Cleveland Browns Ownership Backs Team Brass Amidst Lost Season

Despite the Browns sitting at 3-10 on the season, team owner Jimmy Haslam expressed support for head coach Kevin Stefanski and general manager Andrew Berry

Browns owner Jimmy Haslam, left, and head coach Kevin Stefanski watch the offense during minicamp, Tuesday, June 11, 2024, in Berea. / Jeff Lange / USA TODAY NETWORK

Anyone expecting heads to roll after a forgettable 2024 Cleveland Browns season will have to think again.

Team owner Jimmy Haslam expressed support for head coach Kevin Stefanski and vice president of football operations Andrew Berry at owner's meetings this week. According to ESPN's Jeremy Fowler, Haslam was just as caught off guard by the team's forgettable season as anyone, but doesn't seem keen on making changes to the organization's power structure in the coming weeks.

"We went from 11-6 and making the playoffs to 3-10, so it's a little perplexing what happened," Haslam said, per Fowler. Adding "I do. We do. We're very supportive," when asked about whether or not he felt Stefanski and Berry were still the right people to lead the organization.

Stefanski and Berry each signed matching, five-year contract extensions with the Browns this past summer. Still, anytime a team underperforms as badly as the Browns have this season, job security will get called into question.

Some difficult decisions loom large for Clevand's top leaders this offseason though. Starting with what to do about quarterback Deshaun Watson, and his albatross of a contract.

Haslam expressed less confidence in Watson's future with the team.

"We need to get through the season and we will look at everything," he told ESPN in regards to the Browns QB situation.

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Complicating matters is the parameters of Watson's contract, which includes over $90 million due to the embattled QB over the next two seasons. The dead cap hit that comes with cutting ties with the 29-year-old is nearly double that figure.

Watson may be the biggest problem facing the Browns this offseason, but it's certainly not the only one. With an aging and expensive roster to manage, Berry will have his work cut out for him trying to reshape the Browns roster to remain competitive moving forward.

On the bright side, he appears to have the confidence of Haslam, who seems to have evolved over the course of is decade-plus ownership of the Browns.

"I've learned not to get too emotional during the season," he told Fowler. "We will sit down after the season, go through everything for next year."