Browns Offensive Line Coach: Candidates, News, and Notes
With Bill Callahan headed to Tennessee, the Cleveland Browns need an offensive line coach. Who are the available candidates around the league, plus notes on Alex Van Pelt, Eliot Wolfe, and more…
Bill Callahan is now the former offensive line coach for the Cleveland Browns. According to multiple sources, he is leaving to join his son Brian Callahan with the Tennessee Titans.
Callahan told the Browns he is accepting the position with the Titans after serving on coach Kevin Stefanski’s staff since 2020.
The Browns Pro Bowl left guard Joel Bitonio acknowledged Callahan last week, thinking he could be going to join his son in Tennessee.
“Coach Callahan has been instrumental for us,” Bitonio said. “He’s helped develop a bunch of us on the line. We’re thankful for that. He’s one of the hardest workers I know. He puts in the time with us and he’s a big part of the run game and the scheme and protections.
“But when your son gets hired as the head coach and if your son calls, you might need to take that phone call as well. That’s pretty special stuff.”
WHAT’S NEXT?
The Browns will now look to fill the vacancy at their offensive line coach position.
Assistant offensive line coach Scott Peters has been working with Callahan for the last three seasons. He is a potential candidate to be promoted into the role due to his relationship with Callahan and his knowledge gained under Callahan’s tutelage. He would be the answer if the Browns want to maintain continuity in the room and with the existing roster.
However, Stefanski has overhauled his offensive staff except for wide receivers coach Chad O’Shea.
The Browns have hired Ken Dorsey as their new offensive coordinator, Duce Staley as running backs coach, and Tommy Rees as tight ends coach, although the Browns have not officially announced all of the changes.
Stefanksi and the Browns were looking for an influx of new offensive concepts and philosophies from their new hires to put quarterback Deshaun Watson in an offense that best suits him. Cultivating success for Watson and the offense is job one this offseason. This likely means an increase in shotgun and spread schemes.
One of the Browns issues last season was their inability to find any sustained success in the run game, notably the run game out of the gun.
In the spirit of their offensive evolution, the Browns could elect to go outside the building to find their new offensive line coach.
POTENTIAL CANDIDATES AROUND THE LEAGUE
There is a good amount of uncertainty surrounding the availability of assistant coaches around the league. As newly hired head coaches and coordinators are ushered in, they must decide if they will retain any staff already in place.
The Eagles hired a new offensive coordinator, Kellen Moore, and have decided to retain their offensive line coach, Jeff Stoutland. Stoutland is highly regarded and has been in that role since 2018.
Mike Munchak
According to Paul Kuharsky, legendary offensive line coach Mike Munchak was open to interviewing for the Titans offensive line coaching position. This was before Vrabel was fired and Callahan hired.
Rick Dennison
Rick Dennison, age 65, last coached in 2021 as a senior offensive advisor with the Vikings. He was forced into the role during the Covid 19 pandemic because he refused to take the vaccine, and as an advisor, he could avoid contact with the players.
Dennison was an offensive line coach and coordinator on the Broncos staff from 1995 to 2005. He was the offensive coordinator for the Texans from 2010-2013 and quarterbacks coach for the Ravens in 2014 before Gary Kubiak hired him to be his offensive coordinator with the Broncos from 2015-16, where they won the Super Bowl. Since then, he has been the offensive coordinator for the Buffalo Bills in 2017, offensive line coach and run game coordinator for the Jets in 2018, and then filled the same role for the Vikings from 2019-2020.
Dennison served as Stefanski’s offensive line coach for Minnesota in 2019 and has deep ties to his mentor, Gary Kubiak. However, he has not coached for the last two NFL seasons.
Bobby Johnson
Bobby Johnson was fired as the New York Giants offensive line coach in mid-January. Johnson was the offensive line coach for the Bills from 2019-2021 and followed Brian Daboll to New York when he was hired as the Giants new head coach.
This links Johnson to new offensive coordinator Dorsey, as they would have worked together in Buffalo when Dorsey was quarterbacks coach.
Pat Meyer
Pat Meyer is technically the offensive line coach for the Steelers and has been since 2022. The Steelers have hired new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, which many thought would bring a change at offensive line coach, but recent reports have him potentially being retained.
Brendan Nugent
Brendan Nugent was the Chargers offensive line coach for the last two seasons and spent seven seasons with the Saints before that. In five years working with the New Orleans line, they allowed the fewest sacks in the NFL and sent ten players to the Pro Bowl. He has had success developing young players on the line and will be available with the hiring of Jim Harbaugh in Los Angeles. Harbaugh is expected to bring in an assistant offensive line coach from the Ravens, Mike Devlin, to fill the position for him.
Travelle Wharton
Travelle Wharton is a former player and was the offensive line coach for Washington this season. Dan Quinn still needs to hire his offensive coordinator, but Wharton could be available. He has limited experience, so even an assistant offensive line position could be in play.
Adrian Klemm
Adrian Klemm, former NFL offensive tackle, served as the offensive line coach for the Steelers in 2021 and was the offensive line coach for the Patriots this season. However, with Alex Van Pelt being hired as the new offensive coordinator in New England, they have reportedly been looking to fill the role with a new hire, likely making him available.
ELIOT WOLFE HIRES AVP IN NEW ENGLAND
Van Pelt will get his shot to run an offense with the Patriots this season as he was hired as their offensive coordinator.
Interestingly enough, it was Eliot Wolf who made the hire, and it looks like Wolfe is in a position to do a good deal of the decision-making for the Patriots. No one is listed as the general manager for the time being, but it would seem he has much of the influence.
Wolfe was the assistant general manager for the Browns from 2018-2019 under John Dorsey.
Van Pelt is rumored to be targeting Alex Dickerson for his offensive line coach, which is intriguing because the Browns had Dickerson in for an interview early in the offseason. Although the interview was under the guise of the offensive coordinator position, many believe it was the Browns first step in a potential contingency plan for Callahan leaving.
At this moment, Dickerson is still a candidate to replace Callahan in Cleveland.
Note: Albert Breer on AVP’s Exit in Cleveland
Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated’s Monday Morning Quarterback had much to say about Van Pelt’s exit from the Browns staff. When being asked about Van Pelt as the hire for the Patriots position, Breer had this to say about the Browns decision to part ways with Van Pelt,
“The reason he was let go in Cleveland was because ownership and (chief strategy officer) Paul DePodesta were frustrated with the progress (quarterback) Deshaun Watson had made,” Breer said. “I don’t think that the people who made that decision really, truly knew his value to that staff. Other people on that staff, not so much (head coach) Kevin (Stefanski) but people below him, were floored when they fired him for two reasons. Number one, how do you follow the offensive coordinator after you just won 11 games with four different quarterbacks, with your fourth and fifth tackles, without (running back) Nick Chubb?”
“The other one I think is the real key, though. He was the glue of that staff. Kevin, if you know him, he’s a great guy, he’s not the most outgoing guy. His personality is very dry, he’s got a good sense of humor but he’s not this outwardly gregarious guy. Alex was the one that held that staff together. When guys were coming out, when guys were going in, he is a guy who was a unifying force in that building.”
How accurate Breer’s account is remains unclear. For one, Watson was injured most of the season, so frustration over his play doesn’t seem like a reason to meddle with the offensive staff. However, if it is true that the decision came from ownership and DePodesta, then there is some cause for concern.
