Cleveland Browns: Freddie Kitchens calling plays as HC is not a concern

Cleveland Browns head coach Freddie Kitchens will remain the offensive play-caller next season, and it is something that should not be a concern for the 2019 season.

New Cleveland Browns head coach, Freddie Kitchens, announced the expected on Monday, saying that he will continue to be the offensive play-caller in 2019, despite his new role as the head coach.

Kitchens burst onto the scene when he was named the interim offensive coordinator after Todd Haley was fired at the end of the October.

With Kitchens calling plays, the Browns offense was taken to the next level. In the eight games that he called plays, the offense averaged 395.2 total yards and 23.6 points per game.

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His performance leading the Browns offense, and helping Baker Mayfield’s development, made him a candidate for the vacant head coaching position. So it is not a surprise that he will continue to call the offense, even though he is now taking on a larger role as the head coach.

There are fans that will be concerned with the first-time head coach taking on so much responsibility. Also considering that the only time that Kitchens called plays in his coaching career was the eight games with the Browns, he is not an experienced play-caller. With him still calling plays for the offense, the concern becomes if he will be able to focus on the entire team except for just the offense.

However, with the staff that Kitchens has assembled, he has a lot of experience surrounding him to help him if he has any problems arise as the head coach. With Steve Wilks being named the defensive coordinator, Kitchens has a coach that has already sat in the head coaching chair – albeit for only one season – and will know some of the issues that come up for head coaches.

The hiring of Todd Monken as the offensive coordinator will help take some of the offensive load off of Kitchens as well. Monken was the offensive play-caller for the Buccaneers in 2018, his third season as Tampa Bay’s offensive coordinator. He has already helped a first-time head coach, Dirk Koetter, manage the play-calling duties and his role as head coach. He will be able to help Kitchens in game-planning, which would allow Kitchens to focus on the entire team during game prep.

And to be fair to Kitchens, although the last half of the 2018 season was his only time as a coordinator, 2019 will be his 14th season coaching in the NFL. Although he never officially had the title of being a coordinator before last season, he has been around the league enough to know what goes into being a head coach.

This is also the way that the league is trending with head coaches. Since the Los Angeles Rams’ hiring of Sean McVay and the explosion of the Rams offense and the success they are having, most teams are hiring offensive-minded head coaches and allowing them to call plays. For the most part, the head coach calling plays has not negatively affected the performance of teams.

Of the 12 teams that made the playoffs this season, seven of the teams had their head coach calling plays. Three of the seven teams made it to the conference championship.

Browns fans have had bad experiences with their head coach calling plays, most notably Hue Jackson in 2016 and 2017. However, Kitchens has an established staff around him that can help manage the entire team while still allowing him to call plays. And if last season proved anything, it is that Kitchens can be pushed into a bigger role and still have success with an increased workload.