The Cleveland Browns are nearly three weeks into their head coaching search after firing two-time Coach of the Year Kevin Stefanski following his 8-26 record over the past two seasons. This game of league-wide musical chairs has seen roughly half of the teams with openings already land their next head coach, while the Browns are still going through interviews and hoping to find their guy before the music stops.
The Browns are going through the process, but it has to hurt that over the past week, they have gotten rejected by Mike McDaniel and Jesse Minter, who both denied a second interview in Cleveland to secure jobs elsewhere. While those two rejections can’t feel good, there’s another guy they let get away that some believe could be the one they’re truly kicking themselves over.
During a recent episode of The Top Dawgs Show, Browns legend Hanford Dixon and crew discussed current New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel, who will take on the Denver Broncos on Sunday for a spot in the Super Bowl. During Vrabel’s one year off from coaching between his tenures with the Tennessee Titans and the Patriots, he spent 2024 in Cleveland as a consultant, and Dixon wondered how he was ever let out of Cleveland’s building.
“Look at their record before he went to this team. He’s a hell of a coach. He can connect with the players.”
How did the Browns let Mike Vrabel walk out of the building? #DawgPound@HanfordDixon29 details Vrabel's opening days in Foxborough and why the coach is such an excellent leader of men. pic.twitter.com/04qm8MLpIa
— The Top Dawgs Show (@TopDawgShow) January 23, 2026
There was never much of a discussion of Vrabel taking over the Browns because Kevin Stefanski was so firmly established as the head coach. Few could have seen things going the way they did over the past two years, culminating in Stefanski being fired, so it’s understandable why there was no room for the Browns to entertain the idea of Vrabel being the head coach.
The timeline just didn’t add up, but there’s no sense in the Browns and their fans regretting how things have turned out. It’s easy to be envious of what Vrabel has accomplished in New England in his first year, but it’s possible that landing that job was always the end goal for him since he won three Super Bowls there.
Cleveland is still in touch with some great head coaching candidates such as Grant Udinski, Nathan Scheelhaase, and Jim Schwartz. Any of the three would be a great option, and nobody should be too upset about Vrabel not being the coach, even if he does lead the Pats to another championship.
NEXT: Former Browns WR Has Passed Away
