Tommy Rees explains what changes he's making as Cleveland Browns’ new play caller

Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski turned the play calling sheet to Tommy Rees, who will handle things a little bit differently.

Cleveland Browns pass game specialist and tight ends coach Tommy Rees addresses media June 13 during mandatory minicamp at team headquarters in Berea, Ohio. | Nate Ulrich / USA TODAY NETWORK

As the Browns prepare to face the New York Jets on Sunday, a new play caller will emerge for Cleveland – but he will not be on the sideline.

Head coach Kevin Stefanski handed play calling duties to offensive coordinator Tommy Rees after the team’s bye week. At 2-6, the Browns had to change something to try and squeeze and juice out of this offense.

Rees told reporters on Thursday that he’ll stay upstairs in the coaches booth to call plays. The former Notre Dame quarterback said he prefers to remain where he’s comfortable instead of coming down to the sideline to call plays.

“It’s a great vantage point to call a game and it’s in my comfort zone,” Rees said.

Last season, Stefanski’s offensive struggles led to handing the play calling duties over to offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey. The Browns deployed a hybrid version of Stefanski and Dorsey’s offenses and it never really worked regardless of who was playing quarterback.

Dorsey started the season on the sideline, but moved up into the booth upon taking over play calling responsibilities last season.

After last year’s three-win debacle, the Browns fired Dorsey and promoted Rees to offensive coordinator. The Browns promised to get back to the 2023 offensive ideology that helped resurrect Joe Flacco’s career and led Cleveland to the NFL Playoffs for the second time in the Stefanski era.

But through eight games, the offense has not looked anything close to the high-flying act that Flacco orchestrated in 2023. In fact, it led to Flacco being benched and traded, paving the way for rookie quarterbacks Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders to get regular season action.

Gabriel has struggled since taking over the reins as Cleveland’s starting quarterback. But with nine games remaining, the Browns seemingly do not feel comfortable inserting Sanders. It feels like that’s what led to the change being Rees taking over Stefanski’s offense.

Rees also admitted that he came to Cleveland to work for Stefanski in 2024 when he was hired as the team’s passing game coordinator and tight end coach. While he has experience calling plays for Nick Saban’s Alabama Crimson Tide as well as the Fighting Irish, he has never called plays in the NFL.

On Wednesday, Browns receiver Jerry Jeudy hinted that he could command a bigger role in Cleveland’s offense with Rees calling plays.

“We’ll see on Sunday,” Jeudy replied to a question about seeing more targets moving forward.

Rees also understands that Cleveland’s offense has been a collective failure and that their top wide receiver needs to be featured more frequently.

“Gotta be multiple in what you do so defenses can’t just take away one thing,” Rees said.