Cleveland Browns: Coaching staff a home run on paper

For the past 20 years, the Cleveland Browns have lacked talent at two big positions: quarterback, and coaching. With the quarterback and a new staff now in place, Freddie Kitchens and Co. look to have hit an absolute home run.

The world of football is, by and large, an art rather than a science. Sure, recent years have brought a hefty amount of analytics into the sport, but more often than not, they are not the centerpiece of a football operation. The NFL Draft, free agency, and coaching hires can often be a roll of the dice. Even if a coach might seem like an awful hire at the time, he might pan out. The opposite is true, and you can look up “Hue Jackson Cleveland Browns” if you want an example.

The point is, coaching hires can be pretty risky business. Too often, a team doesn’t really know what they’re getting when they hire the men who will lead their players (hopefully) to a Super Bowl championship. But luckily for the Cleveland Browns and new head coach Freddie Kitchens, it looks like they’ve absolutely nailed it.

Let’s take a look first at new special teams coordinator, Mike Priefer. Priefer’s time in Minnesota from 2011 to 2018 was met with mixed reviews, but he’s been largely seen as a good coach for about the past half decade.

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According to Pro Football Focus, Minnesota’s special teams unit has been third-best in the league over Priefer’s time with the Vikings. This is a vast improvement over the Browns who, throughout the season, looked totally inept on special teams.

Pair Priefer up with one of the league’s best punters in Britton Colquitt, a promising young kicker in Greg Joseph,and a special teams unit that on the whole could use some help, and you’ve got a recipe for a good hire. Of course, anything would be better than former Browns special teams coach Amos Jones.

Moving on, we’ll look at new offensive line coach and associate head coach James Campen. Honestly, it’s a wonder how the Browns even stole Campen away from the Green Bay Packers in the first place. As Green Bay’s offensive line coach, he has been their longest-tenured assistant, and would likely be a great deal of help to rookie head coach Matt LaFleur.

It’s often been said that a new head coach’s most important hire is the offensive line coach, and the Browns really got a good one here. Campen gets to work with two of the best guards in the league in Joel Bitonio and Kevin Zeitler, a young inside lineman in Austin Corbett, and a left guard in Greg Robinson who looks to be in the midst of turning his career around. Bob Wylie was a fan favorite, but it was time to bring in a fresh face to coach the bulldozers up front.

Flipping over to the defensive side of the ball, the Browns went with Steve Wilks as their new defensive coordinator. Don’t let the year-long disaster with the Arizona Cardinals define Wilks in your mind. Despite being a bit in over his head, and a bit underwhelmed due to the roster, Wilks is a great defensive-minded coach.

During his time with the Carolina Panthers, Wilks coached up one of the most dynamic front sevens in the league. With a top-15 run defense and total defense by yards in 2017, Wilks was able to stuff his opponents’ run games as defensive coordinator. Now, he’ll get to go coach Myles Garrett, Emmanuel Ogbah, Larry Ogunjobi, and Joe Schobert in his front seven. This could very well be the first step for Steve Wilks to get another head coaching job.

Finally, let’s examine what will likely be the crown jewel of this group of hires. Late Sunday evening, the Browns hired former Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Todd Monken as their OC. While he may not call plays in Cleveland, he’ll have the chance to coach one of the league’s most talented young offensive groups, and develop Baker Mayfield even further.

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Monken loves explosive plays, and is a bit of a savant in the passing game. He turned Jameis Winston and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers into the league’s premier offensive unit last season. Imagine what he could do with an accurate arm like Baker Mayfield’s. Sure, coaching hires might be a gamble, but it looks like the Browns hit the jackpot with their four coaching picks.

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