Let’s call it black Monday. Pete Carroll, Jonathan Gannon, and Kevin Stefanski have been fired by the Las Vegas Raiders, the Arizona Cardinals, and the Cleveland Browns, respectively. For Stefanski, closing out the year with a win over the Cincinnati Bengals wasn’t enough to allow him to remain in charge of the Browns.
Now, as Cleveland is looking for a new head coach, some people wonder if Deion Sanders could be their man. The connections are there, as his son, Shedeur Sanders, seems to have earned a chance to have the starting quarterback job in the 2026 season.
Well, Tony Rizzo of ESPN Cleveland doesn’t believe this will happen.
“I don’t think Coach Prime wants to come coach in the NFL. He’s got health issues, I don’t think Deion’s the guy. Aaron and I believe that they are going to hire a guy who has not been a head coach,” said the sports pundit on Monday.
Rizz does NOT think that Deion Sanders will be in play as the next Browns HC… pic.twitter.com/34paYtOoyz
— ESPN Cleveland (@ESPNCleveland) January 5, 2026
The question is, would the Browns even want Deion Sanders as their head coach? Coach Prime has been in charge of Colorado for three seasons, with two of those ending in losing records. He is fresh off his worst season with the team so far, finishing the 2025 season with a 3-9 record. In 2023, they had a 4-8 record and were 9-4 in 2024.
Jimmy Haslam on Why the Cleveland Browns Fired Kevin Stefanski
Speaking with the press after the decision to fire Kevin Stefanski, Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam was pretty straightforward with his reasoning. He said Kevin just wasn’t delivering results.
“We’ve got to do better. I think we’ll know what better looks like,” Haslam said.
Stefanski had been in charge of the Browns since 2020 and was responsible for somewhat of a resurgence of the struggling franchise. In 2020 and 2023, they had positive records of 11-5 and 11-6, respectively. In 2020, they made it to the AFC Wild Card Round, and in 2023, they made it to the AFC Divisional Game.
However, since 2023, things have gone downhill. Last year, the team got a 3-14 record, and this time around, they finished with a 5-12 mark.
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