Black Monday and the Coaching Carousel

[tklongball]

View: https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/1083049207425048576


Nice to see a Defensive Guy get a shot.

 

[OldSchool]

Continuity makes sense but a very questionable hire and the Vikings OC being the second option wasn’t much better imo. I keep wanting to root for the Browns and they keep making it tough.

 

[OldSchool]

Great dc and glad he got a shot.

 

[tklongball]

View: https://twitter.com/DanGrazianoESPN/status/1083047183560130562

 

[ramsplaya16]

Browns gonna brown. Lol

 

[Karate61]

Greg Williams post firing press conference:

"The Browns can bleep bleep bleep bleep bleep bleep bleep bleep bleep bleep bleep bleep bleep bleep bleep bleep bleep bleep bleep bleep and rip his head off that bleep bleep bleep bleep bleep bleep bleep bleep bleep bleep bleep bleep bleep bleep bleep!"

 

[Loyal]

Man, I thought Williams was turning the Browns toward winning ways....I guess the Browns can't stomach winning...

 

[Ram65]

The Cleveland Browns are keeping Freddie Kitchens in the Dawg Pound.

NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported Wednesday that that Browns are hiring Kitchens as their new head coach, per a source informed of the decision.

ESPN's Chris Mortensen first reported the news.

The news culminates a meteoric rise for the 44-year-old Kitchens. The Alabama-native began the 2018 campaign as the Browns' running backs coach. He was elevated to offensive coordinator when Cleveland canned Hue Jackson and Todd Haley midway through the season.

The Browns offense exploded under Kitchens' guidance, who unleashed a diverse, multifaceted attack that had defenses running in circles. Cleveland averaged 23.8 points per game with Kitchens calling the plays and scored on 79.2 percent of their red zone trips.

The rapport with rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield obviously played a huge role in the Browns electing to hand Kitchens the top job after just eight career games as a play-caller. The quarterback threw for 2,254 yards, 19 of his rookie-record 27 TD passes, and was sacked just five times as the Browns went 5-3 down the stretch. According to Next Gen Stats, Mayfield was more effective on deep passes (20+ air yards) when Kitchens began calling plays, throwing seven deep TD passes since Week 9 (tied for most in the NFL). The dive-bombing acumen was thanks in part to Kitchens' personnel usage and play design.

As OC, Kitchens also helped unleash running back Nick Chubb, who excelled as a tackle-breaking demon, destroying stacked boxes. The rookie RB earned the most rushing yards in the NFL (362) versus eight-man boxes in 2018.

Given his youth and creative offensive mind, Kitchens would have likely been a hot coaching candidate down the road had he remained a coordinator. The Browns assured that won't happen, locking down the man who splashed onto the scene midway through the season.

Kitchens has impressive connections throughout the football world. After serving as a quarterback for Alabama from 1993 to 1997, Kitchens worked as a grad assistant under Nick Saban at LSU in 2000. He made the leap to the pro-level as a tight ends coach for the Dallas Cowboys in 2006 under Bill Parcells. Kitchens spent the next 11 seasons in Arizona, first working under Ken Whisenhunt as the tight ends coach in 2007. He moved to quarterbacks coach when Bruce Arians took over the Cardinalsin 2013 and spent his final season in the desert as the RBs coach in 2017.


The lack of head-coaching experience could be cause for concern as Kitchens takes over a talented but young rising Browns squad. However, even in his brief time as OC, Kitchens showed rapport with players, specifically Mayfield, to suggest Cleveland can succeed with the inexperienced coach.

One of the most important early decisions the new coach must make is selecting a defensive coordinator. The Browns relieved DC and interim coach Gregg Williams of his duties, per NFL Network's Aditi Kinkhabwala. Getting an experienced defensive play-caller in the building would be big for Kitchens in his first year as the head coach, as we saw with Sean McVay and Wade Phillips with the Los Angeles Rams.

