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Cleveland Browns Hire Special Teams Coordinator After Bubba Ventrone’s Departure
https://www.si.com/nfl/browns/onsi/...-bubba-ventrone-s-departure-01kh519ygphk

Cleveland Browns Hire Special Teams Coordinator After Bubba Ventrone’s Departure
Here's everything you need to know about the first-time special teams coordinator just hired by new Cleveland Browns head coach Todd Monken.

The Cleveland Browns are aiming to have their full coaching staff assembled by next week, and they made major progress towards that on Tuesday evening.

According to several reports, the Browns have hired their new special teams coordinator. The Browns didn’t retain Bubba Ventrone, who was quickly hired as the new special teams coordinator of the Los Angeles Rams.

The Browns are hiring Green Bay Packers assistant special teams coordinator Byron Storer.

Who is Byron Storer?
Storer played fullback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 2007-2009. Immediately following his playing career, he transitioned to a special teams assistant with the Buccaneers from 2010-2011.

After a few seasons with the San Diego Chargers, Storer took a five-year hiatus from coaching football until he landed with the Las Vegas Raiders in 2018. The 41-year-old has been a key assistant for Rich Bisaccia with the Raiders and Packers and now gets to run his own unit for new head coach Todd Monken.

Special teams has always been a part of Storer’s story, as he was a second-team All-Pac-10 special teamer from 2004-2006 at the University of California Berkeley.

ource: The #Browns are hiring #Packers Assistant Special Teams Coordinator Byron Storer as their new Special Teams Coordinator.

A big hire for HC Todd Monken, Storer has been a key assistant for Rich Bisaccia with the Raiders and Packers and now gets to run his own unit in… pic.twitter.com/7hmyhNb1xs

— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) February 10, 2026
The Browns will need to be much better on special teams than they have been over the last few seasons. Under Ventrone’s watch last year, the Browns had the No. 29 ranked special teams unit.

As the Browns watched their season spiral, Ventrone called out the lack of talent on his special teams unit as the reason for so many repeated errors.

"We haven't played near our capabilities," Ventrone said in December. "We've had too many, too many issues with just, just dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb football, dumb mistakes.”

When a roster is young and inexperienced, special teams tend to struggle as teams might not have many talented depth players to play on that unit. That was the case for the Browns at the end of last season, as undrafted free agent receiver Gage Larvadain struggled with return responsibilities. Unfortunately, the Browns had to keep playing him as they didn’t have many other options.

When the team introduced Monken, Browns general manager Andrew Berry stated that they would work to become one of the youngest rosters in the NFL next season. This would signal that special teams might not be a major priority.

But with Storer’s experience working under an established special teams coordinator like Bisaccia, the Browns will hope that their unit will vastly improve.

Who knows? Good luck.

One thing I'd like to see is the addition of an assistant ST coach. I don't think the Browns have had any for a while. The job is big enough that the coordinator needs at least one asst.

It seems rather odd that a guy that young would take "a five-year hiatus from coaching football". That or maybe that's just the best spin they could put on it?

Can't be any worse than Bubba Ventrone.

As Byron Storer says hold my beer.

Bubba Ventrone special team's unit lost 2 games for the Browns in 2025 single handedly. The Bengals games missed an extra point and missed a chip shot field goal and lost by 1. The Jets game gave up a kick return and punt return for touchdowns and lost by 7 in a game the Browns out gained the Jets by 150+ yards.

Of course as per usual that is the coaches fault and not the GM who built the roster. Did he coach them how not to catch a punt or kickoff? Did he teach them not to secure the ball? Some of the lengths people will go to in order to lay the fault at one mans feet amazes me.

Ven trone was a massive disappointment as SCC. He even had guys from defense volunteering for SC duty, and still couldn't field as capable unit.

No one said anything about the GM. Yes, he failed and should have been fired also. I am not sure why he is brought up talking about the special teams though. Special teams was a disaster in 2025 and Bubba Ventrone's coaching or lack there of was responsible for the special teams.

Like baseball, you can’t sack an entire squad so the coach gets it. I’d imagine new coach would have had a guy in mind anyway. I’m more concerned about a DC hire who I thought the new coach might have had a VERY short list to begin with…

It seems I need to break this down for you in the most basic of ways. We all learned the story of the Three Little Pigs.

Remember the house made of bricks and how the Big Bad Wolf couldn't blow it down? The only unit on this team that has the talent level that would compare to brick is the defense.

The ST's is made out of straw. You know how easily the wolf blew that house down.

In the simplest of terms you are blaming the man that had no choice but to build his house out of the straw he was given rather than the man who would only give him straw to build the house with.

I hope that helps.

Somebody has to wear it.

Overall, I was kinda disappointed in the way ST played under Bubba... So I'm not sad about him being gone.

It doesn't help with my thinking


This whole NFL and being a pro is becoming a joke to me anymore

These players have played football, for most of them as kids. Learning and gaining experience as they grow into middle school, high school college.

Then they are in a Professional football league. How they got there, does that change the fact they are considered professional ?

As these players played and watched the game they should know. Not to down a punt return if your foot is standing on the goal line or catch the ball on the 2 yd line with no chances of running it back.

Let the ball hit the ground and hope it goes into the end zone. Hell Pit you even know that.

Here are words from Bubba himself.


As the Browns watched their season spiral, Ventrone called out the lack of talent on his special teams unit as the reason for so many repeated errors.

"We haven't played near our capabilities," Ventrone said in December. "We've had too many, too many issues with just, just dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb football, dumb mistakes.”


So isn't it your job to coach and teach the players what to do and not to do on ST's ?

