Kevin Stefanski Will Call Plays For Browns Offense, Which Sort of Matters

Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski announced on his zoom call on Friday that he would be calling the plays this season.

There had been a discussion about potentially having Alex Van Pelt call them and they hadn't committed to anything to this point. Part of the reason Van Pelt isn't calling the plays is there was set to be an audition process in the preseason, but there was no preseason. As a result, Stefanski ultimately decided to go ahead and call them himself.

It matters in that there's always some element of individuality when it comes to play calling. Beyond that, Stefanski has done it, calling the plays last year as offensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings.

It's not that big of a deal, because the Browns have been pretty open about their intent to have a collaborative process. Not only will Van Pelt be part of crafting the game plan, but he will be on a headset advising Stefanski on play calling and working on what to do on future drives while Stefanski is operating as a head coach when the defense or special teams units are on the field.

They will also have a coach, likely Ryan Cordell, who will be providing Stefanski data that is relevant depending on the situation. That's already three people that be at least be involved in the play calling process, so while Stefanski will be the person making those final decisions, it's still going to be heavily influenced by a collaborative process.

This stands in stark contrast to the dysfunction the Browns had in 2019 under Freddie Kitchens. Despite Todd Monken working hard to create game plans and scripts, which were incredibly successful much of the season, Kitchens would go off script and call plays, sometimes even calling plays the team hadn't practiced.

The results were a discombobulated offense that never had an identity or a lane they could go back to when they struggled. Yes, giving the ball to Nick Chubb was successful, but even how they did that was more confusing and disjointed than it needed to be a times.

Players have heard the voice of both Stefanski and Van Pelt calling plays, so it's not a landmark decision from their standpoint. It's entirely about being put in the best position to succeed and executing.