Cleveland Browns: Freddie Kitchens potential coordinators

After a small amount of research, here is an educated guess at who could be named as the offensive and defensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns under Freddie Kitchens.

To what should be all of Cleveland’s relief, it was reported that Freddie Kitchens will be promoted to head coach of the Cleveland Browns. The interim offensive coordinator took a deadbeat Browns offense and brought it back to life and helped rookie Baker Mayfield on his way to setting the rookie record for touchdown passes in a season; an excellent hire and what we hope will be just the beginning of an extraordinary tandem for years to come.

However, just one day before the report of Kitchens taking the reigns in Cleveland, Bruce Arians finalized a deal to become the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, taking most of his staff from his previous tenure in Arizona with him. This is problematic as these were most of the same connections that Kitchens has around the league as well, serving in under Arians from 2013 to 2017.

This left me to question, who could Kitchens possibly be thinking about to hire as his coordinators in Cleveland? After doing some research (really just looking up different people that Kitchens has coached with), a few names stuck out that could rise to the top of the list of potential contenders to lead under Kitchens.

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This week, Ohio State announced that linebackers coach Bill Davis would be leaving the team to pursue opportunities in the NFL after one season with the team. It just so happens that Davis and Kitchens were on the same coaching staff in Arizona from 2007-2010, where Davis served as the linebackers coach for the first two years, and the defensive coordinator for the latter two; Davis’s defenses ranked among the middle of the pack during his two-year stint as the defensive coordinator. Davis also spent three seasons in Philadelphia as the defensive coordinator under Chip Kelly from 2013-2015, where the Eagles defense declined every year that he was there.

Another name to keep an eye on is Teryl Austin. Kitchens and Austin coached together in Arizona from 2007-2009 where he was the defensive back’s coach. Austin since has been the defensive coordinator for the University of Florida Gators for one season under Urban Meyer, the Detriot Lions for three years from 2014-2017 under Jim Caldwell, and the Cincinnati Bengals for less than a year this season before being relieved from his duties by Marvin Lewis.

Due to their overlapping time in Arizona, connection to Kitchens, and experience in the NFL, Davis, and Austin could be potential suitors for the defensive coordinator job in Cleveland. Offensive coordinator suitors, however, is more of a crapshoot.

The name that is most commonly next to Kitchens on an offensive staff is Todd Haley, and there is no way that John Dorsey and Company are allowing within 500 miles of Berea, OH. Ken Whisenhunt was the head coach for most of the years that Kitchens was in Arizona, and he would be considered for the job, except that he is currently running a pretty successful offense in Los Angeles for the Chargers. This would lead to an assumption that outside of a name that either has no connection to Kitchens or one that wouldn’t be recognized, an internal hire could be the most realistic situation for the Browns’ offensive coordinator position.

Some names to consider that are currently on the Browns offensive staff that could appear as the offensive coordinator include senior offensive assistant Al Saunders, wide receivers coach Adam Henry, and running backs coach Ryan Lindley; it has been announced that quarterbacks coach Ken Zampese will not return under Kitchens, eliminating him from the conversation.

The most interesting name is Ryan Lindley, who not only is connected to Kitchens through this Browns job, but he was also a quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals from 2012-2014 while Kitchens was on staff. The 29-year-old does, however, only have two years of coaching experience, 2017 as a graduate assistant with San Diego State University, and this season with the Browns. Given his inexperience, a rise from graduate assistant to NFL offensive coordinator in the span of two years is an awfully risky chance to take.

There is also no good guess at who could serve as special teams coordinator under Kitchens either. Previous special teams coordinator Amos Jones and Kitchens have a long history of serving together, but it is safe to say that the city of Cleveland and Browns fans everywhere were not disappointed to see him dismissed and hope him the best as he will probably skip to Tampa Bay with Arians as well.

Names such as Gregg Williams and, as previously mentioned, Zampese have already been dismissed from the team, and as the Kitchens era has begun, many fans patiently wait to see what his first move will be as the head coach in Cleveland.