New Browns OC Alex Van Pelt intrigued with using backs Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt together

Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland.

Takeaways from Browns coordinator press conferences …

Offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt

1.The relationships between the last two head coaches (Hue Jackson and Freddie Kitchens) and their respective offensive coordinators (Todd Haley and Todd Monken) were problematic from the start. I’m feeling a different vibe between Kevin Stefanski and Van Pelt already. Stefanski has empowered Van Pelt to fix Baker Mayfield’s mechanics while also assisting in the installation of the offense. Van Pelt will be the main man in the quarterback room – not Stefanski, despite the head coach’s offensive background. Further, it’s still possible that Van Pelt could be entrusted to be the play-caller on game days. Stefanski has not ruled it out. I’m told Stefanski truly is open to relieving himself of the responsibility, but might not make that decision until just before the season opener.

2.The intriguing possibility of creative use of running backs Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt together is alive, but hinges on Hunt being available throughout the offseason program. If Hunt can stay “eligible” and out of trouble, the new coaches envision a role for him larger than what Kitchens patched together in the last eight games in 2019. Hunt would be used prominently in the passing game but also could ease the load more from Chubb as a workhorse ball-carrier. Chubb’s 298 rush attempts last year were a close third behind Tennessee’s Derrick Henry (303) and Dallas’ Ezekiel Elliott (301). Chubb was remarkably injury-free last year; I don’t even remember him appearing on the injury list. There is no need to tempt fate and expect another lucky year like that.

3.Van Pelt, for one, sees the backs together as a unique tandem. “I think it creates unbelievable matchups,” he said. “Not to get into specifics, but if you want to keep a smaller defensive group out there, then you can run the ball with two effective runners. If [the defense] want to get bigger and try to stop the run, now you have mismatch problems if you motion one of those guys out of the backfield because both of those guys are good route runners and can catch the ball well. It is interesting, but it is going to be something that I would think we would have those guys on the field a lot because of those.”

4.So if Chubb and Hunt are on the field together, and Stefanski favors two tight ends a lot, what does it mean for the Jarvis Landry-Odell Beckham Jr. dynamic? “I think they are both talented players on the outside,” Van Pelt said. “They both deserve to get the ball as much as possible … As far as getting them the ball, that is our job as the offensive staff to scheme up ways to make them a top priority in the progressions.”

Defensive coordinator Joe Woods

5.With Myles Garrett and Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin publicly at odds in the news this week because of Garrett’s accusation against Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph, Woods finds himself in a unique position. He loves the idea of coaching Garrett, whom he sees similar to another former Texas A&M Aggie, Von Miller, who Woods had for two seasons as Denver defensive coordinator. But Woods also has high regard for Tomlin, whom he considers his No. 1 professional mentor. Woods broke into the NFL in 2004 as a quality control coach with Tampa Bay while Tomlin was defensive backs coach, and then he followed Tomlin to Minnesota as defensive backs coach the one season Tomlin was defensive coordinator with the Vikings. “He has helped me see the game a different way just in terms of how to prepare, and that is the way I do it,” Woods said. “It takes some time and you have to grind through it. Really, if there is one guy, he is the guy that has really helped me the most.”

6.Woods reiterated what he said at the Super Bowl, that he will run a 4-3 base defense because the personnel on hand fits it best. “Really with defenses, everybody really runs the same stuff. It is just how you do it,” he said. “Everybody is going to run three-deep, everybody is going to run man, man pressure and fire zone, but I think it is about how you put the package together. I want to make sure I give offenses a lot of the same looks but play different coverages and make them figure it out at the line of scrimmage. That has always kind of been my mindset so that is what I am going to try to do here.”

Special teams coordinator Mike Priefer

7.The lone holdover coordinator from Kitchens’ staff outlined his areas of improvement in his second season – consistency from kicker Austin Seibert, particularly on field goals and PAT in FirstEnergy Stadium; better situational punting from Jamie Gillan; and “immense” improvement in the return game. Priefer commended the job of returners Dontrell Hilliard and D’Ernest Johnson, but hinted at the possibility of finding a true return specialist.

8.Priefer is not a fan of the radical kickoff rule in the XFL. To encourage returns but eliminate high-speed collisions, the XFL has both kick teams line up five yards apart at the receiving team’s 30- and 35-yard lines and the kicker deliver the ball from the opposite 30. Nobody moves until the ball is touched by the returner. It has the look of a electric football game come to life. Priefer said he has not watched an XFL game, but nevertheless gave the innovation a thumbs down. “I am an NFL purest,” he said. “I think the way the [NFL] kickoff/kickoff return is going now, it is a safer play than it ever has been and the last two years have proven that. I like our rules. I am all for player safety, but at the end of the day, an exciting play that has been part of our game forever, why ruin it? Why tinker with it too much? That would be my thoughts.”