CLEVELAND, Ohio — Browns offensive coordinator Tommy Rees arrived in Atlanta on Wednesday and will soon be announced as Kevin Stefanski’s offensive coordinator, a league source told cleveland.com.
Cleveland.com first reported that Rees, coming off his first year as Browns offensive coordinator, would join Stefanski wherever he went.
It means the Browns, who interviewed Rees first for their head coach vacancy, will be in the hunt for a new offensive coordinator depending on who they hire as their head coach.
If they hire one of their offensive candidates, they’ll then determine if they’ll also hire an offensive coordinator or perhaps go with a quarterbacks coach and pass game coordinator.
The three offensive candidates are Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken, Jaguars offensive coordinator Grant Udinski and Rams pass game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase. Their two defensive candidates among their five finalists are their own defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz and Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter.
Schwartz was interviewed for a second time on Monday, and Monken on Tuesday. Minter is up Thursday, Udinski Friday and Scheelhaase on Monday, after the Rams face the Seahawks in the NFC Championship Game.
Scheelhaase counts as one of the Browns’ two Rooney Rule interviews, and they must also interview one more minority or woman to satisfy the rule. McDaniel would’ve been their other, but he withdrew Tuesday to take the Chargers OC job.
Cleveland.com has reported multiple times that Rees, 33, would not do a second interview with the Browns, and that he’d be joining Stefanski.
Rees, in his first season as coordinator, took over play-calling duties in Week 10 vs. the Jets, and was tasked with running a point-challenged offense with two rookie quarterbacks coming up the learning curve in Dillon Gabriel, who went 1-5, and Shedeur Sanders, who went 3-4.
The Browns finished 30th in total offense, 27th in rushing, 31st in passing and 31st in points per game with just over 16.0.
The Browns will commit most of their resources to offense this offseason, and try to field an explosive unit in 2026. As of now, their top two competitors at quarterback are Deshaun Watson and Sanders.
The uncertain quarterback situation has given some prospective candidates in the search pause, sources have told cleveland.com.
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