Kevin Stefanski Breaks Bad News to Browns' New OC After Hiring

On Thursday, the Cleveland Browns officially announced Tommy Rees as the new offensive coordinator. Rees replaced then-offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey, who was fired a day after the Browns’ regular-season finale.

The Browns interviewed a few external candidates for their OC vacancy but decided to stay in-house with Rees. The 32-year-old Rees joined Cleveland this past season as a tight ends coach/passing game coordinator after spending the last seven years in the college ranks.

With the Browns turning over the reins to one of the youngest coordinators in the NFL, fans immediately wondered who would call plays on offense next season. 

Stefanski surprisingly gave up play-calling duties this season to Dorsey after Deshaun Watson suffered a season-ending injury. The results weren’t great as the Browns’ offense showed some life, but struggled with turnovers.

Nonetheless, the two-time Coach of the Year Award winner will resume play-calling duties. "I’m going to call the plays and I reserve the right to change my mind," Stefanski said (h/t Camryn Justice of WEWS).

Browns fans weren’t excited to hear about Stefanski calling plays, which has been his thing since becoming the head coach in 2020. However, with Rees being a first-time OC in the NFL, it’s not shocking to see Stefanski take control.

Rees was asked about Stefanski’s decision and the new offensive coordinator wasn’t worried about it.

"It's great, the new Browns OC said (h/t Chris Easterling of the Akron Beacon Journal. Obviously we're going to work together. I'm looking forward to being a part of the process and having an opportunity to lead the offensive staff and lead the offense. And look, there's so much work that gets done on the front end of things. Play calling is just part of the process and we're excited to get to work together and making sure that we have a good product on the field."

If things go south to start next season, Browns fans will be calling for Rees to take over. That said, maybe the young coordinator will bring some fresh ideas to Cleveland’s offense that he learned at the University of Alabama where he was the OC and QBs coach.

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