The Cleveland Browns are promoting passing game specialist and tight ends coach Tommy Rees to offensive coordinator, a team source confirmed to Athletics.
Rees just completed his first season with the Browns after spending the previous year as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the Alabama Crimson Tide. He succeeds Ken Dorsey, who was fired earlier this month after Cleveland’s 3-14 season.
Rees will be tasked with improving the league’s worst-performing offense (14.3 points per game), with questions at quarterback as projected starter Deshaun Watson recently underwent a second Achilles surgery and might not play in 2025.
Rees becomes the third offensive coordinator in as many years for the Browns, who left offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt two days after the end of their 2023 season.
Most of Rees’ experience as a coordinator has been at the collegiate level. Before his short stint with the Crimson Tide, he spent three seasons as Notre Dame’s offensive coordinator.
A coach on the rise
Cleveland hired Rees last January, knowing he had never been primarily a tight ends coach. Browns coach Kevin Stefanski and general manager Andrew Berry viewed Rees as a smart, growing coach who they believed would adapt and continue to progress quickly. So he will retain a major promotion even after 2024 – a disaster for every facet of the Browns offense.
It’s likely Stefanski will continue to call plays, but Rees will be at the front of the meeting room and involved in every game plan decision. He and Stefanski see things the same way and both saw up close what went wrong last season as the Browns couldn’t establish a consistent running game and didn’t create enough explosive games of any kind. — Zac Jackson and the Browns writer
Why this decision makes sense
There was always the impression that Pelt’s firing last January in favor of Dorsey was not Stefanski’s doing. Retaining Rees feels like a Stefanski move – and a Stefanski priority. The Browns need to add multiple quarterbacks and get back to the roots of Stefanski’s running game and play-action.
They will trust Rees to play a key role in the development of a rookie quarterback, whether that player arrives via the No. 2 overall pick in April or a later selection. — Jackson
Required reading
(Photo: Nick Cammett/Diamond Images via Getty Images)
