The Browns’ Kevin Stefanski, and the 31 other head coaches in the NFL, should be looking forward to these next three weeks, when the league basically shuts down for the only time all year and everybody in it goes off and has a vacation.

Coaches work like crazy, putting in hours after hours after hours of work, day after day after day. Yes, the money is great, but the time and effort they have to put into their jobs is incredible. It is an endurance test, just like it is for the players.

So, then, why is this, in most ways, the worst time of the year for those coaches?

It is because they are holding their breath, hoping and praying that none of the players does something foolish and has an accident, whether it be physical or in terms of with the law.

The coaches have had the talk with their players time and time and time again to go enjoy themselves, but to be careful and to make sure they are ready to go physically, emotionally, and mentally when they return for the start of training camp in about a month. To do that, they can’t run into any obstacles, literally or physically.

That seems to make total sense, right? These players shouldn’t have to be told that, but just to be on the safe side, and there may not even be a safe side, the coaches make sure that the point is made loudly, clearly and emphatically.

But even with all that, sometimes it just isn’t enough. These are young guys with a lot of money, and they think that they are Teflon and nothing sticks. They think that they are superhuman and can do anything and not suffer for it.

We all know better than that, but perhaps they don’t. History is full of stories of players, in these three weeks, doing some of the dumbest stuff you ever heard of in your life, and paying for it, not just themselves, but the team as well.

The coaches have no control over them, for these are grown men. Maturity-wise, though, that may not be the case. With that, then, coaches hope that players have enough of a sense of responsibility and make good decisions regarding themselves, their teammates, their team and their families, to do the right thing, the safe thing and the thing that will allow them to have fun but not jeoprady anything going forward.

This game is hard enough. It’s tough enough to win in this league. Even with everybody doing the right thing, there’s no guarantee that the team will play well, reach its potential and have a great season. Anything that detracts from that serves to make that effort just that much harder.

Enjoy your vacation, guys.

Be smart.

Be safe.

See you in July, hopefully in one piece and ready to go.

Steve King