BEREA, Ohio – Before being traded to the Cleveland Browns this offseason, quarterback Kenny Pickett had already heard about head coach Kevin Stefanski’s prowess of working with and getting the most out of his quarterbacks.
Through the first few months of Pickett’s time with the Browns, Stefanski has lived up to the reputation “to a tee.”
“He’s probably exceeded that,” Pickett said June 11.
Stefanski sits in every quarterback meeting and will resume play-calling duties for the 2025 season after he handed the role briefly to former offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey halfway through last year. Dorsey is no longer with the Browns, and Tommy Rees was promoted to offensive coordinator, with Bill Musgrave as the quarterbacks coach.
“The knowledge of his system, that he’s been in for a long time and how he understands quarterback play and what it’s like to be back there and the clock that we’re on and what we have to do to be successful,” Pickett said. “It’s been awesome.”
A history of QB success under Stefanski
Stefanski spent most of his coaching career with the Minnesota Vikings and spent time with multiple position groups on offense, at one point serving as the tight ends coach and running backs coach.
But from 2009-13, his first on-field role was as assistant quarterbacks coach. He overlapped with Brett Favre for the first two of those seasons, when the gunslinger led the Vikings to the NFC Championship Game (2009) and finished fourth in MVP voting at 40 years old.
Stefanksi worked his way back to the quarterbacks room, this time as the quarterbacks coach in 2017, when Case Keenum had his best year as a professional and the Vikings went to the NFC title game again. Kirk Cousins achieved the highest completion percentage of his career in 2018 (70.1%) and Stefanski became the offensive coordinator for the final three games of that season. In his first full season leading the offense, Stefanski’s scheme helped Cousins make his second Pro Bowl.
Once he became a head coach with Cleveland in 2020, he helped Baker Mayfield turn in his best years as a Brown, which led to the franchise’s first playoff victory since 1994. But the defense has become Cleveland’s calling card during Stefanski’s Ohio tenure, despite the acquisition and payment of Deshaun Watson, whose suspension due to sexual harassment allegations and a series of injuries derailed the organization’s short-term plans. The current quarterback contingent of Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett and the two rookies means it will be up to the coach to get the most out of what is there.
How does Stefanksi’s scheme fit Shedeur Sanders, Dillon Gabriel?
Under center. Play action. Quick reads. That’s the way of a Stefanski offense. And if he’ll once again assume more control of the philosophy and its implementation, ESPN analyst Dan Orlvosky, said then Sanders is “perfect for it.”
“He’s perfect for the under center, play-action, control the line of scrimmage, see the defense — get from one, two, three, he’s got to do it more quickly, but he’s custom-made for that,’ Orlovsky said June 9 on “Get Up.”
Orlovsky added: “He’s custom-made for that … the way that he thinks, the way that he can see something on the board, take it to a walk-through, bring it to a practice that’s (what you want to see).”
Many of the questions from Gabriel or Sanders to the coaching staff or Pickett and Flacco – who played for Stefanski in 2023 as the Browns made the playoffs – have revolved around being under center at the line of scrimmage and the footwork required to drop back. But it’s a requirement for Stefanski, who establishes the run and lets other concepts evolve from that.
Stefanski claimed “we’re so far away from that type of thought process” when it comes to choosing a starting quarterback for Week 1 against the Cincinnati Bengals. Flacco is the odds-on favorite, but there will be an open competition come training camp.
“Right now, that’s not the focus,” he said during team minicamp.
Pretty soon though, it will be.