This was originally going to be a win-next-season-or-else story about Browns General Manager Andrew Berry and head coach Kevin Stefanski.

That is, if the Browns, coming off a disastrous 3-14 season, don’t turn it around in 2025, then those two men might well be out of a job. Owner Jimmy Haslam is a patient man, which explains why Berry and Stefanski still have jobs when a good number of people wanted to see them go. Enough is enough, right?

But that reservoir is not a bottomless pit. So, if things don’t improve, then Haslam eventually will run out of patience, too, and he will pull the plug, even though he likes the fact that he, Berry and Stefanski are able to work together so well. He doesn’t want to lose that harmony.

So, originally, this was where the story was going to end. But then I began thinking, and as I did, I realized that I was forgetting an extremely important part of this equation. That is, Berry and Stefanski, realizing the heat is on them to produce even if they will never admit it in public, could opt to take a quarterback with that No. 2 overall pick in the NFL Draft on April 24 — and no one would argue with that since they most certainly need a franchise quarterback — and then explain to Haslam that it will take a while to develop him, thus guaranteeing themselves a little more time. As well he should, Haslam would have no problem in granting them that.

If that occurs, then it would change the whole dynamics of how the job security of Andrew Berry and Kevin Stefanski will be viewed. They might not have to worry about 2025 at all. They would, in fact, almost be assured of getting the majority, if not all, of 2026, too.

Steve King