unless things have changed since I last read the CBA, and that is entirely probable, all coaching positions except Head Coach are the same level. So, even as OLine coach, he still cannot interview for anything lower than Head Coach without our permission. We do NOT have to grant those interviews. The Assitant Head Coach title puts him at HC level and then our permission is needed even if he were offered a HC interview.
The above is 100% correct. We go over this every year because we are always hiring new coaches. Somehow that isn’t what we are talking about and we are worried about our own coaches getting poached.
but, it's all moot.... Pay the Man, and if he doesn't want to be here, he isn't going to be here; and shouldn't be. Pay him well and if he is happy, he will stay forever.... until we have a regime change, which is hopefully not until long after he has retired.
For me, this is key. But here's the cool thing that most Dawgs are probably still grappling with:
all of a sudden, CLE is a place where people are happy to be.
playoff team good professional atmosphere with no soap opera drama motivated players
Shoot- you're gonna give me a pay raise to stick around and see what we can make of this team for another 2-3 years? Sign me up.
I think the Factory of Sadness has been outsourced to another city.
unless things have changed since I last read the CBA, and that is entirely probable, all coaching positions except Head Coach are the same level. So, even as OLine coach, he still cannot interview for anything lower than Head Coach without our permission. We do NOT have to grant those interviews. The Assitant Head Coach title puts him at HC level and then our permission is needed even if he were offered a HC interview.
The above is 100% correct. We go over this every year because we are always hiring new coaches. Somehow that isn’t what we are talking about and we are worried about our own coaches getting poached.
I don't think we have to worry. I get the impression Callahan is right where he wants to be. He's 64. He was a head coach for the Raiders in 2002 and 2003 but ended up being fired. He went on to HC Nebraska for 4 years. Again he was fired. He went back to the NFL where he has been a positions coach ever since, except 4 games as interim HC for Washington a the end of last year.
I believe he has found his level, and he's happy there. He knows the pressures of the HC and that makes him a great resource for KS, but he likes being a coach. And he's a darned good one.
1. #GMstrong 2. "I'm just trying to be the best Nick I can be." ~ Nick Chubb 3. Forgive me Elf, I didn’t have faith. ~ Tulsa 4. ClemenZa #1
Covid = having your girlfriend call out coverages in an apartment parking lot to get ready for the big game.
When asked about getting thrown into the mix after being on the practice squad all year...
“Joel is one of the best — if not the best — guards in the NFL, and he’s a great person, too, so my honest thoughts when I found out (that Bitonio had tested positive) were all about hoping that Joel was OK and that everyone in his family was healthy,” Dunn said. “It was later that day that (assistant offensive-line coach Scott) Peters called and we went over some things with the game plan and techniques, and then I sort of started thinking about starting.
“I felt prepared. I felt confident because our coaches and my teammates were 100 percent supportive. It was very calming knowing that I’d be playing next to a guy like (center) J.C. Tretter, who basically knows everything about every play and what every single guy is supposed to be doing. I talked to Joel every day about what I was supposed to be seeing. I started to get nervous when the plane landed in Pittsburgh Saturday night, and then it really hit me before we took the field, but I really felt as prepared as I could be.”
How can you not love and have confidence in this team? This question will be answered in the gameday thread when we hear about how much so and so sucks and someone whining "that's game" after every negative play.
And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul. - John Muir
Last year, the majority of people thought the top three things wrong with the Browns were Baker, Freddie, and the offensive line. Many thought Baker was the clear issue above the other two.
Change 60% of the starting line and replace the coach. Seems like Baker was not the main problem.
Last year, the majority of people thought the top three things wrong with the Browns were Baker, Freddie, and the offensive line. Many thought Baker was the clear issue above the other two.
Change 60% of the starting line and replace the coach. Seems like Baker was not the main problem.
I dunno, I think we changed quite a bit at the QB position... just without changing the person.
There is no level of sucking we haven't seen; in fact, I'm pretty sure we hold the patents on a few levels of sucking NOBODY had seen until the past few years.
