator and former head coach of the Detroit Lions.  The logic was that the Browns wanted a coach that could command ‘respect and accountability’ from their players and Schwartz definitely fills that role.  The ‘Schwartz to Cleveland’ reports ended about 24 hours after they began and he’s now considered an outside shot to get the job.  Also in the mix are San Francisco offensive coordinator Greg Roman and Kansas City OC Eric Bieniemy.  

That being said, it looks like Stefanski is still the most likely candidate to become the next Cleveland Browns head coach right ahead of Josh McDaniels.  McDaniels is still scheduled to interview with Cleveland on Friday but it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if Stefanski gets offered the gig prior to that.