CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Browns have competition for Duce Staley, the former Panthers running backs coach they interviewed this week.
Staley, 48, would replace Stump Mitchell, who was fired on Wednesday, the same day the Browns parted ways with offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Alex Van Pelt and tight ends coach T.C. McCartney.
Staley spent that day interviewing with the Browns at CrossCountry Mortgage Campus in Berea, and they plan to make him an offer, a league source told cleveland.com. But the Jets plan to do the same, the source said.
In Cleveland, Staley would take over a running game that finished 12th in the NFL this season despite losing four-time Pro Bowl running back Nick Chubb to a season-ending knee injury in Week 2. In Chubb’s absence, the Browns ran the ball by committee, with Jerome Ford finishing first with 813 yards (4.0 average) and four touchdowns, and Kareem Hunt finishing second with 411 yards (3.0 average) and a team-high nine rushing TDs. Pierre Strong Jr. finished third on the team with 291 yards (4.6 average) and a TD.
But the running game struggled in the 45-14 loss to the Texans in the wild card round, totaling 56 yards on 20 carries for a 2.8-yard average against the league’s No. 6 run defense.
Will the Browns interview Deshaun Watson’s former Texans OC Tim Kelly?
Deshaun Watson loved playing for his former offensive coordinator Tim Kelly in Houston, and would undoubtedly love to be reunited with him in Cleveland.
Kelly likewise, would love to coach Watson again, but it remains to be seen if the Browns will interview him.
Kelly would likely be a candidate to join Vrabel if he takes another head job in 2024. He’s interviewed with the Chargers and has interest from the Falcons and Seahawks.
Kelly spent five seasons with Watson in Houston, coaching him to his best career season in 2020, when Kelly was offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.Watson went 382 for 544 (70.2) for 4,823 yards with 33 touchdown passes and seven interceptions that year en route to a 112.4 passer rating. The yards were most in the NFL and the rating was second only to Aaron Rodgers. But the Texans went 4-12 that year, with Bill O’Brien getting fired at 0-4.
In Kelly’s first season as Titans offensive coordinator this season, the offense finished 28th overall, 17th in rushing and 29th in passing. But they benched Ryan Tannehill in November and turned the season over to rookie Will Levis, who went 3-6 with eight touchdowns, four interceptions and a 84.2 rating. The Titans finished 6-11 overall, including a 27-3 loss to the Browns in Week 3 in Cleveland.
So far, the Browns’ only known interviews have been with Seahawks offensive line coach Andy Dickerson for offensive coordinator, Staley for running backs coach and Titans outside linebackers coach Ryan Crow for defensive line coach, which signals a possible reassignment for current D-line coach Ben Bloom.
Browns GM Andrew Berry will conduct his postseason press conference Monday at 11 a.m. at team headquarters. He’ll field questions about Joe Flacco, staff changes, Watson’s health, pending free agents, and more.
