Browns offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt assisted in winning games with four starting quarterbacks in 2023. He now has parted ways with the team.
Browns dump three offensive coaches after defensive meltdown in wild-card game
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland. He has covered the Browns since 1984.
The Browns’ defense didn’t show up in their 45-14 playoff loss in Houston, and the team’s first response of the offseason was to fire three offensive coaches.
Technically, offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt and the Browns “parted ways,” running backs coach Stump Mitchell was fired, and tight ends coach T.C. McCartney’s contract ran out and was not renewed.
Bottom line is the Browns wanted to make changes.
These are the most changes Kevin Stefanski has made on his offensive staff in four seasons.
The head coach, emboldened by his second, 11-win season and playoff appearance in four years, is expected to receive a contract extension soon. These moves may reflect an increase in his authority or an organization-wide desire to hire a coordinator who can align better with quarterback Deshaun Watson’s skill set.
If that is the case, possible candidates to replace Van Pelt may include two coaches from Watson’s best days in Houston – Bill O’Brien and Tim Kelly.
O’Brien was Texans head coach during Watson’s four seasons in Houston when Watson made the Pro Bowl three times. O’Brien was fired in Houston after an 0-4 start in 2020. Watson requested a trade after the season.
After one year with Nick Saban at Alabama, O’Brien spent the 2023 season as Bill Belichick’s offensive coordinator in New England. He failed to improve 2021 first-round pick Mac Jones and owner Robert Kraft and Belichick parted ways.
Kelly was O’Brien’s offensive coordinator in Houston. He called plays in 2020 when Watson led the NFL in passing. Kelly moved on to Tennessee in 2022 and was promoted to offensive coordinator of the Titans in 2023. The Titans fired head coach Mike Vrabel after the 2023 season, freeing up his assistant coaches to seek other jobs.
The Browns were willing to keep Van Pelt on the staff in a reduced capacity, said a source, but Van Pelt would have none of it.
Van Pelt told ESPN’s Jake Trotter, “On to the next one. Proud of my time there.”
Although Van Pelt never called plays with the Browns – except for two games when Stefanski was quarantined with COVID-19 – he had to have something to do with the team holding the offense together and winning games with four different starting quarterbacks in 2023.
Other possible candidates for offensive coordinator could be Klint Kubiak, son of Gary Kubiak and presently passing game coordinator of the 49ers, and Nick Sirianni, should he lose his job as head coach of the Eagles.
The other Browns changes on Stefanski’s offensive staff were equally surprising because:
* Mitchell was popular with the team’s running backs. He was one of the few coaches Stefanski brought back from Freddie Kitchens’ staff in 2020.
* In McCartney’s first season as tight ends coach, David Njoku had his best season and made the Pro Bowl for the first time.
The Browns reportedly interviewed Duce Staley to replace Mitchell. Staley was running backs coach when the Eagles won the Super Bowl in 2017. He was fired in November as Carolina Panthers running backs coach and assistant head coach.
The Browns also reportedly interviewed Ryan Crow for defensive line coach, according to Paul Kuharsky.com. Crow worked under Vrabel since 2018, the last three years as outside linebackers coach.
Ben Bloom served as Browns defensive line coach in 2023. He could be reassigned.
Say it's so, Joe: According to a source, the Browns expressed to quarterback Joe Flacco in their exit interview with him that they’d like him back. Flacco definitely wants to continue playing in 2024. If there is no starting opportunity for him, he would love to return to Cleveland as a backup, per the source. But this possibility is a long ways from coming to fruition.
