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Browns give coach Kevin Stefanski, GM Andrew Berry contract extensions
CLEVELAND | For most of two decades, the Browns were an NFL laughingstock — often dysfunctional, rarely relevant.
Kevin Stefanski and Andrew Berry helped change Cleveland.
And they’re not going anywhere.
The Browns rewarded Stefanski, the reigning AP Coach of the Year, and Berry, one of the league’s bright, young general managers, with multiyear contract extensions on Wednesday after they brought success and stability to an organization that had little before their arrival.
The extensions have been expected for months and were announced as the Browns were on the practice field.
Terms of the deals were not immediately known. Both Stefanski and Berry had one year left on five-year deals signed in 2020.
Before Stefanski and Berry were hired, the Browns had two winning seasons, one postseason appearance, a 101-234-1 record — including an 0-16 finish in 2017 — in 21 years since their 1999 expansion rebirth.
They’ve been a perfect pairing, and after so much trial and error, Browns owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam wanted to guarantee they’d be around for longer.
“We are incredibly fortunate to have Kevin Stefanski and Andrew Berry leading the Cleveland Browns,” the Haslams said. “Since the day they were hired, each has worked tirelessly to help the Cleveland Browns win. We are proud of what they and the team have achieved, but Kevin and Andrew would be the first to say that Browns fans deserve even more.
“Their leadership, collaborative approach, and ability to overcome obstacles bode well for the future of this franchise.”
Stefanski led the Browns to an 11-6 record and a playoff appearance last season despite a rash of injuries, including losing quarterback Deshaun Watson with a shoulder injury after six starts. Cleveland started — and won — with four different QBs.
Stefanski was voted the league’s top coach for the second time following the season. The 41-year-old is 37-30 with two playoff appearances in four seasons.
He had never been a head coach before getting to Cleveland, spending 13 years working his way up the ladder in Minnesota. Stefanski had to navigate around the COVID pandemic in his first season, when the Browns ended a long playoff drought.
However, Stefanski wasn’t with the team for its wild-card win in Pittsburgh after testing positive with the virus.
Last season, Stefanski had to adapt on a weekly basis due to injuries, especially to his QBs.
After Watson broke his shoulder and had surgery, Stefanski won with journeyman P.J. Walker and rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson starting. Stefanski then adjusted his offense to suit veteran Joe Flacco, who was signed by Berry and came off his couch to lead the Browns to the playoffs with a remarkable final stretch.
“They are two of the brightest people we know, and selfless people who only care about what is best for the Cleveland Browns,” the Haslams said.
Stefanski addressed getting the extension in typical stoic fashion, saying he and Berry won’t rest on their successes.
“It’s a partnership where we take our job seriously,” he said. “We understand the jobs we have in this town. We understand our fans and what they want this team to be. So, we’re just going to focus on working every waking minute to get this thing where we want it
“For the organization to trust Andrew and I speaks to what we’ve been able to do, but we have plenty of work to do.”
Berry has rebuilt Cleveland’s roster in his second stint with the team.
One of the NFL’s only Black GMs, the 36-year-old Berry returned to the Browns in 2020 after spending one season as Philadelphia’s vice president of football operations. He was Cleveland’s vice president of player personnel from 2016-18.
Although the Browns trade for Watson hasn’t paid off the way they hoped to this point, Berry has made several other astute moves to make Cleveland competitive and now a contender in the balanced AFC North.
Berry signed Myles Garrett, the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year, to a long-term contract extension and locked up Pro Bowl running back Nick Chubb, cornerback Denzel Ward, guards Joel Bitonio and Wyatt Teller and tight end David Njoku to multiyear deals.
He acquired wide receiver Amari Cooper in a trade with Dallas and fortified the roster with some solid draft picks, highlighted by linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, corner Martin Emerson Jr. and tackle Dawand Jones.
Colts player representative says he’s opposed to expanding NFL season
INDIANAPOLIS | Indianapolis Colts center Ryan Kelly made one thing perfectly clear Wednesday: He’s opposed to an 18-game season in any form.
The NFL’s Players Association executive committee member wasted no time explaining his concerns following the second day of this week’s three-day minicamp at Colts headquarters. Kelly’s biggest concern is player safety.
“I think there’s a reason they’re already putting that out there in the media, right? Start talking about it, next thing you know people will think it’s going to happen,” the four-time Pro Bowler said. “I hope not. I think you start looking, 16 was a lot for a lot of guys and 17 is even more, right? It’s a lot too on your body, but this is a business and it’s about making money.”
Murmurs of adding another game to the league’s already long season began in earnest after commissioner Roger Goodell addressed the issue on “The Pat McAfee Show” in April.
Since then, the debate has only ramped up.
On Tuesday, Colts defensive end Kwity Paye made it clear he expected any deal brokered between the league owners and union leaders to include at least an extra game paycheck if an 18th game is added.
Kelly took it a step further, suggesting it may require ownership to give players a 50-50 share of the NFL’s total revenue base or possibly lifetime medical insurance — two things he doesn’t believe are really possible.
