CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Browns are asking for permission to interview Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Greg Roman to replace Freddie Kitchens as head coach, according to ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter.
Roman is the second candidate that the Browns have sought to interview, joining New England offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.
The 47-year-old Roman has received acclaim around the NFL as the architect of Baltimore's high-powered offense with MVP-candidate Lamar Jackson at quarterback. The Ravens averaged 33.2 points per game, which was tops in the league. Baltimore set the NFL single 16-game-season team rushing record with 3,296 yards, breaking a mark that had stood for 41 years. Both Jackson and running back Mark Ingram II topped 1,000 yards rushing in 2019.
Roman followed Jim Harbaugh from Stanford into the NFL with the San Francisco 49ers in 2011 and served as offensive coordinator for four seasons. He helped resurrect Alex Smith's career at quarterback, then guided Colin Kaepernick to stardom as the 49ers advanced to Super Bowl XLVII in 2012.
After Harbaugh left San Francisco at the end of the 2014 season, Roman interviewed with the Browns for the offensive coordinator following the departure of Kyle Shanahan, but then-head coach Mike Pettine hired John DeFilippo instead. Roman ended up in Buffalo, serving as the offensive coordinator there for two seasons.
He joined John Harbaugh and the Baltimore Ravens in 2017 and ascended to the offensive coordinator role in 2019.
Like McDaniels, Roman is a John Carroll graduate. He played on the defensive line for the Blue Streaks for three seasons, totaling 145 tackles, 20.0 tackles-for-loss and 9.5 sacks.
Not long after Schefter posted on Twitter that the Browns were interested in interviewing Roman, Mark Ingram replied with the following:
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