Former Browns WR Jarvis Landry has Kevin Stefanski thoughts that may concern Falcons fans

Veteran NFL wide receiver Jarvis Landry had current Atlanta Falcons head coach Kevin Stefanski as a head coach when the two were with the Cleveland Browns during the 2020 and 2021 seasons.  

Landry seems to doubt that Stefanski will be the right man to guide the Falcons where they hope to go. 

Kevin Stefanski didn't always know "what he was doing" with Browns?

On a recent edition of the "4th and South" podcast, Landry opened up about what he experienced while working with Stefanski.

"Being in Cleveland and playing there, he was cool to be around. But it almost felt like, as much as he knew what he was doing, maybe he didn’t," Landry said about Stefanski, per J.R. DeGroote of Heavy and Caleb Yaccarino of Pro Football Network. "Most of these coaches get put in the position too soon. They have success as a position coach, but then are thrown into this head coaching role." 

Under Stefanski's watch, the Browns reached the playoffs for the 2020 and 2023 seasons. He earned NFL Coach of the Year Award honors for those campaigns, but Cleveland then went 8-26 from Week 1 of the 2024 season up until he was fired this past January. 

"My time in Cleveland, especially in the beginning, it was great. He won Coach of the Year. We went to the playoffs," Landry continued. "For some reason, it felt like the spark and connection between the coaches and players started to dim out."

Jarvis Landry not fully sold on Kevin Stefanski?

Recently, multiple NFL executives questioned Stefanski for the Falcons' decision to replace veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins with former Miami Dolphins starter Tua Tagovailoa. It's unclear when first-choice option Michael Penix Jr. will be able to play after he needed surgery this past fall to repair a partially torn ACL. 

"You expect most of these coaches that are younger to be more personable, more relatable with their players, and most cases, it just doesn’t work out that way," Landry continued during his comments on Stefanski. "I don’t know if he’ll be a great coach in the league, but he knows a lot about offense."

Landry added that "Atlanta will be a good indicator of where [Stefanski's] coaching career is heading." It could be headed toward the 43-year-old having to accept a coordinator position a couple of years down the road if his handling of Atlanta's quarterback situation goes as poorly as the Browns' Deshaun Watson decision.