Still, he knows what it would mean — more money in the owners’ pockets and likely more money in players’ pockets. He’s just not sure the risk is worth the cost.
“The fans, and rightfully so, shouldn’t know all the injuries we go through, but they don’t know what it takes to play on Sundays,” said Kelly, Indy’s first-round pick in 2016. “I think it’s just too many games.”
The Colts announced Tuesday that safety Daniel Scott suffered his second straight season-ending injury during Indy’s offseason workouts. Scott, a fifth-round draft pick in 2023, was trying to return from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in one of his knees. Last week, coach Shane Steichen said Scott tore an Achilles tendon.
Kelly also noted that there has been discussion about changing the way offseason workouts are conducted in the future. One potential change would be allowing players to start ramping up in-town workouts in early July as they prepare for training camp, rather than going back and forth between their homes and the team complex.
“We throw, we do all these things and then we don’t see each for two months,” Kelly said, referring to the current schedule. “So it’s like, is that best and most effective way to train and to really get the most out of it? I think the counter argument is that you add a month in the beginning of the season, it makes the season feel even longer when the league’s pushing for 18 (games) and we’re already playing 17. So I think there’s going to be some back and forth and I don’t think there’s going to be a perfect solution.”
49ers safety Talanoa Hufanga aims for Week 1 return following surgery
SANTA CLARA, Calif. | San Francisco 49ers safety Talanoa Hufanga aims to be ready to return to action in time for the season opener after tearing a ligament in his knee last November.
Hufanga tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee last Nov. 19 in a win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and is spending the offseason rehabilitating in hopes of being ready for the start of the season.
“The goal is to be ready by Week 1,” Hufanga said Wednesday. “The goal is to be in training camp, not at the very beginning, but to ramp up correctly so it’s not just to throw me out to the wolves and good luck. But try to be smart with that. We’ve had plenty of conversations with the training staff and putting me in the best possible situation to succeed.”
Hufanga said the competitor in him wants to be back on the field as soon as possible but recognizes the need for patience to make sure he is fully healed when he returns. San Francisco opens the season on Sept. 9 against the New York Jets.
Hufanga is taking advantage of this time to spend even more hours than usual poring over film, studying his own teammates at practice and some of the top safeties around the league like Antoine Winfield Jr., Derwin James and Minkah Fitzpatrick to get any tips he can.
“You’re taking all their great attributes and your goal is to put it into a player on your team,” he said. “So learning how to be more patient and keying your run-pass keys versus just like trying to play the call or playing the concept.”
Hufanga was drafted in the fifth round by San Francisco in 2021 and played mostly on special teams at the start before working his way into the defense late in his rookie season.
Hufanga then became an All-Pro his second season and was playing at a high level again last year before getting hurt after amassing three interceptions and 52 tackles.
The defense regressed a bit after his injury, allowing 4.4 more points per game and 0.24 more yards per play after Hufanga went down.
The late-season issues on defense contributed to a change in coordinator with Nick Sorensen being promoted to replace Steve Wilks in the offseason.
Hufanga has said the transition has been seamless since Sorensen has been on staff two years working under both Wilks and former coordinator DeMeco Ryans.
“He’s been in the meetings. So it’s not like he’s just a fresh new face,” Hufanga said. “He knows what the system was. He’s been in it with DeMeco as well. So he really understands what we’re trying to accomplish. Yes, he makes tweaks here and there and knows what we can do.”
Lions DB Khalil Dorsey carted off field with lower leg injury
ALLEN PARK, Mich. | Detroit Lions defensive back Khalil Dorsey was carted off the field with a lower leg injury during the team’s mandatory minicamp on Wednesday.
Dorsey was a key player, mostly on special teams, for the NFC North-champion Lions last season. He played in 13 games during the regular season, including two as a starter, and appeared in all three playoff games.
The 26-year-old Dorsey starred at Northern Arizona. After going undrafted, he played in six games as a rookie in 2020 with the Baltimore Ravens before going on injured reserve. He was with the New York Giants during the offseason in 2022 and Detroit signed him to its practice squad late in that year.
Dorsey, who was re-signed in March, is part of a suddenly deep secondary with the Lions.
The Lions attempted to improve a weakness with moves such as acquiring Carlton Davis III in a trade with Tampa Bay and drafting Terrion Arnold and Ennis Rakestraw in the first two rounds of the draft.
Earlier this week, before Dorsey was injured, Lions coach Dan Campbell said the team has a lot of options in the secondary due to talent, competitiveness and versatility.
“Honestly, we have no idea who our starting lineup’s going to be right now and it’s exciting,” Campbell said Tuesday. “It’s so good. There’s no telling who’s going to be outside corners, who’s going to be our nickel, who’s going to be our safeties.
“This thing is wide open across the board. It’s going to be great to let these guys compete and just go after it and see who is going to be the most reliable guys for us, most dependable.”
—From AP reports
