Devils fire Ray Shero as GM

In one of the two news items that were rather large on Sunday for TRS, the New Jersey Devils announced the "mutual parting of the ways" with general manager Ray Shero shortly before their game with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

I watched the game and the Devils notched their second win on consecutive evenings against Eastern Conference powerhouses after a Saturday pasting of Washington on the road, with a 2-1 win over Tampa Bay.

The Devils currently are in last place in the Metropolitan Division and were next to last in both the Eastern Conference and the entire NHL before their pair of victories moved them past Ottawa in the East and Anaheim and Los Angeles overall and after high expectations for the Devils after drafting Jack Hughes, trading for P.K. Subban, importing Nikita Gusev from the KHL and signing Wayne Simmonds as a free agent, the season can be considered nothing but disappointing thus far.
In addition to those disappointments, the Devils suffered through not the slow team start, but a slow start with Taylor Hall on the ice and off the ice as it seemed unlikely that Hall was going to return to the Devils next season by signing an extension and avoiding the free-agent market.

The trade of Taylor Hall to Arizona well before the trade deadline for a return that some wondered about (Not me, as I don't claim to be a hockey prospect expert), but considering by that point that Hall had decided to test the waters and that for all his talent, Hall can be a fragile egg and with one injury, the Devils could have gotten nothing for Hall.
I won't knock Shero for moving Hall so quickly and the returns for rentals in recent times haven't been as bountiful as in the past, but ownership must have wondered with the deadline on its way about Shero's future and decided to have someone else make the decision on deals to accept for rentals Wayne Simmonds, Andy Greene, and Sami Vatanen.

However, the two problems that hurt Ray Shero, in the end, saw one by his own hand and the other was a problem that he could never solve, yet was not one he created.
The decision to hold onto John Hynes as the head coach for longer than he should have allowed sent this season out of control and put it in the no way out position.
I don't think Hynes is a bad coach and he may do a fine job in Nashville, where he has since been hired, but in such a pivotal season for the franchise, Shero could be blamed for not making that decision fast enough to attempt to derail the downward track.
Loyalty can be an admirable thing, but in this case, it was taken too far.

The other problem was in the net, where Shero was hamstrung by the seven-year contract extension that Cory Schneider was signed to by Lou Lamoriello in 2014.
That contract still has two years to go after this season and the Devils have been unable to solve the problem since 2016-17, which is when Schneider's play began to decline and only got worse in each successive season.
It wasn't Shero's fault to inherit the Schneider contract and it wasn't his fault that Schneider's career fell through the ice, but his inability to find anyone to shore the position up and as a result force-feed Mackenzie Blackwood into the lineup is on his plate and was a major reason for the disappointing Shero tenure.

Assistant GM Tom Fitzgerald was named the interim general manager with Martin Brodeur making his first move into the Devils as an advisor on the hockey side.
Fitzgerald moved to the coaching staff earlier this season as the Devils attempted to right the ship under John Hynes and has been mentioned as a potential GM in the league.
As for Brodeur, who knows whether he would be a successful general manager or not, but considering his status as the greatest player in the organization's history, if he wants this job either now, later, or eventually- he will be the people's choice.
Either of the two could have a leg up on the competition for the permanent job if they can do well in their potential returns in those inevitable deadline trades.

When expectations aren't met, changes will be made and the Devils ownership is likely in the middle of missing the playoffs for the fourth time in five seasons, so it makes sense to make the move now and avoid Ray Shero making the decisions for a team that has decided to move on from him.
The question is will the owners make the right choice for the Devils future.
Remember the hire that you make to replace the unsuccessful person is the most important that you can make because if they fail over a five-year term, you have a decade of failure on your hand- That is a mistake that a team in a three-team market simply cannot afford to make.

Browns hire Kevin Stefanski

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and again and expecting a different result.

Jimmy Haslam started the "process" for finding a replacement for Freddie Kitchens as the coach of the Cleveland Browns with words that valued experience as a head coach as a leader etc.