Last year, the majority of people thought the top three things wrong with the Browns were Baker, Freddie, and the offensive line. Many thought Baker was the clear issue above the other two.
Change 60% of the starting line and replace the coach. Seems like Baker was not the main problem.
er...not to nit-pic, but they changed 40% of the starting line. Teller replaced Kush mid-season 2019, and has been the starting RG ever since. It's just the improvement in his performance that makes him seem like a whole different player.
1. #GMstrong 2. "I'm just trying to be the best Nick I can be." ~ Nick Chubb 3. Forgive me Elf, I didn’t have faith. ~ Tulsa 4. ClemenZa #1
Now that I see the kind of depth this roster has for OL I would not use 1 draft pick there. That's an additional LB or DB I hope we draft instead.
Non-starters who have contributed: Hubbard Harris Dunn Hance Lamm Then we have Forbes and a developmental T, Alex Taylor.
I think I could agree with that but there are two factors that could change that.
1. I am not sure of the contract status of the current starters. I think Conklin is signed through next year. If we can't extend him at this point, I might lean towards looking at adding a RT in the mid rounds. We have multiple picks...I think in both the 3rd and 4th rounds we have 2 picks in each. Maybe it's 4th and 5th.
2. I also think we can't just make the blanket statement about not selecting a OL in the draft because we don't know who might be there. I wouldn't want to pass on a O-lineman who is clearly a superior talent just to add a lesser player at a position of need.
As we have seen, the injury bug is real. It never hurts to have good players on your team.
If everybody had like minds, we would never learn.
unless things have changed since I last read the CBA, and that is entirely probable, all coaching positions except Head Coach are the same level. So, even as OLine coach, he still cannot interview for anything lower than Head Coach without our permission. We do NOT have to grant those interviews. The Assitant Head Coach title puts him at HC level and then our permission is needed even if he were offered a HC interview.
The above is 100% correct. We go over this every year because we are always hiring new coaches. Somehow that isn’t what we are talking about and we are worried about our own coaches getting poached.
yep....I don't understand why people don't understand that by now. You don't need to give them titles to keep them on the team if the team chooses.
The only way a team can't deny a assistant coach from interviewing is if the interview is for head coach.
If everybody had like minds, we would never learn.
I think this FO has shown that if the value is there, then they'll make the pick. That is what got us Harrison Bryant.
There is no level of sucking we haven't seen; in fact, I'm pretty sure we hold the patents on a few levels of sucking NOBODY had seen until the past few years.
Now that I see the kind of depth this roster has for OL I would not use 1 draft pick there. That's an additional LB or DB I hope we draft instead.
Non-starters who have contributed: Hubbard Harris Dunn Hance Lamm Then we have Forbes and a developmental T, Alex Taylor.
peen...something I've been impressed with is the OLine coaching staff's ability to take guys like listed in guard's post (quoted above) and coach them up to step in and contribute.
I'm not so sure the Browns will need to spend draft picks on the OLine.
Concerning the "injury bug"...the lack of practice time is a contributing factor. To stress muscles, tendons and ligaments into playing condition the OLinemen have practice at "full go".
The covid makes it necessary to limit the amount of physical contact our players are subjected to.
Worth a re-post since we're almost a year in. To the outside world, this is probably the best kept secret to our success this year. In our world, well, we know...
Bill Callahan named Browns offensive line coach Jan 31, 2020 at 12:20 PM Andrew Gribble Senior Staff Writer
There's a purpose behind the location of Bill Callahan's office in Berea. The Browns' new offensive line coach shares a wall with Kevin Stefanski, who is embarking on his first season as a head coach.
Callahan, entering his 45th year of coaching (22nd in the NFL), has been in Stefanski's position before, both at the college and professional level. Just last year, he served as the interim head coach of the Washington Redskins, filling that role for the final 11 games of the 2019 season. That kind of experience was deemed invaluable to Stefanski as he continues to shape his coaching staff.
