Todd Monken crossed another major hire off his list on Tuesday, and although it wasn’t the defensive coordinator news that’s been dominating the local headlines, this one quickly caught the attention of Cleveland Browns fans.
They’ve watched enough brutal football on special teams over the years to want to learn about their team’s new coordinator.
Per NFL insider Ari Meirov, Monken is hiring longtime Green Bay Packers assistant Byron Storer as the Browns’ new special teams coordinator. He’ll replace Bubba Ventrone, who left Cleveland following Kevin Stefanski’s firing to take the same job with the Los Angeles Rams.
Source: The #Browns are hiring #Packers Assistant Special Teams Coordinator Byron Storer as their new Special Teams Coordinator.
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) February 10, 2026
A big hire for HC Todd Monken, Storer has been a key assistant for Rich Bisaccia with the Raiders and Packers and now gets to run his own unit in… pic.twitter.com/7hmyhNb1xs
Ventrone’s exit was… complicated.
In a lot of ways, he embodied Cleveland as an undrafted player who grinded his way through a 10-year NFL career, winning a Super Bowl with Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots before spending four seasons with the Browns as a player. He then quickly climbed the ranks as a coach, starting under Belichick in Foxboro in 2015 and working his way up to assistant head coach and special teams coordinator under Stefanski back in Cleveland.
But the Browns were brutal on special teams this past season, ranking dead-last in DVOA. You could argue their 5-12 team lost at least two games, against the Jets and Titans, based on repeated special teams gaffes alone. The Jets game was particularly special, with the Browns surrendering kickoff and punt return TDs in the first quarter.
No Browns fan was shedding a tear when Ventrone bolted for L.A. The Storer news was met with mixed emotions, however, and for good reason.
The Packers aren’t exactly known for their elite special teams play, either.
Browns’ new special teams coordinator has fans bracing for déjà vu
Why should Browns fans be in on their new special teams coordinator? For starters, he’s a Rich Bisaccia disciple.
The 65-year-old Bisaccia is one of the most respected special teams coaches in the game, and is probably remembered most as the man who replaced then-Oakland Raiders head coach Jon Gruden during the 2021 regular season, after Gruden abruptly resigned amid an email scandal.
Bisaccia joined Matt LaFleur’s staff in 2022 as the potential savior for Green Bay’s historically poor special teams units, but overall, the veteran coach hasn’t made much of an impact. Per Matt Schneidman of The Athletic, the Packers entered the postseason this year ranked 29th in special teams EPA (expected points added).
“They ranked 30th over the last four seasons under special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia,” Schneidman wrote in January. “They ranked 31st over the last 10 seasons.”
Meirov called Storer a “big hire for HC Todd Monken,” but that line was met with more sarcasm than cheers from fans on social media. There was a similar reaction a couple weeks ago with ESPN’s Peter Schrager calling Ventrone to the Rams a potential “big score.”
Outside of kicker Andre Szmyt, who was excellent this season, the Browns’ special teams literally have nowhere to go but up. Perhaps the 41-year-old, little-known Storer can catch on quickly in his first crack at running the show.
He’ll just have to forgive Browns fans for being a bit wary at the start.