You had the feeling that as the Browns sifted through candidates with their search committee that was comprised of Jimmy Haslam, he of the Pilot/Flying J scandal, his wife Dee who thought the current Browns uniforms were an upgrade over their classic predecessors, the Haslams son-in-law J.W. Johnson, who has little recommend himself other than he married Jimmy and Dee's daughter. Chris Collins, who runs the Browns salary cap, and finally Mr. Paul DePodesta, he who lives in San Diego for a team located in Cleveland and while DePodesta is best known for his role in the book "Moneyball" with the Oakland Athletics, he's also the man that on the one occasion that he had total power, managed to run the cash-flush Los Angeles Dodgers into last place and low-balled a 25-year-old homegrown player named Adrian Beltre and allowed him to leave via free agency, only to see Beltre play 14 more seasons, finish with over 3,000 hits and hit 477 homers.
Not a football person in the bunch and while you could say that the John Dorsey-led football men had blown their chance, it would have been a nice idea to have at least one traditional football man asking questions in the room.
Clearly, this was a "qualified" committee to decide who would be yet another head coach for the Cleveland Browns and only was missing a manager from a Pilot/Flying J to truly be complete.

And since these are the Cleveland Browns, they hired a first-time head coach with a year and a half working as an offensive coordinator with the selection of Minnesota Vikings assistant Kevin Stefanski.
Stefanski was widely considered as the runner-up to Freddie Kitchens for the job last season and was the choice of Paul DePodesta, who pushed heavily for him only to lose out to Kitchens, who was the preferred coach of John Dorsey.
Stefanski was the offensive coordinator for Minnesota for a portion of the 2018 season and all of this season for the Vikings, who finished the season rated eighth in scoring offense and were noted for a strong ground game with Dalvin Cook and Alexander Mattison as the workhorses (especially Cook) and using Kirk Cousins play-action often.
It does appear for a team that possesses elite-level runners in Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt and with a quarterback that has similar traits as Kirk Cousins in Baker Mayfield that Stefanski could be a good fit with the offensive personnel in place.

The Vikings offense improved in 2019 from the previous season, but my question is this- how much of that was Stefanski and how much could be credited to "Advisor"  Gary Kubiak?
After all, Kubiak is noted as a quarterback guru and has won a Super Bowl as a head coach in Denver before health issues forced him to leave coaching for a term, so you should consider the possibility that the addition of Kubiak should have accounted for at least a portion of the improvement of the Minnesota offense.
Still, Stefanski was involved and deserves a chunk of the credit for the improvement as well, no matter how you wish to slice those kudos up.

Reportedly, in the interview of New England's Josh McDaniels, McDaniels recommended "sweeping organizational change", while such a change would have been a good idea, what do you think the chances of Paul DePodesta selecting the coach and plan that would include DePodesta as part of the organizational cleaning?
Would you recommend picking someone at your company to be hired that would evict you if they were hired? I doubt it, so McDaniels was likely out of the running as soon as he uttered those words.
Honesty might be a virtue, but in this case, it wasn't going to be rewarded.
AND that includes the stipulation that the owners stay out of football matters with said owners sitting right there.
Considering that option and the preferred candidate of Paul DePodesta being involved as the other option, it was easy to see who was going to win the position.

I know this may read like a snarky column on Stefanski and it's not centered on him as much as it is the process that ended with Stefanski sitting in the final chair when the music shut off.
I really liked a candidate or two (Josh McDaniels and Greg Roman),  disliked another (Brian Daboll), and the remaining candidates (Stefanski, Robert Saleh, Jim Schwartz, Eric Bieniemy, and Mike McCarthy, who was hired by Dallas before the conclusion of the process) were coaches that weren't going to excite me or send me screaming into the night if they were hired.
For me personally, this seems like yet another unexciting Browns hire that saw plenty of Jimmy Haslam wind blowing about what they were looking for and settling for another C-lister that no one else was interviewing (Stefanski was scheduled to interview with Carolina, but the Panthers hired Matt Ruhle before that interview took place), no different than Rob Chudzinski, Mike Pettine or Freddie Kitchens before Stefanski.

