Kevin Stefanski and Jaxson Dart got along well before last year’s NFL Draft.
Dart liked the Cleveland Browns’ offensive scheme. Stefanski, then the Browns’ head coach, was intrigued by Dart’s talent and makeup.
“Coach Stefanski is great,” Dart said Monday. “He’s had a really good career, especially from the offensive side of things. I thought the visit with him and his staff went well, and he’s a really good coach.”
The Giants knew the Browns had eyes for Dart, which is part of the reason they traded over Cleveland at No. 33 overall to take the quarterback out of Ole Miss in the first round.
Now Stefanski, 43, and Dart have a chance to work together in New York.
The Giants are one of several teams expected to interview Stefanski, along with the Atlanta Falcons and Tennessee Titans, at least, for their head coaching vacancy after the Cleveland Browns fired him on Monday, per ESPN.
“We are going to find the best leader for the franchise,” said GM Joe Schoen, who is desperate to find someone who can help improve his .323 winning percentage.
Stefanski is an intriguing option in a thin class of candidates with NFL head coaching experience, which includes former Packers and Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy, who won a Super Bowl in Green Bay.
The Philadelphia native, who climbed the ladder with the Minnesota Vikings from 2006-2019 before getting the job in Cleveland, posted a 45-56 regular season record (.446) in six seasons as the Browns’ head coach.
He was the NFL’s Coach of the Year award winner twice. He won 11 games apiece in the 2020 and 2023 seasons. And he captured the Browns’ first playoff win since 1994 in his first Browns season with Baker Mayfield at quarterback.
But Browns owner Jimmy Haslam forced an expensive 2022 trade for Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson and paid Watson a fully guaranteed $230 million contract.
And Watson’s scandal and injuries compromised the Browns’ operation, leading to an awkward 2025 NFL Draft that saw the Browns draft two QBs — Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel and Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders — with Haslam meddling heavily again.
The Giants have their own problems, of course. Their primary need is to restore professionalism and accountability to their locker room and their culture.
“Someone that wants to win, that can handle the pressure, that can lead us,” tight end Theo Johnson said of what the Giants’ needs at head coach. “Someone who gets the most out of his players and is able to relate to them.”
The Giants will need to do their own homework on whether Stefanski can be that badly needed CEO and new sheriff in town. The Browns went 8-26 in his final two seasons there, and it’s important to do a full autopsy on what went wrong.
But continuing to develop and unlock Dart is also a huge priority in this search, as well. And Stefanski is a respected offensive mind.
He has been guilty at times of getting too pass happy when he’s had a good quarterback under center, similar to the Vikings’ Kevin O’Connell. But Stefanski’s run schemes, play action usage and ability to move the pocket all are proven and would play to Dart’s strengths.
“There’s several criteria that we’re going to look for, leadership being an important element in the head coaching world,” Schoen said. “Football acumen will be important. Player development is very important, having a plan for player development. We have a young quarterback. It’s going to be important that there’s a plan in terms of Jaxson’s development, holding people accountable and communication.”
Schoen’s cast of Giants interviewees is expected to include a lot of names, including but not limited to McCarthy, Colts defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo, Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula, Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph and Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley.
“We’re going to cast a wide net,” Schoen said. “And there’s no directive that it has to be an offensive guy or defensive guy or special teams or college or whatever it may be, having head coaching experience previously. We are going to find the best leader for the franchise.”
The Giants already showed strong interest in Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman, but he elected to stay in college another year. They’re contending with increasingly more vacancies around the league with each passing hour, too.
At the moment, the Titans, Giants, Falcons, Raiders, Cardinals and Browns all have openings at head coach.
Schoen said he’s been watching lots of press conferences for coordinators and even has included the “integration of AI” into his research, along with making phone calls and dispatching a front office team to canvas prospects.
He disputed that his presence at GM might deter candidates, citing Liam Coen’s desire to see Jaguars GM Trent Baalke fired before taking the Jacksonville job last year as an isolated incident.
“It’s actually the opposite,” Schoen insisted. “There’s a lot of excitement.”
But obviously the Jags, led by new GM James Gladstone and Coen, have turned their team around immediately and won the AFC South. So that’s a clear blueprint for cleaning house and starting fresh.
And it’s possible that the more experienced the candidate, like Stefanski, the more likely that coach is to want to bring in his own allies on the personnel side. That remains to be seen.
Schoen returning for a fifth season, with seven wins combined the past two years, also puts the onus on the Giants’ next head coach to win in 2026. Is that a tornado of pressure that a coveted candidate like Stefanski is willing to step into when other options might present more stability and certainty?
Ownership and Schoen will have to get to the bottom of those answers in their interviews.
“Ultimately it’s ownership’s decision, but I imagine that’s gonna be a collaborative effort,” Schoen said of the Giants’ hiring process.
Stefanski already has two clear advantages in the Giants’ search, though: he’s done the job before, and he wants to coach Dart.
