Ken Dorsey’s Presence Will Shake Up Kevin Stefanski’s Offense
Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
Perhaps one of the biggest surprises of the Cleveland Browns’ 2024 offseason was the complete dismantling of their offensive staff. Within 10 days of the loss in the Wild Card round to the Houston Texans, the decision was made to let go of offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt and many positional coaches.
On top of that, their prized offensive line coach Bill Callahan jumped ship to join his son, who took the head coach gig for the Tennessee Titans. After an extensive search, Kevin Stefanski landed on Ken Dorsey, who was a Browns quarterback in 2006 and 2008 and went 0-3 as a starter.
After being the scapegoat for all the Buffalo Bills problems early in the 2023 season, Dorsey wasn’t as highly sought after as some expected in the offseason. Still, he certainly got plenty of interviews.
The biggest thing the Dorsey hiring tells us is that 2024 is a make-or-break season for Deshaun Watson in Cleveland. If Andrew Berry survives a lackluster year, you may see the Haslems give the green light to move on from Watson, even though it will cost them a fortune.
But even though the relationship ended poorly in Buffalo, Dorsey was the brains of the offense, as Sean McDermott was a defensive-minded head coach. Early in the Josh Allen era, Dorsey got a lot of credit for the development of the gunslinger quarterback, and the expectation will be for Watson to run a similar system.
Stefanski has historically loved an offense that balances running the football and opening up the passing game. But with Dorsey heading up the offense, it appears the Browns will be much more focused on pushing the ball down the field. This was likely why Berry was so aggressive on the trade market, bringing in Jerry Jeudy and giving him that extension.
Dorsey’s main job right now needs to be forming and gaining trust with this offense. On paper, this roster is loaded with talent, and there is no reason he shouldn’t be successful in implementing his offense. It’s always a challenge to change a coordinator and implement a new system, but this offense is loaded with veterans who should be able to adapt to the change, so long as Dorsey can make in-roads and on-board them.
For this to happen, the Browns must figure out the Amari Cooper situation sooner rather than later. Dorsey will need as much time as possible with his new crew. Whether or not Cooper reports to camp, it’s clear that he isn’t happy.
Obviously, Dorsey isn’t in charge of contract negotiations, but having full participation for all of the camp will be extremely important for everyone to get comfortable with each other.
The main question up in the air is whether Dorsey will take over the play-calling from Stefanski. One of the biggest talking points over the past few years was if Stefnaski would ever give up that responsibility, and it feels like now could very well be the time for that to happen.
For one, it’s hard to imagine a guy with Dorsey’s background and success would be willing to take a job without the promise that he would be calling plays. Also, if Cleveland truly wants Dorsey’s offense to work and take hold, he needs to be the one pulling the strings.
Delegating play-calling duties to Dorsey means Stefanski can focus on strategy and time management. His personality is infectious and his being able to spend more time around players versus the minutiae of game-planning can only be a positive.
To this point, the play-calling question has been asked by reporters repeatedly, but we have yet to get a true answer. Reading the tea leaves, Stefanski may retain play-calling duties over the preseason as they work in Dorsey toward getting his shot. By the start of the season, expect to see an announcement that Dorsey is taking over.
This doesn’t mean that Stefanski won’t be heavily involved in the 2024 offense, and won’t even have the ability to call plays here and there. Offensive-minded head coaches hate not calling their own plays, but giving up some power shows more strength to the team than micro-managing.
Dorsey has a lot of challenges ahead of him this offseason. He has injuries to Jack Conklin, Dawand Jones, and Nick Chubb to worry about, as well as the ever-present contract concerns with Cooper. Sprinkle in the pressure mounting for Watson, and you can tell that Berry is getting closer and closer to panic mode certainly. For all the talent in Cleveland, this is a tough job.
The good news, Dorsey has proven that he can run an efficient offense that closely mirrors what the Browns want to do moving forward. Getting started and digging in right away will be the biggest key to success.
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