Kevin Stefanski didn’t get a chance to come to the Giants in 2018, and he didn’t get a chance to coach Jaxson Dart in 2025.
Could he get a two-for-one special in 2026?
Stefanski dined Tuesday night with Giants brass and didn’t dash, sticking around to interview for the head coach vacancy Wednesday at the team facility, The Post confirmed. He became the first external candidate interviewed — just two days after he was fired by the Browns.
If schedules permit, it’s typical for the Giants to arrange a get-to-know-you dinner with a candidate for a high-profile job or a marquee free agent the day before getting down to business in a formal setting.
One topic that was sure to come up in both settings — other than whether or not Stefanski might be able to bring top-notch defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz with him from Cleveland — was his development plan for Dart.
“I think it would be a really good fit,” one NFL source familiar with Stefanski told The Post. “Baker Mayfield had success underneath him, and he has a similar style to Jaxson. They are both really good from the pocket, but they can make some really heroic plays running around outside the pocket, and throw very well on the run.”
Stefanski won the first of his two NFL Coach of the Year awards during his first year in charge, when he and Mayfield teamed up to lead the Browns to an 11-5 record and a playoff victory in 2020. Mayfield threw for 3,563 yards and 26 touchdowns — the latter number has not been reached by a Giants quarterback since Eli Manning in 2016.
But the Browns mistakenly moved on from Mayfield in favor of Deshaun Watson in 2022 — a trade that Stefanski reportedly was against — and it started a cycle of 10 starting quarterbacks over the past four seasons. The Browns finished the season starting Shedeur Sanders, who several Giants executives were high on until late in the process when momentum switched to Dart.
Coaching Dart would be like a Mayfield do-over for Stefanski, who made a positive impression on the Giants rookie franchise quarterback during the pre-draft process.
“Kevin has a great football brain, he doesn’t get rattled, and he has great insight about people,” the source said. “He’s a really good leader with a very clear vision of what he wants done.”
Giants ownership almost had a firsthand look at those traits in 2018, when Pat Shurmur tried to bring Stefanski with him from Minnesota to serve as offensive coordinator. But the Vikings blocked the lateral move and elevated Stefanski to replace Shurmur while the Giants pivoted to Mike Shula.
General manager Joe Schoen and Stefanski have not worked together before, but Stefanski is not expected to object to Schoen’s retention (perhaps as a lame duck).
“When he wins there,” the source said, “he won’t act any differently than he did when he was building it to a winner.”
The Browns went 45-56 under Stefanski, who surrendered play-calling in his West Coast playbook to offensive coordinators Ken Dorsey and Tommy Rees in the middle of the past two seasons. The Post previously reported that it is Stefanski’s preference not to call plays as a head coach again.
“When you talk about offense, you have to talk about a coach evolving and utilizing the personnel that he has,” the source said. “You want to surround Dart with really strong quarterback people under you, which Kevin will.”
