Cleveland Browns: Can Freddie Kitchens bring stability?

The Cleveland Browns have been wildly unstable at the head coaching position, so can Freddie Kitchens finally be the man to bring some continuity?

We all know about the lame jersey with all the different Cleveland Browns quarterback names on it. Yes, the one that was thankfully retired this season thanks to the emergence of rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield who broke the team record for passing yards by a rookie and the NFL touchdown mark as well for first-year players.

As bad as that thing was, the Browns may actually have a less impressive streak going on. Since returning to the league in 1999, the Browns have had issues with retaining a head coach. With their latest hire of Freddie Kitchens, they will have their 11th different head coach — which includes interims like Gregg Williams.

Out of those hires, the longest tenured coach has been Romeo Crennel, who according to Doug Lesmerises of Cleveland.com, lasted “three years, 10 months and 20 days.”

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Lesmerises then said that in order for Freddie Kitchens to become a more stabilizing force than Crennel, he needs to be on staff as of Dec. 2, 2022.

"“The Browns officially announced Kitchens as their new football coach Saturday, so mark your calendars for Dec. 2, 2022. If the Browns get there, 1,420 days from now, with Dorsey still as their general manager and Kitchens still as their head coach, they will have surpassed the most stable era of Browns football since the franchise returned.That’s the Phil Savage-Romeo Crennel Era.” — Lesmerises, Cleveland.com"

Of course, fans would love that. As would Kitchens, general manager John Dorsey, owner Jimmy Haslam, and every player on the roster. The reason that would be so welcome is it would signify Kitchens has the Browns winning — something that has evaded them for all except a couple of seasons since their return and is the reason for the long list of head coaches.

Kitchens brings hope that can happen as well. While Gregg Williams gets the 5-3 record under his name, the Browns turnaround to end this season was more of a product of the offense playing as well as they did under Kitchens.

He understood how to get the most out of Baker Mayfield, Jarvis Landry, and Nick Chubb. Kitchens had David Njoku starting to show his potential on the field. He had Duke Johnson making plays in the passing game and even helped Breshad Perriman find a re-birth to his career.

In short, Kitchens brings hope. And if that hope turns into something tangible, he has a shot to finally bring stability to a team that desperately needs it.