That is why I started this post as I did- another untested candidate that few (if any) were interested in as their head coach that seems to have the job because of a shared educational background with Paul DePodesta.
The Browns have this need to be the smartest person in the room, a need to make sure that everyone else knows this, and to travel a different path from others despite a lack of success from that path.
I'm not against numbers evaluations- numbers are a large part of what makes sports fun.
Comparing one player's statistics against another, what is the likelihood of this or that taking place considering the history- that is some of the attraction of following sports.
However, there can be too much analysis and importance placed on those numbers and not enough of on the scouting aspect and there lies my concern.

The Browns are rumored to be connected to former Sashi Brown/Paul DePodesta assistant Andrew Berry as the new general manager.
If this proves to be true, that means that two-thirds of the people that brought you these two drafts in 2016 and 2017 are back and running the show in Cleveland.
The 2016 draft, which featured the trading down and avoiding DeShaun Watson, taking Corey Coleman instead of Michael Thomas with the traded down pick, and has only two remaining players on the 2019 team (4th rounder Joe Schobert and 5th rounder Rashard Higgins) is beyond awful and the 2017 version is better with first overall pick Myles Garrett and 3rd round starter Larry Ogunjobi, the only other remaining player is disappointing first-rounder David Njoku and the Browns traded up for him and chose Jabrill Peppers in the first round to boot!

In all honesty, I'm far more concerned about the re-emergence of DePodesta and Berry running personnel than I am about Kevin Stefanski.
Every first-time head coach is a risk.
Every one.
No one is a sure thing and more fail than succeed, so while Kevin Stefanski would not have been my selection, I cannot say that I am certain that he will be the next head coaching failure in Cleveland.
What I can say is look at the statistics (ironic, huh?) of the two teams and drafts that DePodesta/Berry (and Sashi Brown) were involved with.
1-31, three starters out of two drafts.
I realize crummy coaching from Hue Jackson comes into play a few times and I also realize that there is an argument from some that John Dorsey's draft pick bounty was because of the moves by the same front office clique.
However, what about the draft and personnel decisions from their time would make you feel remotely comfortable with allowing them to make those transactions again?
DePodesta is one of the people that didn't think Carson Wentz was a top 20 quarterback, didn't attempt to trade up for Patrick Mahomes and literally traded out of position rather than select DeShaun Watson.

Imagine this scenario even if you don't imagine any other hypotheticals- IF the Browns do everything under that regime exactly the same other than not trading down and simply take DeShaun Watson, look at the ripple effect that would have.
Yes, the Browns would not have Denzel Ward, which would be a loss, but not an insurmountable one, but having Watson would mean that that they wouldn't have had to draft a quarterback in 2018, which means no Baker Mayfield and therefore no doubts about the position entering 2020.
Without needing a quarterback, it could have been the Browns adding picks in the 2018 draft through teams that wanted to trade up (the Jets and Bills traded up in that draft into the top seven to pick quarterbacks) and it's possible, the Browns may have still been able to take Denzel Ward, the one lost player through not making that trade, anyway.

Those are my concerns.
The seemingly "fixed" process of Kevin Stefanski being the choice all along, despite words that promised an open search for an established winner, from a committee that seems to have a lack of knowledge about football beyond the numbers and a decidedly biased process along with a track record of evaluating personnel by the people in charge makes me very concerned about that portion of the organization.

I'm not mad. I'm not glad.
I'm just meh with a side helping of worry.

Back later with the other big news of the weekend as the Devils fired their general manager Ray Shero.

Boxing Challenge: Munguia stops O'Sullivan, Smith slips by Hart

The first matches for the 2020 Boxing Challenge lifted off Saturday night with the main events from ESPN and DAZN starting things off.

