Everything that could go wrong for the Cleveland Browns this past season did. Deshaun Watson got hurt ... again. Nick Chubb got hurt ... again. Worst of all, the offense was largely rudderless all season long. Many of us thought it would cost a great head coach in Kevin Stefanski his job. Thankfully, Browns owner Jimmy Haslam realized what we did. Offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey was a problem.
Cleveland finished the 2024 NFL season with an absolutely pitiful 3-14 record. The Browns got their clock cleaned by the rival Baltimore Ravens on Saturday evening. Baltimore is playoff-bound, while Cleveland is a lock to be picking inside the top-five. This comes after a season where Cleveland actually made the playoffs starting something like four different quarterbacks. What a catastrophe!
What this termination means to me is Cleveland needed to scapegoat someone for this horrific season. It may have had more to do with Haslam's insistence on bringing Watson to the franchise in the first place. Truth be told, firing either Stefanski or general manager Andrew Berry would have been a huge mistake. They are the two best things to happen to this franchise since Bernie Kosar.
It also signifies that Dorsey is never going to be an NFL head coach, maybe not even a coordinator.
The #Browns fired OC Ken Dorsey, per sources. pic.twitter.com/aev3VR90la
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) January 5, 2025
What type of offensive mind do the Browns need to hire to replace their ineffective coordinator?
Cleveland Browns fire offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey after one season
For people of a certain generation, they remember Dorsey as the star quarterback for the Miami Hurricanes when The U was still The U, and not whatever close facsimile Mario Cristobal is trying to shove in our face. I remember him playing briefly for the San Francisco 49ers, but I totally forgot he used to quarterback in Cleveland as well. He got into coaching in Carolina before failing in Buffalo.
I could be totally wrong in this, but here is the type of offensive coordinator Cleveland needs to pursue after seeing Dorsey fail. Since Stefanski stems from that side of the ball, I would try to hire someone who complements areas in which the Browns head coach is insufficient in. I would look for a guy who loves to throw the football, preferably one who has worked with wide receivers previously.
See, the Browns are always going to use the ground game as their bread and butter under Stefanski because that is what they have done before and what the Minnesota Vikings did when he was running the offense there. I found Cleveland's inability to score touchdowns late in the season being due to the offense being one-dimensional, as well as injuries. An outside-of-the-box hire might be the call.
The most critical takeaway here is the Browns were smart to not fire Stefanski as their head coach.