Bubba was a Buffoon and couldn't coach his players up. Plain and simple. It's what coaches are meant to do. As so many said, if Bill Callahan was in Cleveland the Browns line would be better.

Is that because Bill had players he didn't have to coach because they were just good.

Or was it because Bill took players and coached them on how to be good ?


Bubba is gone and you seem to have some kind of a coach crush on him. Stefanski is gone as well. Two coaches that not only fans saw that were't helping the team. So were the sport analysts who were saying the same thing.

Idk, but I'm looking forward to seeing what the changes will bring. Might be God, or it might not. Until September, who knows.

Maybe he wanted to spend time with his family or had personal reasons more important than a football game.

I read he got into helping his family’s business, iirc

Well Bubba sure didn't teach them to block or tackle either. I mean he complained about having to many young guys on special tams. Umm Bubba you mean those young guys who are eager to learn, and chomping at the bit for any playing time

JC

In reading all the comments up to this point, my opinion is that it is a combination of all. Take your pick as to which you think was the main culprit, but either way a change was necessary.

My 2 cents worth. Our ST were awful ranked 29th if I recall correctly. Maybe we didn't have the talent I'll give you that, but didn't Bubba have these players since August? He was quoted as saying in December that we make too many dumb mistakes. The players have been making these so called "DUMB" mistakes since the season began. As the ST coach shouldn't you have been able to correct these dumb mistakes? You had 4 months. IMO the lack of talent doesn't equate to stupidity. How many times do you have to tell a player not to field the ball inside your 20 to just let it bounce into the end zone? I don't have the talent to play in the NFL but if a coach told me to do or not to do something like fielding a punt or not that has nothing to do with talent. It seems like Bubba didn't teach and coach our players up. Maybe they just tuned him out who knows. Let's hope our new coach can do better.

You can lead a horse to water......

Ventrone was fired by the Browns on Jan. 29th. He was hired to the same job by the Rams on Feb. 2nd. He was out of a job for exactly four days.

It seems the rams identified what the problem was and it wasn't Ventrone.

You'll have to forgive me if I trust the opinion reached by one of the top rated teams in the NFL over posters on a message board.

You are also trusting the team that fired their last ST Coach mid-season and lost in the playoffs to a ST blunder. The Browns improved letting Bubba hit the road.

You have no way of knowing if that is true. You have no track record of the Browns newest hire ever holding this job before to base that on.

If nobody ever fired anyone on their coaching staff there would never be an opening for anyone to be hired. That makes no sense.

I'm trusting the team that won both the 2020 and 2022 Superbowls. I'm not sure who it you are trusting other than your "thoughts and feelings".

Only one way to go and that is up. The ST was that bad!!!!

I suppose you have no idea what the saying "Hold my beer" means. Still nothing to support your claim that the man they hired to replace Bubba will be any better. He's never held this position before. You just keep on making noise with no substance to back it up.

Somehow you keep insisting that the talent on the field had nothing to do with it. Same as it ever was.

And you're making the same claim that Bubba was better with no facts to back that statement up. I am just saying the Browns special teams were terrible under Bubba Ventrone that is a fact. They ranked near last in the NFL.

Complaining about the roster makes a LOT more sense when you're talking about offense or defense... not so much special teams, IMO. ST units are made up almost entirely of backups... you may have 1-2 dedicated ST players, outside of kicker and punter. The rest are backup-caliber players that are contributing however they can to hang onto their roster spot. So the truth is that there isn't going to be very much difference in overall talent level throughout the league because they are all backup-caliber players.

Somehow our defense made capable players out of "bums", whereas our special teams failed even with players like Grant Delpit contributing. (and being named special teams player of the week a time or 2 last season)

Every team in the NFL has base level playters on special teams. The Browns just made less of these players than other team did.

This is nonsense. The talent level between the defense and any other unit on this team are miles apart.


This is claiming the depth chart on every team has the same talent level. Once again nonsense.

There's only one problem. I never said that. Your claim is the new guy is better. The only thing I've said is you don't know that and neither does anyone else. A swing and a miss!


No, you said that it would be better since he left. That there was "nowhere to go but up ". You have laid all of the blame on him without admitting that the talent level played any part in it.

Do even remember what you have been posting?

I agree Oober and I would think those backup-caliber players being at the bottom of the roster would be doing everything they possibly could to hold down a roster spot by trying to learn and perform at their best, yet they were making the same mistakes all season and weren't any better at seasons end than at the beginning. That to me is on the coach.

Bubba Ventrone sucked as Browns ST coach. Fact plain and simple.

Not as plain and simple as you make it sound. I guess we'll find out. Unless of course the new guy is given better talent to work with. If so the product on the field should be better.

Same goes with the offense.

I guess you are going by a rule that doesn't exist. For future reference, no, you can't turn vinegar into wine.

Every player that enters the NFL wants to succeed. They all do everything possible to make the roster and perform at their best. Most ST players are marginal and often times only make the roster to play on ST's and very limited situations. Most all ST's players are late round draft picks or picks from former years that could never make the 53 man roster. The odds of these players to ever make the 53 man roster are very slim.

It really has little if anything to do with desire or will. It has to do with them being on the fringe of having enough talent to hold an NFL contract.

Or special teams were atrocious and badly coached regardless of the talent level... It was said early in the season and throughout the season. ST coach should have been fired during the season.

This clip is from during the season after the 49ers game. They talk about special teams at the 16 and 1/2 minute Mark.

https://www.youtube.com/live/xbpLwS3RqXo?si=MrLtO2gKiz-93WN2