Daily Dawg Tags: Coaching staff taking shape

The Cleveland Browns officially announced the hiring of three additions on Wednesday to head coach Hue Jackson’s coaching staff.

The Cleveland Browns continue to reshape the coaching staff this offseason and made three more hires official on Wednesday.

Joining the staff of head coach Hue Jackson are offensive coordinator Todd Haley, special teams coordinator Amos Jones, and Freddie Kitchens as the running backs coach and associate head coach.

The moves were announced on the team’s website. 

Haley is the big fish of three and he comes to town fresh off a successful six-year run with the Pittsburgh Steelers. During that time, Pittsburgh’s offense was among the league’s top 10 in scoring and in yards gained, and Haley helped Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger continue to play at a high level and built an offense that helped wide receiver Antonio Browns catch more than 100 passes for five consecutive seasons.

The best, and certainly most surprising, part of the hiring is that Jackson claims he will give up the play calling duties to Haley, which can only help an offense that finished 31st in points scored in 2016 and 32nd this past season with Jackson calling the plays.

Jones joins the Browns from the Arizona Cardinals, where he was in charge of the Cardinals special teams since 2013. Justin Bethel and Budda Baker made the Pro Bowl as special teams players under Jones’ tutelage, but overall the Cardinals special teams play has been erratic in recent years and Jones faced criticism on almost a weekly basis.

He will have a familiar face in Kitchens, who was on staff with Arizona for the past 11 seasons. He worked as running backs coach last season, and also coached the quarterbacks for four years and the tight ends for six years.

With Kitchens serving as running backs coach last season, the Cardinals finished 30th in yards per game (86.6), 31st in yards per carry (3.4) and tied for 28th in rushing touchdowns (six).

Haley, Jones and Kitchens were all on the staff for the Cardinals in 2007 and 2008.

Cleveland Browns news:

Senior Bowl watch: defensive end Marcus Davenport

The Cleveland Browns may be looking to add more firepower to their pass rush, meaning that UTSA defensive end Marcus Davenport could be a player to watch.

Josh Allen a perplexing prospect

The Cleveland Browns are quarterback shopping once again. Wyoming’s Josh Allen wants to be “the guy,” but is he the next Carson Wentz or DeShone Kizer?

Joe Thomas lays out offseason plan for the Browns

The Cleveland Browns have a monumental offseason ahead of them and Joe Thomas has a plan for how he would like to see it all play out.

Hue Jackson believes hiring an offensive coordinator was his idea (cleveland.com)

"Hue Jackson stressed Wednesday that hiring Todd Haley as his offensive coordinator and handing over playcalling duties to him was entirely his idea and not Jimmy Haslam’s or GM John Dorsey’s."

NFL news:

Mike Pettine poised to rebuild Green Bay’s defense (ESPN)

"Mike Pettine is here to rebuild — both the Green Bay Packers defense and himself. Two years after he was fired as Cleveland Browns head coach, the 51-year-old has returned to the game. He was introduced Wednesday as the new Packers defensive coordinator, a job he actually began two weeks ago."

Could polarizing Oklahoma QB Baker Mayfield save the Jets? (New York Daily News)

"Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield is the most polarizing prospect at Senior Bowl week, a game-changing college force facing a litany of questions before he plays at the next level."

Jarvis Landry not optimistic about a return to the Dolphins (Miami Herald)

"Has Dolphins pending free agent Jarvis Landry gone from “I don’t know” to “probably not?” People who know him best believe he has."