DAZN and Golden Boy kicked their 2020 off from San Antonio, Texas with a surprisingly interesting battle as former WBO junior middleweight champion Jaime Munguia defeated Gary "Spike" O'Sullivan via an eleventh round stoppage when O'Sullivan's corner conceded the fight with their man being pounded along the ropes.
Munguia threw more punches and was ahead on my scorecards after ten rounds  (97-92) before ending the fight in the eleventh as he pasted O'Sullivan to earn the stoppage.
Munguia threw several low blows throughout the bout and was deducted a point in the sixth round for a low shot, which I thought contributed to wearing down the smaller "Spike" in the final few rounds of the fight.
Munguia continues to be a rough draft as a fighter and where his work with trainer Erik Morales impressed me came into play was in the middle rounds as Munguia began to use the jab more effectively.
The jab not only helped the Munguia offense, but it improved the defense as well as it ended the counter rights that O'Sullivan landed far more than he should have in the first half of the fight.
Munguia is the top contender for WBO middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade's title, due to the WBO's rule that moves a champion of theirs that vacates their title to move up or down in weight will automatically move to the top of the contender list.
Munguia still seems too unpolished to defeat Andrade and might be better suited to delay that fight for a bit and put another one or two fights at middleweights into the record books before making that challenge.
As for Spike, he took a lot of punches in the loss and he's undersized as a middleweight, to begin with.
O'Sullivan might be on the verge of considering retirement as he has been hit a lot, but if he decides to fight on, his management might be smart to consider trying him in the junior middleweight division where physically he is a better fit.

The ESPN/Top Rank slate led off their 2020 with a crossroads light heavyweight fight between Jesse Hart and Joe Smith with the victor possibly involved for the WBO title vacated recently by Canelo Alvarez or an eliminator against the winner of a 175 pound next week from ESPN with former WBO champion Eleider Alvarez and Michael Seals.
I saw it as a toss of the coin matchup with Hart throwing more punches and being the smoother boxer and Smith being the harder puncher and having the better chin with the possible variable that Smith just hasn't thrown enough punches in recent losses to Sullivan Barrera and WBA champion Dmitry Bivol.
Smith turned back the clock to his peak years when he knocked out Andrej Fonfara and Bernard Hopkins and simply overpowered Hart with punishing blows and in a surprise moved his hands enough to outland Hart.
Hart was dropped by Smith very late in the seventh round and was hurt badly again in the ninth round, but managed to grab and hold enough to make it to the final bell.
I had Smith a decisive 98-91 winner, which was in line with two judges scores, but the verdict for Smith was split as judge James Kinney threw out a Hamburglar of a scorecard that awarded his scorecard 95-94 for Hart, which not only was outrageous to fans, it was outrageous to Hart promoter Bob Arum.
That's how bad this scorecard was- the promoter of the losing fighter was railing against his fighter's winning scorecard!
The impressive return for Smith will likely see him face the aforementioned Alvarez-Seals battle next Saturday while Hart should remain on the fringes of the title picture and would be a viable opponent against top ten boxers in the division.

The Boxing Challenge starts again for 2020 as Ramon Malpica attempts to take the trophy away from me for another time.
Ramon won the first challenge, but I've been fortunate enough to emerge victoriously in the following five seasons.
Ramon and I each earned one point for the knockout win by Jaime Munguia.

Boxing Challenge

It's the start of a new year in the boxing challenge as Ramon Malpica and I battle all year for prognosticating supremacy in the Sweet Science.

Both ESPN and DAZN have cards on Saturday night, but we'll be starting with only the main events from both cards start the season.

