CLEVELAND — Will new Cleveland Browns coach Kevin Stefanski hire an offensive coordinator, and if he does, will that person handle the play-calling duties during the 2020 season?
Those questions have yet to be answered fully, as Stefanski left open the possibility of ceding play-calling duties during his introductory press conference at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland earlier this month, but the Browns have yet to hire an offensive coordinator and build out the staff.
If the Browns do, in fact, hire an offensive coordinator, Ryan Wilson of CBS Sports has a piece of advice for Stefanski.
“Let someone else call the plays, Kevin,” Wilson said on “The Ken Carman Show with Anthony Lima” on Cleveland’s 92.3 The Fan Friday. “You can have input, but during the game, you have to be focused on making sure everyone’s on the same page, which wasn’t the case last year watching the Browns and Freddie Kitchens.
“We saw how that ended, and as a young coach, you’ve got to be able to take some things off your plate so you can accomplish the other things, the important things, the more immediate things when you are on the sidelines and are the No. 1 guy.”
Over the tenures of the last four coaches hired by the Browns since the Haslam family purchased a controlling stake in the franchise in October of 2012, Hue Jackson and Freddie Kitchens insisted on calling the plays for the offense because it was what helped them get the job in the first place.
Kitchens was hired as the head coach after just eight games calling plays on an interim basis during the 2018 season, and in 2019, the Browns’ offense never developed the kind of consistency required to have success on game day.
“I think owners and GMs have finally come around to this,” Wilson said. “Just because you’re an amazing play-caller, Josh McDaniels, and Freddie Kitchens did a great job at the end of last year, that doesn’t mean it’s going to translate to you being an amazing head coach.
“Those are completely different job titles. As the head coach, you are basically a manager and you have your hand in everything. You have to be able to manage people and we see some coaches do it better than others.”
The interim offensive coordinator in the final weeks of the 2018 season, Stefanski was given Minnesota’s play-calling duties full time heading into 2019, and the results were positive.
During the regular season, the Vikings averaged 25.4 points, 353.5 yards of total offense and 133.3 rush yards per game. They finished top 10 in points scored (eighth) and rush yards (sixth) while being in the middle of the pack in the NFL in total yards.
When Stefanski builds his coaching staff, he will look for selfless people who have the ultimate goal of building the Browns into a winning organization after a 12th straight year with a losing record and 17th consecutive season without a playoff appearance.
“For as much guff as we gave Marvin Lewis, he was really good at handling a lot of different personalities that probably weren’t the best fit in the NFL, but he found a way to make it work,” Wilson said. “We’ve seen Mike Tomlin find a way to work Antonio Brown into that team even though Antonio Brown has a lot of issues and is now out of the league. You need to be able to do that.”