Trading a head coach in the NFL is rare — but it could happen this offseason.
Sports Illustrated NFL insider Conor Orr reported the Browns could potentially trade head coach Kevin Stefanski, saying that a deal is gaining traction around the league.
“Speaking of the Browns,” Orr wrote, “there was some league-wide chatter about the potential of a Kevin Stefanski trade — ‘smoke,’ as one industry source put it…”
Although the logistics of trading a head coach are extremely difficult, as Orr noted in his report, it is not impossible, with instances occurring several times throughout NFL history, most recently with the Broncos sending the Saints and first-round and second-round picks for Sean Payton in 2023.
The Jets have been involved in multiple coaching trades, with the team dealing four picks to the Patriots for Bill Parcells in 1997, along with trading Bill Belichick back to New England in 2000 in exchange for three draft selections.
According to Orr, however, the Browns’ trading Stefanski “didn’t feel imminent or even expected,” as of Friday.
Stefanski, who has been at the helm for the Browns for nearly six seasons, has led the team to two postseason appearances in 2020 and ’23, winning the NFL Coach of the Year award for those seasons.
The past two seasons in Cleveland have been rough for Stefanski, however, with the Browns having a 3-14 record — which was tied for league-worst — in 2024, and are headed into Week 18 with a 4-12 record this season.
Amid the rumors surrounding Stefanski’s future, multiple Browns players have weighed in on their head coach, with rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders saying that the team does not listen to the “outside noise.”
“I don’t think we listen to the external stuff. He’s our coach,” Sanders, 23, told reporters Wednesday. “We view him as the same as we view him the first week. You know, we got the utmost respect for him. And yeah, I think that’s more media stuff, that’s more outside noise.”
Four-time All-Pro defensive end Myles Garrett was a little more blunt about the situation, saying that he wants the team to be successful, no matter who he is playing under.
“I want things to be successful, however that looks,” Garrett told reporters on Friday.
“I’m committed to winning,” Garrett added. “As long as the team and organization are doing so and committed to that same thing, I’m all on board.
“If we’re thinking anything other than winning — tanking or rebuilding — that’s not me.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