The Browns clearly were angling for a young, offensive mind to guide Mayfield through his ascension. The two finalists for Cleveland's coaching job were Kitchens and Vikings OC Kevin Stefanski, who combined had 11 games of NFL play-calling experience. The Browns elected to stick with the in-house candidate. Stefanski is now expected to return to Minnesota to serve as their full-time offensive coordinator, per Rapoport.

The impressive strides the Browns made under Kitchens mark it an intriguing selection. Cleveland could have gone the safe route and elected a retread or a more experienced coordinator. Instead, the team went with a talented play-caller who has already shown he can scheme and work with their young quarterback.

The budding Browns team now has an equally green coach to grow together for what looks like a very bright future.

_______________________________
That's great RZ scoring percentage and he was 5-3 as the OC working with Mayfield. They didn't have a long list of prospects. I think they wanted him all along. The guy had had been with the Cardinals forever in different coaching roles. Heck he looks like he belongs in Cleveland.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddie_Kitchens

 

[tklongball]

Man, I thought Williams was turning the Browns toward winning ways....I guess the Browns can't stomach winning...

LOL, they have to manage their fan base's expectations.

 

[tklongball]

Question now, is do they keep V. Miller through the rebuild or trade him for draft picks to use during the rebuild. Like the Raiders did with Mack

 

[Merlin]

Nice hire. Hope he's got a big @$$ can of Elway repellant ready for his meetings. :eek:

 

[Karate61]

Question now, is do they keep V. Miller through the rebuild or trade him for draft picks to use during the rebuild. Like the Raiders did with Mack

Miller is pushing 30 years old. He still has it, of course, but for how much longer? I say pull a Gruden and trade for those picks...it's the perfect time to do so!

 

[Ram65]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vic_Fangio#Coaching_career

At 60 years old he has been around. Good for him. The Broncos were close in a lot of games. Wouldn't take much to make them a playoff team. Case Keenum needs to have a better year.

 

[tklongball]

Miller is pushing 30 years old. He still has it, of course, but for how much longer? I say pull a Gruden and trade for those picks...it's the perfect time to do so!

I kind of feel like that is the way they will go as well. You get picks to help with your rebuild, and it is the right thing to do for Miller.

 

[El caliente]

It’s a smart move. Kitchens isn’t some wonder kid type, he is a seasoned coach who has worked with Parcells, Arians, and Haley. It was his offense that turned that team around, and it was his relationship with Mayfield that won him the job.

Let’s not kid ourselves, Greg Williams is a crap coach, and a crap coordinator. He didn’t earn that job.

 

[DVontel]

You reference future HOF's, come on man...just identify and develop a young QB who can start and win games.
Palmer learned a pretty good offense in AZ , not how to play QB.

Why not Lindley or Gabbert or Stanton or Thomas? Am i missing anyone who came through undr his watch? A QB whisperer should have gotten more out of these guys. Okay maybe not Stanton, lol.

The whisperer is coaching in LA. Goff looked more lost than all of those guys ever did his rookie year.

I mean, Ben pretty much didn’t become one of the top QBs in the league until Arians became his OC. Palmer learned how to play as a much better QB. He helped developed Peyton & Luck’s careers. There have been plenty of 1st round QBs that have failed due to bad coordinating around them. It seems like you’re docking him due to their continued later success. Not sure if that’s fair, but alright.

None of those QBs showed talent whatsoever. Arians can turn a talented(doesn’t mean good) QB into a good starting QB in this league.

Goff was still the #1 pick in the draft. He obviously had talent, but when your coach is Jeff Fisher, I’m pretty sure he would make a young Peyton look awful. I’m not doubting McVay is, but he could turn Sean Mannion into a competent QB? Idk.

If Arians turns Jameis’ career around, I think there’s no question he deserves the “QB whisperer” title.

 

[I like Rams]

Well there goes trading Barron to the Browns...

 

[MTRamsFan]

Khalil Mack: "I want to be traded to the Broncos!"

 

[Dodgersrf]

Why didnt they name him the interim coach to begin with?

So William's is better as an interim coach than our future head coach whom is already on the staff? Wtf?

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

Why fire Williams?