Browns fire offensive coordinator Dorsey, O-line coach Dickerson

BEREA, Ohio — The Cleveland Browns quickly began trying to fix a brutal, broken 2024 season.

There's no shortage of items needing repair.

Hours after finishing with a loss at Baltimore in the finale of a season that was expected to carry into the playoffs, coach Kevin Stefanski fired offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey and offensive line coach Andy Dickerson.

Those were the initial moves in what will be another busy winter as Cleveland crawls from the wreckage of the franchise's 18th double-digit loss season since 1999.

Dorsey and Dickerson both spent just one season with the Browns (3-14), who closed with a six-game losing streak and are now guaranteed to have one of the first three picks in this year's NFL draft — not what they had in mind after making the playoffs last season.

“Just bottom line, I want to go in a different direction,” Stefanski said Sunday, adding he didn't expect any other “major” changes on his staff. “We need to improve, as everybody knows, on the offensive side of the ball. That’s what we plan to do.”

Dorsey and Dickerson were informed of the moves in the aftermath of the team's 35-10 loss in Baltimore on Saturday.

A two-time AP Coach of the Year, Stefanski survived one of the most disappointing seasons in team history along with general manager Andrew Berry, who is scheduled to meet with the media on Monday. 

Stefanski's search for his third offensive coordinator since 2020 is already underway. Tight ends coach Tommy Rees is believed to be one of the internal candidates.

There are several other pressing issues for the Browns, chiefly at starting quarterback and the future of superstar defensive end Myles Garrett, who hinted after Saturday's game that he could be in line for a contract extension.

"There’ll be something coming,” said Garrett, who has made it clear to owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam that he doesn't want to be part of any rebuild and recently opened the possibility of asking to be traded.

Garrett, who has two years left on a $125 million deal, wants to see the team's offseason plans — on both sides of the ball.

While Cleveland's defense underperformed this season, the offense was atrocious.

With Dorsey in charge, the Browns finished last in scoring and only reached at least 20 points in three games. Dorsey, who was fired by the Buffalo Bills last season, had been brought to Cleveland to help structure an offense around quarterback Deshaun Watson's versatile skillset.

But Watson never got going as he struggled in his return from major shoulder surgery and the Browns went just 1-6 in his starts before he ruptured his Achilles tendon in October. That was followed by Stefanski handing play-calling duties over to Dorsey and the offense showed some life when Jameis Winston took over at quarterback.

However, the spark was short-lived and Winston got benched after throwing eight interceptions in three games. Dorian Thompson-Robinson started twice and Bailey Zappe played against the Ravens — Cleveland's 40th starting QB since 1999.

Replacing the respected Bill Callahan, who left to coach with his son, Brian, in Tennessee was going to be tough for any coach. The Browns' running game never got rolling under Dickerson's direction — it didn't help running back Nick Chubb was recovering from knee surgery — and Cleveland's O-line gave up 66 sacks.

Right tackle Jack Conklin said the switch in offensive philosophies was detrimental.

“It was a tall task for anybody to take over,” Conklin said. “I feel bad for Andy having it go this way. Obviously wanted to have success in doing this other offense, but it just didn’t work.”

Left guard Joel Bitonio believes returning to a run-heavy, play-action scheme would be a wise move.

“It’s what Coach Stefanski is most comfortable with,” Bitonio said. “The line was kind of built that way as well. I thought me and Wyatt (Teller) as pullers running some outside zone, That was what I did well in my career, and I probably pulled less than 10 times this year overall. And there were games in my career where I pulled eight or 10 times in a game, so it was different, for sure.”