Browns reportedly hire Adam Henry as wide receivers coach
By Thomas Moore
The Cleveland Browns made another coaching change on Thursday, hiring Adam Henry as wide receivers coach and reassigning Al Saunders.
The Cleveland Browns continued to reshape the coaching staff on Thursday as the team has reportedly hired Adam Henry as wide receivers coach.
The news was first reported by Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network:
#Giants WRs coach Adam Henry signed a 3-year deal with the #Browns, per his agent Rocky Arceneaux. Cleveland hopes the former #LSU WRs coach who worked so well with Odell Beckham does the same for Josh Gordon.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 11, 2018
In a corresponding move, according to Nate Ulrich of The (Akron) Beacon Journal, the Browns will move Al Saunders, who was the senior offensive assistant the past two years but also coached the wide receivers, into the role of senior advisor to head coach Hue Jackson, who can use all the advising he can get after compiling a 1-31 record in his first two seasons in Cleveland.
Both Saunders and Henry worked with Jackson in Oakland when Jackson spent the 2011 season as the Raiders head coach. Which means Jackson is surrounding himself with allies on the coaching staff the same way that general manager John Dorsey is filling the front office with people loyal to him. (Make of that what you will.)
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Henry comes to the Browns from the New York Giants, where he spent the past two seasons coaching the wide receivers. He also spent a season (2015) as the wide receivers coach for the San Francisco 49ers, and three seasons (2012 through 2014) coaching wide receivers at Louisiana State University.
According to his bio on the Giants website, New York’s wide receivers were “productive” in 2016 season, most notably Odell Beckham Jr., who earned a Pro Bowl nod after leading the Giants in receptions (101), receiving yards (1,367) and touchdown receptions (10).
No one would describe the Browns wide receivers as being “productive” in 2017, not after seeing Ricardo Louis and Rashard Higgins tie for the team lead in receptions from wide receivers with 27; Louis lead the position group in receiving yards with 357; and Higgins, Corey Coleman and Kenny Britt, who will be seen plying his trade this weekend in the playoffs with the New England Patriots, lead in touchdown receptions with two each.
The blame for that probably shouldn’t fall too heavily on Saunders, who brings a lifetime of experience and more energy to the position than anyone who has coached in Cleveland in a long time.
Henry should have a chance to make a quick impact on the position group as, outside of Coleman and Josh Gordon, their will likely be a group of fresh receivers to work with come training camp.
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The change on the coaching staff is the second in as many days for the Browns, who saw longtime special teams coordinator Chris Tabor leave on Wednesday for the same position with the Chicago Bears.