"I can't do this thing alone," Stefanski said. "I know that, so I need really good people around me. To have somebody in the office next to me who's been a head coach in college, a head coach in the pros, has seen a lot of the obstacles that come up in the course of a day for a head coach is huge. I can pop in next door and ask him his opinion on a bunch of things and that can inform my decisions moving forward on things big and small."
Callahan said he relishes the opportunity to serve as a "sounding board" for Stefanski, a coach he's admired from afar who shares a number of mutual friends and acquaintances with Callahan, including former Vikings head coach Brad Childress.
Childress and Callahan simultaneously got their coaching careers off the ground at the University of Illinois in the early 1980s. Decades later, Childress gave Stefanski his first full-time opportunity in the NFL, making him the assistant to the head coach.
"It's so interesting how this developed," said Callahan, who was the head coach with the Oakland Raiders from 2002-03 and the University of Nebraska from 2004-07. "I can see how Brad hired Kevin and wanted him to be a part of the organization when he was with the Vikings. I understand how his role played out and what he did with that opportunity. He's only grown and excelled in that. I'm just very fortunate to be a part of it and those acquaintances and relationships that coaches need at times when you're trying to help somebody."
A smile crosses Callahan's face when he's asked about his biggest responsibility with the Browns.
The former quarterback at Illinois Benedictine College has coached a variety of position groups and players throughout his career, but none has been more impactful toward his rise up the ranks than the work he's done with offensive linemen. Dating back to 1995, when he took the reins as the Philadelphia Eagles' offensive line coach, Callahan has been an offensive line coach for a combined 15 years with four different NFL teams (Eagles, Jets, Cowboys, Redskins). In that time, he's helped 12 players combine for 29 Pro Bowl selections.
"I love everything about it," Callahan said. "I love the players, and they're unique because they're so selfless. They're like a team within a team. Everything that goes on is an extension of everybody, so nothing good can happen unless they perform well. There's a burden. There's a challenge. There's a responsibility to do great things. There's the fun of bringing and developing a lineman from the time that he's a young player through his infancy in the NFL to helping them achieve a Pro Bowl status … It's great to see that type of development in a player. That's what I enjoy coaching the most. To see that improvement. To see guys have success."
From a schematic standpoint, Callahan has seen it all in his 45 years of coaching, so adapting to what the Browns plan to install won't be anything he hasn't seen before. The one constant has been his ability to "match the scheme to his personnel," Stefanski said.
"I've always thought the world of him as a coach. His reputation precedes him," Stefanski said. "He coaches his guys hard, he's fair, he's a disciplinarian, he's a teacher. I think he's able to do all those things and he's a man of high, high integrity."
If the recommendations he received from those close to Stefanski were what lured Callahan to Cleveland, it was the proud history of the Browns franchise that sealed the deal.
"The Cleveland Browns organization historically is one of the richest in football. The tradition and what it stands for, it means a lot to me," Callahan said. "Growing up as a coach, I was a West Coast Offense advocate and read all the information and stories about Paul Brown and Bill Walsh and how it arrived with Cleveland. That was always appealing to me and interesting as well and helped me as a coach.
"I was in Philadelphia when I first came into the league. There was a general manager there by the name of John Wooten. He'd shared a lot of his thoughts and feelings about the organization and his playing days here in Cleveland. It resonated with me on a lot of different levels."
