Cleveland Browns: 3 reasons why the 2020 offseason was better than 2019’s

Hiring a general manager and a head coach who have the same gameplan

To say that Freddie Kitchens and John Dorsey viewed football the same way is a laughable hypothesis. Kitchens was an aloof, “players coach”, who was as undisciplined as his players were a lot of times. Dorsey only ever cared about guys he drafted, and seemingly tossed out anyone and everyone that wasn’t “one of his guys”. It was so bad that he rid himself of more talented players that past Browns’ front offices got, and replaced them with guys he drafted in Kansas City.

It was mind-boggling to see Kitchens try to get the team on the same page, but looking at all the headaches and trouble-makers that Dorsey brought in it was nearly unavoidable what happened. Constant explosions of egos occurred every week, so disastrous that people knew just weeks into the season that something was wrong. Guys who were expected to carry some of the load ended up being benched, other players were suspended, or got hurt. Rendering them unproductive.

That pairing was a toxic one. Though, you can’t blame Kitchens too much, as Hue Jackson had the same type of issues with Dorsey. Dorsey was hugely problematic and the Browns should’ve realized that there was a reason that he got tossed out of Kansas City in the first place when they were winning.

Kevin Stefanski and Andrew Berry, however, are not just two men who seemingly get along better, but they also appear to be men who have similar philosophies. Both men seem to value the blue-collar positions and both men seem to want to build this team, offensively speaking, to protect and maximize Baker Mayfield.

In years past, both the coach and GM would be butting heads over who to start, let alone how to best utilize that person. This offseason has been filled with mostly positives, and that’s something that can’t be said about 2019.