The Cleveland Browns at 3-10 have a lot of work to do this offseason to ensure this nightmare year doesn’t repeat itself, but it’s going to be tricky given the salary cap situation that has them projected to be about $18 million over the cap.
This front office is going to have to get creative, and one analyst believes the team could make a surprising trade in the offseason to improve the team.
Sports Illustrated’s Conor Orr spoke with Jim Rome on his show on Friday to discuss the disastrous year the San Francisco 49ers have had this season, and when he mentioned head coach Kyle Shanahan won’t be traded, he also noted that Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski could.
.@ConorOrr on Kyle Shanahan's future and which other coach is more likely to be traded this offseason. pic.twitter.com/iSkskoqeRR
— Jim Rome (@jimrome) December 13, 2024
Orr pointed out the fact that Mike Vrabel is already on the staff, who has had success as a head coach before and has worked with Deshaun Watson as well, so if the Browns want to recuperate some of the assets they traded for Watson, moving Stefanski could be a sneaky way to do so.
Watson has a $72.9 million cap hit next season and the Browns are too committed to move off his contract in any feasible way, so even though Stefanski isn’t to blame for this awful season, if Vrabel can do as good of a job or better and Stefanski can bring back some meaningful draft capital, it’s at least worth exploring.
This is obviously just speculation, as losing Stefanski would be a risky endeavor, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
NEXT: Analyst Reveals How Much Cap Space Browns Will Have In 2025
