Browns News: Deshaun's Legal Saga Continues, New Coaching Rumor, Official Coaching Hires & Joel Bitonio's Thoughts
Browns Coaching Hires Andy Dickerson and Roy Istvan Made Official
At this time of year, news often breaks long before it's official. Reports of agreed contracts come well before anyone has actually signed on the dotted line. We saw earlier in the week in Dallas a brief hiccup when Mike Zimmer was the reported hire, only for new reports to emerge shortly after that it wasn't a done deal at all (before he ultimately did end up being hired).
So here are a couple straight from the horse's mouth (clevelandbrowns.com): new offensive line coach Andy Dickerson and assistant offensive line coach Roy Istvan have officially been hired.
Replacing Bill Callahan was never going to be easy, but these are intriguing hirings.
Dickerson has been the run game coordinator and offensive line coach in Seattle over the last few years, and they've generally fielded a very strong run-blocking unit. He was also an assistant offensive line coach for the Rams from 2012-2020, which included three years of fielding a top-10 rushing offense.
Dickerson actually got some consideration for the offensive coordinator job, which made his hiring as the offensive line coach a no-brainer.
"We were all very impressed with Andy, along with his background and knowledge when we first met about our offensive coordinator position. When our offensive line position opened, he was among the first calls I made. ... He understands the high standard that room must have in order for our offense to be successful and we know he's excited about being back in the building with this organization."
- Kevin Stefanski
Istvan's background isn't too shabby either. He's spent the last four seasons as an assistant offensive line coach for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Now, that unit is as talented as any in the NFL, which certainly makes things easier on a coach. But being involved in fielding an elite unit year-in and year-out, plus getting to work first-hand with some of the NFL's best offensive linemen of the last decade has got to be valuable experience.
I'm almost surprised Istvan didn't manage to land a full offensive line coach job with that experience, but Browns fans should be happy to have him in Cleveland.