Reich to 'Pass Off' Play-Calling Duties to Thomas Brown 'At Some Point'

Frank Reich is widely viewed as one of the top offensive minds in the National Football League. He helped Carson Wentz develop into an MVP candidate in just his second year in the league. Yes, the same Carson Wentz that struggled in Philly after Reich left for the head coaching job in Indy and this past season in Washington after reuniting with Reich for one year with the Colts, where he didn't look all that bad.

He and the Colts had a revolving door at quarterback and as a result of it, Reich lost his job. Now, not all of that responsibility should be placed on Reich. A lot of it is on GM Chris Ballard.

Despite the turnstile at QB, nobody doubts Reich's ability to run an offense and develop a young signal-caller. He'll prove that in 2023 during his first year on the job with the Carolina Panthers, who are likely to select a QB in this year's draft. He'll call the shots and have his fingerprints all over what the offense does. That is at the start of the season at least. Eventually, Reich plans to give up the play-calling responsibility and give it to offensive coordinator Thomas Brown.

"I went into the process of thinking about calling plays, not calling plays. There is going to be some point that I'm going to pass it off," said Reich. "I know that's going to be hard. I've been laughing with Thomas [Brown] about that already. I said, 'I'm going to pass it off at some point. I don't know when,' but I do think there will be a time and a place. And I think it'll become apparent when that is. But I think the right thing for me to do for our team and for our offense right now is for me to continue to use my experience there. But I'll lean heavy on Thomas. I can already tell. I've already leaned on him hard on a couple of things and I felt wisdom, conviction, strength. So, that relationship is going to be really good."

There is no timetable for when this could happen. It may be a few weeks into the year, midway through, or a year from now. It may begin with Brown calling certain situations such as red zone, third down, or two-minute. Or perhaps he'll allow him to call a full preseason game to see how it goes.

What will the offensive identity be under Brown?

"It's about creating chaos for the defense by utilizing shifts and motions, using tempo as well. Everything again, starting up front by imposing your will. Everybody talks about being balanced offensively and to me, I don't think balance always means 50/50 from a run/pass standpoint. It means win the football game. Like stats are awesome but the number one goal is to win football games. So if we got to run it 40 times to win or throw it 40 times to win, it's all based on our collaborative effort when it comes to the offense, defense, and special teams playing team ball."

You can follow us for future coverage by liking us on Facebook & following us on Twitter:

Facebook - @PanthersOnSI

Twitter - @AllPanthers_ and Schuyler Callihan at @Callihan_.