At points throughout a disappointing 2021 Browns season, head coach Kevin Stefanski was asked if he would continue to call Cleveland’s offensive plays or turn that duty over to coordinator Alex Van Pelt.
No matter how many times the topic got brought up, Stefanski maintained that he would keep the role. And when it was brought up at the NFL Scouting Combine this week, he had the same answer.
“I’ll still call the plays,” Stefanski said, via Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal.
The topic had a little more relevance entering 2022 because Cleveland shifted some duties on its offensive staff. While Van Pelt also coached QBs in the first two years of Stefanski’s tenure, the club promoted Drew Petzing from tight ends coach to quarterbacks coach. T.C. McCartney moved to tight ends coach from offensive assistant. Changing the duties, however, did not mean Van Pelt would take over more of a play-calling role. And Van Pelt will still do a lot of work with the Browns’ QBs.
“I really, really value AVP’s role on our staff — what he does for our offensive staff, really what he provides to our entire staff,” Stefanski said. “The voice he provides in the quarterback room is vitally important to what we do.
“AVP is a huge, huge part of what we do throughout the week and on game day. I think we have ideas of how we can do that better. I think that’s something that we’ve really spent time on, making sure we have everybody’s voice, everybody has a way to on game day contribute, if you will, and AVP’s a huge part of that.”
Stefanski noted that Cleveland’s passing game was “too inconsistent” in 2022. And the Browns will make some revisions to the club’s scheme to make it more explosive.
But whatever adjustments they make, Stefanski will still be on the field with the call sheet in September.