Cleveland Browns set to interview Vance Joseph and Jim Bob Cooter

The Cleveland Browns are moving quickly to fill their coordinator positions, as they have set up multiple interviews for both their offensive and defensive coordinator vacancies.

The Cleveland Browns have yet to officially name Freddie Kitchens as the team’s next head coach. However, they are already moving quickly to fill their coordinator vacancies and have set up multiple interviews.

The Browns are set to interview former Denver Broncos head coach Vance Joseph for their defensive coordinator position, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

Cleveland is also planning to interview former Detroit Lions offensive coordinator, Jim Bob Cooter, for the Browns vacant offensive coordinator position, according to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport.

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The Browns have reportedly scheduled only one other interview for either coordinator positon, as former Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator, Todd Monken, will interview for the offensive coordinator vacancy over the weekend.

Joseph is the only interview currently planned for the Browns defensive coordinator position, although Kitchens is reportedly interested in former Indianapolis Colts head coach, Chuck Pagano, for the position.

Joseph has spent the past two seasons as the Broncos head coach, compiling a record of 11-21. He has been coaching in the NFL for 14 seasons, starting his career as an assistant defensive backs coach for the San Francisco 49ers in 2005. He has been a defensive backs coach in the league from 2006-2016 before becoming the Miami Dolphins defensive coordinator in 2016.

In his one season as a defensive coordinator, the Dolphins finished 29th in the league in total defense, allowing 382.6 yards per game. Miami ranked 18th in the league in points allowed, giving up an average of 23.8 points per game. The defense ranked 30th in the league in rushing defense and 14th in passing defense.

Cooter has been coaching in the NFL since 2009, starting as an offensive assistant and quality control coordinator. He then became the Lions quarterbacks coach in 2014 and coached in that role for another season. He became the Lions offensive coordinator in 2015 after Detroit fired Joe Lombardi in the middle of the season.

In his first two full seasons as the offensive coordinator, Cooter’s offenses ranked 21st and 13th in total offense and 20th and seventh in points per game. He helped create a potent passing attack, finishing with the 11th and sixth ranked passing offenses in the league.

But in 2018, the Lions offense took a turn for the worse, finishing 24th in total offense and 25th in points per game. Cooter received a lot of blame for the poor offensive showings, as his play-calling was predictable and defenses said they knew what play was happening before the snap.

The Browns appear to be looking for an experience defensive coordinator that has head coaching experience. With Kitchens likely to keep offensive play-calling duties as the head coach, the Browns will need a defensive coordinator that can manage the entire defensive unit while letting Kitchens still focus on the offense.

With the Browns not needing an offensive play-caller, Cooter would help the Browns prep during game weeks and help develop the entire offense. Since Kitchens is still not officially the head coach, there will likely be more names emerging for the coordinator positions.