Despite being decimated by injuries in 2023, the Cleveland Browns still made the playoffs and finished the regular season strong. After suffering a blowout loss from the Houston Texans in the Wildcard round, officially ending their Super Bowl aspirations and curing Flacco Fever, the Browns made some coaching changes on the offensive side of the ball.
The most notable firing was offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt. AVP was originally brought in by Kevin Stefanski in 2020 and they made the playoffs twice together. Regardless of their relationship, Stefanski felt that a change was needed for the offense to take the next step with a crucial year of Deshaun Watson approaching.
The change is all about Watson. The pressure is on to get him looking like a top-five quarterback in the NFL again. There were plenty of promising moments last year, but a fresh offensive coordinator with different ideas could be the key. And it may even lead to Stefanski giving up play-calling.
One name that has been linked to the Browns is Zac Robinson from the LA Rams, who is currently their pass game coordinator and quarterbacks coach. He’s an exciting candidate for several reasons, the main one being how explosive and creative the Rams offensive scheme is. You pair his mind with Stefanski’s, that could be a match made in Heaven.
The Rams are also near the very top in pre-snap motion, while the Browns are near the bottom. Changing that can open up the offense even more and help Watson know what kind of defense the opposing team is in.
At 37 years old, Robinson has been in the NFL since 2010, first as a player (drafted in the 7th round by the New England Patriots), and then as a coach when he was hired by Sean McVay in 2019 as their assistant quarterbacks coach. In 2020, he switched to the assistant wide receivers coach role, then back to the assistant quarterbacks coach in 2021. His workload under McVay has increased year by year.
Matthew Stafford enjoyed some fantastic seasons with Robinson in the quarterback room, including a career-high completion percentage of 68 in 2022 before getting injured. In 2023, Stafford finished the season with 3,965 yards passing and 24 touchdowns to 11 interceptions. With the help from Robinson and an exciting offense, the Rams surprised everyone with a playoff berth.
Robinson is an exciting potential hire for the Browns because of how involved he’s been in a Super Bowl-winning Rams offense for nearly five years. While what the Browns have been doing on offense since 2020 isn’t bad, they could use some new ideas and schemes. Robinson has learned a lot under McVay and he could be ready for the responsibility of being an offensive coordinator in the NFL. If you’re a Browns fan, be very excited about the idea of bringing him in.
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