If you’re lucky as a special teams coach in the NFL, then you can get through an entire season without casual fans–or even intense fans–really even knowing your name. You cover kickoffs well, your punt returner occasionally breaks a big one and the kicker is reliable. But for Browns special teams coach Bubba Ventrone, this has not been a lucky season.
Special teams cost the Browns an opening-game win against the Bengals, as the team missed a 36-yard field goal with just over two minutes to go in a game that was lost by one point. Special teams also cost the Browns against the Jets, who had a 99-yard kickoff return and a 74-yard punt return within a one-minute span==both went for touchdowns, 14 points yielded by special teams in a seven-point game.
In fairness, a blocked field goal against the Packers in Week 3 fueled the Browns’ biggest win of the year. But Ventrone’s unit has not showered itself in glory this season, and while many have called for coach Kevin Stefanski to lose his job, the way special teams has played has led to speculation about whether Ventrone–a former Browns player who has been with the team as a coach since 2023–should lose his.
Browns Special Teams Were a Disaster vs. 49ers
Sunday’s loss to the 49ers provided more artillery for those who think the Browns should move on Ventrone.
The 49ers got a 66-yard punt return from Skyy Moore in the first quarter that set their offense with a short field–very short, as San Francisco began the drive at the Cleveland 16. Six plays later, the 49ers had a touchdown and the lead.
Late in the third quarter, with the game still in question at 17-8, Malachi Corley appeared to misunderstand the rules and mishandled a kickoff, going out of bounds and pushing the Browns back to their own 5-yard line.
And most obviously, there was the muffed punt from Gage Larvadain early in the fourth quarter, recovered by the 49ers at the Browns 18-yard line, setting up the final 49ers touchdown and giving the Browns little chance for a comeback.
(Photo by Nick Cammett/Getty Images)Malachi Corley #83 of the Cleveland Browns committed a mental mistake on a kickoff against the San Francisco 49ers during a game at Huntington Bank Field on November 30, 2025 in Cleveland, Ohio.
Calls for Browns to Fire Bubba Ventrone
No one in the Browns orbit was all that happy with the special teams after that showing.
“The #Browns have the worst coached Special Teams unit in the NFL. How is Bubba Ventrone still employed?” wrote Jeff D. Lowe of Barstool on Twitter/X.
As Emmett Golden of ESPN Cleveland said on the air, “There’s literally no reason for Bubba Ventrone to have a job. Special teams lost that game. You gave up a huge punt return. You muffed a punt. And you had a guy catch a kickoff and walk out of bounds at the 10. That’s coaching. That’s coaching.”
As Daniel Oyefusi of ESPN, citing DVOA stats (Defense-Adjusted Value Over Average) on Twitter/X, wrote: “The Browns have one of the worst special teams DVOAs through 12 games since 1978. “The Browns are dead last in net punting value, 28th in kickoffs and punt returns, 27th in kick returns, and 23rd in FG/XP.”
And longtime sports talk host Kenny Roda had a rant himself, titled, “It’s a quick Bubba Ventrone should be FIRED edition of Ridin with the Roadman after the @Browns 26-8 loss to San Francisco.”
Kevin Stefanski Has Backed Bubba Ventrone, Special Teams
Stefanski, though, has defended the Browns special teams–and at times, especially following the loss to the Jets, Ventrone himself–from suggestions of malfeasance.
“I trust in the way that we prepare. I trust in how we get our guys ready,” Stefanski said. “And we’ll always look at it if there’s things that we can do differently. We’ll always look at that in the structure of what we do. But I feel like we do a good job getting our guys prepared and then the efforts there, we just got to get those guys (returners) on the ground.
“That’s obviously disappointing in those moments, but again, it’s about getting it out of our guys, whether that’s going to come from the meeting room, the practice field, etcetera. I trust that our guys will work and then will improve.”
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