The Cleveland Browns named Tommy Rees the new offensive coordinator on Tuesday, which has turned some heads with regards to the team’s ongoing quarterback search.
Cleveland promoted its former pass game specialist and tight ends coach to the job, just one spot under head coach Kevin Stefanski, following the franchise’s decision to fire former offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey after just one season. Rees has also been with the team for just one year, coming over from Alabama where he served as offensive coordinator in 2023.
While running the Crimson Tide’s offense in Nick Saban’s final year, Rees shepherded quarterback Jalen Milroe to a 12-win season and a berth in the College Football Playoff. Following his quick rise to the top of the Browns’ offensive staff and Milroe’s status as a member of the 2025 draft class, speculation has begun over whether Cleveland might consider a reunion between coordinator and quarterback.
“Rees, an up-and-coming offensive mind in NFL circles, served as a Browns ballboy when he was 14 and his dad, Bill, was in the midst of a four-year stint as Browns director of player personnel,” Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com wrote on January 14. “He also coached quarterback Jalen Milroe at Alabama, who’s on the radar for the Browns at No. 2 in the NFL draft.”
The Browns aren’t actually going to swing so big at No. 2 that they draft Milroe there, given that most analysts don’t afford the Alabama quarterback a first-round grade at this point.
Milroe has the dual-threat skill set that is taking over in the NFL and makes all the sense in the world in Cleveland, just not as the second overall selection.
However, if the Browns are serious about him, they could trade the second pick for a massive haul to a team salivating over Miami’s Cam Ward and/or Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders, then take Milroe at the top of the second round when he should still be on the board.
That could prove the best of both worlds for Cleveland, as it must consider whether it wants to keep banging its proverbial head against what has been, up until now, something of a win-now brick wall or engage in a mini-teardown/rebuild.
Trading the second pick would go a long way toward a rebuild, stacking the team with draft capital over the next couple seasons and allowing for the acquisition of young talent on inexpensive rookie deals.
And drafting Milroe in the second round wouldn’t preclude Cleveland from pursuing a player like Kirk Cousins in free agency if the Atlanta Falcons do what most experts expect and cut the quarterback before a $10 million roster bonus comes due in mid-March.
The Browns could offer Cousins the starting opportunity he’s looking for in competition with Milroe, and if he wins he could serve as a mentor to the first-year signal caller. As long as no team trades for Cousins, the Falcons will owe him $27.5 million in 2025, which would allow for the Browns to sign him on a league-minimum deal.
That is what the Pittsburgh Steelers did with Russell Wilson in 2024 and the result was a trip to the playoffs. In a similar scenario, Cleveland could both acquire a QB to compete next season while also drafting their quarterback of the future in Milroe. Simultaneously, the franchise could rebuild via draft capital while also trying to make the postseason with the expensive roster it has already assembled.
