The Cleveland Browns are shaking up their offense in 2024. CBS Sports NFL HQ Insider Josina Anderson reports that the Browns have fired offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt and running backs coach Stump Mitchell and will not renew the contract of tight ends coach T.C. McCartney.
Anderson also reports that some Browns players were unhappy with these decisions.“On to the next one. I’m proud of my time there,” Van Pelt said on ESPN Tuesday morning.
Browns coach Kevin Stefanski told his assistants he wanted to change course, Anderson said.
On Tuesday, Van Pelt informed some team members that he would be fired. Cleveland finished with the No. 1 offense.
16 in the regular season (335.9 total yards per game) and was tied for the No.
1 offense. 10 with 23.3 points scored per game.Van Pelt spent four seasons as Cleveland’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, making the playoffs in two of those seasons.
Mitchell had been with the Browns since 2019, while McCartney was in his second year with the franchise. Both have coached Pro Bowlers Nick Chubb and David Njoku the past two seasons.
Notably, the Browns’ offense was hit with a ton of injuries, but still found a way to go 11-6 and make the playoffs.
In last week’s 45-14 loss to the Houston Texans, Cleveland became the first team since the 1970 merger to play a postseason game without its starting quarterback, running back, left tackle and right tackle in Week 1 But a whopping 27% of the Browns’ salary cap players ended the year on injured reserve, which ranked first among playoff teams.
Cleveland’s fourth starting quarterback of the year, Joe Flacco, went 4-1 and led the NFL in passing yards (1,616) from Weeks 13 through 17.
However, his magic ran out on Super Wild Card Weekend, when Flacco threw for 307 yards, a touchdown and two pick sixes against the Texans, while the Browns scored zero points in the second half of a 31-point losing season.
It’s worth noting that the Browns’ biggest offensive investment in quarterback Deshaun Watson has not yet been completed.
The $230 million man played just six games with Cleveland for the second straight season due to a shoulder injury, and while his starting record improved from 3-3 to 5-1 in 2023, Watson has threw only seven touchdowns and four interceptions.
and he has yet to rush for 300 yards in a game in which he is in a Browns uniform.