ESPN will feature an excellent battle in the light heavyweight division in a crossroads fight that might place the victor into a possible title fight by the end of 2020 from Atlantic City.
Jesse Hart faces Joe Smith in what is essentially an eliminator without being an official one between two lower end of the top ten contenders.
Hart, who suffered his only two losses at super middleweight in title attempts against then-champion Gilberto Ramirez, moved up to 175 and defeated another contender of similar ilk as Smith, with a unanimous decision over Sullivan Barrera.
Smith was closer to the upper part of the division in 2016 when he knocked out Andrzej Fonfara and Bernard Hopkins, but has only fought three times since including a decision loss to the aforementioned Barrera that saw Smith finishing the fight with a broken jaw and a decision loss in a WBA title challenge to Dmitry Bivol in which he lost almost every round, but hurt the champion in the eleventh round.
Hart is the better boxer and throws many more punches, Smith is the bigger puncher and has the better chin.
I lean Hart here, but Smith has the proverbial punchers chance to pull this out.

On DAZN, Jaime Munguia will begin his middleweight career against Gary "Spike" O'Sullivan in a twelve rounder.
Munguia vacated his WBO title at 154 pounds after recent trouble making weight and it was beginning to affect his performance as he won a very controversial decision last year against Dennis Hogan that many believed (Myself included) that Hogan deserved.
Munguia faces what appears to be a perfect foil in O'Sullivan, who moves straight forward, doesn't punch hard, has lost all three fights against world-class opposition (Billy Joe Saunders, Chris Eubank Jr) and was explosively taken out in one round by Lemieux in his last step up in competition.
Munguia should look good against O'Sullivan and if he doesn't?
Look for those questions about Munguia to continue.


Light Heavyweights. 10 Rds
Jesse Hart vs Joe Smith
Both: Hart Unanimous Decision

Middleweights 12 Rds
Jaime Munguia vs Gary "Spike" O'Sullivan
R.L: Munguia KO 6
TRS: Munguia KO 3

PPM

The PPM rolls on with the four-game divisional playoff round in the NFL and Monday's college National Championship game.
Both are bittersweet for me after Ohio State and the New Orleans Saints both suffered losses to end their season, but the PPM doesn't stop for wins or losses.

Last Week: 4-2
Overall: 169-77

College
National Championship
LSU 32 Clemson 27

NFL
Ravens 23 Titans 19
Chiefs 34 Texans 24
49ers 37 Vikings 21
Packers 24 Seahawks 20

Fantasy Minor Recap- Hitters

Now that the 2020 calendar has begun, I can start thinking about baseball and my minor league fantasy draft that I try to write about here and there.
I finally won the Jim Bouton Baseball League after many years of trying and I was more than happy on the night that I finally won that elusive title.

However, in our league where you keep all of your players, you have to continue to move forward and plan for the future.
In our league, you can only have 17 players in your minor system and you have to have fewer than that to draft more, so it's a constant concept of culling prospects.
Today, I'll be looking back at the hitters from 2019 and discuss if they have a future with the "Akron Rubber Ducks".

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. 3b Toronto Blue Jays
.272 15 HR 69 RBI Toronto
Guerrero fell just 36 at-bats short of forcing a decision for me as in our league, once a player has 500 MLB at-bats, the team has to either bring him up or release him.
Guerrero spent very little time with AAA Buffalo (9 games) with his "arbitration" send-down time being eaten by a spring training injury.
I have three excellent third basemen (Anthony Rendon, Nolan Arenado, and Rafael Devers), but I'll find a place for Guerrero's bat.

The remaining eight players didn't spend any major league time in 2019, so they are still projections as far their future will be.
Some will stay, some will leave and with one or two others, I am still undecided on keeping them or not.
I'll start with the catchers and work my way around the diamond.

Joey Bart C San Francisco Giants
234 AB .265 12 HR 37 RBI High A San Jose
79 AB .316 4 HR 11 RBI AA Richmond
Bart was just starting to hit his stride when he suffered a broken hand with San Jose but upon his return hit very well at AA Richmond.
I paid a high price to move from eleventh to first in the first round in Shane Bieber to draft Bart last season and although I liked Bieber I was surprised with his elite performance last season.
For that deal to be worthwhile in the long run (assuming Bieber keeps that level of performance), Bart will have to be an elite offensive catcher and not just above average.
I think he's capable of that.
Bart should start at AAA Sacramento and finish the season with the Giants.

