If Joel Bitonio were in charge, he'd bring back Kevin Stefanski for a seventh season as Browns coach.
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Editor’s note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns and NFL analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland. He has covered the Browns since 1984.
Kevin Stefanski might not be popular outside the Browns locker room after consecutive 3-win seasons. But inside it, the coach of the Browns has the support of the most tenured Brown.
“He’s a good football coach,” guard Joel Bitonio said. “I have the highest respect for him, what he’s done here. I know it’s ‘What have you done now.’ But we’ve been to a few playoff games, we’ve had winning records, we’ve been competitive. Where we are right now, we don’t want to be there. But I think if we get the right pieces and keep improving, I think that’s a guy you can build around.
“Two-time coach of the year. He has the respect of his peers. He’s even-keeled. I think you saw this last week the team is motivated to play. We’re trying to win games. I think he has the respect of the locker room. I think he’s a guy you keep around and you build around. That would be my focus if I was in charge of that.”
Joel Bitonio has played for Mike Pettine, Hue Jackson, Freddie Kitchens, and Stefanski. Pettine was 10-22 in two seasons. Jackson was 3-36-1 in 2 ½ seasons. Kitchens was 6-10 in one season. Finishing up his sixth season, Stefanski’s record is 44-58, counting three playoff games, with two games to go.
“Some of the other coaches I’ve played for, they had like three wins,” Bitonio said. “They didn’t have 11 wins. They didn’t have a playoff win. They didn’t have playoff appearances. They didn’t have a six-year sample size.
“You know, we are not where we want to be. We expect to be higher. But if you look back at the preseason rankings, everybody had us at 31 or 32. When you talk about expectations and reality and things of that nature … I have the utmost respect for him. I just think you keep allowing him to coach the Browns and I think you’ll be in a good place in the future.”
Stefanski has had 13 different quarterbacks start a game for him in his six seasons.
“You saw in 2023, we had five different quarterbacks or however many it was,” Bitonio said. “The last two years it’s been a rotation of quarterbacks. And we’re working. We have a couple young rookie quarterbacks that are playing and showing promise. But until that quarterback position is solved in the NFL, it’s hard to win games. It is the most important position in sports. You’re trying to build a defense that has shown it can be elite and you want to build around these great quarterbacks.”
Although the quarterback position for 2026 is unresolved, Bitonio is excited about the batch of rookies that gained so much experience this year.
“These young guys … if I’m building a culture and a team, you build through Carson [Schwesinger] and Mason [Graham] and Harold [Fannin] and Samp [Dylan Sampson], Q [Quinshon Judkins]. These guys all love football, want to be here, they work hard. All things you look for in great teammates. It’s been great to have them. I’m excited for the future.”
Will Bitonio be part of that future? His contract is up and at 34, he has been taking it a year at time for several years. He said he’s not ready to say if he wants to keep playing.
Shedeur update
Every week, offensive coordinator Tommy Rees gives an update on quarterback Shedeur Sanders. With two games left, what steps would he like to see Sanders take?
“I just think continue on the right progression that he’s on right now, continue to make good decisions, continue to focus on the areas that we’re asking him to do,” Rees said. “You know, find ways to move the football, find ways to score points – that’s the quarterback’s job. But to put expectations and put those on. And we’re just looking for good progression and making sure that each week there’s improvement. Each week we’re building upon what we’ve done and again, find ways to score points and move the ball.”
Yuk
Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz didn’t mince words when analyzing the first half of the Buffalo game.
“I mean, those first three series were just awful, awful football,” Schwartz said. “We sucked in about every facet, not just run game. Missed tackles, dropped coverage, lost contain on the quarterback.
“And I think originally, particularly the first drive, we had a difficult time adjusting to the speed of the game, particularly James Cook and then also Josh Allen with the scrambles. And when we made that adjustment, guys started getting a little bit more comfortable. We started making some of those plays. No excuse for the way we started the game.”
Brownie bits
Special teams coordinator Bubba Ventrone blamed the botched placement on an aborted field goal attempt at the end of the first half v. Buffalo on both Rex Sunahara’s snap and Corey Bojorquez placement. “Kind of short on the ball, but I do think that obviously both of those guys own it. We need to be able to execute that. I think Corey can still get the ball down. He would tell you the same thing. So just gotta eliminate bad football like that.” …
The only player who didn’t practice was tight end David Njoku (knee).