BEREA, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski is taking his time filling out his coaching staff in Cleveland.
“I want good people and good coaches, but I am starting with good people,” Stefanski said Wednesday following the introduction of executive vice president of football operations and general manager Andrew Berry.
“I can promise you as we have gone through this process, it was not important to me to hire a staff in a day. We could have done that, but that would have not been the best thing for the Browns. It has been so important to make sure we are adding the right people with diversity of thought, diversity of race, gender, all of the above, age or you name it, but making sure that it is the right mix of people first and foremost.”
Wednesday the team officially named Alex Van Pelt offensive coordinator.
“He is of the highest integrity, which matters a lot to me and to this organization,” Stefanski said. “I think his reputation as an offensive mind, he played the game, played the [quarterback] position and has coached the position so I think he just really checked all the boxes for me.”
It remains to be seen who will call plays this fall.
“We will work through it. I do not know,” Stefanski said. “That is the God’s truth, the God’s honest truth. We will work through it. Like I said before and it is still true today, we will do what is best for the Browns.”
Another decision Stefanski has to make is whether or not to hire a quarterbacks coach or have Van Pelt assume that role too.
“I think we are working through the staff and going to finalize that here in the next couple weeks to 10 days and just make sure we get the right mix of people,” Stefanski said. “Alex has worked with a bunch of different quarterbacks and played quarterback at a high level in this league so I have been very impressed with Alex.”
49ers defensive back/passing game coordinator Joe Woods is visiting Wednesday and it is expected that he will be hired as the next defensive coordinator.
“I think he is an outstanding football mind,” Stefanski said. “You saw that defense and what they were able to do this year. I think adding Joe to the mix was very impressive. I saw it firsthand unfortunately how good they were. A good family man. I have known him for a long time.”
Stefanski and Berry are stressing diversity within the organization and they're putting it into practice with their hires. Callie Brownson, who worked last season with the Buffalo Bills as a coaching intern, was hired last week and will serve as Stefanski’s chief of staff, a role he once held to begin his NFL coaching career.
“She is outstanding. I could not be more impressed,” Stefanski said. “That role is really where I broke in, and it is the breeding ground for coaches and that is something that Callie wants to do ultimately is work her way onto the offensive or defensive side. As of now, she is the chief of staff. What does that mean? It is that role of anything and everything. I can promise you she has made it and it is going to be a big role.
“She is going to be able to touch each area of this building and keep me on track.”
Stefanski noted that Brownson is already ahead of where he was when he got his start in 2006.
“She is way better. Not close,” Stefanski said.
Stefanski also added experience to his staff with the hire of former Raiders head coach and Washington interim coach Bill Callahan to coach his offensive line and serve as a sounding board as he embarks on his first head coaching job.
“Very excited for what he brings to the table,” Stefanski said. “I have mentioned it before, his experience as a head coach of the collegiate and the professional level is something that I am going to lean on heavily.”
Chad O’Shea has been hired as the pass game coordinator and receivers coach and Drew Petzing will coach tight ends.
The right guy – It was widely assumed that Vikings assistant general manager George Paton would be a perfect fit for Stefanski and the Browns as GM, but they opted to go with Berry instead.
“George is a friend of mine, but I can’t say that would have made us more aligned in all football decisions,” Stefanski, who worked with Paton for 13 years in Minnesota, said.
Stefanski believes that he and Berry are a perfect match.
“H knows how I think and we talked about it. It is not just we are just hoping we are on the same page,” Stefanski said. “We talked about everything under the sun in the last two weeks, our football philosophy, the way we are going to acquire players and just the specifics about how we are going to do all that. We have worked through all that, and I can promise you that that partnership is very important. It is something that I look forward to starting and we have started that process already.”
Check the ego at the door – Collaboration has been a buzzword since Jimmy Haslam and his wife, Dee, bought the team in 2012 and began making the first of five changes in January 2013.
Unfortunately, the collaboration hasn’t lasted long. So what is different this time?
“I just think you have really smart people with low egos who continually want to learn and get better, do not care who gets the credit and it is all about winning,” Haslam said. “I can’t say it any more basic than that.”
Belief in Baker – Berry is confident that quarterback Baker Mayfield will be able to rebound from an awful sophomore season that saw him complete 59.4% of his passes while throwing 22 touchdowns and 21 interceptions last season.
“[I] Still have a lot of belief in Baker as a quarterback, his talent and what we think he can become in the NFL,” Berry said. “Looking forward to seeing what Kevin, [offensive coordinator] Alex [Van Pelt] and his staff do with Baker this spring and into the fall. We are really excited about his future, and I am really excited about the work that Kevin is going to do with him.”
Get Garrett back – NFL commissioner Roger Goodell told Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com prior to the Super Bowl that he plans to meet with Browns defensive end Myles Garrett within 60 days.
The Browns are hopeful that meeting will ultimately end the indefinite suspension.
“Certainly, our hope is for Myles to be reinstated,” Berry said. “Obviously, I was part of drafting him here previously. Obviously, this fall he made a huge mistake, but we know who Myles is as a person, and we look forward to welcoming him back.”
Goodell suspended Garrett indefinitely after he hit Pittsburgh quarterback Mason Rudolph with a helmet in the final seconds of a 21-7 win on Nov. 14.
Shoes to fill – Berry doesn't plan to replace former assistant general manager Eliot Wolf, vice president of plyer personnel Alonzo Highsmith or director of college scouting Steve Malin prior to the draft.
“We have a lot of really talented people and talented evaluators that are already in the building, and we will revisit that over the next couple of months and certainly after the draft,” Berry said.