Bill Callahan's Coaching Background: 1978: Oak Lawn High School, assistant coach 1979: De La Salle High School, assistant coach 1980-81: University of Illinois, associate coach 1982-83: University of Illinois, special teams/tight ends coach 1984-85: University of Illinois, offensive line coach 1986: University of Illinois, quarterbacks coach 1987-88: Northern Arizona University, offensive line coach 1989: Southern Illinois University, offensive coordinator 1990-94: University of Wisconsin, offensive line coach 1995-97: Philadelphia Eagles, offensive line coach 1998: Oakland Raiders, offensive coordinator/tight ends coach 1999-2001: Oakland Raiders, offensive coordinator/offensive line coach 2002-03: Oakland Raiders, head coach 2004-07: University of Nebraska, head coach 2008-11: New York Jets, assistant head coach/offensive line coach 2012-14: Dallas Cowboys, offensive coordinator/offensive line coach 2015-16: Washington Redskins, offensive line coach 2017-19: Washington Redskins, assistant head coach/offensive line coach 2019: Washington Redskins, interim head coach (final 11 games) 2020-: Cleveland Browns, offensive line coach
I agree with you Peen. I wouldn't take drafting OL off the table completely but the talent difference would have to be very significant for me to draft OL ahead of a few other positions in the first few rounds. Maybe my faith is too strong, but I'll take an OT in round 4 and trust that Callahan can turn them into a solid contributor in a year or two.
I look at what we've been getting from Teller, Lamm, Dunn, and some guy named Blake and I'd just leave it at "In Callahan I Trust".
If Callahan wants a guy or feels strongly about a guy that is there, then get him... otherwise, go elsewhere with the pick.
Under the "old" Browns that would make too much sense for "them" to consider.
Under the "new" Browns, I bet that's exactly what they will do (within reason).
Someone already mentioned that Forbes should be back...Colby Gossett as well. Not a big name, but he's hung around even before opting out. Feels good to know that we have a guy like Callahan working with the others.
Yeah first game against NYG he came in he played really well. IIRC, Jarvis and lot of players mentioned that in their pressers. I think he struggled against NYJ a little but I feel his natural position is C. It says a lot that he came in at RG and made a good fist of it IMHO.
Agreed ... he was really bad against NYJ, who have a good front and knew we couldn’t pass.
He’s probably Tretter’s replacement if anything
"First down inside the 10. A score here will put us in the Super Bowl. Cooper is far to the left as Njoku settles into the slot. Moore is flanked out wide to the right. Chubb and Ford are split in the backfield as Watson takes the snap ... Here we go."
IS it me, or does every time Lamm play he leaves injured? In 2019, He came in to play LT in one game, and I believe he got hurt on the first play or series...and missed a bunch of time...Then in 2020, he was called up several times to play, and got hurt multiple times...I mean he does serve us well, as he can play multiple spots at a solid rate...But man, he has horrible luck with getting injured.
It's an embarrassment of riches. Hubbard, Lamm, Harris, Forbes are all backups that have stepped and played really well.
There is no level of sucking we haven't seen; in fact, I'm pretty sure we hold the patents on a few levels of sucking NOBODY had seen until the past few years.
Imagine Wills with a full offseason work out. He is already strong, I'd like to see him hook up with Teller and do his routine. Don't know what it was, but he definitely came back bigger and stronger.
With Hubbard coming back, and Dunn and Hance, not to mention Forbes and Harris, we will have some solid depth.
The more this unit works together, the better they will be. Add in the depth, and we should be set for quite a few years. But I would still draft OLine every year, keep the cupboard full.
Yeah that was lost by some .. Wills never had a true offseason AND switched positions.
Give him 6 months to train, talk with Callahan, practice his craft, watch film, etc
"First down inside the 10. A score here will put us in the Super Bowl. Cooper is far to the left as Njoku settles into the slot. Moore is flanked out wide to the right. Chubb and Ford are split in the backfield as Watson takes the snap ... Here we go."
It's an embarrassment of riches. Hubbard, Lamm, Harris, Forbes are all backups that have stepped and played really well.
It's amazing what having the best OL coach in football will do and when he's on the same page as the OC and the play caller to put the skill position players in a position to succeed, which makes the OL look that much better.. then to top it off you put Chubb and Hunt behind them..
That's what it takes to win in this league, good people at every level on the field and off.. and we finally are seeing it.
I was leaning toward trading Hubbard to a strapped team. Get an extra draft pick and clear up the extra cap space to help with 2022 carry-over and extending Teller.
Then again, it may just be because a guy named Blake can apparently man the Tackle position in a pinch.
People ask me what I do in spring when there's no football. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for fall
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