William Contreras C Atlanta Braves
190 AB .263 3 HR 22 RBI High A Florida
191 AB .246 3 HR 17 RBI AA Mississippi
The younger brother of Willson Contreras, William split the season between High A and AA  and his numbers were average.
Contreras played most of the season at 21, which made his a little young for AA and the Braves were pleased enough to move him to AA  at mid-season.
I'll be keeping Contreras around for this season, but this is a key year for him.
Contreras will likely return to AA Mississippi to start in 2020.

Miguel Vargas 3B Los Angeles Dodgers
280 AB .325 5 HR 45 RBI Low A Great Lakes
211 AB .284 2 HR 32 RBI High A Rancho Cucamonga
Vargas played the entire season as a 19-year-old and I think he is a star in the making.
The Cuban might eventually become a first baseman and his power numbers were a little low, but with his frame (6'3 205 lbs), I think as he grows into his body, the power will come along.
The hype around the Dodgers farm system is around Gavin Lux right now and rightfully so, but by this time next year when Lux is an established major leaguer, the top minor leaguer could be Miguel Vargas.
Vargas could start with AA Tulsa if the Dodgers really want to challenge him, but my guess is that he starts with High A Rancho Cucamonga and if all goes as expected, Vargas could be in Tulsa by mid-May.

Elehuris Montero 3B St.Louis
224 AB .188 7 HR 18 RBI AA Springfield
Montero shows what can happen when a player is moved too soon as after he dominated the low A Midwest League in 2018 and less than 100 at-bats in high A in the same season, Montero was surprisingly assigned to AA Springfield for 2019.
Montero missed much of the season, struck out 74 times and hit under .190 in never getting untracked.
Still, his seven homers give me hope and Montero only turned 21 with two weeks to go in the season.
I'm still trying to decide on Montero, but I'm leaning towards blaming the team and not the player and seeing if Montero will bounce back.
Montero should return to AA Springfield for a second chance to conquer the Texas League.

O'Neil Cruz SS Pittsburgh
136 AB .301 7 HR 16 RBI High A Bradenton
119 AB .269 1 HR 17 RBI AA Altoona
The tallest shortstop (6'7) that you are likely to see, Cruz, like Montero, battled injuries early in the season and didn't turn 21 until after the season.
Unlike Montero, Cruz started at High A and after his return from injury and an excellent July, only then did Cruz move to AA.
I'm not sure if Cruz plays shortstop at the major league level, but I think his bat is going to play-if the Pirates can be patient and allow him to develop.
Cruz should return to AA Altoona to start in 2020.

Heliot Ramos OF San Francisco
294 AB .306 13 HR 40 RBI High A San Jose
95   AB .242  3 HR 15 RBI AA Richmond
Ramos, like so many in my system, fought injuries early in the year but hit very well with High A San Jose.
Ramos didn't turn 20 until after the season and considering that Ramos held his own after a final month with AA Richmond.
There is plenty to prove, but being young for both levels, I'm very encouraged about the future of Ramos.
Ramos should start 2020 with AA Richmond and finish with AAA Sacramento.

Luis Robert OF Chicago White Sox
75 AB .453 8 HR 24 RBI 8 SB High A Winston-Salem
226 AB. 314 8 HR 29 RBI 21 SB AA Birmingham
202 AB .297 16 HR  39 RBI 7 SB AAA Charlotte
Robert had battled injuries in a disappointing 2018 after I selected him with my first pick in that draft and I was hoping to see a bounceback year.
Robert more than bounced back with a season to be remembered, especially those 75 at-bats to start the season with High A Winston-Salem, which was about as destructive as an outfielder could be as an offensive force.
Robert was almost as dominant at AA and AAA and has nothing left to prove.
The White Sox signed Robert to a six year contract last week and since that contract eliminates the arbitration issue with service time, Robert will likely make the ChiSox team coming out of spring training.

