Cleveland Browns: Jarvis Landry takes scathing shots at Freddie Kitchens

Jarvis Landry was asked what he wanted from the next Cleveland Browns head coach, and his response was a scathing remark about Freddie Kitchens.

The end of the Cleveland Browns 2019 regular season was about as disastrous as it could have been, and it cost Freddie Kitchens his job as head coach. On Monday, few players made themselves available to talk about the end of the season and the decision to fire Kitchens. Jarvis Landry was one of the few players willing to talk.

Landry is an outspoken player who is not afraid to speak the truth, even if it will hurt some feelings. He was one of the group of players who had an outburst towards Kitchens during games that showed his frustrations.

Landry continued to not hold back on Monday when discussing what he wants from the next head coach. When asked what the Browns needed from their head coach, he made it a point that leadership was the main thing. But it was the traits of a head coach that were some pointed comments at Kitchens’ run as a head coach.

It was clear during the second half of the season that Kitchens did not have the respect of the players. They were showing him up on the sidelines when they would scream at him. They also were not sticking up for him in the media when players were asked if they still supported Kitchens, most notably when Damarious Randall said “no comment.”

Landry also explained that the biggest issue with the offense in 2019 was that the offense relied too much on plays and not the players. Landry felt that the Browns did not expose opponent’s weaknesses like they could have with their personnel. That was fairly obvious for the Browns, as the Browns almost refused to get Odell Beckham Jr. involved in game plans, despite his talent.

Kitchens felt that he needed to call plays in order to give the Browns the best chance to win. But he struggled to take advantage of the talent given to him, which was a problem considering the weapons the Browns offense had.

Without the respect of the players, a head coach is not going to go far. The players were not willing to fight for Kitchens, especially at the end of the season. Kitchens could not get the most out of his players, and that was mostly because there was clearly a respect issue on both ends.

By the way the players felt about Kitchens, it was obvious the Browns had no choice than to move on from Kitchens. Had they decided to keep Kitchens, there likely would have been a player revolt and several players asking to be traded. They were not happy playing for Kitchens and knew he was not going to lead them to the playoffs.

Kitchens not respecting opponents is also a major issue. Landry did not go in depth about not respecting opponents, but it almost seems like Kitchens believed they could walk on the field on Sunday and have enough talent to win. Instead, Kitchens’ game plans were poor and opponents knew exactly what the Browns were doing. Opponents were not afraid of the Browns and Cleveland could never respond.

Kitchens was clearly overwhelmed as the head coach and did not know how to handle the role. He was unable to learn as the season went on, and it caused him to lose the locker room. Landry was clear about the issues with Kitchens as head coach, and his comments reinforced the struggles of 2019 and why a change was necessary at head coach.