Cleveland Browns need to make some type of midseason change

The Cleveland Browns are reportedly committed to Freddie Kitchens for 2019, but they need to make a midseason change to help turn things around.

The Cleveland Browns are stuck in the mud midway through the 2019 season and sit at 2-6, which puts them third place in the AFC North. Despite their struggles with all of the talent that has been compiled, the Browns are reportedly committed to Freddie Kitchens as head coach.

Midseason changes on the coaching staff typically do not result a rapid turnaround. Last year’s Browns team was an exception, going 5-3 in the second half of the season after firing Hue Jackson.

Firing coaches during the season can ultimately stunt the growth of the young talent on the roster. Rapidly changing how things operate on a day-to-day basis will force the young players to adjust and can slow down their development.

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However, in the case of the Browns, something needs to be done. The Browns have been unable to make adjustments as the season has gone on. They were making the same mistakes against the Broncos that hindered them against the Titans Week 1. Kitchens still looks overwhelmed as the head coach while also being the offensive play-caller.

The Browns being committed to Kitchens as the head coach for the rest of the season makes sense. Firing a coach after his first eight games does nothing but repeat the cycle that put the Browns in the position of needing to conduct a full rebuild. They need some sort of continuity, and firing a coach after one half of a season could add even more problems.

But if the Browns do not fire Kitchens, what type of change can the Browns make? The simple answer is taking away play-calling duties from Kitchens. Instead of being primarily focused on the offense, this would allow Kitchens to be a CEO style head coach while he adjusts to managing the responsibilities of being a head coach.

Browns offensive coordinator Todd Monken was viewed as a head coaching candidate in the offseason because of his work as a play-caller with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Although he has not been calling plays for the Browns, he has seen what can work for the Browns and make the adjustments as the play-caller.

It is clear Baker Mayfield is not the same quarterback he was last season. And instead of being able to make the adjustments to overcome the adjustments defensive coordinators have made, Mayfield continues to look sloppy. Although he wanted Kitchens to be the head coach because of the chemistry they built, it may be best for Mayfield to have a different play-caller.

By giving Monken play-calling duties, Kitchens can focus on both sides of the ball and begin to enforce the team’s need for discipline and better execution. By focusing on the individual players instead of the units as a whole, Kitchens could finally start to get progress from each player.

Kitchens gets defensive when asked about giving up play-calling duties. But his play-calling helped his rapid rise to becoming a head coach, so it would be hard to give up that part of his coaching. But to get the best out of the Browns and potentially save Kitchens’ job at the end of the season, he needs to relinquish play-calling duties.

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The Cleveland Browns need a wake up call before the entire season gets out of control and the Browns start competing for the top pick in the 2020 draft. They do not need a drastic change like firing the head coach or coordinators. Instead, they need to take some of the pressure off Kitchens and let him focus on the team as a whole, not just the offense.

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