Duce Staley, a former NFL running back, coached backs with the Eagles, Lions and Panthers for the past 11 seasons. He'll replace Stump Mitchell on Kevin Stefanski's coaching staff.
Browns fill two assistant coaching spots on offense
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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.
Takeaways from Browns assistant coach searches …
The Browns have filled two of their openings on Kevin Stefanski’s offensive coaching staff, but a new coordinator is still not on board.
A team source confirmed the club will replace running backs coach Stump Mitchell with Duce Staley, and tight ends coach T.C. McCartney with Tommy Rees.
Staley, 48, played in 114 games as a running back with the Eagles and Steelers, gaining over 1,000 yards in 1998, 1999 and 2002.
He served as running backs coach with the Eagles, Lions and Panthers. He doubled as assistant head coach with each of those teams.
Staley reportedly also had an offer from the Jets.
Rees, 31, was most recently offensive coordinator for Nick Saban at Alabama. He left after Saban retired.
Rees previously served as quarterback coach and offensive coordinator at Notre Dame. He played quarterback four years at Notre Dame under Brian Kelly.
Rees is the son of Bill Rees, who was director of player personnel under Browns GM Phil Savage from 2004 to 2008. At that time, Tommy was a teen-age ball boy.
Stefanski’s biggest hire is yet to come, a replacement for coordinator Alex Van Pelt.
So far the Browns have interviewed three candidates – Andy Dickerson, offensive line coach and run game coordinator with the Seahawks; Ken Dorsey, most recently offensive coordinator with the Bills; and Jerrod Johnson, quarterback coach of the Texans.
Johnson, 35, has been framed as the front-runner for the position, but he is also a candidate with the Saints and Eagles and could either replace or follow Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik if Slowik leaves Houston for a head coach job.
Stump’s last stand
In an appearance on The Really Big Show on 850 ESPN Cleveland, Mitchell said he was surprised about losing his job after five years but had no bitterness about Stefanski’s decision to replace him.
Mitchell, in fact, raved about Stefanski as a coach and offensive play-caller.
“I know he’s trying to do the best he can to move the program forward,” Mitchell said. “There’s no hard feelings. His time is running out as well. Hopefully they’ll get it done and he’ll be able to get a renewed contract.
“Kevin works his ass off. People talk about him calling plays. I think he’s a helluva play-caller. Kevin Stefanski in my opinion is one of the best play-callers there is. He does not drop balls. He doesn’t throw interceptions. He doesn’t jump offsides. Kevin has a clear sight and view of what he wants done.”
Mitchell had an interesting perspective on the team’s decision to rest regulars in the final regular-season game in Cincinnati. The Browns wrapped up the No. 5 AFC playoff seed with an 11-5 record and then played almost all backups in a final game loss in Cincinnati. A week later the Browns were blown out by the Texans, 45-14, in the AFC wild card game.
“I think both from success and failure you learn lessons,” Mitchell said. “I think, probably, I would say, just preparing for the Cincinnati game, probably they would go back and take a look at what they did that week with the players that didn’t play. I think they’d make some different decisions then.
“To say you have an opportunity to look at something and say I’d do it the same is asinine. I think they would probably change some of what they did that week. The guys had a bunch of energy going into Houston, but we were just a tad bit slow and we were off the mark just a little bit.”
Myles reeling it in
Defensive end Myles Garrett was voted NFL defensive player of the year by the Pro Football Writers of America. The Associated Press DPOY will be announced on the NFL Honors program on February 8 the week of the Super Bowl.
