Report Reveals Why Browns Coach Made Major Mid-Season Change

Kevin Stefanski opened up Cleveland Browns training camp with a bang in late July last year by announcing that he was going to retain the play-calling responsibilities for the upcoming season. The big reveal came despite the fact that Stefanski had hired Ken Dorsey to be the team's new offensive coordinator in an effort to cater the offense to quarterback Deshaun Watson.

Retaining the play-calling for an offense that wasn't fully his didn't go so well for the Browns head man as Cleveland got off to a miserable 1-6 start with Watson commanding one of the worst offenses in NFL history. Then after Watson ruptured his Achilles in Week 7, Stefanski reversed course, giving the play-calling over to Dorsey despite the fact that they were going to go back to running Stefanski's system again, with Jameis Winston taking over under center.

Now, a new report from Cleveland.com reveals why Stefanski made the decisions he did.

According to Mary Kay Cabot, Stefanski initially opted to keep the play-calling responsibilities because he was worried the offense may get off to a slow start and he didn't want Dorsey to become an easy target for criticism.

Stefanski retained the duty because there were clear indications by then that the new offense, complete with overhauled staff, might struggle early on, and he didn’t want Dorsey taking the heat," wrote Cabot. "Watson, coming off the surgery to repair his fractured shoulder and torn labrum, hadn’t yet taken a snap in 11-on-11s."

As it turns out, Stefanski was right in his assumption. Only, not even he could have predicted just how abhorrently bad the unit would be. Between Watson's inconsistent play, offensive line struggles, injuries and dropped passes from receivers like Amari Cooper, who seemed checked out, Cleveland's new offense was a disaster.

Then Watson got hurt, and despite the fact that Stefanski and company pivoted back to his offense, the 42-year-old curiously gave up the play-calling to his OC. Cabot had an explanation for that too.

"The method to Stefanski’s madness in handing it over was that by then, he knew he’d have to hold the team together through the storm of the worst season since 2017, when they went 0-16."

It makes sense that Stefanski would free himself from the burden of designing and executing the game plan to make himself more readily available to the entire team as the season started rapidly slipping away from them. Those decisions seemed to, temporarily at least, breathe some life into the team as they went out and beat the Ravens in a shocker one week later. Ultimately, nothing was going to save the 2024 Browns from their 3-14 demise though.

The expectation heading into 2025 is that the Browns will go back to Stefanski's offense fully next season. As Tommy Rees steps in as the new OC, following a season as the team's tight end coach and passing game specialist, it remains to be seen whether or not Stefanski will take back the play-calling.