Browns hand play-calling duties to OC Tommy Rees

This marks the second straight year the two-time Coach of the Year has given up play-calling duties. Barely a year ago, Stefanski gave then-OC Ken Dorsey play-calling responsibilities. The Browns finished 3-14, and Stefanski reclaimed the role he had otherwise held since 2020. Cleveland’s offense is scuffling again, and the team’s 33-year-old OC will be sending Dillon Gabriel the plays beginning in Week 10.

The Browns rank 30th in scoring and 31st in both total offense and EPA per play. Gabriel is averaging a nonfunctional 4.9 yards per attempt, doing so after Joe Flacco was demoted with a 5.1-yard average per pass. The Browns have shown no signs they are considering another benching at QB; instead, Stefanski has again benched himself. The 2-6 team will hope this can ignite the third-round rookie.

Rees called plays at Alabama during his 2023 OC season, Nick Saban‘s last in Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide ranked 24th in points per game in Saban’s finale, a 12-2 season. Jalen Milroe‘s first year as Alabama’s starting QB produced better numbers — from a passing standpoint — than his second. The eventual Seahawks third-rounder averaged 10.0 yards per attempt as a sophomore and completed 65.8% of his passes. In 2024, those numbers dipped slightly, though Milroe’s rushing work bettered his 2023 numbers in that department.

Stefanski, who hired Rees as his tight ends coach in 2024, giving up play-calling duties in back-to-back years certainly does not provide a portrait of HC stability in Cleveland. It is worth wondering if the Browns simply have poor quarterback talent, as Stefanski’s offense has worked with Flacco (2023 version) and Baker Mayfield at the controls.

Despite Deshaun Watson being at the helm for much of the 2023 season, the Browns ranked 10th offensively. They hovered between 14th and 20th during Stefanski’s first three seasons, with Mayfield’s final healthy Cleveland campaign (2020) producing a 14th-place ranking and the franchise’s first playoff berth since 2002. Cleveland’s offense has been unreliable, outside of Flacco 1.0, since Mayfield’s 2021 shoulder injury.

Jimmy Haslam has largely taken ownership of the Watson trade, even though GM Andrew Berry said he and Stefanski were both onboard with it at the time. The catastrophic misstep would seemingly have both power brokers on hot seats, but the once-trigger-happy owner has stuck with this partnership — which is now in Year 6. The Browns not turning things around during the second half will invite more scrutiny about the state of their HC-GM duo, but for now, Stefanski will try another play-calling switch to provide a spark.