Jhailyn Ortiz OF Philadelphia
430 AB .200 19 HR 65 RBI High A Clearwater
Ortiz didn't turn 21 until the season was over, but I was surprised to see the Phillies start Ortiz at High A Clearwater after a mediocre 2018 (.225 13 homers) at Low A Lakewood.
While you have to like the 19 homers in the Florida State League, a noted pitchers league, there is little else to like from Ortiz's season.
An average that ended exactly on the Mendoza Line and 149 strikeouts (over a strikeout in every three at-bats) at High-A doesn't give me confidence in his future.
The talent is there for Ortiz, but I don't currently believe that he is going to make enough contact to eventually be a big-league level player.
Ortiz is young enough that I wouldn't rule him out as a prospect yet, but two years with a combined 297 strikeouts isn't enough to keep him in my system.

Of my positions players entering the draft year, my current feelings are these.
Promoted to the Ducks- Vladimir Guerrero Jr

Will be promoted to the Ducks sometime this season barring an injury- Luis Robert

Retaining rights and hoping for big things-
Joey Bart
Heliot Ramos
O'Neil Cruz
Miguel Vargas

Protecting, but 2020 make or break
William Contreras

Questioning to protect or not and 2020 make or break
Elehuris Montero

Going to be Released
Jhailyn Ortiz

I plan on doing a similar post on my eight pitchers sometime next week.

Browns are alone again-Naturally

In what has to be noted as an unsurprising development, the Cleveland Browns opening is the only one standing after a season that saw fewer than normal openings.

The Browns caught a break late in the season when three teams that were thought to have potential vacancies as Detroit (Matt Patricia), Jacksonville (Doug Marrone), and Atlanta (Dan Quinn) all decided to give their coaches another season.
Atlanta made a strong late-season rally to finish 7-9 and Quinn took them to a Super Bowl, and Detroit had injuries at quarterback to the point of Browns rookie training camp arm David Blough being forced to start the final five games, so I can see the argument for keeping them, but I'm still trying to figure out why the Jaguars retained Marrone.
Due to those developments, there were only four other teams hiring coaches with the Panthers (Ron Rivera) and Redskins (Jay Gruden) having a head start when they fired their coaches in mid-season and the Giants (Pat Shurmur, who could have seen THAT coming?) and Cowboys (Jason Garrett) making their decisions after the season.

The Redskins moved quickly in taking Ron Rivera off the market in a deal that seemed to be made even before the season ended and roughly all at the same time, the other teams grabbed their guys (Dallas- Former Packers coach Mike McCarthy), New York Giants (New England wide receivers and special teams coach Joe Joyce), and Carolina (Baylor head coach Matt Ruhle), so the Browns don't have to be in a rush to make this hire.
The Browns had brought in McCarthy as their first candidate, asked to interview Ruhle, who wasn't interested in interviewing and didn't speak with Joyce.

From my perspective, I ranked the interviewed candidates into groups-
Previous head coaches (Mike McCarthy, who accepted the Dallas job, Josh McDaniels, New England offensive coordinator and late entrant Jim Schwartz, Philadelphia defensive coordinator)
Current coordinators without head coaching experience (Offensive coordinators Greg Roman of Baltimore, Eric Bieniemy of Kansas City, Kevin Stefanski of Minnesota and San Francisco defensive coordinator Robert Saleh) and the
"What in the Hell are they thinking" group of only Buffalo offensive coordinator Brian Daboll.

While I do have my favorites of the interviewed candidates, there is only one that I would go crazy if they hired (Brian Daboll) and while none are sure things, I don't see any that has a massive red flag to hold against them. just minor concerns as all new hires will possess
McDaniels was unsuccessful in his two years in Denver, Schwartz wasn't a star as head coach in Detroit, Roman has had his best success with mobile quarterbacks, Bieniemy doesn't call plays at Kansas City, Stefanski's Minnesota offenses didn't really perk up until this year when Gary Kubiak arrived as an advisor and Saleh has tons of top talent at his disposal in San Francisco, but wasn't noted as a top guy before that talent infusion.

