Browns reportedly eyeing coaching, front office additions

The Cleveland Browns are wasting no time as they are reportedly looking at additions to the coaching staff and front office.

The Cleveland Browns are embarking on an offseason that will see considerable change to the team.

With the unwritten NFL rule that a new general manager must bring in his “own guys,” and with the Browns holding considerable salary cap space and draft picks, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone if general manager John Dorsey reshapes a large portion of the roster in the coming months.

The changes may not be confined to just the field, however, as a pair of reports say the Browns are looking at candidates for the role of offensive coordinator and another body in the front office.

First up is NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, who reports that the Browns have formally asked permission to talk with Sean Ryan, the quarterback coach of the Houston Texans, about coming to Cleveland as offensive coordinator:

Ryan has been with the Texans for two season, first working as the wide receivers coach before transitioning to quarterback coach for this past season. Under his watch, rookie quarterback Deshaun Watson was torching the NFL – a league-high 19 touchdown passes and a quarterback rating of 103 – before seeing his season end with a torn ACL. (We’ll give Ryan a pass on quarterback Tom Savage.)

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Before landing in Houston, Ryan was a coach with the New York Giants for nine seasons, working as an offensive quality control coach from 2007 to 2009, wide receivers coach in 2010-11 and 2014-15, and quarterbacks coach from 2012 to 2013.

Dorsey has talked about wanting to hire an offensive coordinator after watching head coach Hue Jackson lead the Browns offense to historic lows, but Jackson has brushed off that talk, saying it will be his call if he wants an offensive coordinator and that we will “take some time” before he really begins to consider the idea.

Moving to the front office, Aaron Nagler of packersnews.com reports that Dorsey is interviewing Green Bay senior personnel executive Alonzo Highsmith:

Browns fans of a certain age will remember Highsmith from his playing days with the Houston Oilers in the late 1980s. He just finished his 19th year as a member of the Packers’ personnel department, the last six in the role of senior personnel executive.

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While it has not been reported exactly what Highsmith’s role would be with the Browns, he and Dorsey worked together for several years in Green Bay, so that familiarity, along with Highsmith checking the box of “football guy,” would appear to make the transition an easy one.