Cleveland Browns fans are ready to see a change.
Whether this means firing head coach Kevin Stefanski or benching rookie quarterback Dillon Gabriel, the Browns fanbase is seemingly fed up. The team has a record of 2-7 entering their Week 11 matchup against the Baltimore Ravens (4-5). Gabriel is set to start against Baltimore.
On top of their present struggles, the media is starting to believe Stefanski has something against Shedeur Sanders due to an off-putting decision.
Kevin Stefanski Put On Blast
Stefanski has not given Sanders an opportunity to prove himself in the NFL regular season, which is more understandable than most of the public believes. Gabriel has not had a sufficient amount of time to prove himself, but the decision to continue starting the former Oregon Duck could still cost Stefanski his job.
This is because Gabriel has been the No. 37-ranked quarterback this season in PFSN’s QB Impact metric, with a grade of 51.6. For context, the only quarterback with a worse grade than Gabriel is Cincinnati Bengals QB Jake Browning, who posted a 49.1 QBi grade before getting benched for Joe Flacco.
On the other hand, questions are arising about just how poor the relationship between Sanders and Stefanski is. This stems from the Browns head coach seemingly refusing to use the 23-year-old’s name when speaking with reporters.
ESPN Cleveland’s Tony Rizzo shared, “When I revealed that he hasn’t called Shedeur by name, and people went back to the last eight Stefanski press conferences, and he has not called Shedeur by name, like it became a thing.”
“That seems like a normal and healthy thing going on in the building,” Aaron Goldhammer replied sarcastically. “Some of this veil of secrecy, the mysteries surrounding the team and Shedeur, and the quarterback situation, and the press conferences being just painful—that’s also not helping the whole situation.”
"That seems like a normal and healthy thing going on in the building," – @HammerNation19 on Stefanski not mentioning Shedeur Sanders by name in his press conferences. pic.twitter.com/vORXMNSSLk
— ESPN Cleveland (@ESPNCleveland)
The most obvious example of this is when Stefanski was asked when Sanders could potentially get his opportunity to start, to which he responded, “I don’t think it’s fair to speculate. We’re committed to getting better as an offense.”
“Dillon [Gabriel] has certainly committed to improving every which way he can, and all the while, all of our players, young players are developing and working so hard behind the scenes to make sure that they’re getting better on a daily basis,” Stefanski concluded.
The idea that Stefanski has a vendetta against Sanders has no proof, but the lack of using his name is a bit strange.