However, some of them have some positives that make me think that they could be good hires.
McDaniels seems to have learned from his Denver difficulties as his mentor Bill Belichick did from Cleveland and might be ready to grab his second chance.
Schwartz is a dynamic guy that might be best-suited as far as temperament for a team looking for a leader.
Stefanski seems to have hit it off with Paul DePodesta, which would mean good things for a franchise looking for their management to work together.
Roman seems to be the most innovative offensively as he has been able to get mileage from Colin Kapernick and Lamar Jackson that many didn't see happening.
Bieniemy may not call plays for the Andy Reid-led Chiefs, but past Reid assistants in that job have done well in Doug Pederson and Matt Nagy.
Saleh is reported to be a strong disciplinarian on a team that needs it badly after the summer camp atmosphere around Freddie Kitchens.
So, most of these coaches I wouldn't be upset if the Browns selected them, but some I prefer more than others.

It seems that the Browns have unofficially whittled the field down to Josh McDaniels and Kevin Stefanski with Jim Schwartz as the outside dark horse.
There are so many various schools of thought on Josh McDaniels with some sources stating that he'll never work with Paul DePodesta and his numbers bunch with yet others saying that McDaniels wouldn't have a problem with DePodesta as long he was able to have his person in as the general manager.
Kevin Stefanski almost got the job last time and DePodesta was hammering the table for him only to have John Dorsey's choice of Freddie Kitchens sway the day with the Haslams.
If it's Stefanski, DePodesta will have flexed his muscle and established himself as the power player of the Browns.
Jim Schwartz could be the compromise choice as he'd be acceptable to DePodesta with his embracing of analytics and has NFL head coaching experience, which Jimmy Haslam originally said was almost a must.
The rest of the coordinators look like long shots at best, but if I was taking one of them I'd lean toward Greg Roman, who has worked well with quarterback projects and might do well with Baker Mayfield, but Eric Bieniemy intrigues me as well.

If I was making a list of my preferences and not a list of most likely to get the job, I would list them in order as
Josh McDaniels- Experienced and has matured since his last try.
Greg Roman-Like his work with quarterbacks that aren't always top of the line.
Eric Bieniemy- Looks like a coach ready for an opportunity after great success with Patrick Mahomes.
Jim Schwartz-Strong leader that like McDaniels might be better on his second try.
Kevin Stefanski-Something tells me Minnesota's success is more Gary Kubiak than Stefanski for now and Stefanski needs more seasoning as a play-caller.
Robert Saleh- Defensive coordinator at a time when the Browns need an offensive guy with a quarterback that needs someone to ride herd.
Charlie Brown- Has experience with losing football
Colonel Sanders-Is used to dealing with players with greasy fingers and have trouble holding onto things,
Brian Daboll-I'd rather hire the above two than Brian Daboll.

I don't have a ton of confidence in the Haslams getting this right, especially considering the committee consisting of Jimmy, Dee, their son in law, Paul DePodesta and salary cap executive Chris Cooper, but they could still hire the right guy with some of their interviewees.
I just have a feeling that this was two people all the time- Jimmy Haslam pushing for Josh McDaniels and Paul DePodesta pulling for Kevin Stefanski.
That's how I saw it from the start and I think many of these interviews have been window dressing to
protect against offering the job to McDaniels, having McDaniels decide he didn't want it and then go to the fan base with Stefanski, who may very well prove to be an excellent head coach but checks few of the boxes that Jimmy Haslam described in his press conference and would appear to be yet another Browns hire that no one else interviews, although Stefanski was scheduled to interview with Carolina this time after only talking to the Browns in 2019 for their opening.

This way, if McDaniels turns the job down and the Browns then go with Stefanski as the choice, the Haslams can say that they interviewed many candidates, Stefanski stood out, blah, blah.
I'll be very surprised if it's not one of those two and with both of them interviewing today and tomorrow, the Browns have apparently saved the best showdown for last.